Tag Archives: John Byrne

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 235

12 Monday Oct 2026

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Fantastic Four 235
“Four Against Ego!”
Published July 1981
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Byrne
Inks: Byrne
Lettering: Jean Simek
Colors: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Byrne and Terry Austin


Editor’s Note: Before we dig into FF 235, first I want to offer Doug Moench a conditional apology. I attended New York Comic Con last week and was able to talk to Bill Sienkiewicz about his and Moench’s run, which I have generally disparaged. I picked up a few tidbits:

1, Sienkiewicz referred it as “our fill-in run,” and he suspected that they were keeping the seat warm for John Byrne the whole time. As a result, he was under the impression Moench was prohibited from using the FF’s main villains, saving them for later Byrne plots (although he didn’t know for sure). I’ve criticized Moench’s stories for lacking the sweep and scope the FF demands, but if he was operating under those constraints, the narrowness of his plots are more understandable. So, sorry Doug!

2, Byrne offered to keep him on as inker on the FF, Sienkiewicz said, which he (obviously) declined. He sensed Byrne really wanted to have complete control, and Sienkiewicz was itching to do something ambitious on his own. Editor Louise Jones (now Simonson) offered him the X-Men, he said, but he was afraid his new, experimental style would alienate fans and he would be blamed for tanking Marvel’s best-selling book. Chris Claremont then suggested he take on the New Mutants for his three-part Demon Bear story, which Sienkiewicz thought would be a good fit for his style, and then he stayed on.

3, Sienkiewicz was incredibly generous with his time and, for everything he has done in the business, seems to have no ego. I really appreciate his sharing his thoughts with me.



Synopsis

Fantastic Four 235 picks up immediately after the previous issue, with the FF confronting Ego the Living Planet, who seems intent on destroying Earth. The FF land on Ego and after battling “antibodies,” remove a power-pack from giant rockets previously attached by Galactus. The team then travels to Ego’s interior to find his brain, but one by one they succumb to the heat and pressure until only the Thing remains. He attempts to blow up the brain using the power pack as a bomb, but misses. However, Ego is destroyed when his rockets misfire and he travels to close to the sun, breaking up. Ben is then rescued by the rest of the FF.


What’s going on here?

This is a fun science-fiction adventure that, after getting his feet wet with smaller stories, feels like the first true FF story by Byrne. Despite plot holes big enough to drive the Fantasticar through, the comic succeeds through its propulsive action, amazing art and basically insane premise.

Ego is a great Jack Kirby creation who first appeared in Thor, and Kirby’s designs clearly inspired what Byrne is doing in this issue. Check out this incredible Kirby double-page splash:

and compare it to this Byrne panel:


The swiping / homaging gets even more explicit later:


In some ways, Ego feels a bit like Galactus-lite, ie., a cosmic-scale, Earth-threatening foe without the baggage of Galactus. Given that, it’s a bit surprising the FF haven’t confronted him (it?) before. Of note, Reed seems to have no compunctions about throwing a bomb into Ego’s brain, whereas in about a dozen issues he will agonize over saving the life of Galactus.


What I liked

As mentioned, Byrne delivers some knockout art that really emphasizes the alien (and somewhat disgusting) nature of Ego, like here:


And here:


I liked that it was Reed who faltered first, leaving Sue to venture on with Ben and Johnny:

And I liked the continued evolution of Sue’s powers under Byrne. Three issues ago, she just began to use her force field to propel her, here she’s carrying the whole team:


Lastly, I appreciated this tribute to Ben’s heroism:


What I didn’t like

I suppose if you can accept the premise of a living planet, you shouldn’t be bothered by gaps in logic, but it’s hard not to wonder why Ego speaks English, or why his atmosphere seems perfectly breathable, or how a power pack the size of a refrigerator is sufficient for a rocket “hundreds of miles tall.”

Or how, in all the detritus of an exploded planet, the FF can find Ben:

(I’m not saying I couldn’t concoct No-Prize-worthy explanations for all these inconsistencies, just that Byrne doesn’t bother to provide them).

I also thought it was odd that Johnny, encountering this bizarre alien landscape, first thinks of a newspaper comic strip as a point of comparison.


This is what he’s referring to:



I’m not sure this was intended as a joke or not, but every time Ego appears, he introduces himself, making me think he has a really big, ahem, ego.


Lastly, this digression with Frankie Raye seems weirdly voyeuristic (although no doubt exciting to the comic’s 13-year-old readers). It seems to suggest she’s never seen herself naked before. Also, who says “swain?”


Anything else?


Here’s a great letter:


You get ’em Cindy! I searched for Cindy to see what became of her and sadly it appears she passed away in 2017 at age 57. She was just 13 or 14 when she wrote this letter.


Overall

Fun comic!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 234

04 Sunday Oct 2026

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Fantastic Four 234
“The Man With The Power!”
Published June 1981
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Byrne
Inks: Byrne
Letters: Jean Simek
Colors: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Byrne and Terry Austin


Some news: I’ve created a Substack and have started re-posting earlier entries from this site there. My long-term plan is to eventually transition this blog from WordPress to Substack, but not for a while. I will give you plenty of head’s up before that happens. In the meantime, check out the Substack (https://fantasticfourfan.substack.com/) and please subscribe. Thank you!

Synopsis

The comic begins by following Skip Collins, an average man who unknowingly has extraordinary powers to remake reality. On a business trip to New York, Collins observes members of the Fantastic Four help save lives as gravity waves from space pummel the city. Collins eventually uses his powers to return Earth to normal as the FF travel to space to discover the source of the chaos is Ego, the Living Planet.


What’s going on here?

This is an interesting issue, and one that shows Byrne’s ambitions as a writer, although I’m not sure it’s ultimately successful. Like last issue, it begins with an in-depth focus on an individual unconnected to the FF, but who somehow crosses their paths. As in the last issue, Byrne really emphasizes the celebrity of the Fantastic Four, and contrasts their star power with the ordinary people who view them from afar (and I wonder of Byrne is taking this approach after years of dealing with the outcast X-Men). In this case, the FF never meet Skip Collins, and only the Thing has any sort of encounter with him.

And therein lies the story’s problem: Despite the elaborate build up, Collins is never really the focus of the story’s action, and while we are primed to believe he is the source of the devastating gravity waves, it’s a red herring, since they come from Ego. In fact, it feels like the whole purpose of introducing Collins is for him to clean up the mess the FF leave behind as they fly into space. Byrne essentially introduces a character with Beyonder-like power, then dismisses him before he can ever interact with the comic’s protagonists. By the end of the story, Byrne tells us Collins has lost his powers, and he never appears again.

Terry Austin returns to ink the cover, although his talents seem wasted with this one, and Jean Simek makes her debut as an FF letterer, despite having spent a decade lettering a wide range of titles at both Marvel and DC.


What I liked

The star of the show is again Byrne’s art, which is just off the charts. Check out the detail in the image above (from the title splash page). The FF on the TIME cover, Collins’s band aid, the odd paintings, the carvings on the headboard, the patterns on his pajamas and bedspread. It’s a virtuoso performance, and there another dozen like it in the comic. His best images may be when he shows the before-and-after when Collins uses his powers, like here:

and here:

(I’m curious about the names above the stores (Andrea, Coodie, Mueller, Faulkner. They’re not other comic creators, at least none that I recognize — I’m guessing friends of Byrne.)

This sequence was also impressive:


Byrne’s politics are always a bit of a mystery to me, and hopefully they will become clearer as I re-read his run. Sometimes I think he’s a traditional conservative, sometimes a libertarian, sometimes a liberal. This sequence seems to be saying something, I’m just not sure what:


I liked this sequence with Ben and his friend, Mick Clancy, a bar keeper and former test pilot. Unfortunately, this is first and last appearance.


What I didn’t like

I’ve already explained why I think the story doesn’t really work, and Collins’s elaborate backstory, which includes a flashback to his time in the army when he got his powers from a atomic bomb test, seems unnecessary for a character that never shows up again.

Byrne also continues explaining that which need not be explained, like here:


We really don’t need to know what they chose this particular Fanasticar. We trust them. Really.

Also, this sequence seems a bit unfair to Reed. Reed is an egg head, but we’ve seen that he’s plugged into the world. It seems that a guy who invented a spaceship and met dozens of aliens would have at least heard of Star Trek.



Anything else?

A friend recently was on vacation in the Netherlands and brought me back this comic as a present. Thanks Jeff!


Overall

Not his best, but still solid effort from Byrne.

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 233

26 Saturday Sep 2026

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Fantastic Four 233
“Mission for a Dead Man!”
Published May 1981
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Byrne
Inks: Byrne
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Byrne and Terry Austin

Synopsis

Condemned prisoner Georgie Munson asks a priest to deliver a message to the Human Torch, asking him to exonerate him for the murder for which he’ll be executed. After receiving the letter at the Baxter Building, Johnny, who knew Munson in high school, begins investigating, and eventually follows the trail to “maggia” strongman Hammerhead. The two fight, and while Hammerhead escapes, the police arrest his associates. Johnny eventually uses the Kingpin’s records to reveal Munson was framed for murder while committing a robbery.


What’s going on here?

This is an odd comic, particularly for John Byrne’s second issue in the driver’s seat. It’s a solo story, featuring the least compelling member of the Fantastic Four. It’s a detective story, starring a character who never solves crimes. And it’s basically anticlimactic, since Johnny has to rely on the Kingpin’s records turned up by Daredevil to piece together the mystery. Overall, it reads like an old issue of Strange Tales starring Johnny, rather than the Lee / Kirby FF stories Byrne loved so much. I wish I knew why Byrne chose this story right out of the gate; my guess is he had it in his back pocket — maybe as the plot for a Marvel Team-Up story — and chose to use it here instead.

Byrne’s art is, of course, excellent (get used to me saying that), and the story has its moments, but it takes a while to get going and there is again way too much exposition.


What I liked

As befits his “back to basics” approach, Byrne introduces the Fantastic Four with the Thing and Torch fighting in the Baxter Building, as Jack and Stan did about two dozen times. This fight seems particularly vicious, though, and Byrne does a great job of sequencing the action throughout the panels.


He does something similar here, where you can feel the action move you from panel to panel:


And here, you can tell that after Hammerhead swings with his right, he’s going to follow with his left:


I also liked this panel of Sue dressing down Johnny. After being called out for his immaturity, it raises the stakes as he takes on the responsibility of fulfilling a dead man’s request. Sue’s haircut is great, too.



What I didn’t like

As mentioned, there is way too much explaining going on. This sequence feels very unnecessary:


Byrne also seems to want to explain every facet of the Torch’s powers, even when they don’t make much sense for the situation. Here’s a bad guy running while trying to light a piece of paper on fire. Really? And of course, Johnny has to explain it all to him.

And here, Johnny says his heat can melt bullets before they can hit him. Bullets from a handgun travel at about 1,200 feet per second. I’m not sure how hot he would have to be to melt a bullet traveling that fast before it hit him, but I’m guessing it would be something like the surface of the sun.


Lastly, Byrne, at least early in his scripting career, has a tendency to indulge in some pretty melodramatic writing.


Anything else?

A strange ad for Dungeons and Dragons. You think they could have hired a professional comic artist.


Overall

Solid but unspectacular

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 232

20 Sunday Sep 2026

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Fantastic Four 232
“Back to the Basics!”
Published April 1981
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Byrne
Inks: Byrne (credited to “Bjorn Heyn”)
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Byrne and Terry Austin


Synopsis

Diablo, the evil alchemist, launches a plan to subdue the Fantastic Four by attacking them with four elementals. The FF foil his plans by switching opponents and enlsiting Dr. Strange to track down Diablo.


What’s going on here?

After much anticipation, we’ve finally arrived at the John Byrne era, where we will remain for the next 60 issues or so. By now, there’s not much mystery about how Byrne ended up on the FF; after years of creative conflict with Chris Claremont, he wanted complete control over his own title (and apparently he’s still annoyed at Claremont, since he’s rewriting those comics in X-Men: Elsewhen). Given his childhood enthusiasm for the Lee / Kirby FF, it made sense for him to take on Marvel’s flagship title. To take on the writing, penciling and inking the FF, he dropped all his other projects, including writing and penciling Captain America (eventually he would work on multiple books again). As far as I can tell, this is first time writing and handling all the artwork since his time at Charlton comics.

It’s pretty clear clear Byrne wants to restore the Fantastic Four to the classic Lee / Kirby template — it’s even in the story’s title (“Back to the Basics”). In this issue, at least, there’s no Franklin, and Alicia only makes a brief appearance. Reed is back to his bossy self, and he concocts a scientific solution to defeating the bad guys. I also don’t think it’s an accident the FF fought elementals that are cognates of their own abilities (lest you forget: Reed = water, Sue = air, Ben= earth, Johnny = fire). I’m not sure how many fans jumped on board with this issue, but Byrne made it very easy for new readers to catch up. If this book came out today, it would be a No. 1 issue with a dozen variant covers.


One oddity is the inking is credited to “Bjorn Heyn,” not Byrne. According to the internets, in those days creators were discouraged from having so many credits on any one issue. Times have changed.

Terry Austin inked the cover, which looks great.


What I liked

It’s hard not to gush about this issue after so much mediocrity over the last few years. It’s not perfect (more on that later) but it’s a well told story, with terrific art and lots of fun touches. Diablo is an interesting choice of villain; he’s a throwback to the Lee / Kirby years but not as consequential as Dr. Doom or Galactus. You could see the Mole Man or Red Ghost in this story as well.

Like a lot of Lee / Kirby issues, this one starts with members of the FF out on the town, and as in many of those issues, Sue is doing something pointedly feminine (she’s usually getting her hair down or buying clothes). Byrne at least has a cheeky spin on the trope:


We also get a Kirby-like shot of Reed in his lab (and note his updating of the Baxter Building’s surroundings):


And a here’s a fun scene of Diablo in full Snidely Whiplash mode:


There’s a lot of striking panels throughout, and they hint at what’s to come. Here’s a sample of a few of them (one for each of the FF:


What I didn’t like

Byrne can at times resort to cliches (“shell-like ears” in the above panel will reoccur over and over) and be unnecessarily expository. Do we really need Sue to explain that she’s using her powers in a new way? And would she really call Ben “the Thing?” It feels like Byrne is bending over backwards for new (and very young) readers.


We also get a return of Reed-is-a-jerk, which I assume is Byrne’s attempting to reestablish the team’s hierarchy, but it is very unwelcome:


Byrne also brings back Frankie Raye, Johnny’s erstwhile girlfriend, which seems forced, given how she dumped him in issue 204:


As we shall see, Byrne has plans for Frankie, and so wants her back in Johnny’s life, but this is pretty awkward (and melodramatic):


I’m not sure if this is the fault of Byrne or editor Jim Salicrup, but why do we need an editor’s note telling us who Iceman is:


But we have to look up the issue when Diablo was apparently killed? (It’s FF 194)


Lastly, I didn’t love Dr. Strange’s archaic speech (and thought) patterns. Did he talk like this in his own book back then?


Anything else?

A house ad for the first Superman-Spiderman crossover (which I don’t think I ever read):


Overall

Happy days are here again!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 221

25 Thursday Jun 2026

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Fantastic Four 221
“Tower of Crystal … Dreams of Glass!”
Published: May 1980
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Byrne
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Carl Gafford
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz and Joe Sinnott


Synopsis

Last issue, the FF rushed to the North Pole to examine an alien ship that threatened the Earth by reversing its magnetic polarity. As the Invisible Girl investigates, the rest of the team is attacked by strange alien robots that can change form. Sue reaches the aliens and discovers they simply want to return to their home planet. The aliens call off their robots and Reed fixes their ship so they can leave.


What’s going on here?

Thanks to reader and comic blogger Ben Herman (you can check out his comics reviews here), I’ve learned I was basically correct in my hypothesis that issues 220 and 221 were one story split in two. As John Byrne wrote on his Byrne Robotics forum, the story was written as a single issue to be a giveaway as a part of a promotion for Coca-Cola. According to Byrne (who should always be taken with a grain of salt), after approving the story’s plot, Coke rejected it as “too violent.” Marvel decided to salvage it by turning it into these two issues, which required Byrne adding a few pages, likely last issues’ flashback. And as predicted, all the fighting takes place in this issue.

Overall, it’s a solid and satisfying story that feels a bit like a throwback to the golden age of science fiction. If I had to guess, Byrne read somewhere about the earth’s magnetic polarity reversing half a million years ago and saw the kernel of a fun story. The issue does re-introduce to the Fantastic Four the trope of misunderstand aliens that first appeared in FF 24 and reoccurs several times over Byrne’s later FF run.

The ho-hum cover is by Bill Sienkiewicz and Joe Sinnott, leading to this fun signature:


What I liked

As we shall see, empowering Sue becomes one of Byrne’s projects during his run (picking up on the work begun by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman) and we get the first glimpses of it here. There is still too much hand-wringing from Sue for my tastes but in this issue she is the level-headed driver of the narrative and the one who resolves the conflict.


There are some nice touches throughout the comic. I liked this bit of comedy with Ben and the alien robots:


This was a very cool panel from Byrne and Sinnott which reminded me of the cover of Atlas Shrugged:


I always like it when we get fun credits (and note Jim Shooter is now appearing regularly in them, the first editor-in-chief to do so):


What I didn’t like

The aliens’ “oopsie” seems a bit too pat an answer to explain their actions. Over 500,000 years transpire and they didn’t think a civilization might have evolved in that time?


And unfortunately another Byrne-ism makes its FF debut here: really pretentious titles for his stories.

Anything else?

The letters pages of these two issues included a lively discussion of Sue and her direction as a character. The letters page of issue 220 consisted of five letters in response to a longer letter by Carol Strickland published in issue 216. Issue 221 had another long letter from Strickland and a response from Roger Stern (for some reason). It’s a reminder of how central letters pages were to comic book fandom. Back then every letter had the writer’s full name and complete address so they could correspond with each other. Today we have anonymous message boards and fans trading insults on social media. Also of note, a message from Jim Shooter about a Stan Lee appearance at a comic con. He advises fans to write the organizer for more info. Life before the internet, kids! (OK, I’ll now stop yelling at clouds).


Overall

Another solid proto-Byrne issue

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 220

15 Monday Jun 2026

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Fantastic Four 220
“…And the Lights Went Out All Over the World!”
Published April 1980
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Byrne
Inks: Sinnott
Letters: Jim Novak and Irving Watanabe
Colors: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Byrne and Sinnott

Synopsis

Members of the Fantastic Four are scattered around New York when all mechanical devices shut down. After saving lives, the team regroups at the Baxter Building, where they learn from the Avengers that it was a world-wide phenomenon. To investigate, the team boards its ICMB and heads to the North Pole. After a crash landing, they discover a huge alien presence.


What’s going on here?

So remember in my last post where I said FF 219 was the first issue of a Doug Moench / Bill Sienkiewicz run that would take us up to the first John Byrne written issue? That wasn’t entirely true. This comic is the first John Byrne-written issue (he writes the next issue as well), and it’s a pretty good one.

I don’t know the story behind why Byrne wrote and drew these two issues (Joe Sinnott inked), and why they appear after the first Moench / Sienkiewicz issue. My guess is the Byrne stories were once intended to be one longer story, likely an annual, and it was broken in two and used as inventory issues due to some deadline problems. Notably, there isn’t a single fight scene in this issue, which is almost unheard of for a standard Marvel comic of this era and which suggests it was a longer story chopped in two (assuming the fighting happens in part two). The issue also recaps the team’s origin at length, more evidence it was intended as a stand-alone comic that might be picked up by new readers. And there’s a pin-up at the end, which indicates the page count didn’t come out evenly when they cut the story in two.

Byrne has a long history of co-plotting the X-Men with Chris Claremont, and had written comics for Charlton, but this is just his second Marvel writing credit (following Marvel Two-In-One 50). Yet it has many of Byrne’s familiar fingerprints, including cameos of other Marvel heroes (the Avengers, Vindicator), something Canadian, callbacks to the Lee/Kirby run and cool alien stuff. In all, an auspicious Fantastic Four debut for Byrne.


What I liked

Furthering the case that this story was intended for new readers, Byrne introduces each of the FF members in turn, and gives them a chance to show off their powers. First up is Ben (who helpfully tells new readers he’s not as invulnerable as the Hulk):

Then comes Sue:

… Johnny …


and finally Reed.


All of these vignettes are elegant little snapshots into the four, and I suspect not a little influenced by a similar sequence in Fantastic Four No. 1.


I liked the inclusion of the Avengers and especially Vindicator (this is before he changed his name to Guardian), which weren’t really necessary for story-telling purposes but serve to weave the FF into the rest of the Marvel universe:


Some fun Ben/Reed banter:



The alien installation at the North Pole looks impressive, and reminded me a lot of the Master of the World story in Alpha Flight 3-4 (also by Byrne).


What I didn’t like

Despite taking up two pages, the retelling of the FF’s origin looked pretty lackluster and wan.


Reed’s plan for investigating a world-wide power outage is … just go up in a spaceship and hope you see something suspicious? Some scientist.


Also, every car, plane and mechanical device around the world suddenly switches off and no one dies?



Anything else?


This pin-up by Joe Sinnott seems pretty obviously an unused cover for FF 214. I think the design is more dynamic than the Byrne cover they used, but you can judge for yourself here.

A cool house ad. I can’t identify the artist and the signature is hard to read, but maybe it’s James Sherman, who was active around that time.



Overall

A fun surprise

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 218

25 Monday May 2026

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Fantastic Four 218
“When a Spider-Man Comes Calling!”
Published February 1980
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Pencils: John Byrne
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Ben Sean
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Al Milgrom and Joe Rubinstein


Synopsis

Disguised as Spider-Man, the Trapster infiltrates the Baxter Building and subdues the Human Torch and Thing before letting the rest of the Frightful Four in. After capturing the Invisible Girl, they corner Mr. Fantastic but Spider-Man, whom they had previously abducted, breaks free, and joins Reed in battling the bad guys. Soon, the rest of the FF join them in defeating the Frightful Four. 



What’s going on here?

This is a pretty pedestrian comic, which is a sequel to an equally pedestrian comic, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man 42, also written by Bill Mantlo. In that issue, The Frightful Four (who have added Electro to their ranks) lure Spider-Man into a trap by pretending to be the Human Torch. Now, with Spider-Man captured, they figure to use the same trick to take out the Fantastic Four.

That Peter Parker issue has a cool cover by Mike Zeck and Joe Rubinstein, but not much else going for it:


Overall, FF 218 is a very by-the-numbers story, in which the FF repel bad guys who invade the Baxter Building. We’ve seen probably a dozen variants of this plot over the last 200+ issues, and this one is as forgettable as most of the others.


What I liked

One fun aspect of the Frightful Four is their constant bickering, and Electro adds an even more curmudgeonly member. The Trapster gets most of the spotlight in this issue and is surprisingly effective at neutralizing half of the FF, even while holding a grudge at everyone who made fun of him when he was Paste Pot Pete.


This is not a great issue for John Byrne, who must have provided only rough pencils for Joe Sinnott to finish, but I liked this image of three villains:


And this one of the Thing being electrocuted:


It’s been a while since we had some wacky credits. These are all building themed, since the splash page is of the Trapster ascending the Baxter Building dressed as Spidey. (It’s possible only New Yorkers would get the co-opted joke).


Lastly, this was a fun sequence:


What I didn’t like

I’ve already outlined my critiques of this issue. There’s nothing awful in it, just not much that’s worth celebrating. It feels a bit like Mantlo is stalling for time as the fill-in guy, stretching out his Spider-Man story before the new creative team takes over next issue.

Anything else?

Some more house ads



Overall

A gentleman’s C

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 117

19 Tuesday May 2026

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Fantastic Four 217
“Masquerade!”
Published January 1980
Writer: Bill Mantlo (based on a Marv Wolfman plot suggestion)
Pencils: John Byrne
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Bob Sharen
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Cover: Sinnott


Editor’s note: I’ve fallen off the pace a bit on my FF blogging but hope to get back on track starting this coming weekend, inshallah.

Synopsis

After the Fantastic Four’s battle with Blastaar, Mr. Fantastic upgrades the Baxter Building’s security system with the help of Herbie. But the robot turns evil, revealing himself to be the artificial intelligence Doctor Sun (who appeared in FF 206), then capturing the Invisible Girl and battling the Thing and Reed. The Human Torch, out at a disco, returns only to be captured by the Baxter security system under Sun’s control. When Reed realized Sun exited Herbie to enter the building’s computer system, Reed attempts to disable it. Ultimately Sun is defeated when Herbie sacrifices itself to destroy the main computer system.

What’s going on here?

Long time readers of this blog are familiar with my disdain for Herbie, the robot foisted on the FF by his insertion in the 1978 cartoon. I knew this Herbie-centric issue was coming, and I anticipated it with dread, expecting some Impossible Man-type shenanigans. Reader, I was very wrong. This issue is a little gem, with a well-designed plot, some interesting developments and a tidy way of wrapping up the Herbie era.

Marv Wolfman, who left for DC after last issue, gets a plotting credit since it’s clear he had this story in mind for months, given Herbie’s malicious behavior over the last few issues. But the Doctor Sun twist was ingenious and one I definitely didn’t see coming. Interestingly, we never see Sun in his normal cyborg form, making this the rare comic where the villain doesn’t actually appears. And while the “evil robot” concept dates back decades before this comic, it certainly resonates today given our anxieties about AI.

Also of note is the appearance of Dazzler, who meets Johnny at the disco. The two hit off before he was to answer the FF flare, and I wonder why no writer has taken up the idea of them as a couple. It seems like a natural match. Dazzler was introduced the previous year in X-Men, and was in an issue of Spider-Man before her FF appearance, which suggests that Marvel was still hoping the Dazzler TV special would be a thing (it wasn’t). She will get her own series in December of 1980, and it will last a respectable 42 issues.


The uninteresting cover to this issue is by Joe Sinnott, whom I am guessing had to fill in when someone missed deadline.


What I liked

As mentioned, the end of Herbie was handled adroitly and, defying all expectations, it (he? they?) went out as a hero. Ben sums it up nicely here.


John Byrne again delivers some great visuals. I love how he creates a sense of motion and speed by repeating the shape of panels and angle of action.


I thought both this idea — Reed infiltrating a computer’s circuitry — and Byrne’s execution of it were brilliant.


Lastly, this whole page was so well done I couldn’t pick any one or two panels:


What I didn’t like

Over his career Byrne has been shadowed by accusations of sexism and creepy treatment of women. I’m not sure I agree with those critiques but this sequence doen’t help his case.


Anything else?

For years I have seen the “Mark Jewelers” designation on listings for back issues without really knowing what it meant. Today I learned it refers to comics with an advertising insert for jewelry that was targeted at the military, and therefore were primarily sold on military bases. Apparently these are prized by a sub-set of collectors, primarily because they are rare. As it happens, this issue of FF 217, which I probably picked up as a back issue from a comic book store or convention, has the Mark Jewelers insert. And here it is:


Some other cool ads in this issue, some house ads and an interesting one for action figures. It’s easy to forget how big a deal The Black Hole movie was when it came out.



Overall

A better comic than it had any right to be

“The World’s Greateast Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 216

03 Sunday May 2026

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Fantastic Four 216
“Where There Be Gods!”
Published December 1979
Plot: Marv Wolfman
Script: Bill Mantlo
Pencils: John Byrne
Inks: Pablo Marcos
Letters: Irving Watanabe and Michael Higgins
Colors: Carl Gafford
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Cover: Rich Buckler and Al Milgrom


Synopsis

Now transformed into the evolutionarly advanced Futurist, Dr. Randolph James wanders the streets of Manhattan, dispatching would-be muggers and police officers. Blastaar, on the run in New York since last issue, makes him an ally by convincing him the Fantastic Four want to capture him and return him to his previous state. After battling Reed, Ben and Johnny, the two travel to the Baxter Building, where Blastaar wants James’s help destroying the passage to the Negative Zone. There, James subdues Sue, which triggers Franklin’s latent powers, and he expels Blastaar back to the Negative Zone. James, now aware of Blastaar’s deception, departs Earth to commune with the universe. In the last panel it is revealed the robot Herbie was responsible for opening the portal to the Negative Zone that allowed Blastaar into our world.


What’s going on here?

Another satisfying, well-told comic that nicely tied together the Blastaar and Futurist storylines and delivered a dramatic conclusion. This isn’t the first or last time Franklin’s latent powers are awakened to save the day (a phenomenon some call baby ex machina) and while it later becomes a crutch for lazy writers, I wasn’t troubled by it in this issue. Here, it suggests his powers are still developing and will eventually settle into some sort of predictable pattern. Little did readers of 1979 know that 500 issues and 47 years later, his powers are still being sorted out.

That this comic succeeds is a bit of a surprise, given that it’s very much a transitional issue, with one creative team leaving and another coming aboard. As a result, there are nine credits for this issue — 10 if you want to count temporary editor Mark Gruenwald, who managed to hold it all together. It makes sense Gruenwald kept everything aligned, because for years, before his untimely death in 1996 at age 43, that was his unofficial role at Marvel: The keeper of continuity and editor of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. (In recognition of his importance, Walt Simonson modeled the men who ran the Time Variance Authority, the organization charged with maintaining timelines, after Gruenwald).

As mentioned last time, this is Marv Wolfman’s final issue on the Fantastic Four after an uneven 21-issue run. There were definitely some enjoyable issues, but his run was dominated by the cumbersome Skrulls/Sphinx/Galactus arc, and his occasional sloppiness was a distraction. Bill Mantlo, Marvel’s utility infielder, stepped in to script this issue and write the next two, before he and John Byrne both give way to a new creative team of Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Also filling in is inker Pablo Marcos, who did such a good job in the recent FF Annual. As in that issue, his work is more subtle than Joe Sinnott’s, and he lets Byrne’s pencils shine. Notably, Reed’s appearance changes quite a bit, depending on who is inking Byrne.

On the left are Sinnott’s inks from last issue, on the right is Marcos from this issue.


There are also two fill-in letterers on this issue, Irving Watanabe and Michael Higgins. Normally I don’t pay much attention to the letterer, and there are only a very few, like John Workman and Moebius, whose work I can recognize on sight. But here, it’s very obvious there are two letterers at work. I don’t know who did what, but there’s a big difference between the letters on the left and those on the right.


Lastly the cover is by Rich Buckler, his first FF work in five year, with Al Milgrom on inks.


What I liked

I don’t know if this Ben/Johnny banter is by Wolfman or Mantlo but it was fun. The Reed/Sue exchange is nice, revealing moment about their two characters as well.


Speaking of banter, this was well done, too.


Are the people in the crowd identifiable? I’m guessing that’s Byrne in the beard on the right, and maybe Wolfman behind him.


Byrne delivers his usual excellent work in this issue. I really liked this sequence:


What I didn’t like

Mantlo seems to struggle with the Torch’s voice. Here, he seems to need a reason to save Ben’s life:

And this is just odd (“hairless hyena?)”


The thugs in Marvel’s New York don’t look anything like the thugs I remember when I grew up there. There must have been a sale on purple pants at the thug store, because last issue’s hoods hade the same look.



Overall

A good comic book

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 215

26 Sunday Apr 2026

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Fantastic Four 215
“Blastaar!”
Published November 1979
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Pencils: John Byrne
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Carl Gafford
Editor: Wolfman
Cover: Ron Wilson and Joe Rubenstein


Synopsis

The issue opens with the Fantastic Four battling an explosion in the lab of Dr. Randolph James, a friend of Reed’s, whose experiments into evolution are going haywire. Meanwhile, Blastaar enters the Baxter Building from the Negative Zone, and the FF rush to confront him. A long battle ensues, and Blastaar escapes. Reed then gets a call from Dr. James, who has been assaulted and needs help. When Reed arrives he find James has used his evolutionary device to evolve himself into an advanced being.


What’s going on here?

This issue took me by surprise. This is Marv Wolfman’s last issue as a full writer of the FF (he just plots the next issue), and following the very long and elaborate Sphinx/Galactus arc and Annual 14, I just assumed he would mail it in with a by-the-numbers story. Instead, this is one of the best issues of Wolfman’s FF run, as the slightly odd Dr. James subplot delivers a genuine surprise at the end. We knew something was up with him but I will fully admit I was not expecting him to turn into this:

Instead of the main event in this comic, Blastaar then serves as a mildly interesting distraction. Of the two main Negative Zone villains, Annihilus is by far the more compelling, and Blastaar mostly takes up space. Here, Wolfman takes advantage of that to occupy the FF (and the readers) with a satisfying fight scene before the big reveal. (Although it should be said we never get an explanation of how Blastaar can just stroll in from the Negative Zone). Overall the issue is well paced with nice moments of character development, while Byrne and Sinnott do an outstanding job on the art.

The cover is by Ron Wilson and Joe Rubenstein, who is making his Fantastic Four debut. Rubenstein will go to have an incredibly long and prolific career, inking just about every comic character created by Marvel or DC, but never had a steady run on the FF.


What I liked

This issue reveals how good Byrne is at constructing action sequences (as if we had much doubt), like in these panels. Note how the perspective changes in the bottom three panels to create the illusion of Blastaar falling.


It’s not just action, where Byrne excels, either. I really like this quiet sequence, where the dynamic shifts in angles keeps our attention in what could have been a few dull, expository panels.


And I really liked this image:


What I didn’t like

It’s been a while since we had a Reed-is-a-Jerk moment, but Wolfman gives us one on his way out:


James’s assault doesn’t make much sense. These thugs just show up because they hear he’s a scientist? And it happens very conveniently just after the FF’s visit.


This is a great splash page but it reminds me that whenever Blastaar appears, he seems anatomically lacking in, ahem, certain respects. Note the cover as well. Maybe that’s why he’s so mad all the time.


Lastly, Wolfman cannot let the Herbie subplot drop:


Anything else?

This ad is awesome. I am pretty sure I had the Hammerhead action figure.


Overall

A pretty good comic book