Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 2

Reprints Fantastic Four #241-250
Written, penciled and inked by John Byrne.

Summary:
The Fantastic Four are sent by SHIELD director Nick Fury to the African nation of Wakanda to investigate a "power pocket." They're accompanied by Human Torch's girlfriend Frankie Ray, who has recently discovered that she has powers similar to those of the Human Torch.

Wakanda's King T'Challa, also known as the Black Panther, joins the FF on this task. Shortly after their expedition begins, the heroes are captured and taken to an underground city that resembles Ancient Rome.

It's ruled by a man who calls himself Emperor Gaius Tiberius Agustus Agrippa. Gaius de-powers the Fantastic Four and takes them prisoner. He plans to make the Invisible Girl his queen. But if the Fantastic Four are to survive, only Sue can save them.

Next up, Galactus' herald Terrax attacks New York. He is trying to break free of Galactus and takes Manhattan hostage, taking it into outer space. He demands that the Fantastic Four battle Galactus for him.  

In the middle of this battle, Galactus arrives and easily disposes of Terrax. Galactus needs nourishment and decides to consume Earth's energies. The FF attack him and they're assisted by Doctor Strange, Captain America, Wasp, Iron Man and Thor. The heroes are successful in defeating him, but the Big G is near death. Before they can appreciate their victory, Reed makes a controversial decision to save Galactus.

But the ravager of worlds is not grateful to Earth. Galactus needs to feed on the planet and is preparing to do so. But Frankie Raye steps forward and offers an alternative to Galactus: if he spares Earth, she will serve as his new herald. The Fantastic Four are opposed to this, especially Johnny Storm. Frankie becomes cosmically powered and is now called Nova. She leaves Earth to find planets Galactus can feed upon. The Human Torch is devastated by Frankie's departure.

Sometime later, Sue returns to the Baxter Building and finds Ben and Reed unconscious. She discovers Johnny being attacked by a man she doesn't recognize. With her teammates out of commission, the Invisible Girl will have to go it alone against an extremely powerful foe. She will be shocked when she learns the identity of her opponent.

Subsequently, The Fantastic Four visit the Latverian Embassy so they can deliver the body of Doctor Doom, since their last battle ended with Doom in suspended animation. Doom regains consciousness and transports the FF to Latveria. For once, Doom is not trying to destroy them, but is seeking help from the Fantastic Four. The heroes recently helped the Latverian resistance movement overthrow Doom's rule of their tiny nation. Zorba, rightful monarch of Latveria, took power of the country.

However, under Zorba's rule, the country has fallen apart. Crime is rampant and Latverians are starving. Zorba's response has been a declaration of martial law, with Doom's old robots serving as Latveria's new secret police force. Doom says that the Fantastic Four owe it to Latveria to help him regain his throne.

They're reluctant at first, but after seeing the plight of Latveria, the Fantastic Four join forces and help Doctor Doom, since they feel partially responsible for Latveria's plight. Can the FF and Doom succeed in overthrowing Zorba?

Following the events in Latveria, the Fantastic Four fly to the moon to visit their old friends the Inhumans. They've been invited to the naming ceremony for Crystal and Quicksilver's infant daughter. All is well, until the entire surface of the moon is taken captive by a giant alien.

This creature is so huge that it is unaware that the FF and Inhumans are present. How can the Fantastic Four hope to defeat a being that is 1000 miles tall?!

When they return to Earth, New York is attacked by Gladiator, the alien Shi'ar warrior who has battled against and alongside the X-Men in the past. Gladiator's spaceship was driven off its course, which forced him to land on Earth. He mistakenly thinks he's arrived on the Skrull homeworld. The FF show up to stop him, but they're easily defeated by Gladiator.

But as soon as Gladiator has dispatched one team of heroes, another arrives to confront him: the Uncanny X-Men! But appearances can be deceiving.

Plus, Spider-Man and Captain America arrive to help the Fantastic Four deal with Gladiator!

Review:
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 2 contains some great material written and drawn by one the Bronze Age's greatest storytellers. I remember buying some of these fresh off the spinner racks and I've enjoyed these tales for more than three decades.

Story:
We start off with a good done-in-one story guest starring the Black Panther. It's a nice nod to the Panther's early appearances in The Fantastic Four. In early issues written by Stan Lee and penciled by Jack Kirby, stories were often broken into chapters. Byrne brings that back here, making it feel like a Silver Age tale told with a Bronze Age sensibility.

A great three-part Galactus story follows. Byrne shows that being heroes makes you do things that sometimes seem antithetical to heroism, like saving the life of Galactus. While Terrax is certainly a bad guy, Byrne reminds readers that Terrax became Galactus' herald when he was forcibly recruited by the FF.

This portion also contains a nice brief scene where Spider-Man and Daredevil, Marvel's "street level" heroes, decide that fighting Terrax and Galactus is above their pay grade.  

The book ends with the great Gladiator battle. Gladiator was created as an analog to Superman and Byrne shows that Gladiator should be considered one of Marvel's heaviest hitters, up there with Hulk, Thor and Juggernaut. Gladiator makes mincemeat of the Fantastic Four in the first round of their battle.

While most of this book features very serious drama and action, Byrne also finds time for some lighter, humorous moments. For instance, the scene below-right, where Reed shows off his new re-usable Christmas Tree:

And I still smile at the Thing's "Indian Jones" costume!

There are some stories contained in this tpb that aren't great. The essential message of the Doctor Doom story is that some countries are better off being ruled by totalitarian dictators. My academic background is in history and political science. I try to not to take comic book stories too seriously, but I've always had a problem with this story and can't endorse that idea. I figure Byrne just wanted to return Doom to his status quo of Latverian monarch and this was how he decided to pull that off.

The story from FF #245 begins with five pages of Sue debating a talk show host about her powers and her decision to take Reed's last name. It doesn't really add anything to the story.

The Inhumans story also isn't that great. It's one of those "it was all just a dream" tales and it isn't exactly essential FF material.  

But on the whole, these are great stories and Byrne's love for the characters shines through on every page.

Art:
Byrne pencils and inks every panel of Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 2 and all of it looks great. 

This scene here, where Gladiator punches the Thing through 8 cars is a nice example of how great Byrne's art looks in this tpb!:

And Spider-Man's guest appearance near the end of the book gives us this gorgeous splash page that features the wallcrawler:

On the bottom left panel of the second page, Byrne draws a nice homage to the cover of Amazing Fantasy # 15, which featured Spidey's first appearance:

Byrne's art is wonderful to behold from start to finish. It looks great in this glossy tpb.

How does it look?:

It looks great, here's a scan from a copy of Fantastic Four #250:

This is how the same pages look in the reprint:

Extras:
I'm not sure this really counts as an "extra," but Fantastic Four #250 ended with a pinup of the FF penciled by Byrne, that's included in the back of this tpb.

Rating:
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 2 features mostly good stories and art that still looks, dare I say it, fantastic 35 years after it was originally published. If you're a fan of John Byrne's art, this book is must-read, since these stories never looked better.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1

Reprints Hero For Hire #1-16
Written by Archie Goodwin, Steve Engelhart, Billy Graham, Tony Isabella,
Penciled by George Tuska and Billy Graham.
Inked by Billy Graham, Syd Shores, Paul Reinman, and Frank McLaughlin.

Lucas is an inmate of Seagate Prison, serving a sentence for a drug-related felony he didn't commit. Seagate is a maximum security penitentiary, known as "Little Alcatraz" to its inmates. Shades and Comanche, two other prisoners, are planning a demonstration for the incoming warden. Lucas doesn't want any part of their plans, he just wants to get out of prison.

Seagate's head of security, Albert Rackham asks Lucas to serve as an informant and rat out Shades' gang. When Lucas refuses, Rackham tortures him, beating him within an inch of his life.

This ends when the new warden arrives and demotes Rackham.

Through flashbacks, we learn that prior to his imprisonment, Lucas teamed with his friend Willis Stryker and committed petty crimes in New York City. As they grew older, Lucas drifted away from crime, while Willis delved deeper into the underworld. The two friends both fell for a woman named Reva Connors, but it was Willis who won her hand.

One night, rival gangsters try to kill Willis. Reva ran off to get help from Lucas, who saved his old friend. Reva dumped Willis, worried that his lifestyle was too dangerous. Willis blamed Lucas for the attempt on his life and promised revenge.

Reva and Lucas' relationship blossomed and they were discussing marriage. But their dream ended when Willis planted heroin on Lucas and tipped off the police, which led to Lucas' felony conviction. Shortly thereafter, Reva was killed by a bullet intended for Willis.  

Seagate's doctor, Noah Burstein believes Lucas' story of his innocence and approaches him with an idea. Burstein is conducting a scientific experiment that could increase strength of humans. If Lucas participates, it may help his chances at getting released on parole.

Lucas is placed in a chamber and is undergoing an "electro-biochemical" procedure. Unfortunately, Rackham interrupts the process and turns up the chamber's controls, intending to kill Lucas. However, Lucas breaks out and escapes Seagate. He is shot by guards and presumed dead.

Lucas returns to New York and decides to take a new name. He now calls himself Luke Cage. Since he now possesses super strength and bulletproof skin, Luke decides to set up shop as a "hero for hire" and acts as sort of a super-powered private detective. He rents office space at a Times Square movie theater. Cage's new landlord is David "D.W." Griffith, who manages the theater.

When Luke gets shot, he receives medical treatment from Dr. Claire Temple, who works in a storefront clinic. When he arrives at the clinic, Cage is shocked to see that his old prison doctor, Noah Burstein also works there. Thankfully, Luke's hair is different enough to prevent Burstein from recognizing him. The doctor eventually figures out the truth, but keeps quiet. Burstein feels guilty about experimenting on prisoners and works at the clinic in order to atone for his past sins.

Before Cage can start a new life, he must face off against his former friend Willis Stryker, who now wears a snake costume and calls himself Diamondback. Stryker is armed with a variety of deadly knives and Luke will need every ounce of his superstrength to defeat Diamondback.

Cage's new career as a superhero leads to exciting adventures and encounters with various villains, including:

Gideon Mace, a former army colonel who has a mace in place of his right hand. Mace recruits Vietnam veterans to join his armed paramilitary organization. They plan attack Manhattan and steal large sums of money in the ensuing chaos.

A ghost haunts the movie theater that houses Cage's office.

Who is the Phantom of 42nd Street?

A man named Frank Jenks is killed in D.W.'s theater. Cage was en route to meet Jenks and investigates the murder. Things get more complicated when Jenks' body goes missing. Eventually, Luke learns that Frank's death (and subsequent disappearance) is the work of a crime boss known as Black Mariah!

Laura and Catherine Forsythe are worried that someone is trying to kill their grandfather, millionaire Raymond Huxley Forsythe. The granddaughters contact Cage and ask him to investigate some suspicious accident at the Huxley mansion. When Luke is searching the mansion for clues, he's attacked by suits of armor!

On Christmas Eve, Luke and Claire plan to spend a romantic evening together. Their plans change when Cage encounters gunmen from the past, present and future. But are they really the same man?

Cage takes his strangest assignment yet when he's hired by the Latverian Ambassador to the United States to bring in several former embassy employees. When Cage finds them, a fight ensues and he learns the Latverians are actually robots that have rebelled against their creator, Latveria's ruler Doctor Doom! When Cage visits the embassy to collect his fee, he learns Doom has fled for Latveria without paying Luke!

Luke borrows a rocket from the Fantastic Four and flies off to Doom's castle in Latveria. The Hero For Hire wants his payment and confronts Doom. However, a greater menace arrives and the Latverian monarch is forced to team up with Cage!

The offices of the Mainstream Motors company are attacked by a man who calls himself Chemistro.  He's armed with an alchemy gun that changes the chemical make-up of whatever Chemistro shoots. When one of Mainstream's employees is badly injured by Chemistro, the company hires Luke Cage to bring Chemistro to justice.

His second chance at life seems to being going well. Luke begins dating Claire Temple and his Hero For Hire career is a success. But Daily Bugle columnist Phil Fox gets suspicious of Cage and starts poking around. Fox steals notes from Burstein that prove Luke is an escaped prisoner.

We later learn that a prison review board fired Rackham from Seagate Prison over his extreme cruelty towards Cage and other prisoners. Sometime after that, Shades and Comanche escape Seagate. They were frequently tortured by Rackham in the prison and have sworn to make their former guard pay. They follow a trail of evidence that will lead them to Rackham, who has moved to New York City.

Phil Fox bumps into Rackham at the Daily Bugle offices. After a few drinks, the ex-guard spills his guts to Fox. Before all is said and done, Luke Cage, Comanche, Shades and Rackham all wind up face to face in a suburban New Jersey house, with guns ready to be fired. If that's not enough, the supercriminal Stiletto is watching them from the outside, waiting to attack!

Review:
A solid beginning for Luke Cage. None of these stories are classics, but they're lots of fun and this book is better than I expected. Cage has proven to be a good character, showing up in comic books and TV shows 45 years after his debut.

Story:
Archie Goodwin wrote the first four issues reprinted. These tales are heavily influenced by the "Blaxploitation" movies of the early 1970s and Luke Cage is sort of a John Shaft with superstrength. The origin story is good. During the late 60s and early 70s, prison atrocities and prisoners demanding rights were often in the news. So it makes sense that Marvel would create a superhero that came out of that background. Goodwin sets the tone for the series and the writers that follow generally follow his example.

Steve Engelhart succeeded Goodwin and his first story is a low point for this book. Black Mariah is an ugly outdated racially stereotypical character who speaks in an exaggerated "black" dialect. Even in 1971, Marvel should have known better to publish a character like Black Mariah. Engelheart gets things back on track with the Forsythe mansion story.

"Jingle Bombs" which originally appeared in Hero For Hire #7 is one my favorite parts of this book. It takes place on Christmas Eve and it's one of the Christmas comics I read every December. The story is ridiculous, but it's lots of fun.

The two-part Doctor Doom story is also somewhat ridiculous. But I can see Doom hiring someone like Cage to do his dirty work and Luke is the sort of person who would fly to Latveria to collect his payment. I also guess it was part of Marvel's plan to increase Cage's ties to the established Marvel Universe characters.

Cage has swagger to spare, constantly ribbing his antagonists during their fights. Some may be surprised and/or disappointed that Luke's catchphrase "Sweet Christmas" does not appear in these stories. That came later, but he does exclaim "Christmas" a few times.

Billy Graham and Tony Isabella co-wrote on the last two issue reprinted here and they do a good job finishing the Seagate arc that began the series.

I generally prefer Marvel's "street level" heroes like Spider-Man, Moon Knight and Daredevil. Marvel doesn't doesn't get more street level than Luke Cage, which means none of these stories require Cage to save the world. But that's okay.

The silliest story here features lions and tigers trained by Lionfang to speak English and Spanish.  But the tale culminates with a great fight between Luke Cage and Lionfang at Madison Square Garden.

I liked most of the villains here, all of them give Luke a tough time.  My personal favorite is Chemistro, his alchemy gun is very cool and the ending of his battle with Cage is tragic.

Art:
George Tuska penciled the majority of Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1 and Billy Graham inked all of Tuska's work.

Luke battles Senor Muerte.

Tuska's art here is a mixed bag. Some of the characters faces aren't well defined, but he pencils good action sequences, the fight scenes are all nicely drawn.

Graham serves as both penciler and inker for the latter portion is an improvement over Tuska. I wish Graham had penciled the entire book, here's a gorgeous page that features Cage battling big cats.

And here's another nice example of Graham's work:

Great stuff.

How does it look:

Here's a scan taken from my old copy of Hero For Hire #12:

This is how the same page looks in Marvel Masterworks:Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1:

Extras:
Engelhart wrote a new introduction for the book. In the back of this volume, you'll find a Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page from Hero For Hire #1, and five pages of original art and house ads.

The stories reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1 aren't classics. But they capture a moment in pop culture history and (with the exception of the Black Mariah tale) are all pretty good. Luke Cage is a very likeable character and I hope we get more of his Bronze Age solo adventures reprinted in the near future.

J.A. Morris rating:

3 Sals.

Fantastic Four Visonaries: John Byrne Vol. 1

Reprints Fantastic Four #232-240
Written and Penciled by John Byrne.
Inked by John Byrne and Terry Austin.

Alternate cover.

The members of the Fantastic Four are scattered all over New York and strange things are happening to them. At a hair salon, the Invisible Girl is attacked by a monster who blasts her with sand. Outside a Broadway theater, The Thing has a rain cloud appear over his head. The cloud turns into a bubble that threatens to drown Ben.

In Central Park, Johnny Storm, is attacked by a living tornado. Reed Richards is imperiled by a living flame. The FF soon learns that it's the work of their old foe Diablo, master of alchemy! The Fantastic Four track down Diablo with the help of Doctor Strange, Master of Mystic Arts!

Subsequently, the Human Torch receives a letter written by a man just before he was executed. He claims to be innocent of the crime and asks Johnny to help posthumously clear his name.

This leads Johnny on a journey into New York's criminal underworld.  The Torch winds up face-to-face with Spider-Man's old foe Hammerhead!

After that, we are introduced a man named L.R. "Skip" Collins. Collins has led an ordinary, quiet, risk-free life. His life at home isn't very enjoyable, with his adult son Junior living at home and his wife Louisa busy with housework.

Collins wishes his house was less cluttered...and suddenly it is magically cleaned. Later, on his way to work, he wishes that the roads weren't so crowded. Just like that, traffic thins out drastically. It appears that Skip can shape reality by simply wishing for it to change.

His boss sends him on a business trip to New York City. Collins is excited and goes on a sight-seeing tour. But shortly after he arrives, the city begins to (quite literally) fall apart. Collins watches the Fantastic Four struggle to save the city. Using his power, he saves New York from destruction by wishing it never happened.

Reed is convinced that the cause of the destruction originated in outer space and decides that the FF will investigate in their rocket. They learn it's the work of Ego, the living planet!

Next, we observe the residents of a small, idyllic town called Liddleville. Reed Richards works as a professor at the local university. Ben Grimm is married to Alicia and operates a restaurant.

 
But they're haunted by nightmares. In their dreams, they launch into space and die in a crash. Or they gain superpowers. They talk and learn that they're having the same dream. They realize the dreams are suppressed memories and remember that they're the Fantastic Four. In short order, the heroes discover that Liddleville was a tiny model of a city and the FF's consciousness has been placed in small synthe-clone bodies created by the Puppet Master. It's all part of a scheme of their greatest foe, Doctor Doom!

Can the heroes defeat the Latverian monarch while they're imprisoned in tiny clone bodies?

After returning to New York, Reed, Sue and Franklin go horseback riding in Central Park. Their day of leisure is interrupted when they hear a nearby bank alarm. Mr. Fantastic discovers a robbery in progress and uses his stretching powers to capture the thieves. Suddenly, a 9-foot tall woman emerges from the bank and attacks Reed by making eye-contact with him, inducing vertigo.

Sue & Reed meet Spinnerette!

The team learns that she is an alien who the other robbers have named Spinnerette. She is not evil, but Earth's oxygen has made her intoxicated and easily manipulated by the criminals. Can the Fantastic Four save Spinnerette from Earth's atmosphere and protect New York from her powers?

Later, Reed once again tries to turn the Thing human. But it doesn't work and Ben ends up looking like he did in the early days of the FF. Needless to say, Ben is not happy about this development.

At the same time, the Torch's girlfriend Frankie Raye makes an alarming discovery about herself. She has the same powers as the Human Torch!

Frankie learns that her step-father, who she knew as Thomas Ray, was actually Professor Phineas Horton, who created the original Human Torch. When she was 14, Frankie was in accident that gave her her powers. Her "torch" powers were wiped from her memory until now. Johnny agrees to help her use her abilities and Reed jokes that they may change their name to "The Fantastic Five!"

Sometime later, a woman named Penny visits the Baxter Building, seeking the aid of the Fantatic Four.  The team is shocked to learn that Penny is Ben's Aunt Petunia, whom he has mentioned many times.  She does not fit the description they had imagined.

Penny tells them that she and her husband, Dr. Jake Grimm, have seen some bizarre medical cases in Benson, Arizona. People are dying from fright. There is an archaeological dig taking place in Benson, which may be related to the deaths. 

The FF and Benson encounter a young girl named Wendy who seems wise beyond her years. We learn that Wendy spent lots of time around the site of the dig visiting her "friends." We soon learn that Wendy's friends are supernatural beings who confront people with their worst fears.

This is enough to kill some people. But if anyone can end the threat of Wendy's friends, it's the Fantastic Four.

Lastly, Pietro Maximoff, the mutant super-speedster known as Quicksilver rushes through New York en route to the Baxter Building. Pietro seeks the aid of the Fantastic Four for two reasons. His wife Crystal is pregnant with their child and she has fallen ill. Quicksilver believes Reed is the only one with the scientific knowledge that can save Crystal.

In addition to that, the Inhumans need to find a new home. The pollution of Earth has made their location in the Himalayas uninhabitable. The Fantastic Four find a home for them. They will transport their homeland, Attilan, to the moon!  

Review:
Fantastic Four Visonaries: John Byrne Vol. 1 contains some great stories and art from one of the signature talents of the Bronze Age.

Story:
The stories in this tpb range from good to great, and some can be described as classic. 

When he took over the title, Byrne said he wanted to take the Fantastic Four "back to the basics," as in what he believed made them great in the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby era. It's no coincidence that the first story in this tpb is titled "Back To The Basics."

"Terror In A Tiny Town," the Doom/Liddleville story, was the issue that got me collecting Fantastic Four back in 1981. It's still one of the best FF stories ever written. Byrne really has a great feel for the personalities of these heroes. For those who count such things, Ben says his catchphrase "It's Clobberin' Time" 3 times in this tpb.

 
The Skip Collins story feels a lot like an episode of The Twilight Zone. The same goes for the "Wendy's Friends" episode. The other tales are good, though the weakest of the bunch is the Spinnerette story.  She and her people are nicely drawn by Byrne, but they're basically generic aliens. On the whole, a good collection of Bronze Age stories.
  
Art:
Byrne is at the top of his game here. I normally prefer his pencils when they're inked by someone like Terry Austin or Joe Sinnott. But he does a fine job inking himself in this tpb. The artistic highpoint is the battle with Ego.  

The Fantastic Four battle Ego from the inside!

The Liddleville story gives Byrne a chance to draw the Fantastic Four the way they looked in the early 60s and he does a nice job.

Speaking of Terry Austin, he inks the 8-page story that features the Thing reverting to his earlier form. It's a short but nice reunion of the Byrne/Austin art team from the greatest era of the X-Men. 

How Does It Look?:
Here's two-page spread scanned from Fantastic Four #236, borrowed from the excellent blog Mars Will Send No More:

And here's how it appears in the tpb:

Fantastic Four Visonaries: John Byrne Vol. 1 features work from John Byrne when he was at the height of his writing and penciling peak. These tales hold up well 34 years after they were published. The Liddleville story and the battle with Ego make it worth buying and the rest of the stories are good as well. Highly recommended.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!