Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales

Reprints Marvel Fanfare #1-7
Written by Chris Claremont, Roger McKenzie, Bill Mantlo, Charlie Boatner, David Winn, David Michelinie, David Anthony Kraft, Mike W. Barr, Sandy Plunkett, Roger Stern, Steven Grant and Al Milgrom.
Penciled by Michael Golden, Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, George Freeman, Joe Barney, Trevor Von Eeden, Marshall Rogers, Luke McDonnell, Sandy Plunkett, Charles Vess and Al Milgrom.
Inked by Michael Golden, Bob McLeod, Terry Austin, Armando Gil, Joe Rubinstein, Dan Green, Bob Downs, P. Craig Russell, Charles Vess and George Freeman.

Summary:
More than a dozen tales told by some of the Bronze Age's best writers and artists!

Karl Lykos was cursed with an affliction that forced him to absorb energy from others to survive. This caused him to turn into the pterodactyl man Sauron. As Sauron, Lykos battled the X-Men twice, giving the mutant heroes all they could handle.

Some years after Lykos' last encounter with the X-Men, the love of his life, Tanya Anderssen, has learned that Lykos is alive in the Savage Land. She seeks help from Warren Worthington III, better known to the world as Angel of the X-Men. Angel is reluctant to help, telling her Lykos probably doesn't want to be found, but Warren is moved by the love Tanya shows for Lykos and agrees to search for Karl in the Savage Land.

Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson learns of their expedition and gets exclusive coverage for his paper. Jameson assigns photographer Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, to accompany Angel to the Savage Land on behalf of the Bugle.

As their helicopter arrives in the Savage Land, it's hit by a ptrerodactyl! They land safely and begin searching for Karl Lykos. They're attacked by the Savage Land Mutates, a team of swamp savages who were given super powers by Magneto. Parker has time to put on his Spider-Man costume and fight back, but he and Angel are overpowered and captured by the Mutates, while Tanya escapes.

The heroes are brought before the Mutates' leader, the super-intelligent Brainchild. He zaps Angel and Spider-Man with a genetic transformer ray. This devolves them, turning Spidey into a human-sized spider and Angel into a birdman.

Tanya is attacked by a dinosaur, but she's rescued by none other than Karl Lykos. He takes her to Ka-Zar and they plan to rescue the heroes. Before they can implement they're plan, they're attacked by Angel and Spider-Man in their new forms. Ka-Zar, Tanya and Karl are captured and taken to Brainchild, who mutates Tanya into a neanderthal.

Lykos knows that he can save Tanya by absorbing energy from her. He does the same for Angel and Spider-Man, returning them to their human form. However, this results in Karl being once again transformed into Sauron! As he flies off, Sauron tells Ka-Zar that he is declaring war on the Savage Land. Spider-Man and Angel are traumatized by their transformations and head back to the states.

Sometime later, Angel returns to the Savage Land. He summons the X-Men for help and they head out to find Sauron. They encounter the Mutates and make quick work of them. The X-Men get the mutates to lead them to Sauron's citadel.

However, when they arrive, Sauron attacks. An energy field around the citadel saps away their powers and they're captured. Angel flees, but he falls from the sky and is presumed dead. Sauron uses the genetic transformer on the X-Men so that he can use them to drain energy and increase his power.

Angel survives his fall and is found by Ka-Zar. They plan a counteroffensive to save their friends. If they can't stop Sauron, the X-Men and the Savage Land itself will be doomed!

Plus, several more stories, including:

When a street corner Santa is mugged, Daredevil helps track down the local crime boss behind the mugging!

Doctor Strange and Clea face the sorcerer known as Nicodemus!:

Spider-Man is attacked by Scarlet Witch and transported to a mystical realm. The webhead learns that Wanda has been possessed by the sorcerer Xandu! It's up to Spidey to free Scarlet Witch from Xandu's control and defeat the evil sorcerer.

Captain America is captured by the son of one of his wartime foes and must battle without his costume and shield.

A young man named Ian McNamee visits the Sanctum Santorum of Doctor Strange. McNamee claims to be the Socerer Supreme, a title held by Doc Strange. McNamee challenges Strange to a duel of magic!

Seeking food, the Hulk visits a carnival. He encounters his old enemy, the mutant called the Blob and a battle ensues. When the Hulk appears to have the fight won, he's attacked by Blob's friend Unus the Untouchable! 

Review:
There are too many stories in this book to thoroughly summarize, so I'll try to cover more details in this section.  I should also mention that the Savage Land portion is the only multi-part tale, which is why it takes up about 9/10 of the summary. On the whole, Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales is a mixed bag, but the good parts are very good.

Story:
For those who don't remember, or who weren't alive back in 1981, Marvel Fanfare was conceived as a higher quality prestige comic printed on glossy paper that would present new stories by superstar creators. Every issue included a shorter backup tale that followed the main feature. 

The first story delivers on the promise, with Chris Claremont teamed with Michael Golden. Claremont gives us a good story set in the Savage Land. Sauron has long been one of my favorite villains and he's put to good use here as a very frightful villain who is willing to torture the X-Men in just to increase his power.

It's followed by a nice Daredevil story by Roger McKenzie that takes place at Christmas. It's not an essential tale, just a "Daredevil vs. small-time drug dealer" yarn, but it's okay and as I've said here in earlier reviews, I've long been a fan of comic book stories that take place during the holiday season. So it's something I read every year and it always holds up.

The Doctor Strange/Clea adventure, also written by Claremont, is solid as well. Mike W. Barr's Spider-Man's team-up with Scarlet Witch is enjoyable. I've long been a fan of stories that place Spider-Man in unusual settings like the mystical surroundings of Xandu. McKenzie's Captain America's battle with the modern day Nazi is solid. Hulk's encounter with Blob and Unus is very good. It's sort of told through the eyes of the mutant villains.

We get a sense that Unus and Blob are the best of friends who would do anything for one another. That's not a depiction of bad guys that we've often seen in comics and makes them multi-dimensional, not just generic super-villains.

The rest of the stories aren't that great.

The Dethlok and Iron Man stories both feature stories that are basically dreams of the main characters. They aren't bad, but they're placed consecutively in the tpb (just as they were in Marvel Fanfare #4), which makes them less enjoyable.

The seven issues reprinted here also feature three tales that focus on Doctor Strange or other sorcerers. Two such stories, the Spider-Man/Xandu battle and Strange's duel with MacNamee. They're okay adventures, but two even run back-to-back.

Mantlo penned the Daredevil tale that closes Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales. A little boy with blindness loses his seeing-eye dog. I guess Mantlo is trying to make a statement about there are some problems even superheroes can't solve. But it's depressing and just feels "depressing for the sake of being depressing."

Even the Savage Land story has one big problem.  When Sauron's power turns Spider-Man back into his normal self, we see Peter Parker lose consciousness. Did Angel and Ka-Zar somehow not see this? Do they know that Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same? Did Ka-Zar and Angel not think it was a bit odd that Spider-Man was in the Savage Land? This has bugged me since I read this story for the first time back in 1982.

On the whole, the stories are more good than bad.

During its publication, every issue of Marvel Fanfare featured one-page humor strips titled 'Editori-Al', written and drawn by editor Al Milgrom.

They're reprinted here and the provide a nice diversion from the very serious and dramatic stories in this tpb.

Art:
This is where Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales truly shines. Michael Golden penciled the first two parts of the Savage Land story and also the short Deathlok and Iron Man backups. He's at the top of his game here, lots of cool images of Sauron, dinosaurs, Spider-Man devolved into a giant spider, etc.

Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith took over and penciled the next two chapters, respectively. Those two are a slight step down from Golden's work, but I enjoyed their art as well.

Smith also provided art in the Daredevil Christmas story, his first work at Marvel. Marshall Rogers and P. Craig Russell give us great looking work in Clea and Doctor Strange's fight with Nicodemus. Sandy Plunkett does a good job penciling the Spider-Man/Scarlet Witch portion.

Charles Vess penciled the second Doctor Strange story and Vess does a great job depicting Strange's mystical world.

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan taken from my old copy of Marvel Fanfare #3:

And here are the same pages scanned from Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales:

Rating:
Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales features some great stories penciled by some of my favorite artists and is especially recommended for fans of Golden, Smith and Milgrom's humor strips. But the sometimes mediocre backup stories prevent me from giving it a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Crossover Classics: The Marvel/DC Collection

Reprints Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, DC Special Series #27, Marvel and DC Present The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans #1

Written by Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, Len Wein and Jim Shooter.

Penciled by Ross Andru, John Buscema, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Walter Simonson.

Inked by Dick Giordano, Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob McLeod, Joe Sinnott, Al Milgrom, Steve Leialoha, Bob Layton, Brett Breeding, Joe Rubenstein, and Bob Wiacek.  

Summary:

Four stories that unite the greatest superheroes and villains of two great comic book companies!

A convention of journalists is being held in New York. Reporters from newspapers and broadcast news from all over the country are in attendance. Peter Parker is attending with his girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson. Clark Kent and Lois Lane, reporters from Metropolis' Daily Planet, are also in town for the convention.  

When Lois falls from a ladder, Parker catches her and they introduce themselves. Mary Jane shows up and gets a bit jealous. Lois is about to tell them that she only has eyes for Superman, when the Man Of Steel suddenly shows up. To the shock of everyone, he zaps Mary Jane and Lois, which makes them disappear. Clark is stunned, since he's the real Superman. Peter rushes off to change into Spider-Man.  

When he finds Superman, both heroes blame each other for the disappearance of Lois and Mary Jane and a battle ensues.

In reality, Lex Luthor is responsible for the disappearance of Lois and MJ. He has teamed up with Spider-Man's enemy Doctor Octopus and taken the women captive. Luthor zaps Spidey with a red-sun simulator ray, which gives him strength that's equal to Superman.  The Man of Steel gets walloped by the webslinger.  

Eventually, Spider-Man's extra strength wears off and the two heroes realize they've been tricked into fighting. They eventually learn that Mary Jane and Lois are prisoners of Doc Ock and Luthor.  

The villains are hiding out in a spaceship and have a high-intensity laser probe that can cause hurricanes and tornadoes. Luthor demands $10 billion from the United States government. If he doesn't receive the payment, he will unleash the laser probe on Earth.  

Can Superman and Spider-Man find a way to save their friends and and save the world from Luthor and Doc Ock?

Sometime after that, Doctor Doom plots in New York city. He has a diabolical plan called Project Omega, which will result in him taking over the world. Doom has set up his Omega devices all over the world that will release radiation that will make make all fossil fuels worthless. The only source of power will then come from a generator Doom has created, making the world beholden to him.  

Thankfully, Superman and Spider-Man learn of this and work together once more to save Earth. Further complicating matters is Superman's old enemy the Parasite, who has the power to absorb power from nearby energy sources.  

The heroes' personal lives also undergo changes at this time.  Fed up with Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson's penny pinching attitudes, Peter Parker decides to take photos for Metropolis' Daily Planet.  At the same time, Clark Kent visits New York and does some freelance writing for the Bugle.

Peter Parker goes to work for the Daily Planet!

Plus, Superman goes toe-to-toe with the Incredible Hulk! And Spider-Man meets Wonder Woman!

In Gotham city, Dr. Bruce Banner is working (under a false name) at a factory owned by Bruce Wayne. Suddenly everyone starts laughing uncontrollably. Banner deduces it's some sort of gas and puts on a hazmat suit. He learns it's the work of the Joker, who arrives at the factory with a gang of gun-toting thugs. They're looking for a device called the Gamma Gun, which is being built at the factory.  

When Banner tries to escape, they attack. Angered by their assault, Banner turns into the Incredible Hulk! Joker recognizes Hulk and hightails it out of the factory, taking the Gamma Gun with him.

Batman arrives and tries to subdue the Hulk. Jade Jaws doesn't comply and threatens to destroy Bruce Wayne's factory. Thankfully, Batman is able to knock Hulk out with gas. When Banner turns back to his human form, Bruce Wayne says he will help him cure himself of the Hulk.  

Joker has brought the Gamma Gun to a riverfront warehouse where it will be used by the Shaper Of Worlds. The Shaper has the power to turn the world into whatever he wants it to be. He is low on power which has affected his intellect and he's made a deal with the Joker. If the clown prince of crime helps him, he will shape the world in a way that would make Joker the king of Earth.

When the Gamma Gun fails, the Shaper has a new plan. Joker will have to bring the Hulk to him so he can drain gamma energy from Hulk. It's easier said than done. But when one of Joker's henchmen wishes Joker had a monster bigger than the Hulk, a bigger monster suddenly appears and captures the Green Goliath. The Shaper heard the wish and made it happen.

Since the Joker has carried out his end of the bargain, will the Shaper Of Worlds make Joker the ruler of Earth? Can Hulk and Batman work together and save Earth from Joker and the Shaper?  

Darkseid, ruler of the planet Apokolips comes to Earth intending to remake it in his own image.

The mutant superhero team known as the X-Men are training at their mansion. Some months earlier, they had lost their teammate Jean Grey when she sacrificed herself to spare the universe. Her powers had turned her into Dark Phoenix and caused her to destroy a planet, which made her one of the greatest threats in the universe. Jean's death was hardest for Scott Summers (AKA Cyclops), who was in love with Jean and shared a psychic rapport with Phoenix.

Darkseid comes to Earth and breaks into the X-Men's mansion. He taps the memories of all the X-Men. Suddenly, Jean, in her Phoenix costume, appears in the mansion. As Cyclops runs towards her, she seems to disintegrate.

In nearby New York City, the New Teen Titans are sleeping when Raven has a nightmare. When she tells her teammate Starfire about a bird-like image from her dream, Starfire recognizes it as Phoenix. She knows Dark Phoenix committed genocide and is very worried it could happen again. Since Raven's dreams often predict the future, the Titans decide to investigate Phoenix, starting with the X-Men. Based on what they've read about them in the news, the Teen Titans believe the X-Men are criminals.  

At the same time, Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, foils a break-in at the Gotham City branch of S.T.A.R. Labs. He's shocked when he sees that the burglars appear to be of other-worldly origin. The mastermind of the break-in turns out to be Deathstroke the Terminator. After a brief fight, Terminator gets away with high-tech machinery.  

The Teen Titans arrive at the X-Men's mansion and find no one is home but their leader, Prof. Charles Xavier. He is caught off guard by Raven and rendered unconscious. They're wondering if they made a mistake about the X-Men. In the middle of this, Darkseid's agents attack and capture the Titans, believing they're the X-Men.  

The X-Men have learned of disturbances all over the globe. One thing every location has in common is that Phoenix used her powers at each place. The mutant heroes arrive in New Mexico and find a machine siphoning up trace elements of Phoenix' powers. Terminator is heading the operation. With the help of Darkseid's parademons, Deathstroke captures the X-Men and brings them to Darkseid. 

The X-Men's emotions and memories of Jean are combined with the residual Phoenix power to resurrect Dark Phoenix! With her power at his disposal, Darkseid plans to make Earth a second Apokolips, which will cause mass destruction and death to millions!  

Can the Teen Titans and X-Men find a way to defeat two of the greatest threats the universe has ever encountered?

Review:

Crossover Classics: The Marvel/DC Collection contains stories that are always fun even if they're not exactly deep. The creators were of course limited in what they could do, since these stories were not exactly "in continuity" and the characters wouldn't interact again.    

Story:

One of the best aspects of the first three crossover stories is that the writers had a history with both the DC and Marvel characters featured in the tales. Nothing seems "off" about any of the characterizations here.  

Chris Claremont, who wrote the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover had no history with any DC characters, but I think he showed lots of respect for Darkseid, Terminator, and the Titans. In the last three decades, Jean Grey and the Phoenix force have both died and returned multiple times. It's worth noting that this crossover was the first real sequel to the Dark Phoenix story.    

One of my favorite parts of the book was the way Jim Shooter had Peter Parker and Clark Kent switch newspapers. It was interesting to watch them deal with the different temperaments of J. Jonah Jameson and Perry White. Sure, it's a bit silly that no one wonders why Clark and Superman arrive in New York simultaneously, but it's still a fun story. Superman's fight with the Hulk is also a very memorable moment.  

The weakest part of Crossover Classics is the Batman/Hulk fight. Hulk has held up mountains and survived in outer space without a spacesuit. There is no way Batman should be able to defeat him (even temporarily) with sleeping gas and kick to the stomach. Len Wein should have known better, since he wrote the Hulk's series (and wrote great Hulk stories) for several years. I also think the Shaper Of Worlds is an odd choice for the Hulk villain. I believe the Leader or Abomination would've been a better partner for the Joker.  

Art:

This is where Crossover Classics truly shines. Ross Andru had a long career in comics and was the primary Spider-Man artist during the Bronze Age. He always penciled characters flying or swinging at interesting angles. The first Superman/Spider-Man features some of Andru's best art of the 1970s, here's a great example of work in this book:

John Buscema and Joe Sinnott serve as penciler and inker for the second story and their art is also excellent. They give us a very majestic rendition of Superman that makes you wish they did more work with DC characters.  

While the Hulk/Batman team-up isn't great, it contains some of the finest art in the book. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez draws an excellent Joker and he gives page after page of Batman attacking from many different angles.  

Garcia-Lopez especially shines when drawing the fantasy world where Joker is king:

Walter Simonson's art in the X-Men/Teen Titans adventure is also excellent. Simonson's style changed a lot over the years.  

In this story, he provides art that looks a lot like his pencils on Thor, which came a few months after this story was published. Terry Austin, one of the finest inkers of the Bronze Age, does a great job embellishing Simonson. I've loved the images below since I first read this story in 1982:

Changeling turns into Lockheed The Dragon!

Extras:

Crossover Classics opens with an introduction from longtime Marvel editor Tom DeFalco. Conway, Wein, and Claremont wrote intros to their stories. Shooter wasn't having good relations with Marvel when this book was published, so Marv Wolfman (who provided some plot assistance on Shooter's story) introduces the second Spidey/Superman crossover tale.

How Does It Look:

Here's a page scanned from my 35 year old copy of Marvel Treasury Edition #28.

That's a beautiful page of Superman by Buscema and Sinnott. This is how it looks in Crossover Classics: The Marvel/DC Collection:

I have no idea why Superman's costume is dark gray, almost black instead of its proper blue.  There are several pages within the reprinted version where his costume is the wrong color.  I have no idea why. Thankfully, everything else in the book looks okay.  

The material reprinted in Crossover Classics: The Marvel/DC Collection isn't deep or complicated. However, it's always fun to see Marvel and DC characters featured in the same story and especially fun to see their adventures written and drawn by some of the finest talents of the Bronze Age. The weird coloring shown above and the silly Hulk/Batman fight are the only things that keep it from receiving my highest rating.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

 .5

3 and a half Sals.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans

Reprints Fantastic Four (1961) #164-176
Written by Roy Thomas and Bill Mantlo.
Penciled by George Perez, Rich Buckler, John Buscema.
Inked by Joe Sinnott, Vince Colletta

A man calling himself the Crusader shows up in New York, invades a bank and attacks Calvin McClary, the bank's owner. Luckily, the Human Torch is nearby and intervenes. Crusader defeats the Torch and gets away. This menace is armed with Quantum Bands that give Crusader super-strength that make him very dangerous. Johnny will need his Fantastic Four teammates if he wants to stop the Crusader.

We learn that Crusader's real name is Robert Grayson and that used to fight crime under the name Marvel Boy. His father Horace was an atomic scientist who fled the Earth to Uranus in the 1950s.  Horace Grayson needed money to fund his Uranus project and McClary wouldn't loan it to him. This resulted in the deaths of many Uranians, and the Crusader has come to New York to avenge them. This leads the madman to attack banks all over the city. 

Later, the FF are flying over the Midwest when they encounter the Hulk! They battle the Green Goliath and the Invisible Girl eventually subdues him using her force field. The Hulk is turned over to the military. Reed makes a deal with Col. Sellers of the Air Force: If he's able to cure Bruce Banner of his Hulk transformations, Banner will go free and work with Richards.
 

The Thing doesn't like the way the Hulk is being treated by the military. Ben looks at Hulk and sees that they are both "monsters" who are unjustly feared by the powers that be.

Reed uses a device on the Hulk that he hopes will turn him back to Bruce Banner. The device is successful, but Col. Sellers suddenly reneges on their deal and imprisons Banner. When Ben sees this, he decides to free Banner, who turns back into the Hulk. The Thing teams up with Hulk and only the Fantastic Four can stop them.

They battle all over the city of St. Louis. Suddenly, Ben has a change of heart and attacks the Hulk. But in the middle of the fight, the Thing changes back to his human form! He's plain old, human Ben Grimm once again. 

Since Ben is no longer the Thing, the FF need a new member. They hire Power Man, also known as "Luke Cage, hero for hire".

Ben's happiness at regaining his human form is short lived. No one recognizes him on the streets of New York, and talk shows that wanted to interview the Thing are no longer interested in booking him. Plus, Ben feels like a loser knowing that he's been replaced by Power Man. Grimm is further incensed because Reed is paying Cage for his services.

In the middle of these changes, the Fantastic Four are notified of a series of bank robberies. They learn it's the work of Thor's old foe the Wrecker. He possesses a mystically powered crowbar and proves to be a tough enemy. Power Man gets a chance to prove that he belongs on the team when he goes toe-to-toe with Wrecker.

Following that battle, Cage is having a conversation with Sue and Alicia Masters and Franklin. Power Man suddenly attacks them, but Invisible Girl's force holds him back and subdues Luke until her teammates arrive. Power Man steals their Fantasticar and escapes. The Fantastic Four know that Cage must be under some sort of mind-control and wonder who the real villain is. 

Reed knows that they will need all the help they can get to stop Power Man. He also sympathizes with his old friend and builds Ben a "Thing suit." It's an exoskeleton that will allow him to become the Thing again, while staying human. The suit enables Ben to rejoin the Fantastic Four.

Ben tries on his "Thing suit" for the first time.

The FF tracks down Power Man. The heroes learn that Cage is being controlled by their old enemy the Puppet Master! 

After that conflict, a spaceship lands in Central Park.  A golden gorilla emerges from the ship and grows into a giant. The Fantastic Four battle the gorilla and are able to capture him using Sue's force field (which also returns him to normal height). To their surprise, this gorilla can speak and tells them why he has come to Earth. He says his name is Gorr and he came to Earth to seek their help against Galactus, devourer of worlds!

Gorr had been sent to Earth by the god-like being who calls himself the High Evolutionary, who has created a Counter Earth nearly identical to our planet. The High Evolutionary asks the FF to help them find another planet that Galactus can feed on in order to spare Counter Earth. Will the Fantastic Four succeed in finding another planet? Or is Counter Earth doomed? Before it's all said and done, the High Evolutionary must engage Galactus in direct combat.

When the FF directly confronts Galactus, it will have a long-lasting impact on Ben Grimm.

Finally, when the Fantastic Four return to Earth, they are accompanied by the shape-shifter from planet Poppup known as the Impossible Man. The alien finds himself alone in New York City. The Impossible Man eventually ends up visiting 575 Madison Avenue, which houses the offices of Marvel Comics! Impossible Man demands that Marvel create a comic book that features him as the star. When they refuse, he attacks Marvel with extreme prejudice!

Review:
While this isn't exactly "classic"material, Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans is mostly fun from beginning to end. But I have some problems with these tales.

Story:
Roy Thomas writes some very entertaining stories in this tpb. It opens with the Crusader story, which features the FF against a very powerful being who has been tragically driven insane. The Hulk battle is pretty good too. It makes sense that the Thing would feel sympathy for his fellow "monster."

The FF battle the Hulk & Thing on the St. Louis arch!

But after that, I'm not crazy some of what Thomas does.  Ben is returned to his human form, something he'd wanted for (at that point) 167 issues. But almost immediately after his transformation, Grimm starts whining about how he's no longer a celebrity. Is it believable that Ben would feel left out when it was time for his teammates to go into battle? Sure, but we should have gotten at least one issue's worth of pages that show Grimm enjoying the return to his normal old self.

Ben cries in his beer.

Power Man, hired to replace the Thing,  is well-written here. Cage tries to balance his enthusiasm with being in the FF with respecting Ben's feelings. It's also good that Thomas doesn't try to overload Cage's dialogue with "urban" idioms, a mistake made by lots of 70s writers.

Gorr's first appearance is ridiculous, but I mean that in a good way. What's not to like about a giant, talking, alien, intelligent golden gorilla?! Thomas gives us a nice tribute to King King and other giant monster movies. There are even references to the 1976 Kong remake. The Thing jokes that "Dino de Laurentiis could save a fortune if he just had a Polaroid".

The Galactus story is pretty good. Thomas demonstrates that Galactus simply hungers and wants to consume the energies of Counter Earth simply because he needs to. But I was a bit disappointed in the battle between the Big G and High Evolutionary. It's teased as an epic clash, but Galactus needs only 9 panels over a page and a half to easily defeat the High Evolutionary.  

The Impossible Man & the FF crash-land in Central Park.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans concludes on a funny note, with the Impossible Man paying a visit to Marvel Comics. I always liked things like this when I was a kid and still enjoy them today. It's entertaining to see Thomas, George Perez, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee depicted as comic book characters.

There's one more problem with this book. It ends with a cliffhanger. The Impossible Man story was followed by a two-parter that featured the Frightful Four. If you want to read what happens next, it's been reprinted in tpb called Fantastic Four Visionaries - George Perez, Vol. 2 (maybe I'll review that book here someday). 

Art:
The art contained in this tpb is excellent. George Perez draws the first 4 issues reprinted here and also the last story in the book.  Most of Perez' art is beautifully inked by Joe Sinnott, who inks the other pencilers as well. Look at this gorgeous two-page spread from Perez and Sinnott:

Great stuff.

John Buscema was, of course, a legendary artist and one of the best of the Bronze Age. This isn't his best art, but it's still good. Rich Buckler pencils the rest of the book and his art is also excellent. These stories were published during a time when Marvel wanted Buckler to deliberately imitate the art of Jack Kirby. But that's not his fault, and Buckler and Sinnott make a great art team. Here's an example of their work:

Power Man decks the Wrecker, while Ben struggles with life without super-strength.

How Does It Look:
Below you find the splash page as it originally appeared in Fantastic Four #175:

And here's how it looks in Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans:

And for good measure, here's another original page, scanned from FF #172:

It looks like this in the tpb:

Thank to SuperMegaMonkey for the scans from the old issues.

Extras:
Thomas wrote a column in FF #176 about the making of the story where Impossible Man visited the Marvel offices. That column is reprinted here. The tpb also contains 4 pages of original art.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans features some outstanding art from Perez, Sinnott and Buckler and some solid stories from Thomas. This tpb is recommended, but Thomas' handling of Ben Grimm in the middle portions and the cliffhanger ending prevent me giving the book a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.