Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3

Reprints Fantastic Four #251-257, Fantastic Four Annual #17, Avengers #233 and Thing #2
Written by John Byrne and Roger Stern.
Penciled by John Byrne and Ron Wilson.
Inked by John Byrne and Joe Sinnott.  

Note from your trusted Bronze Age Reprint Reviewer:
60 years ago today, Fantastic Four #1 was published. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby collaborated on the creation of the FF and it lead to the creation of the Marvel Universe. Today's review is dedicated to Lee and Kirby and I will be posting reviews of Fantastic Four reprints and FF-related reprints through the end of this month. Thanks for stopping by!

Summary:
The Fantastic Four's leader Reed Richards has decided it's time for the team to once again explore the Negative Zone. He's designed a new vehicle that will safely take them through that dimension.  

They encounter many different alien life forms in the Negative Zone, some friendly, some hostile.

Unfortunately, the moment the FF leaves their dimension, Annihilus, the greatest menace of the Negative Zone, arrives in the Baxter Building! He terrorizes Reed and Sue's son Franklin and the Thing's girlfriend Alicia Masters. 

Annihilus also creates a null field that surrounds the Baxter Building and keeps growing, threatening to destroy the universe. The Avengers notice this and try to shut down the null field. The Vision attempts to phase into the field and collapses inside it.

When the Fantastic Four tries to return home, they're shocked to discover that their Negative Zone portal is closed off! Even if they're able to get back to New York, it'll take the combined might of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers to stop Annihilus and save the universe!

But that's not all!

Ben Grimm flashes back to the days before he became the Thing to remember the first woman he ever loved.  

Galactus, the devourer of worlds, is dying and needs to consume a planet in order to survive, so he sets his sights on the Skrull's home planet!

Finally, the Human Torch's friend Sharon Selleck gets stuck in a small town and is attacked by the town's residents, who turn into monsters. Sharon is able to contact the FF, who arrive to rescue Sharon and investigate the monsters. Reed is shocked to learn that the monsters are connected to some of the Fantastic Four's oldest enemies! 

Can the Fantastic Four save Sharon and defeat the monsters?

Review:
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3 gives us 243 pages of one of the 20th century's greatest comic creators at the height of his powers!

Story:
The bulk of this book reprints the six-part "Into The Negative Zone" story that ran in FF#251-256 and crossed-over into Avengers #233.  Byrne always understood that the Fantastic Four's primary mission was scientific exploration and the team does lots of exploring in these stories. In fact, these stories reminded me of the original Star Trek series.  

The FF encounters lots of hostility in the Negative Zone, but sometimes Byrne shows that even superheroes can make mistakes when they interfere in alien societies they don't fully understand.  

Byrne shares co-plotting credits with scripter Roger Stern in the story from Avengers #233, which crossed over with the Fantastic Four series. Stern's era helming the Avengers is one of my favorite eras of the team and it makes sense that "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" would investigate the disturbance in the Baxter Building with the FF being absent. What's interesting about the cross-over is that we get to see the end of the battle with Annihilus told twice, once from the perspective of the Avengers and a second time through the eyes of the Fantastic Four.

While they're in the Negative Zone, Annihilus is in the Baxter Building torturing Alicia and Franklin.  Annihilus is just about as evil as villains come in these stories. He's dying and shows that he's willing to take the whole universe with him, since he blames Earth for his impending death.  

The Negative Zone saga concludes with the Fantastic Four uniforms changing colors. This was a gutsy move at the time, since it pre-dates Spider-Man's costume change by several months. They would keep these uniforms for more than a hundred issues.  

After the Negative Zone stories, Byrne gives us several more shorter tales. We get an untold tale (from Thing #2) about Ben Grimm's first love, before he was transformed into the Thing. It's a good story and it's a retcon that adds depth to Ben's character.  

The Galactus story shows that the "devourer of worlds" is truly above good and evil. Byrne gets that Galactus is a force of nature and shouldn't be written as "just another villain."  

The final story, from Fantastic Four Annual #19, has long been one of my favorite FF stories. It's a great "done in one" tale that ties in to one of the Fantastic Four's earliest adventures.  

If there's anything to criticize here, it's the treatment of Alicia. In recent years, we've heard about the "Women In Refrigerators" trope in comics. The wives and girlfriends of superheroes are often killed or nearly killed so a male hero can experience "growth." I think in this case, Byrne was demonstrating Anihilus' cruelty, but it's my least favorite aspect of the book.  

All in all, Byrne, with a little help from Stern, tells great stories full of action, drama and character development in Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3.

Art:
Byrne pencils and inks 8 of the 10 issues reprinted here. He gives us lots of amazing looking worlds in the Negative Zone and also pencils plenty of great fight scenes. I've always loved this great two-page spread ever since I first saw it in Fantastic Four #256:

The artistic high point is the portion that reprints Fantastic Four #252. This was the first "widescreen" comic book ever published and it had to be turned on its side to be read. Byrne makes the most of this wider canvas and the art still looks amazing 38 years after its original publication. Here are some widescreen pages from that story:

The Avengers story features breakdowns by Byrne with finishes by Joe Sinnott. They previously collaborated on FF art several years earlier and this story gives us nice art that shows off the talents of both artists.  

The story from Thing #2 features pencils from Ron Wilson inked by Byrne. Wilson always provided nice Marvel house style art and Byrne's inks over Wilson helps makes this story feel more connected to the stories that ran in the FF's series.

In addition to great depictions of the FF and their foes, Byrne gives us a brief cameo of Daredevil that makes you wish he'd drawn the character more often during the Bronze Age.

She-Hulk later became a character identified with Byrne, when he added her to the FF and when he wrote and drew her solo series. Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3 includes an early Byrne depiction of the character.

Byrne even sneaks in an appearance by Al Capp's Lil' Abner!:

How does it look?:
Here are two pages scanned from Fantastic Four #257:

And here's how the same pages look in Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3:

Looks great to me. I don't notice any weird re-coloring.  

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3 features beautiful art and great stories from a creator who loved and understood the Fantastic Four as well as any creator who told their stories since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  

J.A. Morris' Rating:

4 Sals!

Joe Sinnott:1926-2020

We lost another giant of the comics industry the other day. Joe Sinnott, one of the greatest inkers in this history of comic books, died this past Thursday at the age of 93.

Sinnott's career began in 1950 and ended when he retired from inking the Spider-Man daily comic strip in 2019.  He was best known for inking Jack Kirby on the Fantastic Four from 1966 to 1971.

Sinnott was also one of the most prolific inkers of the Bronze Age. He embellished some of the best pencilers of the 70s and early-80s, including John and Sal Buscema, George Perez, John Byrne, Keith Pollard, Rich Buckler and Don Perlin.

Sinnott inked Fantastic Four for 15 years and helped maintain a look for the characters that stayed consistent in spite of the many pencilers that came and went. However, Sinnott was so skilled that his inks never overpowered the work of the great pencilers he embellished. Perhaps that was his greatest talent.

John Byrne inked by Joe Sinnott, from a 1978 Marvel calendar.

I send my deepest sympathies to Sinnott's friends and loved ones. From what I've read in the last 48 hours, "Joltin' Joe" was almost universally loved and respected by everyone in the comics industry. I never got the chance to meet Sinnott, but if I had, I would've told him thanks for all the great work and thank you for bringing so much enjoyment to my life and the lives so many other fans.  

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #193-202, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 and Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1
Written by Marv Wolfman and Bill Mantlo.
Penciled by Keith Pollard, John Byne, Sal Buscema, Rich Buckler, Al Milgrom 
Inked by Inked by Frank Giacoia, Jim Mooney, M. Hands and Terry Austin.

(Message from your trusted Bronze Age Reprint reviewer: Some of this material has been published in another reprint book that I reviewed here a few years ago. So if some of this review looks slightly familiar...it's not your imagination!)

Summary: Peter Parker's crime fighting career as Spider-Man began when his Uncle Ben was killed in his own home by a criminal known only as "The Burglar." Spider-Man captured the Burglar, but was shocked when he learned he could have apprehended him before Ben was killed. This taught Peter a great lesson about power and responsibility.

In present-day New York, Peter has matured into one of the world's greatest heroes. But now, the Burglar has returned! He believes there's a treasure hidden in the Parkers' house in Queens, which is why he broke into the house and shot Uncle Ben years earlier. The Burglar invades the (now-unoccupied) home and tears it to shreds. After failing to find the treasure that way, he decides that he'll have to get Aunt May to reveal its location. The Burglar makes it known that he will resort to deadly force if necessary. 

At the same time, Spider-Man's enemy the Fly is back in town. The Fly tries to kill Spidey and J. Jonah Jameson. He later attempts to rob New York's Metropolitan Museum Of Art, but Spider-Man intervenes and a slug fest in a blizzard ensues. 

Subsequently, Spider-Man tangles with a new menace who calls herself the Black Cat! This is tough for the ol' webhead, since he's never been comfortable fighting women. Black Cat is attracted to Spidey and isn't shy about it...and he finds himself attracted to her as well! They share a kiss in the middle of a battle, but Spider-Man is determined to bring her to justice.

Black Cat's main objective is to break into prison and free her father, famed cat burglar Walter Hardy.  Spidey tries to prevent this, but ends up with a broken arm. He follows the Cat to her family's house, where she ends up falling to her (apparent) death.

While Spider-Man is fighting crime, Peter Parker's personal life is in shambles. Mary Jane has recently turned down his marriage proposal. When he misses a date because he's busy fighting crime, MJ dumps Parker. Peter later finds himself in a love triangle with his first love Betty Brant and her husband Ned Leeds. J. Jonah Jameson fires Parker from his the Daily Bugle photography job. 

But the most crushing blow hits when his Aunt May dies of a heart attack! 

Things only get worse when the Kingpin of crime decides it's time to exact revenge on the wallcrawler.  It's a knock-down-fight, made tougher for Spider-Man because he's nursing a broken arm! Spidey barely survives his fight with the Kingpin. 

Later, Spidey's old foe Mysterio (who is working with the Burglar) zaps him with a gun that takes away his Spider-powers! The de-powered Parker is later captured by the Burglar.  

He wants Peter to tell him where the treasure is hidden in the old Parker house. The Burglar tortures Peter to get the information, but he never caves. However, the Burglar has one trump card left to play. Will Parker regain his superpowers and defeat the Burglar?

Sometime after that, an underworld criminal named Jimbo Ryan kills secret service agent Kent Blake, while making Blake's death look like a suicide. A friend of Blake reaches out to Spider-Man and asks him to investigate the circumstances of Blake's "suicide." Spider-Man is reluctant but agrees to investigate after meeting Blake's family and learning that his suicide means they won't get any life insurance.  

We also learn that Spider-Man's arch foe Doctor Octopus is looking for Ryan. His plans for a super-weapon have been stolen by Jimbo while he was working for Doc Ock.  

As Peter Parker, Spider-Man infiltrates Ryan's gang and goes undercover, using the alias "Kid Parker." Spidey's plan goes sideways when Doc Ock finds them and recognizes Parker. Octopus takes off with Ryan, planning to kill him.  

After locating Doctor Ock, Spider-Man battles the villain and rips out of his tentacles in the process. Doctor Octopus flees to regroup. Spider-Man later learns that Doc Ock and his minions are planning to raid New York Harbor and steal a top secret nuclear submarine from the Navy. Spidey is the only one who can stop Ock, and it culminates with an underwater slugfest!

Finally, Spider-Man stumbles on a shootout between gangsters and the costumed vigilante known as the Punisher. Spidey joins the fray and knocks out a few of the gunman. Punisher says Spider-Man's interference cost him information and stuns the wallcrawler with one of his "mercy" bullets.  

We learn that Punisher's target is the drug empire of Lorenzo Jacobi. He's currently on trial and his henchmen plan to spring Jacobi, which the Punisher aims to prevent. When the jailbreak happens, neither Spider-Man or Punisher stop Jacobi from getting away.

Punisher investigates a new lead, which takes him to Peter Parker's apartment. Peter is shocked when the Punisher says he knows Parker's secret!  

Has the Punisher figured out that Spider-Man and Peter are one and the same?  

Plus, Peter struggles in his new job as photographer for the Daily Globe newspaper.

And Spidey's greatest detractor, J. Jonah Jameson, has gone insane. He winds up in a mental hospital and loses control of the Daily Bugle!

Review:

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 opens with a good, long arc which is followed by two shorter stories. It's an enjoyable, action-packed, and entertaining book.

In case you don't know, the Burglar's name is never revealed in this story and has not been revealed to this day. And that's how it should be. I don't think I'm spoiling anything here by mentioning that Aunt May is discovered to be alive after all.

Story:
The stories featured in Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 are very good. Marv Wolfman does a nice job juggling all the characters that come and go. Wolfman began writing & editing Amazing Spider-Man with issue #182 and this story is the high point of his tenure.  

In addition to the Burglar's return, these stories include the first appearance of the Black Cat, who would go on to be a major character in the 1980s. 

Mysterio is also handled well here. In recent years, Ol' Fishbowl Head has been turned into a bit of a joke, treated like a loser. But he's part of Spider-Man's original rogues gallery. When he strips Spider-Man of his powers, he feels like an A-list villain.

The two-part battle with Doctor Octopus has been a favorite of mine for a while. The first part, written by Wolfman, from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 is the best part of this tale. Part two, from Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1, was written by Bill Mantlo. It's a slight step down from Wolfman's portion, but it's a fun story with one of the better Spidey/Doc Ock battles of the Bronze Age.  

The only problem I have is the way Peter acts in the early part of the story. His old girlfriend Betty Brant Leeds is going through some marital strife and turns to Parker. Peter eventually rejects her in a very cruel manner, something that's very out of character for him. Yes, he immediately regrets the way he handled it and only did it in order to get Betty and Ned to reconcile, but the damage is done.

It ends with a good two-part Punisher story.  

I also enjoyed the scenes at the Daily Globe, Peter's new employer. It's a shame that Wolfman didn't stay with the book. I would've liked to have seen Parker stay at the Globe a bit longer.  

Art:
The art in Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 is always good and sometimes spectacular.  

This book doesn't have a "unified" look, since there are multiple artists handling the pencils. But that's okay, when the pencilers are Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema and Al Milgrom, all great artists of the Bronze Age. Jim Mooney (a great penciler in his own right) does most of the inking and he does a good job as well.

The X-Men "dream team" of penciler John Byrne and inker Terry Austin provide art for the first part of the Doc Ock fight and it's some of their best work. Here's a nice example of their art from this book:

Rich Buckler and Jim Mooney provide good solid Marvel house style art for the rest of the Ock tale. 

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan from an original copy of Amazing Spider-Man #197:

This is how the same pages appear in this book:

Extras:
At the end of the book, you'll find six pages of original art, two alternate covers, two house ads and  the original sketch of Black Cat by Carmine Infantino and Steve Leialoha.

Rating:

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 features a great sequel to Spidey's origin story that gives Peter some closure. In the end, Spider-Man realizes he's lucky to have his powers and his encounter with the Burglar reinvigorates his desire to fight crime and make the world a better place.  The Punisher and Doc Ock stories are also enjoyable and this book is highly recommended.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!