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: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7

Reprints Uncanny X-Men #151-159, X-Men Annual #5, Avengers Annual #10

Written by Chris Claremont.

Penciled by Dave Cockrum, Michael Golden, Brent Anderson, Bob McLeod, Jim Sherman and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Inked by Josef Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Armando Gil and Bob Wiacek. 

Carol Danvers, the Avenger known as Ms. Marvel is attacked and left for dead in San Francisco Bay. She's rescued by Spider-Woman and taken to the X-Men's mansion. Their leader Professor X hopes to rehabilitate Carol.

We later learn that Ms. Marvel was defeated by Rogue, an evil mutant who has the power to temporarily absorb superpowers by merely touching superheroes. She has stolen Ms. Marvel's powers and memories. Rogue touched Danvers for too long and has permanently absorbed the powers.  

Rogue is the newest member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a team of super-powered criminals that previously battled the X-Men. She and team leader Mystique team up to break their teammates out of prison. Thankfully the Avengers learn of the Brotherhood's plans and battle the villains. However, the odds are stacked against them, since Rogue has already taken out Captain America and Thor. Can the Avengers overcome the Brotherhood?!  

Subsequently, three members of the Fantastic Four are captured by the alien race known as the Badoon. The lone FF-er left is Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl. She goes to the X-Men for help rescuing her teammates. The X-Men and Sue are assisted in the fight with the Badoon by their friend Arkon!

When the X-Men return to Earth, they receive some shocking news: their youngest member, Kitty Pryde, is being removed from Xavier's school and transferred to Massachusetts Academy! It's a plot concocted by the X-Men's foe Emma Frost, AKA the White Queen, who serves as the Academy's headmaster. She's used her mental powers to coerce Kitty's parents into sending her to the Academy. 

When Storm takes Kitty to the new school, Emma zaps Ororo with a gun that causes them to swap minds and powers. In Storm's body, the White Queen leads an attack on the X-Mansion with the help of her Hellfire Club teammates and several mutant-hunting Sentinels!

Later, the X-men are relaxing at the mansion, but Colossus' sister Ilyanna is having trouble getting to sleep. Kitty Pryde tells Ilyanna a fantastical fairy tale where the X-Men are pirates and wizards!

After that, Storm and Cyclops are having a quiet dinner at the mansion when a spaceship crashes outside. Inside the ship they find Corsair of the Starjammers, who also happens to be Scott's father. Corsair is being chased by Sidrian hunters from space. The heroes escape and defeat the hunters, but the X-Mansion is destroyed in the process.  

Cyclops, Storm and Corsair are beamed aboard a Shi'ar spaceship. Their friend Lilandra, empress of the Shi'ar, has been kidnapped and taken to Earth. Acting Shi'ar leaders Araki and Samedor tell the X-Men that if Liliandra is not rescued, Earth will be destroyed. When they return to Earth, the X-Men learn that Lilandra's sister Deathbird is behind the kidnapping. The heroes battle Deathbird and her allies, the Brood. Colossus is severely injured in the fight and is near death.  

It turns out that the Deathbird is receiving help from within the inner circle of the Shi'ar Empire itself! While most of the X-Men are battling the Brood, it's up to Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler to save the day and discover who has betrayed Lilandra. Things get even more complicated when it appears that Dark Phoenix has returned from the dead!

Back on Earth, the X-Men learn that anti-mutant sentiment is on the rise. They fear that any information the government has on the team will be used against them. Wolverine, Storm, and Carol Danvers sneak into the Pentagon to erase the X-Men's file from the DOD computers. However, things don't go as planned when Rogue and Mystique also show up at the Pentagon. Can Storm and Wolverine keep their foes tied up long enough for Carol to erase the files?  

Finally, the X-Men visit their friend Misty Knight's apartment in New York City. Misty is away, but her new housemate, fashion designer Harmony Young, welcomes the heroes. When Storm goes out for a walk in Manhattan and doesn't return right away, the rest of the team, especially Kitty, grows worried. They are shocked when they learn that Ororo has fallen under the power of Dracula, lord of vampires! Can even the combined might of the X-Men defeat Dracula?   

J.A. Morris says:

I first read these stories when they were brand new back in 1981-82 and have always had mixed feelings about them.  

Story:

Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 opens with a reprint of Avengers Annual #10, which was written by Chris Claremont. This story introduced future-X-Man Rogue and it's an absolute classic. The Brotherhood takes out half of the Avengers before the main battle even begins. Rogue is depicted as being extremely dangerous and powerful. She defeats Ms. Marvel, Captain America, and Thor in her first appearance! The X-Men's role is limited in the story, but it sets up the subplot of Carol Danvers living in the X-Mansion to get help from Professor X with regaining her memories.  

This story is also famous for righting wrongs that were done to Ms. Marvel in Avengers #200 (I'll go into more details about that in a forthcoming review).

Next up is a reprint from another annual that features the X-Men teaming up with the Fantastic Four and Arkon to fight the Badoon. I've never been a big fan of the Badoon who are rather generic green aliens (I've always seen them as skrulls without the ability to shape-change) or Arkon, who is basically an outer-space version of Conan the Barbarian. Not a great story and the presence of the Fantastic Four doesn't add much of interest.

The Hellfire/Sentinels story is okay, but not particularly memorable. It's a typical mind-swapping story.

Kitty Pryde's fairy tale is another high point and has long been a fan favorite. It's basically a simplified version of the Dark Phoenix saga told in a pirates/wizards setting. It might not be an "essential" X-Men tale, but it's charming and fun.  

The bulk of Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 is taken up by a four-part story involving Lilandra, Deathbird and the Starjammers. It goes on for too long and the stakes are so huge (Earth being destroyed) that we never believe the X-Men will fail. Colossus' critical injury doesn't add much to the story either. I don't know how most X-Fans feel about the Shi'ar, but I never found them very interesting. I feel the same way about Deathbird.  

This story is important for one reason: the introduction of the Brood. These alien "sleazoids" first seem to be nothing but hired thugs working for Deathbird, but they would become a major adversary of the X-Men shortly after this.  

Kitty plays around with a Shi'ar costume-making machine!

The Rogue and Dracula stories that end the book are both pretty good. A nice way to finish a book of inconsistent stories.

Art:

The art is generally better than the stories contained in this Masterworks book.  

Michael Golden penciled (with inks by Armando Gil) the Avengers/Brotherhood adventure and it looks gorgeous. Here's a nice example of Golden's work:

Armando Gil provides nice embellishment to Golden.

Brent Anderson provided art for the Badooon story and Hellfire Club tale, respectively. They both bring some nice Marvel house style art to this book.  

Dave Cockrum drew most of Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 and fans of his work will be pleased. He obviously loved drawing pirates and pirate-influenced costumes. This is readily evident in the costumes worn by the X-Men in Kitty's fairy tale and the Starjammers, who are "space pirates." 

Cockrum's most interesting design is the Acanti, a race of alien space whales who the Brood use as living spaceships.   

Bill Sienkiewicz drew the Dracula story and it looks great. At this point in his career, Sienkiewicz was transitioning from his "Neal Adams"-influenced style to the more abstract pencils. So we get a great combination of his early and later art.  

How Does It Look?:

Here's a two-page spread of the Acanti as it appeared in Uncanny X-Men #156:

It looks like this in Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7:

Extras:

This book contains four pages of original art plus a Crazy Magazine cover that features the X-Men.  

Rating:

Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 contains some stories I've loved for years. I'm happy to see the Avengers annual, the fairy tale, and the Dracula story get reprinted in the Masterworks format. But this book gets otherwise bogged down in mediocrities like the Deathbird story and the Hellfire two-parter. Hardcore Dave Cockrum fans might enjoy the book a bit more than others.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

2.5 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!