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: Spider-Woman Volume 1

Reprints Marvel Spotlight #32, Marvel Two-In-One #29-33 and Spider-Woman #1-8
Written by Marv Wolfman and Archie Goodwin.
Penciled by Sal Buscema, Ron Wilson, Carmine Infantino and John Buscema.
Inked by Jim Mooney, Pablo Marcos, Tony De Zuniga, Steve Leialoha, Sam Grainger, Rick Bryant and Al Gordon.

Variant cover.

The criminal organization known as Hydra has a new powerful agent. Her name is Arachne and she possesses spider-powers, such as the ability to climb walls, glide through the air and the power to shoot venom blasts from her fingertips.

Arachne invades a SHIELD base with two objectives: to free her boyfriend Jared (who is also an agent of Hydra) and to eliminate SHIELD's director Nick Fury.

When she attacks Fury, Jared gets in the way and is fatally wounded. Arachne tries to comfort him, but with his final breaths, Jared tells her not to touch him. Jared only professed love for Arachne because Hydra leader Otto Vermis ordered Jared to pretend he cared for her. She confronts Vermis and learns that she was once a spider and was evolved into a human by the High Evolutionary! Arachne is shocked and distraught to learn this and turns on her Hydra bosses.

Vermis is killed during the ensuing battle and Arachne wanders off alone to find answers about her past.

Some months later, Ben Grimm, better known as the Thing of the Fantastic Four, and his girlfriend Alicia Masters are in London seeking to meet Dr. Louis Kort, an expert in cybernetics and bio-genetics. When they arrive at Kort's home, it's been ransacked and Kort is nowhere to be found.

When Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu, hears Alicia's screams emanating from Kort's residence, he mistakenly thinks Ben is responsible for Kort's disappearance. Shang-Chi doesn't recognize the Thing and attacks him.

After a brief battle, Ben and Alicia explain who they are. The two crimefighters agree to collaborate and search for Kort.

They discover Hydra has captured Kort. Hydra forces Kort to use his scientific expertise to revive Arachne, who is now called Spider-Woman, from a state of suspended animation. Through a flashback, we learn that Hydra captured her after she turned on them.

When Spider-Woman is awakened, she is hypnotized by Hydra and ordered to attack Ben Grimm.  During their fight, Spider-Woman captures Alicia and turns her over to Hydra.

Hydra has a formula that will create an army of spider-women that will do their bidding and they want to test it on Alicia. It does not work and Alicia is turned into a strange spider-monster.

Spider-Woman's hypnosis wears off and she joins forces with the Thing. They need to find a way to stop Alicia without hurting her. Thankfully, Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl arrives to lend a hand. Can the three heroes defeat Alicia and restore her humanity?

Later, the Thing visits Stonehenge where he and Spider-Woman are attacked by a quartet of demons. In order to defeat theses monsters, they'll need the assistance of Modred the Mystic, who possesses magical powers taught to him by Merlin himself!

After the battle, Modred informs Spider-Woman that in spite of what Hydra told her, she was born a human being. Modred reaches into her mind and reveals her origins. Her real name is Jessica Drew, her parents were named Meriem and Jonathan.  Her father was an experimental geneticist. Jonathan moved his family to Mount Wundagore where he built a laboratory. He was assisted by Herbert Wyndham, another expert in genetics.

One day, Jessica contracted radiation poisoning and was placed in a cryogenic chamber to save her life. Jonathan injected her with spider extract, hoping it would cure her. But Jessica remained comatose. Jonathan disappeared shortly after his wife Meriem died, but his assistant Herbert stayed in Wundagore and tried to save Jessica. Herbert eventually became the High Evolutionary and succeeded in saving Jessica. After years of incubation, Jessica was saved and was now half-human, half spider.  

Modred reveals Spider-Woman's true origin.

The knowledge of her past does not immediately improve Jessica's life. At times, Spider-Woman is forced to steal food in order to survive. She is pursued by the police and encounters a SHIELD agent named Jerry Hunt. He tries to apprehend Spider-Woman, but accidentally unmasks her. Hunt thinks her face looks familiar.

Jessica meets Jerry Hunt.

With her identity compromised, Jessica dyes her hair black and redesigns her mask. This will hopefully prevent Jerry or anyone else from guessing her identity. Shortly after this change, Jerry Hunt is shot and Spider-Woman provides the blood transfusion that saves his life. Though he barely knows Spider-Woman, Jerry tells a colleague that he's falling in love with her.

Later, a criminal named "Slappy" Struthers tries to steal the sword Excalibur from a London museum. When he touches the sword, he hears the voice of Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur's half-sister. Morgan commands Struthers to pick up the sword and act as her servant on Earth. Struthers is given a steed and a suit of armor and calls himself Excaliber.

Simultaneously, Spider-Woman meets an old man named Magnus. He works as a fortune teller, but it's a cover for his true identity. Magnus is an ancient wizard who battled Morgan Le Fay centuries earlier. Magnus will serve as a friend and mentor to Jessica.

Spider-Woman later decides to depart London for the United States and Magnus accompanies her. She leaves a note, hoping Jerry will search for her in the states. Jessica and Magnus rent an apartment in Los Angeles.

Subsequently, Spider-Woman battles a criminal known as Brother Grimm. At the moment of her victory over Grimm, she is taken captive by a crazed vigilante who calls himself Hangman. He takes Spider-Woman to a mysterious old house and locks her in a basement dungeon.

The basement seems to come to life, with ghostly versions of people she knows flying at her.  It turns out to be the work of Morgan Le Fay, who has followed Spider-Woman to Los Angeles.  Can Spider-Woman defeat Morgan and escape the dungeon?

She will get some assistance in the battle when Magnus summons Werewolf By Night to the dungeon!

Plus, Spider-Woman investigates the death of her father.

Review:
Spider-Woman was originally created by Marvel to prevent another company from owning the name. But she's still around nearly four decades later. Not bad for a character which such a dubious origin.

Story:
I'll admit that most of the stories reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Woman Volume 1 were new to me.

Archie Goodwin wrote the first story in this book, reprinted from Marvel Spotlight #32, which contains Spider-Woman's first appearance and origin. I've always found the bit about Spider-Woman being a spider evolved into a woman to be a bit silly, even for a comic book. It's not a great origin story, but it's a decent introduction for the character. Marvel supposedly had no intention of producing any more Spider-Woman tales.

Marv Wolfman wrote the rest of the stories reprinted here, starting with a four-parter from Marvel Two-In-One. I always enjoyed this series and Ben Grimm was one of my favorite characters during the Bronze Age. A fight between the Thing and Shang-Chi could've been silly, but Wolfman makes it work. He does a nice job of bringing Spider-Woman into the story. She's a reluctant villain who ends up teaming with the Thing to stop Hydra.

After that, Wolfman writes a good retelling of Spider-Woman's origin story, getting rid of the "evolved from a spider" business. I found myself caring about Jessica Drew from the beginning and that's a credit to Wolfman's skills. He also wastes no time trying to build a supporting cast for Spider-Woman's solo tales. Jerry Hunt is a good romantic interest for Jessica. I was happy that Jessica had Magnus to serve as her mentor and confidant.

I'm guessing Wolfman moved Jessica to Los Angeles to keep her as far as possible from Spider-Man. The presence of characters like Modred, Morgan Le Fay (who would become Spider-Woman's arch enemy) and Excaliber also helps make her stories much more magical and mystical than the average Bronze Age Spider-Man adventure. Spider-Woman would not meet Spidey until Spider-Woman #20, published a year after Wolfman's departure from the series.

The weakest portion of the book is the story that features the Hangman. He's introduced with fanfare in the beginning of the tale, seeking Brother Grimm. Hangman kills one of Grimm's accomplices.

Then he shows up during the story's climactic battle, captures Spider-Woman and imprisons her in a dungeon. And then...Hangman disappears while Morgan Le Fay shows up in the dungeon and attacks Spider-Woman. In other words, Hangman has no reason to be in the story. Plus, his capture of Spider-Woman seems a bit too easy.

The book ends with two offbeat short stories that feel a bit like episodes of The Twilight Zone. The first features a man who is over 200 years old who is cursed with immortality. He asks Spider-Woman to help him die. It's followed by "The Suit," which is built around a suit worn by a fallen gangster that may have supernatural powers. Spider-Woman serves as more of a supporting character in both shorts, but they end the book on a high note.

Art:
While the stories are a mixed bag, the art is excellent throughout the book. Sal Buscema, embellished by Jim Mooney, provided the art in Spider-Woman's first appearance and their art looks great. The Marvel Two-In-One portion features pencils by Ron Wilson and John Buscema, both inked by Pablo Marcos.

The story that features Alicia transformed into a spider-monster could have been silly. But Wilson and Marcos make Alicia's metamorphosis look legitimately scary. The London location also gives Wilson and John Buscema a chance to draw Ben Grimm in a different locale. Wilson does some interesting things with panels and layouts, like this two-page spread:

Spider-Woman's solo tales feature pencils by Carmine Infantino embellished by multiple inkers.   Infantino's art here is very similar to his pencils on the Nova and Star Wars series published around the same time.  ony De Zuniga's inks give Infantino's art an almost Ditko-esque look.

Steve Leialoha also provided inks for several issues. His contributions give the Infantino pencils a nice slick, cartoony appearance.

Jerry, Jessica and Magnus during a rare moment of relaxation.

The art is pleasant to look at from beginning to end.

How Does It Look:
Here's a scan from my old copy of Marvel Two-In-One #32:

This is how the same pages look in Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Woman Volume 1:

Extras:
Marv Wolfman wrote a nice new introduction for the book. I get the impression the character means a lot to Wolfman, and he mentions that he named Jessica Drew after his daughter. We also get an editorial from Wolfman that originally appeared in Spider-Woman #1, a 1978 Marvel house ad, and two pages of original art.

Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Woman Volume 1 features mostly good stories, even if none represent the best of the Bronze Age. The art, Wolfman's scripts, and the Marvel-Two-In-One stories make this a book an enjoyable reading experience.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 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.