FANTASTIC FOUR #267

"A SMALL LOSS"
Writer-Artist: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Michael Higgins
Editor: Bob Budiansky | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Walter Langowski convinces Reed that only Doctor Otto Octavius’s knowledge can save Sue and her unborn child. Reed heads for the South Brooklyn Psychiatric Facility and appeals to Octavius’s humanity. In a moment of docility, Octavius agrees to help.

However, en route back to the hospital, Octavius catches sight of one of the Daily Bugle’s anti-Spider-Man billboards. The image of his hated enemy sends him into a psychotic frenzy and he mentally summons his mechanical arms from lockdown nearby. Doctor Octopus battles Mister Fantastic over Manhattan, but Reed manages to shut the arms down. This time appealing to Octopus’s pride, Reed convinces him again to aid Sue. They return to the hospital together, but are too late. Sue is alive, but the baby has perished.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: She-Hulk notes that she joined the Fantastic Four in search of respect, after having been considered a joke by the public at large even during her time as an Avenger. She also recalls her past life as “a hotshot lady lawyer in California,” and reminds readers that the Richardses’ unborn child was conceived in the Negative Zone circa issues 251 – 256.

HERCULES: PRINCE OF POWER, VOLUME 2

"MY LOVE IS... GREEN?" | "RED WOLF STALKS THE STARS!"
"DEADLY LEGACY" | "A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE!"
Writer/Artist: Bob Layton
Letterer: Rick Parker | Colorist: Christie Scheele | Editor: Bob Budiansky
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Something became clear to me as I began reading Bob Layton's second HERCULES mini-series. This is all one big "What If" story. I recall that Volume One began with narration stating that Hercules was returning to Olympus following his adventures with the Avengers. I simply took this to mean that he had recently left the Avengers in the continuity of the time, but apparently not. It actually meant that the story was starting after all of Hercules's adventures on Earth, at some undisclosed time in the future. Layton did not do a good job of explaining this.

However, Volume Two clears things up right off the bat as we join Hercules, 400 years later and still on his exile to learn humility. Narration indicates that Hercules spent some time on the brewery planet we last left him on, before returning to his travels across the universe with the Recorder.