FANTASTIC FOUR #256

"THE ANNIHILATION GAMBIT!"
Story & Art: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Al Milgrom | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: At the dimensional interface between the Negative Zone and our world, the Fantastic Four begin work on a plan to return home without the use of their destroyed Negative Zone portal. Twelve days later, the plan is complete and the FF have created a spectral version of the Baxter Building within the Negative Zone. Reed activates a frequency modulator which should send the group home if someone in the real world has breached the barrier created by Annihilus.

And on Earth, Captain Marvel of the Avengers pierces the field and enters the Baxter Building. Annihilus is crippled by an explosion and hurled back into the Negative Zone as the Fantastic Four return home. The Thing finds Alicia Masters severely injured and rushes her to the hospital. The Avengers enter the Baxter Building and confer with Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch while the Invisible Girl scours the building for young Franklin. She finds him also injured, and the FF and Avengers depart immediately for the hospital as well.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: This issue is half of a semi-crossover with AVENGERS. While FANTASTIC FOUR 256 tells the story of the FF working to escape from the Negative Zone, AVENGERS 233, by Roger Stern and co-plotter/penciler John Byrne, shows us the Avengers struggling to penetrate Annihilus’s barrier and ultimately succeeding thanks to Captain Marvel.

FANTASTIC FOUR #255

"TRAPPED!"
Chronicler: John Byrne | Letterer: Jim Novak | Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Al Milgrom | Tall: Jim Shooter

The Plot: As Daredevil patrols Manhattan, he bumps into an invisible barrier and sets out to find its cause. Meanwhile, Annihilus reveals to Alicia Masters that he plans to merge the Negative Zone with our reality, destroying both. He then reveals his true face to Alicia and prepares to kill her.

In the Negative Zone, the Invisible Girl, the Thing, and the Human Torch fight Taranith, but he escapes to the bridge of his starship and takes off with the Fantastic Four aboard. As the FF make their way to the bridge, Mister Fantastic’s intellect lives on in Taranith’s computer and he asserts control over the ship. Taranith departs in an escape pod, but it explodes.

Reed sets course for the Negative Zone portal, and two weeks later, as the FF make their final approach, he gains control over his body using a cyber-helmet. But the FF are soon alerted to the fact that the portal has been destroyed, leaving them stranded in the Negative Zone.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Annihilus explains to Alicia that his body is wasting away thanks to an encounter with rival warlord Blastaar in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #75.

INTRODUCTION SPECULATION

The following began as a footnote to last week's UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS volume 3 review, but grew so long I decided to turn it into its own post:

As I've noted before, whenever Marvel puts out a Silver or Bronze Age Omnibus, they include the introductions from prior Marvel Masterworks volumes which collected the same material. In the case of UNCANNY X-MEN, when Marvel started the line in the late eighties, most of their volumes featured intros from Stan Lee. Somehow, the first UNCANNY Masterworks had an intro from Lee but also one from Chris Claremont, possibly depending on the edition (I know mine had one by Lee, but the UNCANNY OMNIBUS volume 1 features the Claremont one, which I assume was produced for the very first printing in 1989).

Moving on, when the Masterworks program was revived in the mid-00s, volumes 4 and 5 featured intros from Claremont, 6 had one from inker Terry Austin, and then editor Louise Simonson arrived for volume 7 and the subsequent 8 and 9. I have no objections to Simonson; I'm quite happy she penned at least one introduction. My point, really, is -- why not spread the introduction love? If Chris Claremont is currently unwilling or unable to do them, what about others who worked on the series? Sadly, penciler Dave Cockrum passed away before Marvel got around to reprinting his second run in 2008 -- but what about his successor, Paul Smith? Or even longtime letter Tom Orzechowski and colorist Glynis Oliver -- were either of them approached to write an intro? They got the inker to do one, for Pete's sake (for a volume in which he worked on three out of ten collected issues)!

RED ONE, VOLUME 1

"WELCOME TO AMERICA"
Created by Xavier Dorison & Terry Dodson
Script: Xavier Dorison | Pencils & Colors: Terry Dodson
Inks: Rachel Dodson | Letters: Clayton Cowles

It seems working on MUSE was an agreeable experience for Terry Dodson, as he subsequently chose not to re-up his Marvel contract and decided instead to continue working in the European comic market. The first follow-up to MUSE comes in the form of RED ONE, co-created by Dodson and French writer Xavier Dorison, which received a domestic release from Image in 2015 in the form of two single comic book issues followed by a lovely oversized hardcover album collecting both chapters together.

I had high hopes for this one for a few reasons. One, though I found the ultimate resolution of MUSE to be a bit iffy, I really did enjoy the story up until the eleventh hour twists came into play, and I found Dodson's artwork and colors to be tremendous. Two, from what advance material I saw, RED ONE was to be set in the seventies and feature a Cold War-themed plotline. For reasons even I don't entirely understand, I love the seventies. I'm fascinated by the decade and I tend to enjoy almost any period piece set in that timeframe.

Unfortunately, this first volume doesn't quite live up to my expectations.

The story concerns a fundamentalist movement in 1977 California, headed by gubernatorial candidate Jacky Core, which supports the actions of a vigilante called the Carpenter -- a man on a mission to cleanse the Los Angeles area of "undesirable" elements in the most violent ways imaginable. The KGB objects to Core's position, believing that if elected, she will work against an upcoming nuclear treaty and cause trouble for the Soviet Union down the line. To combat the Carpenter and undermine Core, KGB higher-ups send their best agent, Vera Yelnikov, to California to become a superhero and stand up for the Carpenter's oppressed victims.

FANTASTIC FOUR #254

"THE MINDS OF MANTRACORA"
Writer/Artist: John Byrne | Letterer: Jim Novak | Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Al Milgrom | Overmind: Jim Shooter

The Plot: On a planet in the Negative Zone, a being called Taranith deems two of his followers worthy and takes them into an underground cavern where they are confronted by some unseen horror. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four enter Taranith’s town incognito and rent a hotel room. Johnny and Ben explore the community and are forced to use their powers when a group of muggers sets upon them. Meanwhile, at the hotel, Sue and Reed are also attacked, but the fight is stopped by Taranith.

On Earth, Annihilus has used parts from Mister Fantastic’s Negative Zone portal to construct a huge device which he promptly activates. The machine pumps out radiation which drives all humans in the Baxter Building and surrounding structures to flee in panic. The Avengers' She-Hulk and the Wasp attempt to investigate, but are stopped by an invisible barrier.

In the Negative Zone, Taranith hosts the Fantastic Four for dinner, but drugs Reed and turns out the lights. When the Human Torch lights up the blackness, Reed and Taranith are gone. The alien reveals to Reed that he is not of this world, and that he has been connecting various worthy subjects to a large device which drains their intellects to restore power to his long-dead starship. Reed’s superior intelligence provides the final boost he needs to escape the planet.

The rest of the team arrive to save Reed, but Taranith reveals they are too late: their leader's mind has been drained and he is now a mental vegetable.

FANTASTIC FOUR #253

"QUEST"
Story & Art: John Byrne | Letterer: Jim Novak | Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Al Milgrom | Seeker: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The Fantastic Four’s exploratory module is picked up by a gargantuan spacecraft from the long-dead planet Kestor. After a brief skirmish, the Kestorans welcome the FF aboard and explain that 10,000 years ago, their planet was destroyed by a supernova. The entire population of Kestor was placed into suspended animation aboard the ship, which was to take them via auto-pilot to a new planet. But the ship was damaged as it left, and its computer awakened five hundred Kestorans to crew it. However its memory banks were also destroyed, and the ship has traversed the Negative Zone aimlessly for 10,000 years, now crewed by the descendants of those original five hundred.

Reed repairs the computer system and the Kestorans find the planet they sought, but its atmosphere proves incompatible with them. Reed argues that this is due to evolution, and the Kestorans in stasis should be fine on this new world. But the Captain disagrees and orders his ship away from the planet, sending his men to attack the FF during departure. The ship’s first officer then reveals a secret to the captain which proves too much for him to handle, and he dies.

The first officer calls off the attack and explains to the FF that all the Kestorans in stasis perished in the same blast that damaged the ship 10,000 years ago, and only his bloodline has known the secret for all this time. The Fantastic Four leave the Kestorans to continue their endless quest.

UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS VOLUME 3

Hardcover, 2016. Collects 1982-84's UNCANNY X-MEN #154 - 175, X-MEN ANNUAL #6 & 7, SPECIAL EDITION X-MEN #1, MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #5, WOLVERINE #1 - 4, and MAGIK: STORM AND ILLYANA #1 - 4.

I like the X-Men, for the most part, throughout their entire history (at least up to around 2001 or so when I stopped following them regularly). But there are some eras I only tolerate, and others I consider definitive. For me, the most definitive period in X-Men lore is UNCANNY X-MEN issues 94 - 175 (technically I prefer to include 176 as well, but I won't quibble if a collection spanning that stretch omits it). This volume completes that run for me, and if Marvel never produces another UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS, I'll be content.

While it's the Chris Claremont/John Byrne material which is the heart of those eighty or so issues, there's plenty to enjoy beyond Byrne's departure. Dave Cockrum, who shepherded in the era of the "new" X-Men with Len Wein and then Claremont on writing chores, returned as series penciler with issue 145, and the first chunk of his second run was included in the second UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS. As I discussed when I covered that book a couple years ago, once upon a time Marvel's Omnibuses followed a pretty strict routine of cramming a few previously published Marvel Masterworks volumes into one book and sending it off to the printers, with no regard to story flow. This resulted in UNCANNY OMNIBUS volume 1 ending in the middle of the "Dark Phoenix Saga".

Not so anymore! UNCANNY OMNIBUS 2 broke the trend and reprinted only a portion of the seventh UNCANNY X-MEN MASTERWORKS, stopping after issue 153. The reason, as we see here, was to avoid separating the long "Brood saga" into two books. With some interludes for other adventures, the Brood storyline runs all the way from UNCANNY 154 through 167! And, thanks to modern Marvel's more enlightened decision-makers, the entire epic is reprinted here.