FANTASTIC FOUR #248

"NIGHTMARE!"
Author: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Beneath the surface of the Moon, the amphibious Inhuman Triton discovers a strange crystal hidden inside a cavern. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four arrive in Attilan for the naming ceremony of the daughter of Crystal and Quicksilver. But the festivities are short-lived as the Moon leaves Earth’s orbit to be hauled into an enormous spacecraft.

Inside the ship, a massive alien studies and dissects the Moon. The FF attempt to reason with it, but it sprays them as if they were pests. As his teammates perish around him, Mister Fantastic screams out in protest. A moment later, all of the FF and Inhumans are in Attilan once more as if nothing happened. As the group compares notes of similar but different experiences, Reed speculates that some outside force induced hallucinations based on their deepest fears, but something eventually shut it down.

Back in the underground cavern, Triton overcomes nightmares induced by the crystal and departs to warn his fellow Inhumans about it.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Crystal’s and Quicksilver’s infant daughter is named Luna in honor of her birth on the Moon.

Is It Clobberin' Time? No.

My Thoughts: This is another of those one-off “TWILIGHT ZONE” style stories, but it doesn't leave me as cold as some of Byrne’s other forays into that arena, probably because it's all so insanely surreal. First we have the imagery – the Moon pulled into a massive starship, where it's just a small trinket for an alien to pull apart, is an eerie and amazing concept. Later we see a fleet of Inhuman aircraft carpet bombing the alien’s head, which to him is completely unnoticeable.

Then Byrne goes all-put with his words as well, describing a doorway across the room from the FF as a thousand miles away, introducing an alien whose mass is equivalent to the Earth’s and who takes steps three thousand miles wide. The Thing falls five thousand miles, a drop which we're told will take a day for him to complete.

I have to admit, my mind could never even come up with stuff like this. These descriptions are fantastically creative and while I really have no frame of reference to comprehend them, I'm somehow able to understand them. As far as one-off, relatively unimportant issues go, this must be one of Byrne’s best.