FANTASTIC FOUR #259

"CHOICES"
Story & Art: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Bob Budiansky | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: In disguise as “Susan Benjamin”, Sue visits an open house in Belle Port, Connecticut, and puts in a purchase offer on behalf of her family. Meanwhile, the Thing lands at La Guardia Airport and takes a cab toward the Baxter Building, but he’s assaulted en route by Tyros the Terrible. Ben sends up a flare to summon help, and Johnny arrives on the scene.

Elsewhere, as Sue flies home from Connecticut in a Fantasticar, she is pulled aboard an airship commanded by Doctor Doom. Doom taunts her with a robot duplicate, then reveals to her the battle between Ben, Johnny, and Tyros. Sue exits the ship to go help them.

In space, the Sliver Surfer spots a transporter beam directed at New York, and heads toward Earth to investigate.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Following the Annual and last issue’s “Interlude”, this installment picks up exactly where FF #257 ended, as Sue walks into the house in Belle Port.

As noted above, Sue and Reed have assumed the last name of Benjamin for their secret identities, and they plan to move their family to Connecticut. While checking out the house, Sue meets a local girl named Katie Dwyer, who offers to babysit. A little internet research reveals that this seems to be the sister of comics artist Kieron Dwyer, who was John Byrne’s stepson in the eighties.

The Thing’s flight returns him from the pages of THE THING issues 3 and 4, where he spent some time with Quicksilver and and “that kid, Lucas.”

Sharon Selleck pays a visit to Johnny at his apartment, and Byrne draws her to look fairly attractive for the first time. (No, I don’t mean the dress. He did something to her face. It doesn’t look as homely as usual. I think maybe he changed her eyes somehow.) Sharon thanks Johnny for helping to rescue her in FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #17, then lays a smooch on him despite his protestations.

Sue recalls that Doom used an inhibitor ray on the Fantastic Four back in issues 246 and 247, and that Doom challenged the group with his robotic duplicates in that same story.

Is It Clobberin' Time? In spectacular fashion!

The Quotable Doom: “Excellent, Susan. You are as intelligent as you are beautiful. It will trouble me a little to annihilate you along with the rest of the Fantastic Four.”

My Thoughts: Byrne mixes your standard issue sub-plot story with an action set piece starring the Thing to produce a fine issue. The bit with Doctor Doom capturing Sue aboard a skyship and challenging her with a robot is reminiscent of issue 246, but Byrne acknowledges that fact and even has Sue barb Doom with the theory that he’s become too scared to fight the FF in person so he only sends his robots to do it now.

But the Thing’s scene, on the other hand, is entirely new and exciting. Before, Terrax was a herald of Galactus with the full fury of the Power Cosmic at his disposal. He was more than a match for the entire FF, much less one member. But now, with only a portion of that power to command, he’s still possibly out of the group’s league, but he’s relatively weak enough that the Thing is able to put up a decent showing against him, and Byrne gives us a rollicking six-page duel between the two, culminating in one of my favorite comic book illustrations of all time, as the Thing is hurled through a supermarket in a series of panels shaped like a sound effect.

Plus we get the “Richardses moving away” storyline plugged, there’s a fun bit where the passengers on the Thing’s flight are shaken up after landing, as they spent the entire trip in fear of being attacked by a supervillain, and of course Johnny’s love life gets a brief moment under the microscope. All this and not a sign of Reed Richards, nor even a mention that he’s missing – and it’s still a very fun issue. I find that Byrne seems to be at his best when he's doing straight standard-issue superhero fare rather than the TWILIGHT ZONE/STAR TREK/"exploring the unknown" stuff of which he appears to be so fond.