FANTASTIC FOUR #247

"THIS LAND IS MINE!"
Story and Art: John Byrne | Letterer: Jim Novak | Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: In Latveria, Doctor Doom describes to the Fantastic Four how his homeland has fallen since King Zorba assumed the throne. The group is approached by a child named Kristoff, and then by his mother, who is elated to see Doom. She fills the FF in on the tyrannical rule of Zorba, but is subsequently killed by Zorba’s robotic secret police.

The FF and Doom defeat the robots and go into hiding with some Latverian citizens, where Doom continues to assert that he is a more benevolent leader than Zorba. Meanwhile, Zorba, mad with power, releases Doom’s killer robots to wipe out the populace. Once again, the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom join forces to defeat these new foes. Two hours later the final robot is vanquished, but Doom has vanished from the battlefield.

Inside his castle, Doom releases his right hand man, Boris, from captivity, and then confronts Zorba. Zorba swears Doom will never rule while he is alive, so Doom rectifies the problem. He then returns to the Fantastic Four and gives them leave to depart Latveria. Mister Fantastic accepts the offer under the condition that Doom will devote himself to the peaceful restoration of his land.

X-MEN BY CHRIS CLAREMONT & JIM LEE OMNIBUS VOLUME 1

Hardcover, 2011. Collects 1989-90's UNCANNY X-MEN #244 - 269, X-MEN ANNUAL #13, and material from CLASSIC X-MEN #39.

As I understand it from a handful of "insider" posts at the Marvel Masterworks Message Board a few years back, Marvel brass originally wanted to publish a simple X-MEN BY JIM LEE OMNIBUS, collecting only Lee's work on the merry mutants. Fortunately, cooler heads in the collected editions department got wind of this and realized that, since Lee started out as a fill-in artist and worked in tandem with other pencilers even after he became the series' regular artist, such a collection would be an incredibly disjointed reading experience -- basically nothing more than a glorified art book.

It was proposed instead that all Lee's issues be released in sequential order with non-Lee issues, under the banner of X-MEN BY CHRIS CLAREMONT & JIM LEE. This would result in a comprehensive two-book collection of Claremont's final couple years on the X-Men, and would make these volumes a direct continuation of the X-MEN: INFERNO hardcover which had been released a few years earlier.

So this book is officially called X-MEN BY CHRIS CLAREMONT & JIM LEE. That's what it says in the indicia, at least. But the cover and spine simply call it X-MEN and list the primary authors as Claremont, Lee, and Marc Silvestri, as the latter was the series' regular penciler when Lee began doing fill-ins.

GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN, VOLUME 11

A COSMIC GLOW
Written & Illustrated by: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Original story by: Yoshiyuki Tomino & Hajime Yatate
Mechanical Design by: Kunio Okawara

The penultimate volume of GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN opens with the beginning stages of the Federation’s siege against A Baoa Qu, Zeon’s strategic stronghold in deep space. But as that war rages, Char meets in person with Kycilia Zabi and the truth comes out: she has discerned his true identity. But in true Zabi fashion, Kycilia decides to spare the man who sacrificed her brother as a pawn, in order to use him for her own purposes. She apparently buys Char’s story that desire for revenge against the Zabis has left him, and that his sole wish now is to see Newtypes rise to prominence in the universe. Kycilia welcomes Char back into her graces, a decision which — it should surprise no one — will come back to bite her in the near future.

And after this relatively low-key introductory scene, the battle of A Baoa Qu kicks off with a literal bang as Ghiren, commanding Zeon forces from the massive asteroid base, fires a laser his technicians have fashioned from a hollowed-out colony. The beam obliterates half the Federation fleet, including General Revil, as well as Ghiren’s own father, Degwin, who had just arrived to negotiate a cease-fire with Revil.

Revil’s demise has never really sat well with me, but I think that’s probably the idea. Throughout the GUNDAM saga, he’s presented as a stalwart leader with no time for politicking or other such pursuits. Revil wants to win the war and he has repeatedly recognized White Base and her crew as an integral part of that effort. Where everyone else sees them as expendable commodities, Revil seems to believe they’re destined for something greater—which is why his end hits so hard. He’s not your typical military bureaucrat; he actually believes in Amuro and company; perhaps to the point of being their sole remaining genuine supporter in the Federation, and certainly their highest ranking supporter. His end essentially means that, regardless of the war's outcome, the heroes of White Base will remain just another bunch of faces in the crowd, unrecognized for their integral parts in the war's outcome.

FANTASTIC FOUR #246

"TOO MANY DOOMS"
Story and Art: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: At the Baxter Building, Reed analyzes the Thing while Alicia Masters observes. Soon, the Latverian ambassador calls Reed to discuss arrangements for the transportation of Doctor Doom’s body to the embassy. Meanwhile, at Doom’s castle upstate, within Liddleville, the miniature robot containing his brain argues with the Puppet Master. Another full-size Doom arrives and crushes the Puppet Master robot, then departs with mini-Doom.

The FF arrive at the Latverian embassy with Doom’s body but are immediately pulled into four separate traps where they each find themselves fighting Doctor Doom. The four Dooms are defeated, but at the same time, the four-segmented trap holding the FF is pulled aboard a skyship which then leaves New York. Aboard the craft, four more Dooms oversee the restoration of mini-Doom’s mind into his full-size body.

The Fantastic Four are reunited and Doctor Doom soon joins them in their cell. He reveals that the craft has arrived in Latveria, and he needs the quartet’s help to reclaim the country from its current ruler, King Zorba. The FF refuse, but Doom then shows them Latveria’s capital, Doomstadt, which has fallen into ruin since Doom was deposed.

FANTASTIC FOUR #245

"CHILDHOOD'S END"
Written and Directed by: John Byrne
Color Co-ordination by: Bob Sharen | Graphics Designed by: Jim Novak
Produced by: Jim Salicrup | Executive Producer: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Sue Richards is interviewed by Barbara Walker for a segment as one of “The Five Most Influential Women in America”. Walker attempts to discredit Sue as a subservient and useless member of the Fantastic Four, but Sue takes the criticism in stride. Later, when she returns to the Baxter Building, Sue finds the rest of the team defeated by a tall blond man. Sue runs from him and their chase leads down to the street, where Sue finally recognizes the mystery man as her son, Franklin, now grown up.

The rest of the FF emerge from the building but Sue convinces them not to fight. Franklin, with the mind of a child in an adult’s body, realizes he can restore himself to normal -- but first he transforms Ben back into the standard-issue Thing. Then, this task accomplished, Franklin becomes a child once more.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Barbara Walker appears to be a thinly veiled stand-in for Barbara Walters, though Byrne does not paint her in a particularly flattering light, presenting her as a petty shock journalist with an agenda against Sue.

GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN, VOLUME 10

SOLOMON
Written & Illustrated by: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Original story by: Yoshiyuki Tomino & Hajime Yatate
Mechanical Design by: Kunio Okawara

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s tenth installment in the reimagined GUNDAM saga begins with a large amount of wholly original material, as well as an original character. As White Base moves to join the main Federation fleet in an assault on Zeon’s stronghold of Solomon, Amuro and Sayla are left behind due to recent events on Texas Colony: Sayla due to her probation until the matter of her familial loyalties can be determined, and Amuro to recover from his fight with Challa Bull while the Gundam undergoes repairs.

Supervising these repairs is an abnormally tall technician named Doctor Mosk Han, who takes the opportunity to upgrade the Gundam with new magnetic coating. I’m not sure what need Yasuhiko felt he was filling with the appearance of Doctor Han, who comes across as sort of a comic relief character in his few appearances. But his part is over soon enough, and Yasuhiko’s story rejoins the original series’ continuity when Amuro catches up with White Base at Solomon.

The battle then plays out more or less identically to the TV series/movies’ version: Left hanging by siblings Ghiren and Kycilia, who believe Solomon is not tactically important, Dozle Zabi defends the base alone, piloting the massive Big Zam mobile suit and wiping out the flagship of Federation Admiral Tianem before he’s finished off by Amuro and Sleggar Law — the latter sacrificing his own life in the fight as well.

FANTASTIC FOUR #244

"BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS"
Author: John Byrne | Letterer: Jim Novak | Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Alpha/Omega: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Five days after the defeat of Galactus, a disheveled Johnny Storm shows up at Julie Angel’s apartment. Julie calls Reed and Sue Richards, who arrive soon after. Reed then tells Julie what happened to send Johnny on a weeklong bender:

With Galactus dying, Reed concocted a plan to save his life. Using materials provided by Stark International, he built a machine which slowly replenished a portion of Galactus’s energy. The FF then returned to the Baxter Building with Galactus, where Reed searched for uninhabited worlds for Galactus to devour. But when Galactus deemed the planets too far and restated his need to consume Earth, Frankie Raye volunteered to become his herald in exchange for his sparing the planet once more. Galactus agreed and transformed Frankie, then they both left Earth.

The story concluded, Reed and Sue convince Johnny to come home with them. Three months pass, during which time the damage done to the Baxter Building by Terrax is repaired, and the FF make plans to return their prisoner, Doctor Doom, to the Latverian embassy. A few days later, Sue leaves for a TV interview while Reed gives a lecture at Empire State University, leaving Ben to babysit Franklin. But when Ben leaves the room, Franklin’s mutant power manifests and his robotic playmate, HUBERT, is destroyed.