Byrne Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 247-250

I’m back home, so that means I’m back to Fantastic Four!

Not much to write about, though.  It’s nice to return to John Byrne’s clean art and fun stories.  The FF help return Doctor Doom to power in Latveria after grudgingly admitting that he’s a superior alternative to Zorba.  The Inhumans and FF undergo some kind of nightmare scenario that I don’t quite get.  Guardian fights the FF in a case of mistaken identities.  (He thinks they’re Skrulls, while the real Skrulls are impersonating the X-Men.)  

I was surprised by how nice it was to see John Byrne’s depiction of the X-Men again.  My first encounter with them wasn’t even during Byrne’s actual run, it was in a reprint of the Dark Phoenix Saga.  It has been a number of years, and it was like meeting up with old friends.  I’m looking forward to reading them again.

I’ve written previously about how John Byrne’s made vast improvements to Sue Richards’ character.  She no longer the useless, mewling wife of the Stan Lee days, and is defined by more than her dependent relationship with Reed.  But it still feels like she’s under-represented in the pages of her own comic.  Taking a quick poll of these four issues:

(Okay, that took longer than expected.  I counted the number of panels each of the Four appeared in.  I didn’t count panels showing all four members.)

Reed: 75

Johnny: 64

Ben: 78

Sue: 53

That looks about right.  Obviously not the most scientific, but it’s not just a matter of screen time.  Invisible Woman is rarely proactive, and seems to exist to either follow Reed’s orders or play the color commentator to his brilliance.  I’ll pay more attention to that aspect tomorrow.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine