Byrne Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 265-268

I’m still entertained by this run, but I’m also running out of things to write about.  Perhaps it’s a sign of an uninspired mind.  All right, let’s keep this thing going.

I think I’ve found what would have been a No-Prize candidate in the olden days: So Doctor Doom ‘dies’ in issue 260.  Then Beyonder teleports three-fourths of the FF off to the Secret Wars in issue 265, where Doctor Doom plays a substantial role.  But in 268, Doom is still presumed dead.  Continuity error!  Easy explanation is that the Beyonder resurrected him.  Or it gets addressed in a future issue, since Doom is clearly not dead.  But you’d think Reed would have brought it up.     

I had forgotten that Sue miscarries this pregnancy.  I thought that this was where Valeria was born.  [Wikipedia reading time passes]  Ah, this baby does turn out to be Valeria years and years later.  Interesting.  Anyway, it’s handled surprisingly well by John Byrne in a striking page:

But so far, the aftermath has been a let down.  The team grieves for two pages before moving on with their adventures - Johnny gives She-Hulk a tour of the Baxter Building before they fight Doom’s mask.  Reed joins them in the fight and concludes that Doom is still alive (because a god-level Doom on Battleworld wasn’t enough of a tell).  Over/Under that the miscarriage is addressed for more than 5 panels though the next 4 issues?  I’m taking the under.  

It plays a lot like the Stern Avengers, where if you stopped and thought about it, it’s like 10 issues and 3 arcs take place over the course of two days.  No one has time to think about what happened four pages ago.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine