Fantastic Four #214 (January 1980)
Fantastic Four #214
Rating: ***
This is a decent issue of the FF by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, and Joe Sinnott. Wolfman has said in more than one interview that he is not fond of his FF work, because he really didn’t know how to write the series. I think it shows a bit, as this comic is not nearly as good as his earlier Spider-Man and Tomb of Dracula stories or his New Teen Titans, which debuted about the same time his FF work was wrapping up. We all know that Byrne’s run on FF (#232-#292 – I think) is considered one of the best FF runs. In light of this, it was interesting to see his art on the title a couple years before his seminal run began. I don’t know why, but it looks like he is trying to draw like John Buscema. Either it’s a decisive move on Byrne’s part (or perhaps editorial edict) or Joe Sinnott’s inks really alter Byrne’s pencils. It’s very interesting to compare Byrne’s art on this issue with that of the concurrently released X-men #129, in which his pencils and Terry Austin’s inks shine! While the art here is solid, it does look a bit rushed.
The story starts out with Johnny Storm whining about how he is a failure, while standing over a stasis chamber, wherein lie Reed, Sue, and Ben. In the previous issue, it appears that these three were drastically aged by a skull aging ray. Now, Johnny has to find someway or someone who can reverse the effects of the ray.
Johnny tries to elicit the help of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. His search finally leads his to the S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercraft, but DumDum Dugan won’t allow Johnny to speak with Stark, because Tony is working on a top secret, radioactive project. It seems that it would take so long to decontaminate Tony, that other members of the FF would die of old age by the time Tony was able to help them (Hey, I thought they were in a stasis chamber? Must be one crappy stasis chamber.).
Back in the Baxter Building and back to his whining, a machine in Reed’s lab metamorphoses into Skrull X and surprise attacks Johnny! (I don’t know if the X stands for X or “10,” like Weapon X. Maybe the Skrull and Canadian governments were working together!). Anyway, to make a long story short, Johnny defeats this poor-man’s Super-Skrull, takes the aging ray gun from him, and give it to Reed to reverse the effects.
Skrull X's dialogue was very funny. He kept calling Johnny "Dog." Instead of comic across as a derogatory remark, Skrull X sounded like Randy Jackson, the man who refers to everyone as "Dog."
Ultimately, it’s a fun read. Not the best FF issue I have ever read, but still more enjoyable than 99% of the FF comics published in 1990s. I’d give it a solid three stars.
Weird Trivia: In this issue, we learn the Jarvis, the Avengers butler, is allergic to nuts.
Rating: ***
This is a decent issue of the FF by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, and Joe Sinnott. Wolfman has said in more than one interview that he is not fond of his FF work, because he really didn’t know how to write the series. I think it shows a bit, as this comic is not nearly as good as his earlier Spider-Man and Tomb of Dracula stories or his New Teen Titans, which debuted about the same time his FF work was wrapping up. We all know that Byrne’s run on FF (#232-#292 – I think) is considered one of the best FF runs. In light of this, it was interesting to see his art on the title a couple years before his seminal run began. I don’t know why, but it looks like he is trying to draw like John Buscema. Either it’s a decisive move on Byrne’s part (or perhaps editorial edict) or Joe Sinnott’s inks really alter Byrne’s pencils. It’s very interesting to compare Byrne’s art on this issue with that of the concurrently released X-men #129, in which his pencils and Terry Austin’s inks shine! While the art here is solid, it does look a bit rushed.
The story starts out with Johnny Storm whining about how he is a failure, while standing over a stasis chamber, wherein lie Reed, Sue, and Ben. In the previous issue, it appears that these three were drastically aged by a skull aging ray. Now, Johnny has to find someway or someone who can reverse the effects of the ray.
Johnny tries to elicit the help of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. His search finally leads his to the S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercraft, but DumDum Dugan won’t allow Johnny to speak with Stark, because Tony is working on a top secret, radioactive project. It seems that it would take so long to decontaminate Tony, that other members of the FF would die of old age by the time Tony was able to help them (Hey, I thought they were in a stasis chamber? Must be one crappy stasis chamber.).
Back in the Baxter Building and back to his whining, a machine in Reed’s lab metamorphoses into Skrull X and surprise attacks Johnny! (I don’t know if the X stands for X or “10,” like Weapon X. Maybe the Skrull and Canadian governments were working together!). Anyway, to make a long story short, Johnny defeats this poor-man’s Super-Skrull, takes the aging ray gun from him, and give it to Reed to reverse the effects.
Skrull X's dialogue was very funny. He kept calling Johnny "Dog." Instead of comic across as a derogatory remark, Skrull X sounded like Randy Jackson, the man who refers to everyone as "Dog."
Ultimately, it’s a fun read. Not the best FF issue I have ever read, but still more enjoyable than 99% of the FF comics published in 1990s. I’d give it a solid three stars.
Weird Trivia: In this issue, we learn the Jarvis, the Avengers butler, is allergic to nuts.
posted by rallenrader at 11:22 AM
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