Fantastic Four

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Fantastic Four Roast

Posted by John Klein III on December 31, 2016
Posted in: Review, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Fantastic Four Roast

Story & Layout Fred Hembeck

Plot Assist & Editing Jim Shooter

Art Almost Everybody

Lettering Joe Rosen

Coloring Wein / Yanchus

Catering Iriving Forbush

Cover Dated May 1982

This issue celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the Fantastic Four, and the Marvel universe.

Hembeck provides very little art assists for this issue.

The Fantastic Four are about to be roasted by their fellow superheroes.  Heroes like Thor, Nova and Spider-Man.

Fantastic Four Roast Kitty X-Men
art by Michael Golden

Other hero groups attending are – the Avengers, Defenders, X-Men and the Legion of Monsters.

Spider-Man is the first to roast the Fantastic Four, followed by the Sandman which segues into other villains getting in on the action.  The Inhumans follow them, and the Fantastic Four are not having a great time.

Captain America and Reed Richards exchange some silly barbs.  Iron Man roller skates to the podium and Narmor takes the opportunity to flirt with Susan.  The Hulk intimidates the audience to laugh.

Fantastic Four Roast Kitty eating
art by Mike Vosburg and Terry Austin

Wolverine proves that either Canadians or mutants have terrible table matters – to Kitty’s delight.  Susan can’t take much more of this, and they have barely begun.

I like how, if indeed every artist shows up, then the pages make sense, as whoever was the main artist is providing the art for that appearance but there is no credit page.  The entirety of the Avenges show up and it looks like when the Best Picture award is given out and the stage overfills, except that everyone gets to talk.

One would think that the individual artists could have gotten their names on each page.

Thor sticks around and provides his own extended speech.  That is followed up by Uatu the Watcher and the Silver Surfer, both seem to be having a good time.  Also having a good time, is Daredevil.

Fantastic Four Roast Kitty X-Men Roasting
art by Denys Cowan and Joe Rubinstein

The X-Men take the stage, they are – Wolverine, Colossus, Cyclops, Storm, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler.  Cyclops does most of the talking.  Cyclops wishes the X-Men were the ones being roasted, as they are more popular than the Fantastic Four.  Susan thinks about how stinky Nightcrawler is when he teleports.

Cyclops makes a tasteless joke about Nightcrawler writing a book titled, Mein Bamf.  Which really?  A parody name of Mein Kamf, that isn’t a joke that should be made.  He makes up for it (only slightly) for calling the Fantastic Four, senior citizens.  Storm crates a thunderstorm above the Thing.  Cycops turns his attention to the Human Torch and optic blasts his chair BUT he mentions how Torch has a hot seat in more ways than one, then optic blasts it.  But Cyclops’ optic blasts are not flame related, so that joke shouldn’t work.  I suspect it doesn’t.

To make the situation worst, Wolverine threatens to stab Reed.  Torch can’t take this and wants to know why the X-Men are being such jerks.  Cyclops quickly comes up with Magneto is controlling their minds and they leave the stage.  Torch remembers that isn’t Magneto’s power set.

A fun page, but the heck!?!

Doctor Strange takes the stage before dinner.  Ghost Rider, in a tuxedo, is up next.  We get a mixture of folks – The Inhumans, Nova, Shang Chi, Captain Marvel (the alien guy) and Kazar & Shanna.

The Thing fights some living ice cream.  Doctor Doom shows up, though he’s confused why everyone keeps calling him, Doctor Doom.

Fantastic Four Roast Kitty everybody
Jam piece, X-Men by Dave Cockrum

Reed leads the charge against Doom.

Turns out, in a twist is referenced on the cover, it isn’t Doom but the Fantastic Four’s mailman, Willie Lumpkin.

We get another page of randoms – Wyatt Wingfoot & Tomazooma, the living Totem / Agatha Harkness / Quicksilver & Crystal / Moon Knight/ Spider-Woman & She-Hulk / Ant-Man / Howard the Duck & Man-Thing / Thundra and Tigra.

The page after that has Dazzler / Guardians of the Galaxy (the originals!), Brother Voodoo, the Impossible Man and Aunt May powered by Captain Universe.

The Fantastic Four now get in on the roasting.  First is Human Torch, next is Reed, then Sue and finally Thing.  Grimm finishes with “what can I say, but things for the memories” which cracks Black Bolt so much that he laughs out loud and brings the entire building down.  Which ends the very fun issue.

. . .

http://www.comics.org/issue/36361/

Good ol’ comics.org has the breakdown of artists.  I’m not sure how they got them all, especially the inkers but they do know their stuff so I’ll trust that they got it right.

Script:Fred Hembeck; Jim Shooter (plot assist)Pencils:Fred Hembeck (layouts); “Almost Everybody” (finished art) —

Ron Wilson (page 1,4); John Byrne (pages 2, 6, 8, 17, 31); Michael Golden (page 3, 28); John Romita Jr. (page 5); Al Milgrom (pages 7, 30); Mike Zeck (page 9); Bob Layton (page 10); Alan Weiss (page 11); Sal Buscema (page 12); Mike Vosburg (page 13); Kerry Gammill (page 14); Bob Hall (page 15); Keith Pollard (page 16); Frank Miller (page 18); Denys Cowan (page 19); Marshall Rogers (page 20); John Buscema (page 21, 25); Don Perlin (page 22); Gene Day (page 23); Walt Simonson (page 24); Various (pages 26-27, see notes); Frank Springer (page 26 Dazzler); Brent Anderson (pages 27 Ka-Zar, 32); Steve Leialoha (page 27 Spider-Woman); Dave Cockrum (page 27 X-Men); Bill Sienkiewicz (page 29)Inks:Fred Hembeck (Hembeck figures); Chic Stone (page 1, 4); Terry Austin (page 2, 13, 20); Michael Golden (pages 3, 28); John Romita Sr. (page 5); Joe Rubinstein (page 6, 19); Al Milgrom (page 7, 30); Joe Sinnott (page 8, 17, 25); John Beatty (page 9, shield in panel 2 by Bill Anderson); Bob Layton (page 10); Alan Weiss (page 11); Sal Buscema (page 12); Ricardo Villamonte (page 14); Dan Green (page 15); Keith Pollard (page 16); Klaus Janson (page 18); Bob McLeod (page 21); Don Perlin (page 22); Gene Day (page 23); Walt Simonson (page 24); Various (pages 26-27, see notes); Frank Springer (page 26 Dazzler); Brent Anderson (pages 27 Ka-Zar, 32); Steve Leialoha (page 27 Spider-Woman); Dave Cockrum (page 27 X-Men); Bill Sienkiewicz (page 29); John Byrne (page 31)Colors:Glynis Wein; Andy YanchusLetters:Joe Rosen

Which is a very impressive list of talent and legends!

I wish the page numbers were on there, it would make matching them easier.

Further down the page of that website, they explain how they figured it all out

Art credits indexed 2005 by Steven Tice. Credit confirmation and additions 2005 by Fred Hembeck, including the Bill Anderson page 9 shield credit, Bill’s first published work. Al Milgrom credits confirmed 2005 by Al Milgrom.

Nice of Hembeck to answer the question of who was involved, he would know.

I counted the pages so I hope I got the right creative teams above.

Fantastic Four Volume Three Issue 8

Posted by John Klein III on August 28, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Fantastic Four V3 8

Writer Chris Claremont

Penciler Salvador Larroca

Inks Art Thibert

Colors Liquid!

Letters RS / Comiccraft / DL

Cover Dated August 1998

I own this for the awesome chess set, but we will get to that later.

Issue opens with Reed Richards, Invisible Woman and Thing fighting off the Captain Britain Corps, minus one important one.

There is an ad for Small Soldiers, a decent little film.  This is one of those movies, with a super young Kirsten Dunst, that when I see her nowadays, she reminds me of how old Tommy Lee Jones must be these days.

The Human Torch shows up, wanting a set-rep but there isn’t any time.  Franklin is annoyed that this fight over him is even happening.  He kick starts his family’s powers that they are working on a massive power surge.  Johnny goes supernova in the sky and burns hotter than ever before.

Johnny grabs Gatecrasher and learns who the key factors are.  Human Torch demands an audience with Opal Luna-Saturnyne, the Omniversal Mastrex.  We see Roma is sitting at a chess board.  The previous people who met with Saturnyne, was the cosmic identities – Eternity and Infinity.  So Johnny knows how big of a deal this is.

Fantastic Four V3 8 Kitty Lockheed Marvel Chess Set

Now, that is a Marvel Chess Set I would buy!

I wonder how the script was written.  Did Claremont specify which characters to feature?

CC : Larroca, you may include anyone you want, just make sure you have the Fantastic Four and Kitty Pryde.
SL : Chris, may I call you Chris?
CC : No
SL : Chris, how do I make sure it is Kitty Pryde?
CC : You beautifully colored artist you, you put Lockheed on her shoulders and call it good.

Or something like that.

I like the idea of Saturnyne and Roma being used here.  I’m sure they should be used in those Incursions in the New Avengers stories by Hickman.

I really enjoy seeing Human Torch stepping up and stepping up and confronting Saturnyne and Roma.  He always seems to have one foot ready to go out of the door.  Thing talks a big game but he’s never really going to leave.

Franklin has given all of his family members a power boost.  Torch’s Nova Flame was as strong as a sun burst but now it is as hot as the sun itself.  Reed can stretch from the Earth to the Moon.  Sue can crush tanks now.  Thing is small moon destroying strong.

Not to mention that Franklin created Counter-Earth and sustained it for a year.  Good thing he is being raised by loving parents.

Saturnyne is tempted to destroy Earth, to keep Franklin’s powerset under control.  Johnny makes a bargain that the Fantastic Four will watch Franklin and if they fail, all five of them will be prisoners of Saturnyne.  The day is saved!

We learn from Gatecrasher that the real New York City was never in jeopardy of the Fantastic Four / Captain Britain Corps battle.  It looked like the Corps appeared in front of them but really, the team showed up in front of the Corps, as they were in a pocket dimension.  Pretty clever!

There are a few pages of the abandoned Jose Landronn Fantastic Four / Inhumans project.  He is still my favorite Cable artist, as his and Joe Casey’s run on the title is still the only readable Cable solo title.

Letters this issue are from – Brian Elliott, of unknown whereabouts, Frank Sutherland of Stafford, VA, Scot W. Myers of Davidson, NC and Steve Wissinger of Cairo, IL.

Issue Nine promises to have a classic old school team-up of Spider-Man and the Human Torch.  I remember it being pretty good.

Fantastic Four Volume Three Issue 7

Posted by John Klein III on August 26, 2015
Posted in: Review, Websites. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Fantastic Four V3 7

Writer Chris Claremont

Penciler Salvador Larroca

Inker Arthur Thibert

Colorist Liquid!

Letterer Starkings and Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne

Cover Dated July 1998

This is the second part of a three part storyline, but Kitty is only seen in this issue.  Issues 6, 7 and 8 are the issues involved.

I’ve said it before but Larroca’s art is never better than it is with Liquid! coloring his work.  Shame they no longer do that.  Not sure whatever happened to that company.

Claremont wrote some of the best Fantastic Four issues with this volume, issues 4 through 32.

Alyssa Moy is running with Franklin, from the Technet.  Unfortunately, they run into the Warwolves.

The Rainbow Room.  Reed and Susan are dancing.

The Technet are planning their next move.

Fantastic Four V3 7 Kitty 1

Alyssa Moy tries to save Franklin by running away.  All the poor boy wants is his mother.  He lets out a psychic scream.

We get to see Larroca draw – Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Roma Jean Grey and Shadowcat! I can only imagine Claremont wrote which characters to have shown.  Roma sets up the next issue, which is classic Claremont style.

This issue came out the same month as Excalibur 122, so that series was already set to end.  Claremont had asked to have Kitty be Franklin’s nanny.  What he didn’t know was that she was already set to be in the X-Men 35th Anniversary era lineup.  Which I rather she was part of that lineup than off being Franklin’s nanny.  It took a while for Squirrel Girl to shake being the Cage’s nanny.

http://secretsbehindthexmen.blogspot.com/2012/06/changing-x-men-directions.html

X-Men characters in Fantastic Four

Meanwhile, Chris Claremont wrote Fantastic Four vol.3 #4-32 and used some X-Men-related characters like Roma, Saturnyne, Charlotte Jones and Margali Szardoz in the book. Claremont would also have liked to use Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) in Fantastic Four, since Excalibur was getting cancelled anyway. Her role would have been working as Reed Richards’ laboratory assistant – an idea which probably came from Uncanny X-Men #178, wherein Kitty Pryde broke into the Fantastic Four’s headquarters and thought: “I wonder if Dr. Richards’d like an apprentice?”

“The only problem was (X-Men Editor) Mark Powers and the writers of the X-Men books had other plans for her,” Claremont sighed in Wizard #85. “Their wishes take precedence.”

I like the idea of Kitty being Reed’s assistant, I could be for that.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/09/07/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-67/

Good ol’ Brian Cronin brought up the Urban Legend and gives some background on it, as well.  He reports that the plan was Kitty to be like a sister to Sue, which I get as her brother is pretty lacking, in that respect.  Boy, Kitty really could be an excellent fifth over on that team.

Back to the story.  Alyssa is no longer running scared, now she is running smart.  She taps into the grid and sends a signal that she hopes someone see.  She runs through a dance club, we see that Johnny is there.  She and Franklin go outside and save some gangsters from some weirdly dressed ninja types.  This never pays off, as far as I know.  It definitely doesn’t take place in the next issue.  But it is Claremont writing, so he has plans.

There is an ad for Wolverine 126, also by Claremont, that we will review whenever we get around to using the Wolverine / Viper wedding for my wedding anniversary, which I believe should be next year.  It is billed as, The Brawl for it all, Wolverine vs Sabretooth – if only it was the end of that feud.

Reed and Susan are dancing when she notices a skyscraper that has a number 4 on it.  She creates an invisible slide and she is off.  She finds Franklin, so fast.  The Technet foolishly show up and Susan takes them all down.  Reed eventually shows up and gets into the fight, he frees Thing and now the tide is turning.

There is a promo page, I miss these so much these days, for the Spider-Man line of titles which was a pretty good era in May 1998.  Amazing 436, Spider-Man vs Black Tarantual by Tom DeFalco.  Spectacular 259, Hobgoblin is back by Roger Stern.  Sensational 29, Guest Starring The Black Cat by Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo.  Spider-Man 93, the return of Ghost Rider by Howard Mackie, the big Ghost Rider writer of the 90s.

Joyboy turns Susan into an Atlantean Queen, her so-called heart’s desire.  This is super irritating that writers like to go back to this well of Susan maybe having attraction to Namor.  It is old hat.

Bullpen Bulletins.  Some titles coming out are – Marvel Annual 98 starring Deadpool & Death.  Alpha Flight 12, so good.  Busiek’s Iron Man 6.  Avengers : Rough Cut 1 by Busiek and Perez.  Generation X 40, featuring Penance.  X-Factor 147, two issues away from Mutant X starting!

Susan is disturbed that that was the form her heart’s desire took.

Before the Fantastic Three can declare a victory, the Captain Britain Corps arrives, as the issue ends.

Letters page has letters from – Robert Schell of San Antonio, TX, Matt Kuhns of Ames, IA, Tod Owens of Marlon, VA and Mark Passmore who withheld his address.

Inside back cover is for Funtography, the latest tech for the Game Boy, it allows you to print.  Back cover is Sarah Gellar’s Got Milk? ad.

Fantastic Four 600

Posted by John Klein III on August 25, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Fantastic Four 600

Writer Jonathan Hickman

Penciler Steve Epting

Inkers Rick Magyar with Steve Epting

Colorist Paul Mounts

Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles

Cover Dated January 2012

I own a lot of Fantastic Four anniversary issues, is what I’ve learn from this Fantastic Four month.

This issue marks the 50th Anniversary and 600th issue of Fantastic Four.  It is also 104 pages (get it? with the four pages?).

I’m glad to finally write this review as I know that it goes FF 11 -> Fantastic Four 600 but I kept having to recheck it in the days leading up to this post.

This issue has five chapters, but I am only concentrating on the first one.

Latveria.  Doctor Doom, Nathaniel Richards and Alternate Reed Richards counterpart.

The Baxter Building.  Home of the Future Foundation.

The Other Side of Zero.  The Anti-Priest of Annihilus.

Attilan.  Floating Citadel of the Inhumans.

The Forever City.  The Reborn Supreme Intelligence of the Kree.

New York.  Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Assembled.

Anyone know what the difference between the different patterns on the Four’s uniforms?  Or why they were choosen?  I get that they represent the member, but why does Reed have a hollow top of the triangle.  Sue has a hollow right side.  Grimm has a hollow left side.  Spider-Man has his spider symbol.

I side with comicbookdb.com over Marvel Database as saying that Kitty Pryde is in this issue.

Fantastic Four 600 Kitty maybe

See in the middle panel, with all of the heroes?  There is a brunette with a yellow and blue uniform but a black mask.  So people think it is Mockingbird but it is clearly Kitty Pryde but with a mask on.  I say it is more that than Mockingbird wearing the wrong outfit and with the wrong colored hair.

But I’ve decided to leave Marvel Database alone, as I can’t say with hundred percent accuracy that this an official Shadowcat appearance.  From FF 11, we know she is present but like in the Sentry arc of New Avengers, just because we know she is around, doesn’t mean it is worth keeping the issue but I believe there is a chance that is suppose to be Kitty.

The gathered heroes are about to fight the invading Kree ships.

Even with the stakes at an all time high, Namor finds an opportunity to hit on Sue in front everybody.  Ben calls him on it.

Doctor Strange is fighting in a black business suit.

The Other Side of Zero.  The Anti-Priest and his crew are upset as the Kree attack is not the end of the world they had planned.  He seeks guidance from Annihilus.  He recommends starting their plan immediately.  They are going to siege the Baxter Building.

On the Other Side of the World.  Castle Doom.  For some reason, Nathaniel Richards is a young man instead of the age of a man whose son is in his fifties.

Kristoff, who is still around, surprisingly.  He is the man on the throne.  Nathaniel wants him to accept someone into the country.  Doom is a prisoner of Nathaniel’s.  Now that I have typed all of this, I believe Nathaniel Richards was the real name of Young Avengers’ Iron Lad.

Attilan.  Black Bolt, Medusa and the Inhumans are caught in the middle of Earth and the Kree attack.  Medusa wants them to leave but Black Bolt disagrees.

The art implies that there is a connection between Black Bolt and Supreme Intelligence.  Which doesn’t make any sense as Supreme Intelligence was only re-created in the previous issue.  Maybe it is only a transition panel, as next, we follow the Supreme Intelligence is chatting with Ronan the Accuser and his wife, Crystal.

The Supreme Intelligence reveals to the couple that long ago, the Accusers went around destroying the planets that the experiment that created the Inhumans, were also performed on.  Ronan was not a part of this.

Earth.  Captain America announces that they have pushed back the Kree.  Reed gives the nod to Susan, she pushes a force field through Iron Man’s armor.  The entire island of Manhattan is encased in a giant force field.  Now there is a crashed ship inside the force field.

The Baxter Building.  The kids are about to teleport the top three floors to the Moon, when some Negative Zone aliens appear.

Soho.  The Thing is on his way to save Alicia.  He brought along She-Hulk and Red Hulk.  They have to fight several Kree Sentries.

Baxter Building.  Alex Power is keeping back the aliens, as best as he can, alone.  Leech has control over his turning off others powers.

Val is ready to teleport the floors, once Alex makes it up the stairs.  I am not sure who this Bentley kid is.

Reed sees from a distance that the top three floors are gone.  Reed sends Spider-Man to make sure no one was left behind.

The Negative Zone aliens are about to open the portal to the Negative Zone.  Spider-Man starts fighting fools.  The portal opens, revealing . . .

Fantastic Four 600 Human Torch is back

So this issue, besides being the 600th issue, is also known for Human Torch coming back to the land of the living.  Hickman “killed” him off in an earlier issue, well, more like left him for dead in the Negative Zone.

There are additional stories, like the on-the-nose titled, What Happened to Johnny? but the main one is the reason why I bought this.

Fantastic Four 414

Posted by John Klein III on August 19, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Fantastic Four 414

Script, Plot & Pencils Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan

Inks John Lowe

Letters Jim Novak

Colors John Kalisz

Cover Dated July 1996

I own this for the Days of Future Past panel with Kate Pryde!

Issue opens with Sue and child Franklin hugging.  He’s spent the last four years as Psi-Lord, a twenty year old with full use of his powers.  Now he’s a child, and doesn’t remember missing years, he feels like he only missed a few minutes.

Nathaniel Richards, Reed’s father, was the guy that forced Franklin’s aging in the first place.  Thing is ready to punch Nathan in his dumb face.

Reed gets Grimm to calm down.  Nathaniel is an odd character, pretty much a douche but he’s Reed’s dad.  Though it seems odd when Reed calls him, dad, Reed seems more like a guy who says “father.”

Nathaniel explains what his motivations were.

Fantastic Four 414 Kate Pryde

I had to check the issues to make sure that was Kate’s back of the head and not Storm but Kate was the only one to wear her hair up.

Nathaniel explains that there is a future, Days of Future Past, where mutants and heroes are killed and ruled by Sentinels.  There is an off shoot alternate future (which seems overly complicated) where Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards had a baby, who grows up to Hyperstorm, a villain who has been messing with the Fantastic Four, for some time.

Sue can’t believe her grandson is the main villain.  Reed has a plan on how to defeat Hyperstorm but he can’t reveal the plan out loud, as Hyperstorm is the master of time and space.  His plan does involve Galactus.

There is an ad for Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Reed wants to go against Hyperstorm alone, as Nathaniel keeps stating that in every future, the Fantastic Four are dead.  The team is going regardless.  They are not bringing any of their friends though.  The team goes to make their final goodbyes.

Johnny’s ex-wife, Lyja the Skrull, is hanging out with the team.  Ben has feelings for her, which is so weird how those two are into each other’s gals.  As Johnny eventually started getting into Alicia, who actually was Lyja.  Johnny’s current girlfriend, Laura Green, is also Lyja, wanting to stay in Johnny’s life.  She knows how messed up that and Ben is sympathetic to her situation as he overhears her using Green’s voice when talking to Johnny.

Franklin is down for a name and Reed is working on the space ship that will get him to where Galactus was last seen.  Sue is coming, no matter what, and since this may be their last moment together, they are going to go bone.

Johnny kisses Laura and has a revelation and flies off.

Reed hugs Franklin and boards the ship with Susan.  Nathaniel, Johnny and Ben are already on-board.

Galactus hasn’t been seen since Silver Surfer 109.

Reed sets up some tracers, and finds a faint trace to the dimension that Galactus was banished too.  He is about to open a portal when Hyperstorm shows up.  The team tries to take him down, as Reed tries to open the portal.

Franklin senses his family is in danger and wants to d something about it.  Just then, a kid named Charlie shows up, he will help him out.  This is setting up the last issues of the series as this Charlie is Charles Xavier, in kid form.  This is setting up Onslaught.  Which is pretty cool.

Bullpen Bulletins is promoting Onslaught : X-Men, which finally reveals who the traitor is that Bishop hinted at in his first appearances.  It is Xavier, spoilers!  Peter Parker is in the hospital, they think it is due to being a clone, but it isn’t.  The Checklist for June 5th is :
Avengers Unplugged 6, with Black Knight and Blood Wraith
Captain America 454, with Sharon Carter, the final issue is coming up!
Daredevil 385, Pryo is in this issue
Spider-Man 2099 46, finale issue!  I had no idea that 2099 ended as the Heroes Reborn titles start
Sensational Spider-Man 7, Peter Parker going to the hospital
Cable 34, vs Hulk, under the control of Onslaught
Onslaught : X-Men, pretty cool!
Uncanny X-Men 335, the X-Men, Avengers and X-Man unite against Onslaught.  Shadowcat is in the issue, so we’ll review it one of these days.

Reed brings Galactus quasi-out of that dimension, he starts feeding off of Hyperstorm.  Hyperstorm is a conduit to hyperspace, which is infinite.  So those two are going to be linked together for maybe forever.  The team and Reed’s father leave, as they are no longer in danger of dying.  At least, that they think, but rot ruh, Onslaught is coming!

Letters are from – Vansant Ramlaggan of Nigeria Falls, Ontario, Canada; Michelle Rose Humphries of Labrador City, NF A2U 2 A1 (I had to look it up, it is Newfoundland); John Gross of Demopolis, Alabama and Chris Lewis of Alexandria, VA.

 

Fantastic Four – X-Men Film Connection

Posted by John Klein III on August 18, 2015
Posted in: Fun With YouTube. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

In 2005, we were treated to the perfect casting of Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards.  If you ever get a chance to watch ABC’s Forever, I would highly recommend in it as he is terrific in it.

In the 2005 film, Reed and Sue – played rather well by Jessica Alba, are having a conversation in a deleted scene.

Thanks to YouTuber NewSuperAvenger for hosting the video.  I was trying to find the entire scene but I couldn’t on YouTube.

Reed shifts his face so that he resembles Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.  In my memory, they CGIed (?) Hugh’s face over Ioan’s but it is Ioan’s face with the Wolverine hair and mutton chops.

 

Fantastic Four 296

Posted by John Klein III on August 14, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Fantastic Four 296

Plotter Jim Shooter

Script Stan Lee

Art Teams Pencils / Inks

1 -5 Barry Windsor-Smith
6 – 10 Barry Windsor-Smith & Kerry Gammill / Barry Windsor-Smith & Vince Colletta
11 – 20 Ron Frenz / Bob Wiacek
21 – 30 Al Milgrom / Klaus Janson
31 – 40 John Buscema / Steve Leialoha
41 – 49 Marc Silvestri / Joe Rubenstein
50 Jerry Ordway / Joe Sinnott
51 – 57 Jerry Ordway / Bob Wiacek
58 – 64 Jerry Ordway / Joe Sinnott

Letterer John Workman

Colorist Glynis Oliver

Cover Dated November 1986

Cover Artist Barry Windsor-Smith

Marvel’s 25th Anniversary Frame Cover!  Which also means it is the Fantastic Four’s 25th Anniversary, hence all of the artists for this issue.

Thing is pretty down this issue.  He goes to where the team crashed landed in their first appearance, in Stockton.  Surprisingly, there is no monument, plaque or even a museum there.  People can just walk right to the spot and see the skid mark in the grass that the spaceship landed.

I like how the feature villain is Mole Man, who is, of course, their first villain that they encountered.  So it is his 25th birthday as well.  Which is pretty cool, poor guy gets sidelined so often and isn’t that well remembered.  From what I can gathered.  After a few Google searches, I can’t even find that many websites that even bother to try to list their greatest villains.  He seems to be in the Top Five, so that’s nice.  Of course, Doctor Doom is first and he doesn’t even appear in this issue, so that’s the last we will reference him.

She-Hulk and Scott Lang are paling around with the Fantastic Four.

Thing is tired of being a monster and gets an old guy to take him to Monster Island, where he will become the best friend of Mole Man.

Thing gets dressed in a purple onesie and wears the Mole Man’s blue glasses.  Thing gives the team a tour of the island.  Reed doesn’t like the idea of Mole Man’s new machine, it can ruin the world.

Johnny’s face gets pretty messed up, so he can know what it feels like to be a monster.  He doesn’t like it.

I like the subplot of Mole Man’s Danger Room that he uses to just have a fancy party with pretty people, even though they are all holograms.

Thing rejoins the team, Johnny face hits some water, and his face is fixed.  Issue ends with the classic Fantastic Four all hands in, which is nice.

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe : Fantastic Four 2005

Posted by John Klein III on August 8, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Fantastic Four 2005

Head Writer / Coordinator Jeff Christiansen

Writers Sean McQuaid, Anthony Flamini, Michael Hoskin, Bill Lentz, Ronald Byrd, Mark O’English & Stuart Vandal

Cover Dated 2005 (hence the title!)

Cover Artists Tom Grummett & Morry Hollowell

I own this for the references to Kitty Pryde in the Franklin Richards profile.

Doctor Doom’s profile doesn’t even mention the time he help save Kitty Pryde from becoming a complete ghost.

Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four Mike McKone
Art by Mike McKone

Fantastic Four John Byrne
Art by John Byrne

I do like how every individual member gets a profile, even though it just repeats most of the information from the team profile but from their respected perspectives.

Franklin Richards, Kitty is referenced in the Thanksgiving Power Pack story.

I can’t believe these two images were not anywhere on the Internet, I have to make the Internet have what I want from it.

Fantastic Four 2005 Handbook Franklin Richards Terry Dodson
Art by Terry Dodson

Fantastic Four 2005 Handbook Franklin Richards Jim Muniz
Art by Jim Muniz

I really like how these Handbooks from this era have a bonus section with important issues.

Franklin Richards

First Appearance : Fantastic Four Annual 6

Significant Issues : Named (Fantastic Four 94); rendered comatose (Fantastic Four 140 & 141); opposed Scratch, Salem’s Seven (Fantastic Four Annual 14); met Brain Parasites & created Ego-Spawn (Fantastic Four 227 & 228); briefly became Avatar (Fantastic Four 245); joined Power Pack, become Tattletale (Power Pack 15, 16 & 17); future self appeared (Fantastic Four Annual 23, X-Factor Annual 2, New Mutants Annual 6, Uncanny X-Men 14); became Psi-Lord (Fantastic Four 375, 376 & 377); organized Fantastic Force (Fantastic Force 1); restored to childhood (Fantastic Four 413 & 414); opposed Onslaught, parents lost (Onslaught : X-Men 1, Onslaught : Marvel Universe); accepted death of family (Daydreamers 1, 2 & 3); restoration of family (Heroes Reborn 1 – 4); met Puppy (Fantastic Four (Fantastic Four V3 9); restored sister Valeria, lost powers (Fantastic Four V3 49); dealt with Hell trauma (Fantastic Four 501 & 502)

. . .

So the film has come out, to mostly negative or luke warm reviews.  The director is telling everyone, that will listen, that FOX stepped in and changed the film drastically.  Will there be a Director’s Cut of teh film?  I sure hope so!  Though, why the studio would agree to release a much superior film, a cut from the director who has been insulting to the studio, is beyond me.  I would like it, just to see all of the filmed scenes.

Fantastic Four 236

Posted by John Klein III on August 7, 2015
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Fantastic Four 236

Cover Dated November 1981

Cover by John Byrne and Terry Austin

The Fantastic Four 20th Anniversary (and Marvel’s!)

I own this just for the cover, pretty cool how Kitty Pryde made it but Byrne wouldn’t leave his greatest co-creation absent such an historic event!

Typing about historic, this is the extremely famous, Fantastic Four “Terror in a Tiny Town” story which is just awesome!  Doom has shrunk the FF and they figure it out but the way they do and the way they escape is such classic!  No wonder it has been reprinted as often as it has!

This is one of those comics that I can’t believe I own.

This would make a good plot to a FF movie.  Couldn’t be the first one but it could work as a third.

Part One

Issue opens with a flashback / dream sequence of the Fantastic Four’s fateful original space trip.  Johnny wakes up from a recurring dream.  The Fantastic Four are just regular folks in a small town.  Ben isn’t the thing, he is married to Alicia and Puppet Master is happy for his daughter and son-in-law.  The entire team is having these dreams.

I like the idea, without their powers, that Reed and Sue are in the throes of an awesome marriage.  Franklin is their son in this land.

Reed isn’t very good at his job as a researcher / professor.  Professor Vaughn is constantly on his case and undermining him.  Reed suspects the dreams mean something, so he cuts himself pretty deeply.  He gathers his family together and tells them that they are living fake lives.  They confront Puppet Master, he reveals that there is a ruse but it is worst than they know.  Just then, a voice bellows from above.  A giant Doctor Doom is watching over them.

Part Two

Doom has the team, plus Alicia and Franklin hooked up to machines that surround Liddleville (get it?).  Doom’s main plan is to just let the team live the rest of their days in miniature bodies.

Reed is creating a plan of action.  Poor Ben, he has everything he ever will want right here.

Reed created a machine that will zap them with cosmic rays.  Ben volunteers to go first.  It works and now he is a little Thing.  They all get their powers back and start fighting little Doombots.  Once they are free of Liddleville, they try to break the machine.  Sue saucers off to find Doom, who is playing the piano like a pimp.  Sue sees Doom’s unmasked face.  Doom heads over to Liddleville and tries to blast the Fantastic Four, he overloads the machine and the heroes are free and back in their bodies.

When Doom zapped Liddleville, he created a loop and is now stuck in the puppet Vaughn body, that he was using to mess with Reed.

There is a Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back-up story.

There is a Hostess Fruit Pie ad with the Hulk vs Phoomie Goonies.

If you ever wonder, What If Ben stayed in Liddleville, What If? 109 is the issue for you.

What If : Fantastic Four

Posted by John Klein III on August 1, 2015
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What If Fantastic Four

Story Mike Carey

Cover & Pencils Marshall Rogers

Inks Jonathan Glapion & Marshall Rogers

Colors Soto Color

Letters Artmonkey’s Dave Lanphear & Virtual Calligraphy’s Chris Eliopoulos and Rus Wooton

Cover Dated February 2006

What If the Fantastic Four were Cosmonauts?

We are kicking Fantastic Four Month off with this issue!

So in 2006, Marvel tested out an idea of Uatu the Watcher not being the host of What Ifs.  The Watcher here is Hector Espejo, who is a super hacker.  He found an alternate time line.  So there were six oneshots that were released, with the concept of seeing how different this one Alternate Timeline was, instead of looking at six different timelines.  This is the only one I read so I am not sure if all of them actually line up or not.  They had the foresight of making sure each one took place in a different decade, so they don’t have to really connect, just not conflict with each other.

The six titles / eras are :
Feudal Japan’s Devil Who Dares (get it?)
Civil War’s Captain America (actual civil war)
Prohibition’s Wolverine
WWII Namor (so not much different there)
Post-War Fantastic Four (this comic)
Thor being the Herald of Galactus, not sure where that one takes place, but it seems like it is a space opera, so it probably just ends with this timeline ceasing to exist.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 1

The actual concept starts on the third page and naturally it has the Russian foursome’s space ship being bombarded with cosmic rays.

The Fantastic Four here are – Reed Richards, Natasha Romanova, Illyana Rasputin and Piotr Rasputin – not a bad line up!

I remember when the 2006 What Ifs were announced and how excited I was to not only have more What Ifs in our lives but that Marvel had the great idea to put their most famous three Russians into the same comic!  Plus, keep Reed Richards and you have a decent Fantastic Four!

 What If Fantastic Four Magik 2

Illyana is a Corporal.  Natasha is ex-KGB and a Major.

Lieutenant Von Doom,who only appears on these first pages, informs the Premier that the four cosmonauts not only survived but have been changed.  Latveria is a member of the Soviet Union.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 3

Doom is going to name them, The Ultimate Federalist Freedom Fighters (UFFF).

Piotr Rasputin is Colossus – the Thing of the team.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 4

Iliana has the power of camouflage – the Invisible Woman of the team.

Rudion Richards can open up discontinuities in his own body – the . . . Reed Richards of the team?  I like how Carey found an interesting way to do his power.  His limbs still ‘stretch’ distances but instead of it actually doing that, his limbs ‘blast off’ from his body, so it is the same effect, essentially.

Natasha is a lady Electro, called the Widow Maker (get it?) – the Human Torch of the team.  A bet of a stretch but it works.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 5

I like them addressing the Rasputin / Romanoff real world connection.

Rud, what a name!, has to explain how he has an American last name.  His father got with a local peasant girl and left.

I like that smirk Iliana makes when she is named the team’s KB Liaison, she is so proud of the honor.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 6

Nice homage panel to the Fantastic Four first issue. Not sure if the one on the right is an homage.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 7

Iliana is the Bucky Barnes of the team, but before he was Winter Soldier.

Rud starts not liking their new missions as they seem to be attacking regular people, unarmed people.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 8

We start seeing that Colossus is slowly losing his mind and becoming the big dummy we know him to be.

Ilana and Natasha have no qualms about following orders, no matter what they are.  They are good KGB Agents.

The UFFF are officially under the KGB umbrella, due to their own field commander being dead.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 9

Rud mistakenly believes since the guy who gave them orders is dead, they should report back to base.  Iliana wastes no time in letting him know how wrong he is.  Boy, do I wish Magik and Reed Richards could get this much screen time together!

Natasha has found Rud’s father, who Rud hasn’t spoken to or written to since sending a letter stating his own mother had passed.  Rud visits him in jail.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 10

Nice how the Daily Bugle exists on this Earth, of course it would.

The UFFF are sent to fight the Avengers in Cuba.  The Avengers are – Giant Man, Wasp, Captain America and Iron Man.  So it will be four on four, which is fair.

I’m not sure how this Captain America relates to the Captain America from the Actual Civil War days What If issue that came out along with this one, but that’s a question I have.

Giant Man is the first one to physically approach the UFFF.

Iliana tries to shoot her gun but Captain America throws his mighty shield and stops the bullet.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 11

Colossus gets a mad on for Captain America due to that, which he should.

I’m not wrong in that the panel layout is unusual on that page, right?  There is something about how the middle panel with Iron Man is that forces my eyes to adjust to it.

Iron Man absorbs Widow Maker’s electricity, which gives him a boost.

Iliana sets herself up for another kill shot, but Wasp zaps her.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 12

Giant Man gets out of the water, and tries to warn Wasp from attacking Iliana.

Iliana starts shooting wildly to get Wasp to stop with her attack.

Rud quickly realizes they were not prepared for this.  Which makes sense as their latest fights have been against unarmed folks, so one gets use to that type of enemy (the kind that don’t fight back) so they are not as battle ready as they should be.  I imagine the Avengers are fighting the fights we now they do.

Colossus fights Iron Man, which makes sense as they are Men of Steel.

Rud gets an idea to even the battleground.  Giant Man attacks Colossus.  Rud notices the device that controls Giant Man’s height.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 13

We get a small taste of what Millar / Hitch also did in Ultimates with how Giant Man’s innards work when he grows.  Like there, Giant Man’s heart and lungs can’t support this new height.

For some reason, Iliana really wants to kill the Avengers – maybe she was given special orders.  Just like Winter Soldier, who came after this.

Captain America comes over to try to Iliana, as she is just firing blind but rubble is falling towards her.  He saves her, Wasp dials the device back, shrinking Giant Man.

Captain America turns his back to Iliana to inform Colossus that his sister is okay.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 14

Rud finally makes his way to Natasha, who has been unconscious for pages now.  He feels bad for not taking all of the biology as a factor to the harm Giant Man would have felt.  This Richards hasn’t had much time to be a scientist.

Iliana is looking for her gun as the heroes are regrouping.

Giant Man is now just regular size, Wasp is looking over him.  Iron Man lands for the assist.

Iliana puts her gun to Captain America, who is also walking over to his fallen ally.  She pulls the trigger as Colossus puts his hand in front of the barrel. The gun backfires and kills her.  Yet another Colossus, yet another character’s death that I like so much more than him.  Alternate Reality Colossuses are the worst!

Either Colossus really doesn’t know or he is becoming that dumb, but he tells Rud that he doesn’t know what happened to his sister.

Rud opens the dimension that he uses to transport his limbs and he teleports the entire team away.

What If Fantastic Four Magik 15

Their commanding officers are dead.  Natasha reveals that super humans are appearing more regularly every day.  This new group of people will need a leader.  Rud wants to just spend time in his lab, so Natasha will be the actual ruler and Rud just the puppet head.

Issue ends with Rud going to try to smarten his friend up and there will be no rulers, everyone will be an equal.

Not a bad issue.

Inside back cover ad is for the excellent game, X-Men Legends II, Rise of Apocalypse.