Fantastic Four Visionaries – John Byrne, Vol. 6 (Marvel) [collects #276-284, Thing #23, SW II #2)]
w/a. John Byrne
| Writing |  | New reader? |  |
| Art |  | Non-comics reader? |  |
John Byrne’s run on FF was both one of the longest in the title’s history and one of the best. Byrne’s art is a personal favorite of mine (and he’s at one of the tops of his form in this period); his writing always swings at the fence (with admittedly mixed results), while usually offering some sort of imaginative tie to the past.
In this volume, we get the Mephisto, the Psycho-Man, the “end” of the “Invisible Girl,” lots of Franklin Richards scary-psi-power stuff, the controversial revisit of Dr Doom’s history, Johnny’s mullet, and the gorgeous She-Hulk standing in for a “Hey, you stole my girlfriend, Match Head” Thing. Not the best of the Byrne era, but always a fun read.
Fantastic Four Visionaries – John Byrne, Vol. 7 (DC) [collects #285-286, Annual #19, Avenger #263, Annual #14, X-Factor #1]
w/a. John Byrne et al.
| Writing | | New reader? |  |
| Art | | Non-comics reader? | |
This is … an odd volume.
We get FF Annual #19, an odd historical homage and tie-in to the Avengers Annual #14 (to the point of sharing several pages of pencils) with a long-forgotten and annoying Skrull plotline. FF 285 has the anticlimactic “Johnny quits because a fanboy burned himself” tale … and then we hop over to Avengers #263 (which has nothing to do with Byrne or the FF) that segues to FF #286 (which does) that seuges to X-Factor #1 (which doesn’t again). Yes, that’s two whole issues (plus an Annual) of FF, and about half the book involving Byrne.
What was the title again?
Worst (or best, depending on your perspective), that whole final fandango involves the crazy “No, Jean Gray wasn’t the Phoenix and she’s back now at the bottom of Jamaica Bay” plot, which led to the insanity that was the original impetus behind X-Factor (“We’ll gather mutants to safety by pretending to be a mutant hunting and capture company”). Both are chapters that I really wish had never happened in the MU … and now they’re reprinted for posterity. Feh.
(listening to: Barry, John, “Murder at the Fair” from Living Daylights, The)
(listening to: Animaniacs, “The Presidents” from Variety Pack)
(listening to: Gold, Murray, “New Adventures” from Doctor Who – The New Series – Original Television Soundtrack)
(listening to: Elfman, Danny, “Dick Tracy” from Music for a Darkened Theatre)
(listening to: Bangles, “Be with You” from Everything)