War Between Worlds--the Finale

 

Cover art by Rich Buckler

(figures of Sue and Reed by John Romita)

The complex four-issue story arc involving war between parallel worlds, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Rich Buckler, comes to an end in Fantastic Four #163 (October 1975). 

There are two important battles on. In one, Ben Grimm has used interdimensional skates to travel into a small pocket of hyperspace. Located here is the Nexus that connects the three dimensions on the verge of war with one another to Arkon's home dimension. Check last week's review for an explanation of  Arkon's plan. For now, its important to remember that his nefarious plan can be foiled by destroying the Nexus.

Ben has a hockey-puck shaped devise he needs to throw into the Nexus to collapse it, but Arkon's minion--the hockey-themed being called Gaard--is one step ahead of him. Reed and Sue are watching the battle on an interdimensional monitor, but the hyperspace pocket is designed so that no more than two living beings can occupy it at the same time. So Ben can't expect any help.

 Meanwhile, Thing-Reed from the alternate Earth and Johnny are carrying the fight to Arkon's home world. It's a cool fight scene, well-choreographed and well-drawn. During the fight, Thing-Reed has some character development, realizing he can't spend his existence locked in a lab tinkering with robots, but needs to become an active participant in life again.

Though from different dimensions, Johnny and Thing-Reed work well together and eventually put Arkon down.

But that won't do any good if Ben can't close up the Nexus. But Gaard is good at... well, guarding stuff. Ben can't get by him.

Reed finally tumbles on an idea to help, transmitting a holographic illusion of another Thing into the hyperspace pocket, distracting Gaard and allowing Ben to toss the anti-Nexus hockey puck into the Nexus.

War is averted and everyone heads home to their proper dimensions. We do get one last look at Gaard. He takes his mask off and we discover he's the alternate Earth's Johnny Storm, who had supposedly been killed in Vietnam. 

Gaard then disappears from continuity for 20 years, not reappearing until well after Marvel Comics stopped being fun. So this can be effectively considered his only appearance worth mentioning.

This was a great story arc and the finale is largely satisfying. Buckler's art work is wonderful and the action scenes are more fun than a barrel of interdimensional skates. It's not without a few minor flaws: Sue doesn't really get to do anything significant during the story arc. And Gaard's hockey-themed character design is considered by many fans to be a little too silly to be effective. And, though the resolution of Thing-Reed's character arc was a legitimate part of the story, the fight against Arkon didn't make any difference to the main plot. Whether or not Arkon went down, it all depended on Ben closing the Nexus. 

But there's are indeed minor glitches. I admire the way Thomas took a complex story idea and laid out the plot in a way that we readers could follow along without confusion. And the action scenes are magnificent from start to finish. 

Next week, we'll visit with the Haunted Tank.

War Between Worlds, Part 3

 

cover art by Rich Buckler

Roy Thomas (writer) and Rich Buckler (artist) have weaved a complicated story together over the last couple of issues. So, in Fantastic Four #162 (September 1975), they provide a handy flow chart, showing us why each of three different dimensions is convinced one of the other dimensions is attacking them.

This is understandable. Most readers of superhero comic books (and readers of SF in general) are 

The issue opens with Thing-Reed being held prisoner by Akron

Thing-Reed, along with us readers, assume that he's being held on Arkon's world, but he's actually in a secret base located in Thing-Reed's home world. Anyway, Arkon leaves Reed in adamantium chains--presumably helpless.

But a Reed Richards from any dimension is rarely helpless. He manages to make telepathic contact with our Reed, explaining Arkon's plan. This involved a representative of Arkon, posing as a businessman on each of the worlds, simply buying the technology that would be used to attack other worlds. The two Reed share mental energy, allowing Thing-Reed to break out of his prison. Then our Reed goes off to have some... stern words with Arkon's agent.

Thing-Reed rescues our Ben from prison, but are soon confronted with military troops led by that dimensions version of Thunderbolt Ross. Adding to the confusion, Johnny (that's our Johnny--the alternate Johnny was reported killed in Vietnam) comes through a dimensional portal leading an army from the 5th Dimension.

Johnny thinks both Things are fake, but the situation is explained to him. He sends the 5th Dimension troops home and puts up a firewall to keep out the military. Then our Reed sends an interdimensional message and drops some more plot exposition. There is a nexus located between the three dimensions, through which Arkon will collect the energy released when the worlds destroy one another. Reed (our Reed, that is) sends a pair of interdimensional skates through a portal. Our Thing will use this to skate through interdimensional space and destroy the Nexus. In the meantime, our Johnny and Thing-Reed head off to Arkon's world to attack the villain directly.

Our Ben, though, is given no easy task. The Nexus is guarded by an... interdimensional hockey player?  It's a villain design that has generated eyerolls and criticisms from fans. But... well, if one guy can fly through space on a surfboard, there's no reason another guy can't take on a hockey theme for his space shenanigans, is there? Perhaps Gaard is a silly villain, but I'm enjoying the overall story too much to be critical. 

This story is more fun than a barrel full of alternate dimensions. Yes, the plot is complicated and this leads to a few instances in this issue that are perhaps crammed too thick with dialogue. But the plot is explained clearly (much more clearly, I think, than I managed in my summary), there's some great action scenes and Rich Buckler's art sometimes pops off the page. This penultimate issue of the story arc does a great job of leading us into what will be a wonderful climax. We'll look at that climax next week. 

War Between Worlds, Part 2

 

cover art by Rich Buckler, with alterations by John Romita

Fantastic Four #161 (August 1975) is written by Roy Thomas, with art by Rich Buckler (layouts & breakdowns) and Joe Sinnott (finished art & inks). It's a difficult issue to summarize, because a lot of plot elements are introduced very quickly.

What impresses me is how effectively this is done. Roy's script tosses one thing after another at us every few pages as it continues to build its complex story about interdimensional war. But the tale is still told clearly--we have no trouble keeping track of everything that happens.

As I said, its summarizing the darn thing that's hard. So, as the action is set in three different dimensions, I'm just going to quickly and seperately describe what happens in each dimension. 

On our Earth, Reed is putting himself through some Danger Room-style tests, confirming that he is starting to lose his stretching ability. He's reluctant to tell Sue and the other FF members, though he realizes he must before long. But at the moment, he can't find either Ben or Johnny.

He then discovers that glaciers are rapidly moving down from the arctic, threatening civilization with a new Ice Age. This is apparently being caused by the residents of the Fifth Dimension.

No, not these guys: 

THIS Fifth Dimension is a world that Johnny had visited some years ago and helped out. But when Reed tunes in a viewer to see what's happening in that dimension, he sees Johnny at the head of an army, apparently getting ready to attack Earth.

How did Johnny end up in that situation? Well, after storming (or rather--flying) out of the Baxter Building in the last issue, he is still simmering from anger over Reed's decision to sell Fantastic Four, Inc. to a conglomerate. He also admits to himself that he's still hurting from his former girlfriend Crystal's recent marriage to Quicksilver.

So he finds an old portal to the 5th Dimension, remembering a girl--Valeria--showed an interest in him when he was last there. But the 5th Dimension is having troubles of their own. Androids built by Reed Richards--that's alternate Reed Richards from the alternate Earth where he became the Thing--are attacking the 5D. After Johnny tussles with one of them, he agrees to help the 5Ders strike back.

Meanwhile, on the alternate Earth, the two Ben Grimms (one is ours, the other is human and married to Sue) still need to find that world's Reed Richards. Leaving Lockjaw to munch on the robots our Ben destroyed in the last issue, Ben, Ben and Sue fly to New York City, where they discover time-displaced dinosaurs and Vikings rampaging about. Ben has an epic fight with a T-Rex. 

We soon learn that these time displacements have happened elsewhere. Their source? Well, apparently its being caused by someone on Marvel Earth. Alt. Ben then gasses our Ben unconscious because otherwise approaching army troops would have fired on him.

So Alternate Earth thinks Marvel Earth is attacking them. Marvel Earth thinks the Fifth Dimension is attacking them. The Fifth Dimension thinks Alternate Earth is attacking them. Johnny is with the Fifth Dimension army and our Ben is currently a prisoner on Alternate Earth. And Alternate Reed Richards is still missing after being captured by Akron last issue. (And remember that Akron comes from yet another dimension.)

Got all that? As I said, I'm really impressed with the way this information is fed too us over the course of the issue, allowing us to assimilate it and grasp the big picture, even if we don't yet know who is manipulating events or what their motivation is. The Buckler/Sinnott art is wonderful to look at, especially Ben's fight with the T-Rex.

This puts us halfway through the story arc. Next week, we'll pause from this to look at a Gold Key comic, but we'll get back to the FF two weeks from now.

War Between Worlds, Part 1

 

cover art by Gil Kane

Fantastic Four #160 (July 1975), written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema, starts with a bang. Or rather a series of bangs, as the interdimensional tyrant Akron the Magnificent chases the Thing down a New York street, hurling thunderbolts at the hero.

This by itself isn't all that unusual. The Fantastic Four do lead active lives. What would strike a regular reader of the FF as odd is that the Thing is in a panic. Ben Grimm, by golly, does NOT panic!

He also doesn't recognize his girlfriend Alicia when she arrives on the scene. 

Well, the explanation is that this Thing is NOT Ben. When he's defeated by Akron and the two disappear, Alicia brings a scrap of this Thing's clothing to the Baxter Building, where she finds Ben safe and sound. 

While Reed decides to look up information on Akron, Ben plays a hunch. He calls the Great Refuge and asks to borrow Lockjaw, who instantly teleports to the Baxter Building. Ben has him sniff the clothing scrap and they zap off on the trail.

There's a brief but fun gag in which Lockjaw first takes them to a bizarre dimension where the big dog wants to chase interdimensional "jackrabbits," but Ben gets him back on track. They end up in an alternate Earth outside a castle.

Inside that castle, Ben discovers that Earth's Ben (who is still human) and that Earth's Sue (who is married to Ben) being menaced by robot monsters. Ben destroys these, though a final tussle with a Frankenstein's Monster robot is a tough one.

This is a dimension in which Reed and Ben were the only ones in the spaceship when it was hit by cosmic rays. Reed became the Thing. Ben got both stretching and flame powers, but eventually lost these. It's Ben in this reality who married Sue.

Alt. Ben and Alt. Sue were here to talk Alt. Reed to stop isolating himself in the castle, where he's been working on robotics. But Alt. Reed is missing. Somehow, he ended up on the mainstream Marvel Earth being pursued by Akron. Where he is now is anybody's guess.

So there's a mystery to solve. In fact, that mystery might be even more convoluted. Back on regular Marvel Earth, Reed has announced that the Fantastic Four Inc, funded by Reed's patent, is losing money. Reed has decided to sell out to a corporation, though he's assured that the FF will still control their day-to-day activities.

This, at first, seems to be a separate plot thread from Ben's adventure. But the name of the corporation buying out the FF is very similar to a metal sign the wall of Alt. Reed's lab. The logo is exactly the same. It seems that someone is attempting an interdimensional hostile corporate take-over.

It's a strong start to the story arc, giving us plenty of action while still setting up an intriguing mystery. Buscema's art is great, complimenting the story perfectly. Next week, we'll find out what happens next.

The Four Horsemen

 

cover art by Rich Buckler

Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3 (1974) is far from the best FF story of that era, but I like it anyways. The story (co-plotted by Gerry Conway and Marv Wolfman, with script by Wolfman) has a few problems, but Rich Buckler's art is imaginative and fun, making this a worthwhile read. (The Grand Comics Database states that Buckler got an uncredited assist from George Perez.)

The Four Horseman, riding their horses through space, are returning to Earth after being kicked off millennia ago by a more powerful race. (That other race is never identified--the Eternals, perhaps?) They need Earth because our "pointless planet" is a nexus from which they can then conquer other worlds. We get no further details on how this works exactly, but we don't really need one. It's a sound example of Comic Book Science.

The Horsemen have the traditional names: Pestilence, War, Famine and Death. Pestilence lands in New York and is soon spreading disease, rats and mutant humanoid minions around the city. The FF confront him, which leads to an epic Ben Grimm scene. It's Ben who finishes off Pestilence, refusing to give up even as he is quite literally disintegrating. 

By the way, there was a tendency in Marvel Comics at the time to reference current TV shows, movies and other bits of current pop culture. In the bottom left corner above, Ben makes one of the more obscure references I've ever run across. He mentions Ozzie's Girls, a revival of the old Ozzie and Harriet sitcom (1952-1966) in which the titular couple's sons had grown up and moved out, so they take in a couple of college girls as borders. It ran for one season in 1973/74.

Since it was still on the air when this issue was released in August 1974, perhaps its only obscure in retrospect. But I doubt many people would get the reference today. Anyway, if you are curious, you can watch the pilot episode HERE.

{One notable part is when the black girl calls about the room being rented, then the white girl shows up at the home first and Ozzie thinks she's the one who called and rents the room to her. When the black girl shows up (right after the 10 minute mark), her "I see" when told the room is rented is clearly because she assumes they don't want to rent to a black person. The confusion is soon worked out and the two girls become roommates, but for a relatively light-weight, escapist entertainment show, it's interesting to run across a subtle acknowledgement of real-world wrongs.}

But we haven't time for that now, since the FF is still working to save the world. The team splits up. Johnny and Medusa go after War, who has started an actual war between two nations in Africa.

There's a cool fight scene and some annoyingly heavy-handed narration about the evils of war (which is kind of hypocritical while the heroes are using violence as the only method available to save innocent lives) before War is taken out.

Reed and Ben go after Famine, who is causing a famine in Cambodia by preventing people from seeing the food all around them. This time, the cool fight scene doesn't have to work around awkward moralizing in the narrative and Famine is defeated.

The four rejoin to battle Death atop Mount Everest. The heroes have to fight death images of themselves, but win handily by switching opponents so no one has to face his or her own death.

This leads to an anti-climactic ending as Death vanishes. Apparently, the powerful aliens that originally chased the Horseman off Earth has set up protection devices to zap them away again if they returned.

So the story has a problem with its awkward moralizing and its ending, but I still like it. (Please note that I don't object to moral lessons in a story--its just that the section on War handles this badly.) The Horsemen are visually striking villains and Buckler's strong, imaginative art makes everything look cool. And Ben's scene in which he fights on even while disintegrating is both epic in of itself and a perfect representation of Ben's innate heroism. I know there are some fans of classic Marvel who consider this one of their favorite issues. Though I have some criticisms of it, I completely get that. The cool parts are definitely way cool.

Next week--well, I don't think we've visited Turok in awhile, so let's do that.

Still in the Negative Zone

 

cover art by John Romita

Fantastic Four #141 (December 1973) amps up the Sue/Reed marriage problems they've been having for far too long at this point, but--to be fair--the ending of this issue does give them an understanble reason for their marriage difficulties. 

And, aside from that particular arc having gone on for far too long, the Annihilus story that began in the previous issue is quite good. The FF and Wyatt Wingfoot had been captured by the villain and taken to the Negative Zone.

This issue, by the way, is written by Gerry Conway and drawn with power and imagination by John Buscema.

We also find out that Sue, Franklin and Agatha Harkness are prisoners as well. Agatha had been captured earlier by Annihilus, who had then forced the witch to help capture Sue and the little guy. THAT explains something from the previous issue that had seemed like a plot hole to me when I read it as a kid--why there was anti-matter residue at the site where Agatha teleported away Sue and Franklin. She was taking them to the Negative Zone, so that now makes sense.

The FF try to fight Annihilus again, but once more get curb stomped. Annihilus also drains them of much of their powers. Tossed in a tower prison, they at first seem to be helpless. But Medusa comes up with a Rapunzel-inspired trick for escaping, letting them climb down from their cell. Their powers also slowly start to return and they fight their way past some of the planet's primitive tribesmen.

In the meantime, we learn exactly what Annihilus' end game is. He wants to drain the enormous among of cosmic energy that is growing in Franklin. Then he'll be able to easily conquer the universe.

The FF show up and, using surprise and subterfuge, then manage to defeat the villain. Agatha, though weak, is able to magic them all back to the Baxter Building. But Franklin is on Cosmic Power Overload and is now a danger to the universe in his own right. Reed, in deperation, zaps him with an experimental anti-matter weapon. The cosmic energy is drained out of the child, but he's left in a coma. Reed clearly had no choice. But Sue is angry anyway--an understandable immediate reaction for a mother--and now seems more done with Reed than she was before.

All of this is good storytelling, with the heroes using their brains as well as their powers to get the drop on Annihilus and save the universe. Bucsema's art is excellent and carries the story along powerfully. In restrospect, if Conway wanted to do a brief arc about Sue and Reed having problems, then perhaps he should have started it here. That would have made the arc much shorter before coming to a (sadly awkward) conclusion eight issues later. 

Also, this is the point at which Franklin begins to shift back and forth between being a normal kid and being an all-powerful plot device--something that lasted for years to come depending on the whims of the various writers and was eventually over-used. 

Still, if we look at these two issues by themselves, we have a good, solid FF story that effectively brings back a classic villain and gives that villain a strong origin story. A- for the story, D+ for the soap opera elements.

Next week, we return again to Travelin' Toughy.

A Visitor from the Negative Zone

 

cover art by Rich Buckler

Fantastic Four #140 (November 1973) was set during a story arc in which Sue Richards had taken her son Franklin and separated from Reed. This was an arc that, in my opinion, lasted far too long (nearly two years in real time) and resulted in an awful lot of melodramatic dialogue. And, by the already melodramatic standards of usual Marvel Comics dialogue, that's a LOT of melodrama.

All the same, the individual adventures the FF had during that time were still entertaining and imaginative. In this issue, for instance, writer Gerry Conway and artist John Buscema give us a pretty nifty origin of the villain Annihilus. 

Annihilus himself recounts his origin to a captive Wyatt Wingfoot during the last third of the issue. Boiled down to its basics, Annihilus was the one creature on his planet who had developed intelligence and was shunned by every one else because of this. He explores the remains of an ancient space ship and finds a helmet that mentally feeds him advanced scientific knowledge. This inspires him to take up his career as immortal ruler of the Negative Zone.

There's actually a lot more to it than that--the origin story is filled with unique detail and wonderfully imaginative visual imagery. It's worth reading.

As for the main plot of this issue, we begin in the Negative Zone, with Annihilus apparently monologing about his imminent plans to take revenge on Reed Richards. Except we soon learn that he's actually speaking to someone just off-panel--someone from Earth who is essential to his plans. Who this person is will be revealed in the next issue.

Anyway, back on Earth, Reed gets a video call from Sue, who tells him something is wrong with Franklin. The call cuts out and Reed briefly panics. 

Medusa calms him down by slugging him with a monkey wrench. Gee whiz, if you ever visit with the Inhumans, don't ask any of them for emotional counseling. 

In the meantime, Sue has started driving back to New York from the upstate farm at which she's beens staying. But her trip is interrupted by the appearance of Agatha Harkness. Agatha explains that she knows what's up with Franklin and teleports herself, Sue and Franklin to another location.

, 

Reed, by now, has calmed down and the FF is in the Fantasti-Car, homing in on a tracker placed in Sue's car. All FF vehicles have trackers in them. I think Gerry Conway introduces us to that idea here to move the story along quickly, but it makes perfect sense for a family that's always being attacked/kidnapped by supervillains to do this. So it doesn't come across as a plot contrivance.

They find the car, but Sue has already been teleported away. Reed scans the area and finds a residue of anti-matter radiation.

I actually remember reading this issue as a kid and thinking that the writer had made a mistake. Agatha Harkness had used magic to teleport them all away. I thought "Hey, the silly writer forgot that this part of the story doesn't involve the Negative Zone and made a mistake!" I might have even been thinking about writing a letter and claiming a No-Prize, though I never did. 

Which is just as well. We won't find out why until the next issue, but it makes sense that there was anti-matter present and the event is a solid clue to whom Annihilus' prisoner would turn out to be. Silly me for not trusting the writer.

The FF rush back to the Baxter Building, but discover the portal to the Negative Zone has already been blasted open. Annihilus attacks and easily overpowers everyone. Wyatt Wingfoot, who has been hanging out with the FF recently, is also made a prisoner.

This is where Annihilus recounts his origin to Wyatt. After that, he tosses the FF and Wyatt into the Negative Zone,

We have yet to find out exactly what Annihilus' endgame is, but the set-up is effective and the story fun. Well, except for the Reed/Sue seperation stuff, which was definitely tiresome by this time.

We'll return to look at FF #141 in two weeks. Next week, we'll rejoin Travelin' Toughie for the little guy's second adventure. 

Cover Cavalcade

 

An action-packed Rich Buckler cover from 1974.

Cover Cavalcade

An action-packed John Romita cover from 1977.

Brain Swapping

 If you live in a comic book universe, then sooner or later your mind is going to be transfered into someone else's body. It's pretty much inevitable.

It happens to Ben Grimm and the Hulk in 1974's Giant-Size Super-Stars #1, written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Rich Buckler.  It really is a cliched plot device for any superhero universe. But the reason such cliches exist is often because they can be used as jumping-off points for entertaining stories. On this occasion, a fast pace combined with Buckler's great art and Conway's firm understanding of the characters' personalities make it work.

It starts with Bruce Banner arriving at the Baxter Building, hoping that Reed can help cure him of becoming the Hulk. Reed, though, is away. Only Ben is home at the moment. There's a brief but effective scene in which Ben's inate compassion is demonstrated by helping an exhausted Banner, following by Ben mentioning Reed's newest experiment to cure him of being the Thing.

Well, Bruce is a brilliant scientist in his own right and he immediately sees a possibility in Reed's experiment. He can use it to channel the gamma radiation that infuses him and the cosmic radiation that infuses Ben into each other, but in such a way that they will cancel each other out. What can possibly go wrong?

Naturally, something goes wrong. The device explodes and Bruce turns into the Hulk. This is topped off by the minds of the two super-strong men getting switched. So the Hulk's mind is in the Thing's body and visa versa.

We see an interesting take on the Hulk's psychology at this point. He's not the sharpest tack in the box and doesn't realize he's in a new body. And when he sees the "Hulk" standing nearby, he sees someone that tortures his dreams and that he wants to SMASH!

Ben, on the other hand, is in the stronger body now, but isn't quite used to it. He also wants to avoid a fight if possible. But that isn't possible and the Thing (that is--the Hulk in Thing's body) starts getting in some good licks.

The fight goes through a few walls and ends up in the streets of New York. Thundra--a super-strong woman from another dimension who had become a reoccuring character in the regular FF book, sees them and tries to help the person she quite reasonably thinks is the Thing. This gets her walooped a few times as the fight descends into the subway system and then breaks back onto the surface in the middle of a wrestling ring.

Reed and the rest of the FF finally show up, only to have Johnny knocked out when he tries to help the "Thing" as well. Fortunately, Reed "Sherlock Scans" the situation and quickly figures out there's been a body switch.

 Here we come to a minor glitch in this otherwise fun story. Reed quickly figures out that if the Hulk's body turns back into Banner, that will force the minds back into the correct bodies. That's perfectly reasonable Comic Book Science. To enact a plan to force the transition, Reed first rummages through the arena's first aid kit and fills a hypo with a tranqulizer.  Once again, this is reasonable. But Comic Book Science doesn't explain how a normal hypo needle can penetrate the skin of a being that regularly shrugs off bullets, bombs and the occasional nuke.

Oh, well. Who am I to question Reed Richards? The plan works and everything is okay other than Ben discovering his has to apologize to Thundra for Hulk's actions.

Despite that illogical "super needle" at the end, the story is indeed a fun one. It demonstrates quite effectively why some plot devices become cliched within a specific genre. If done well, it can lead to an entertainting tale. If done badly, you end up with the original Star Trek episode "Turnabout Intruder."

Next week, Lex Luthor drives Superman insane.