Fantastic Four in the 80s
The 80’s began with Marv Wolfman wrapping up the loose ends from his then recently canceled Nova series wherein the Fantastic Four help Nova and his allies stop a Skrull invasion of the planet Xandar. The Fantastic Four almost die of old age which is a great metaphor for where the series was going at this point because shit has been weak since Jack Kirby’s departure from the series in the early 70s.
Things only get better -- and only marginally -- with the addition of John Byrne doing the art starting with issue #209. Byrne is one of my all-time favorite artists, so his addition is a sight for sore eyes after watching a parade of artists following the generic "Marvel Style" since the departure of George Perez. Unfortunately, this story also brings in HERBIE the robot from that god-awful Fantastic Four cartoon. There is also a plot where most of the Fantastic Four get turned into octogenarians by the Skrulls, only to be returned to their "physical prime". This was a half-assed attempt to explain how the Fantastic Four were still around post-1961 without aging overly much. Thankfully, Marvel invented a Sliding Timescale shortly thereafter. A highlight includes the creation if the new herald Terrax, a new herald for Galactus, but otherwise these stories are pretty uninspired.
After Wolfman’s departure, there was a one-off written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Byrne that teamed the FF up with Spider-Man as they battled the Frightful Four. That story was a continuation of a story started in Spectacular Spider-Man which included Electro as the newest (and short-lived) member of the Fantastic Four’s polar opposites. There was also a two-issue story written and drawn by Byrne featuring the Fantastic Four stopping alien invaders who threatened to destroy the Earth. It was a sign of things to come from for this title, unfortunately, it would be about a year before the stories got any better.
In late 1980 until early 1981, the title was taken over by Doug Moench and drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz. This was when Sienkiewicz was still penciling in the "Marvel Style" and hadn't yet developed the dark and brooding art technique that made him popular in the late 80s. You start seeing some of this style close to the end of the run, but while that style worked with dark and gritty titles like Moon Knight, it certainly doesn't work that well with the Fantastic Four.
The stories were the least inspiring of the whole run although to be fair it's not entirely Doug Moench's fault. From what I understand, at the time Doug was not allowed to use any pre-established Fantastic Four villains as they were “worn out” from frequent use. Which is also a fair assessment, but it wasn’t like anyone was coming up with new foes for the Fantastic Four to fight. With his hands tied, Moench pitted the Fantastic Four against different foes, and tried to create a few new ones to boot.
What you got was a story involving Cap'n Barracuda, a poorly conceived story about Viking space gods, a wrap-up of the Shogun Warriors series where they couldn't even mention or show the giant robots due to lapsed licensing issues, and a horrible Galactus stand-in called the Ebon Seeker. The run tied up with a drab story where the Fantastic Four and an entire block of Manhattan end up in the Negative Zone and have to battle a lame-ass Annihilus stand-in named Stygero. Johnny Storm also has a relationship that goes nowhere and we get a peek into Franklin's head again, and man is it oddly sexual.
Needless to say, this run is not fondly remembered in the slightest and it is easily forgotten by what happened next: John Byrne was given nearly total creative control over the title becoming its writer and artist.
If I were to make a list of the greatest Fantastic Four runs ever written I would put John Byrne’s run this right at the top of the list. Even above the legendary run by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. John Byrne revitalized the Fantastic Four franchise in the 1980s and saved it from a horrible twenty-year slump. His first story was titled "Back to Basics" and that's exactly what he did. Took the Fantastic Four from the stagnant limbo that they were caught in since Kirby left the series, but also wrote it in a way that appealed to modern readers. He did this by taking characters that were, sadly, not very three dimensional and breathed the life and humanity that was missing from them since the 60s. He also did it in a way that was relevant to the time in which they were written. Reed and Sue’s marriage, Ben’s seemingly endless depression, Franklin’s powers, Johnny’s romance life, all of these things were reinvented through the lens of the 1980s and it was glorious. John not only took the title to the back, even to the point of regression in some cases, but he also pushed the title forward.
Byrne wasn't just rehashing old themes, he understood that the Fantastic Four weren't just a super-hero team, but also a family and that families go through change. There was plenty of classic Fantastic Four tropes, giving the stories a nostalgic twinge, however, he also took the trials and tribulations of a close-knit family and updated it. When you look at Lee and Kirby's run it's very "American Dream" style storytelling: longtime sweethearts get married and have a kid, you got the hot-rodding kid brother, and the gruff tough guy and best friend who also has his dream girl. With all the emotional trappings and personal drama that comes with that dynamic, plus the added bonus of punching super-villains in the face and exploring the unknown.
When John Byrne took over the series the "American Family" had taken a dynamic shift. It was a different world in the 20 years since the Fantastic Four first appeared. Themes that were hardly touched upon in other titles became a reality here. The first sign that things were going to change was when Mister Fantastic helps the Inhumans relocate their hidden city to the moon. Reed and Sue expecting a second child but also struggling with Franklin’s returning mutant powers in a world that was becoming more hostile towards mutants. The Thing was regressed to an earlier form but changed back to is usual brick-like self. Also, he and Alicia Masters realized that their relationship wasn't working out and began to drift apart. Johnny struggling to find a meaningful relationship reconnected with Frankie Raye. Things looked good when it turned out she had flame powers as well, but she quickly became a herald of Galactus. Johnny struggled with the loss. Doctor Doom returned, forced the FF to help him liberate Latveria, only to seemingly die at the hands of Terrax. He also took an opportunity to give the Fantastic Four much-needed update to their uniforms. Then Secret Wars happened and it upended the life of the Fantastic Four, bringing even more change. John can also be praised for attempting different storytelling methods. For example, issue #252 the issue is drawn in a “widescreen” format with the page height being 8.5 inches and 11 inches wide. While issue #277 that told two stories simultaneously. The top half of each page was a story about Reed and Sue fighting Mephisto while the bottom half was a story about Johnny and Ben fighting off an invasion by the Dire Wraiths. Byrne also did a significant number of solo stories such as issue #233 where the Human Torch helps a former classmate on death row, #257 that mostly focused on Galactus consuming the Skrull homeworld, and issue #258 that was primarily focused on Doctor Doom setting the stage for his latest scheme, to name a few.
Discovering that he could change forms on Battleworld, the Thing stayed behind with She-Hulk taking his place on the team. Sue tragically has a miscarriage and Johnny found new romance from Alicia Masters, the Thing’s old girlfriend. We also saw the trial of Galactus, where Reed Richards was put on trial for saving the life of Galactus. Reed is also reunited with his long lost father, in a wild adventure that takes the team across time and space. Also, the old Baxter Building is destroyed, paving the way (literally) for a new headquarters, the Four Freedoms Plaza.
The biggest detriment to Bryne's work was the obvious editorial interference. This was the era when Marvel first started doing their major crossovers. While Secret Wars gave John the opportunity to change things up by putting She-Hulk on the team roster, and explore what happens when the Thing returns to the team to discover that he lost Alicia to Johnny, other looming plots from other titles kept on interfering with his direction. When Secret War II came down the pipe, John tried to stray from the title, but at least used it to explain how the seemingly dead Doctor Doom appeared in the first Secret Wars. This period also includes a story where the Invisible Girl is mentally raped by the new Hate-Monger and he thirsts for revenge convinces pushes her into becoming a stronger person, prompting her to change her name to the Invisible Woman, a name change that up to this point the character (or more importantly, previous writers) resisted up until this point. The Bryne written annuals also featured the Skrulls getting stripped of their shape-shifting powers and the wedding of Black Bolt and Medusa.
But as they say, all good things come to an end, and by the end of his run, Byrne had lost a bit of his thunder, writing stories about reality warps and Adolf Hitler than anything particularly that interesting. His run ended with a story about Central City (the birthplace of the Fantastic Four) getting trapped in a time bubble where time moved forward generations in a matter of seconds. There, they discovered a society that worshiped the FF as gods. It would have been interesting to see where John was going to take it, but unfortunately, the final part of the story was finished by Roger Stern.
With the Fantastic Four hitting their 25th Anniversary, Marvel decided to get the team back to the status quo. Stan Lee returned for one issue to bring back the Thing into the group, and another battle with the Mole Man. After a long break from writing the series, Stan was able to present a decent story setting up the run for Roger Stern. Roger Stern picked up the reins from here with John Buscema taking over the penciling. They are sub-par. Mostly focusing on the Thing's struggle to accept Alicia and Johnny's relationship. There are some weak new villains that are never seen again, the Wizard trying to kidnap Franklin to exploit his new dream casting powers. The only issue of significance here is the wedding of Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters, which compared to past Fantastic Four weddings, it was pretty tame. The arc ends with a one-off story by Roy Thomas which features the Thing trying to reconnect with Thundra. It's more of the Thing crying over losing the love of his life to the point where it is getting irritating. Also, the She-Hulk is ultimately phased out of the team without any sort of official departure from the group which strikes me as a missed opportunity.
With the departure of Roger Stern, Steve Englehart took over as writer and, I think, tried to replicate John Byrne’s popular run by trying to make changes.
After all the effort bringing the original team back together, the Englehart attempts to shake things up by having Reed and Sue take a leave of absence from the group. This leaves the Thing in charge of the team, and he picks Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura) and Crystal to join the team. While this creates tension between Johnny and Crystal, due to their past relationship thanks to the Thing's meddling, the run ultimately becomes grounds for Englehart to pick up plot threads he started elsewhere. There is also a pretty ignorant story set in the Middle East with a forgettable foe known as Fasaud. The only thing worthwhile from that plot is that the Thing and Sharon Ventura are exposed to cosmic rays, causing the Thing to mutate into a ridiculous "pineapple" form, while the previously attractive Sharon Ventura finds herself mutated into a "She-Thing". This creates a dynamic between the two, as the Thing tries to help Sharon come to terms with her mutation and steer her away from suicide. This ultimately leads to them starting a relationship. There is also a long sweeping storyline that tries to explain a connection between the Mole Man’s subterranean, Belaco’’s Limbo, the cat people, the planet Arcturius, and the Beyonder.
Unfortunately, all of these changes didn’t really do much to advance the characters, something that Bryne’s run did. Everything reads so forced and belabored, particularly the Human Torch bemoaning his married life and past romances. It’s a difficult read. The Torch/Crystal story quickly fizzles as quickly as it began and there is also a battle between the "New" Thing and the Gray Hulk that also leads to a fight between the She-Hulk and the She-Thing. The new team hardly gets very far when Reed and Sue return from their sabbatical and Ben loses his powers.
The series takes a turn later on in the run where Englehart starts getting blowback from editorial. In protest, he first has himself credited as S.F.X. Englehart and later John Harkness. He uses the Inferno event to kill off his Mantis character (which he unofficially crossed over to other publishers under different names and appearances)This is just as well since his last story arc was this awful piece of shit that featured clones of the Fantastic Four trying to “relive” their past exploits while the current team is put in suspended animation by Aron the Rogue Watcher and have a series of imaginary stories (how very Silver Age DC Comics). I guess this was all some limp dick protest on the part of Englehart, and as awful as this story arc is, I can agree with his position. Anytime someone tried to make sweeping changes on the title, editorial would come back and force them to restore the status quote. Sadly, this is going to be the trend with the Fantastic Four for the rest of the century, with mixed results….
