1981: Act 4: back to basics? (Reaganism)

A note on mind reading
When John Byrne saw this page he called it "mind reading". And so it is, on a deep level. This web site attempts to go beyond what the writer consciously intended. For details, see the discussion of authorial intent.

Summary
John Byrne's famous tenure on the FF almost exactly overlaps with Reaganism, and so does the politics. (It's subtle, but it's there.) America and the FF go "back to basics".

Global stories
Reagan's America was an empire, proud of its strength on the world stage. So FF240-250 are about colonialism:

• 240 colonizes the moon
• 241 is about old ancient colonialism in Africa
• 242 is about stealing Manhattan
• 243 is about Galactus wanting to the natural resources of the whole world
  Having established the old way (conquering new territory), we now move on to a new enlightenment
  
• 244 is the center point: anti-colonialist. Frankie has the old view: the pioneering spirit that did not care about destroying primitive cultures along the way.
  
  This was once America's view, of manifest destiny, even if it meant a few savages might die: there were endless "savages" out there, and America had to press westward!
  
  
   Note the image of Columbia as the herald of a more powerful race flying through the air, just like Frankie. (The word "Frank" means to speak plainly even if it is offensive.) But that was the past. America has moved on, and readers are now shocked at Frankie's racist attitude.
  
  
• 245 "childhood's end" - Franklin represents America's future, its untapped power, and need for responsibility
• 246-247 are about nation building where we no longer see "good guys and bad guys" but try to make life the best for ordinary people, even if it means letting our enemy rule his own land.
• 248 is the absurdity of controlling a whole planet (or moon)
  
• 249 is ourselves as a colony: we are just a minor backwater to the Kree
• and finally 250 is about understanding outsiders: hated minorities (mutants) and aliens (Skrulls) are not what they seem, and we are often wrong.

Personal stories
Reaganism was built on "family values." These issues progress in scale from the personal and intimate to the global, and finally the cosmic. We start with the personal:

• 232: restarting as a family
• 233: Johnny's childhood and his inner spirit
• 234: even a nobody can have great untapped potential
• 235 is the center point: the symbolism of ego, and traveling inside oneself. Ben of course goes the deepest.
  
• 236: the individuals and their heart's desire
• 237: Sexual relationships: Sue and Reed
  
• 238: Sexual relationships: Johnny and Ben (not with each other!)
  
• 239: Extended families: Ben's family, Crystal's pregnancy, and the harm caused by abuse.

Reed the Skrull
WORK IN PROGRESS:
Back in issue 91 we discussed the evidence for Reed being a good Skrull, who escaped in the 1930s. Byrne's run makes a lot more sense in this light:

• Skrulls:
  Annuals give the big, defining stories (births, marriages, etc), Byrne's run is the climax to the big story, and it's all about Skrulls
• Annual 17 reveals that a single Skrull, through becoming a milk cow, could produce unlimited numbers of other Skrulls
• Annual 18 shows the end of the galactic hatred between Kree and Skrulls. (The hatred was the focus of annual 15)
  
• Annual 19 shows the end of Skrull shape changing powers
  
• The 1930s
  Byrne's run draws our attention to the 1930s, the decade when Reed first appeared:
• We learn that his "father" was active in the 1930s) then disappeared
  
• His "father" was obsessed with a time machine, the first step to the dimensional portal
  
• We see two reality warpers who appear in the 1930s: "the man with the power" who, by his age, would have been born then,
• and Licorice Calhoun who was an adult in 1936 (this may be his first use of power, but he was hit my a car and fell into a coma)
• Sue and the others return in a dream state to 1936 (and Sue recalls first meeting Reed)
  
• We learn that SHIELD had advanced technology in the 1930s
• We meet professor Horton who had Skrull-like technology in the 1930s, then disappeared

Reed's decline
In these climax issues we see Skruill-Reed's nightmare come true: he utterly fails and the Skrulls arrive for justice. (The Skrulls know about Reed, and all their encounters are warnings not to go too far: see notes to FF 2)

• 243-244: Things have got so bad that Reed even saved Galactus
• 245: Galactus is the herald of Franklin and Franklin knows something is very wrong.
• 246-7: Reed's descent into chaos is complete: Doom is back.
• 248: it's all a nightmare
  
• 249-250: the Skrulls and Shi-ar both send a warning.
• 251-256: Reed tries to escape, but he cannot
  
• 257: just as Reed must have foreseen (or planned for?) Galactus destroys the Skrull throne world
• 258-260: so the Surfer gets involved, to help Reed. He can't stop Galactus or the galactic empires, but he can at least remove Doom from the equation.
• 261-262: but it's too late: Reed must pay for his crimes

John Byrne's run: "Back to basics"

John Byrne dominates FF history.

His run is generally popular with fans, and this is usually attributed to turning back the clock to an earlier time. But if we compare this with earlier acts it's totally different. What is different is the more visible "down-to-earth-realism." There are more ordinary street scenes, ordinary telephones, wrinkles in clothing. etc.  "Down-to-earth-realism" is half of the formula for success so naturally these stories were more popular.

Actually, Moench and Sienkewicz included just as many down-to-earth elements, but their stories were more intense, faster moving, and had more creative camera angles. Byrne is simpler, easier to follow, and his first few issues laid on the "ordinary" very thick indeed, and kept the high tech to a minimum. By the end of Byrne's run the ordinariness went down and so did sales.

Depth
Byrne's run is a good example of depth in the FF; the story works on at least three levels

1. To a new young reader it's single issue stories, about danger, featuring people and technology with no limits.
2. To a typical fan it's several different arcs, about optimism (Byrne, like Waid, was notable for his smiling characters), and not about conflict but about family.
3. To the reader who follows long term trends, it is about avoiding the future. The run is an attempted reboot to the past, the early 1960s. The team was once focused on the future and now the future is such a terrifying place they want to get back to the past. As this page hopes to show, the smiles hide the last stages of a decades long crisis.

The decade of Ronald Reagan
Under Byrne the Great American Novel reflects Reaganism: the themes and even the dates all match. For details see the commentary to FF246.

A bit of fun
This era is the darkest of all. So before we start here's some fun. Reagan appeared in two Fantastic Four stories before this: in 1968 and 1976. Comic creators of the time tended to be politically left of center, so both appearances are for comic relief. It's good stuff. :)

A personal note
Byrne's legendary run (FF232-294) is regarded by many fans as second only to Lee and Kirby. My view is a little different, though I still rate these issues highly. The first American comic I ever subscribed to was the FF,and my first new issue was 251: the image of Ben staring into the abyss is etched on my mind. But I also remember being a tiny bit disappointed: I had impossibly high expectations. My previous FF experience was dominated by Kirby and Perez, and really nothing could beat those.  The other problems I have with Byrne's run are:

1. He ignores the previous 20 yeas - he tried to destroy the big story that had been building up.
2. He changes the characters beyond recognition. Reed, Sue and Johnny changes personality, Ben is left in limbo, development wise (though to be fair he had played a supporting role in Moench's run).
3. He does nothing of any lasting significance. It's all smoke and mirrors. This is not just an observation, it was his intention: he has always been an "illusion of change, not real change, it's only comics" guy, and I am the opposite. For me the FF is at its best when there is real change.
4. Byrne's run is all small stories. Even the "big" stories (a small loss, hero, etc.) are made small because they are designed to have zero long term effect. 

In short, Byrne set out to kill the big story.

And yet he put so much effort into it that he ended up moving the story forwards despite himself. In his "comic creators on the FF" interview he says how he had particular plans, but the team seemed to have their own ideas and the story wrote itself in directions he did not intend. His run does end up fitting perfectly as a development of what went before, despite his intention to reboot. I see Byrne's run as the proof that comics can be high art of lasting significance: the method of production can lead to something much greater than its parts. Comics at their best write themselves against an author's intent. All we ask is that the authors really care. And Byrne in his FF run really cared.

Part 1: personal stories

232

Issue 232: Stepford Wife Sue: her last desperate gamble

This is where Sue begins her desperate Stepford Wife gamble to get through to Reed. See the comments to FF231 for how and why Sue changed. Sue behaves absurdly out of character - Johnny too.

The easiest way to see Reed's emotional withdrawal is to compare two very similar pages, in FF201 and FF232:

The same emotional withdrawal is seen throughout the run. Note that Reed's appearance always reflects his underlying confidence.

Sue's policy: romantic dates
This continues the dating Reed policy begun in the previous landmark story, the Ebon Seeker (see the start of FF229). Before that, Sue had not dragged Reed out on a date since FF158, after the near divorce. Sue is trying to make Reed feel comfortable, remind him of the days when he won her love and felt invincible.

"A lot like murder"
This first issue foreshadows Reed's decision to save Galactus, which then leads to the death of whole planets. Ben is sympathetic to all forms of life (especially "rock monsters like himself), but Reed is more limited in his view.

Reed's argument appears to be that the elemental creatures do not have minds in the e way that humans do, so their deaths do not matter. This was the same argument that Galactus used to defend killing humans in FF 50, saying that humans are such a simple life form (like ants) that they do not count. This illustrates the cold emptiness in Reed's heart as we near the end of act 4 (he was not always this cold). Hence Sue's desire to warm him up.

The REAL story: why Dr Strange?

1. If we only consider the FF. then other Marvel Comics are not real (see the discussion of realism).
2. If we accept other comics are real then the only way to make sense of the craziness is to focus on the magic: what we see on the surface (the superhero battles) is just the tip of the iceberg, and the real battles are cosmic in nature, as described in the pages of Dr Strange.

The magical subtext is hinted at many times, but most clearly in the horror stories at the heart of Act 4:

• The Devil
  The battles with Nicholas Scratch ("Old Nick" and "Old Scratch" are nicknames for the Devil): these are the background for Agatha Harkness stories. She appeared just before Act 4 began,. Scratch was probably behind the Overmind story, Scratch was maneuvering to get Franklin to Salem to use his power (only Franklin is powerful enough to tip the balance between higher beings), and finally Scratch possessed Franklin completely.
• Horror characters
  The darkest era, FF201-231, crosses over with Marvel's horror comics: Dr Sun from Dracula, Gabriel from Haunt of Horror and Monsters Unleashed, and the monsters from Marvel's original monster comics (e.g.Giganto and Namor's monsters in Moench's first issue).
  
• Horror scenarios
  Most (or all) of the stories in this era are horror staples:
  
  1. Possession (Franklin possessed, Herbie possessed, mutant creates doppelgangers, Franklin possesses others, etc.)
  2. Giants (Atlanteans, Shogun Warriors, Sphinx, Galactus, Ebon Seeker, etc.)
  3. Body horror (aging)
  4. Lost in darkness (the negative zone, outer space, etc.)

In each case vastly powerful beings are uncovered: beings or forces whose power dwarfs whole planets:

• the combined living computers of Xandar, and the Sphinx with that power,
  
• Galactus,
  
• Norse gods
• and some of the most powerful beings in the entire negative universe,
  
• and of course Franklin, again and again.
  

Other points to note

• On Frankie Rae:
  "When John Byrne took the Fantastic Four Back to the Basics with Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #232 (cover date July 1981) it was a rather apt title considering his stance, in interviews at the time (if recall correctly), that nothing that came after Jack Kirby left the Fantastic Four with Vol. 1 #102 (cover date September 1970) ‘counted’, essentially ignoring the previous decade; or, to put it another way, the entirety of what we now fondly refer to as the Bronze Age of Marvel Comics. Byrne had sole responsibility for shaping the future of the Fantastic Four as both artist and writer, so he had to trust in his creative instincts; but it still seemed a tad disrespectful of all the other creators that came before him.  It was a little odd, then, that in his first issue he used a character created by Roy Thomas and George Perez in Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #164 " (source)
• Byrne's plans
  "While Frankie/Nova is apparently dead in current continuity, Byrne did originally intend to have Nova become the next Galactus, after another Big Bang at the culmination of his ‘ The Last Galactus Story’, the ending of which remains unpublished today." (source)
• Anagram
  The inker "Bjorn Heyn" is an anagram for John Byrne himself.
• Ben's eyebrows
  For why Ben's eyebrows start to change: see notes to FF203. He also has longer arms in most of Byrne's run. This is probably related to the change in FF238.
• Sue's age
  When Sue has her hair styled the stylist says she will look twenty years younger. Byrne originally had her reply "I am sure my husband would love to be married to a nine year old" indicating that Byrne intends her to be aged 29. The editor, Jim Salicrup, changed it to "to a child" to keep things vague. However, internal evidence suggests that Sue should be 31 at this point.  This suggests that the Skrull de-aging ray took two years off her age in FF214.
• Sue's power
  Sue's increasing use of power should be seen in the context of her power being increased in the Thunderhorn, increased again in FF214-215, and her practicing new techniques in 171, 196, 219, and so on. Her powers were not enough before that. For more about her power, and how she was just as powerful before Byrne, see her own page.
  

233

Issue 233: Johnny starts his recovery

The story begins with the team under great stress. Most readers see the fighting between Ben and Johnny as a comedy, a sign that all is comfortable and well. But this fails for two reasons:

1. Read what they say: Ben is genuinely hurt, and Johnny is far too quick to escalate this into a fight (if this was a joke the sensible thing would be to leave).
2. Johnny stopped these tricks when he was a teenager, back in 1964. The very rare time he's gone back is when under extreme stress: e.g. FF119.

These fights are a sign of great stress. It's also possible that this was staged to cheer up Reed.

• Shakespeare
  Note the Hamlet reference when Johnny leaves the liquor store.
  
  

  Here, Johnny plays the role of the innocent younger generation in a tainted world. To a lesser extent Johnny is also the most innocent of the Fantastic Force:

• Sue can be accused of not being forceful enough
• Reed can be accused of being over controlling
• Ben is letting fear of commitment rule his life (and self pity and blaming of others)
• Johnny is the pure one, the one who, though he was immature, always had the right relationship with others.

• Importance
  Note that when returning to the Baxter building he states that the FF have never been crime fighters like Spider-man or Dare-devil.

  

  That always impressed me. They go after the bigger issues, the science and safety issues that underpin the economy, which in turn underpins crime.Compare this issue with FF302: this is Johnny's turning point and he does what he does best: lone detective work against mainly ordinary people. FF302 is his honeymoon and he does the same. This is what Johnny does best, a sign of his sound mental mental health. His lowest points are when far from home on some cosmic quest: when the rest of the team almost died of old age, and in the Ebon Seeker arc. Remember also how he almost collapsed after visiting the beginning of time to find the Ultimate Nullifier in FF50. Like Sue he lacks a solid family base, and so prefers to stay near home so he doesn't lose his roots.

234

Issue 234: Reed's first experiment with the power cosmic

1. Franklin: he controls the world without realizing it.He particularly affects time.
   
2. Reed: Reed cannot connect to his son, he cannot see the vast power that is right in front of him. He cannot see how he causes events.
   
3. In a small way he even parallels that other Mr Collins, the Baxter building landlord: he sees life as frustrating and hard, even though he has the most wonderful amazing super powers right in front of his face.
4. The reader? The Franklin parallel is right in front of our faces, but do we see it?

On another level, Skip is more support for Reed being a Skrull who arrived in the 1930s (see the notes to issue 91). The FF has four human reality warpers:

1. Franklin
2. Willie Evans (FF 203)
   
3. Skip Collins (here)
4. Licorice Calhoun (FF 291-2)

Note the sequence of events:

1. Reed the Skrull arrives in the 1930s. His goal is to defend himself and he Earth from the Skrulls.
2. Reed's "father" suddenly appears, and develops a time machine, a device that relies on dimensional warpers such as would be used in a Skrull faster than light machine
3. Reed spends his life developing that technology until he has unstable molecules (based on Skrulls) and a dimensional portal: see the page on the portal for how they are linked.
4. Also in the 1930s professor Horton appears (then like Reed's father, disappears) and has advanced technology
5. Also in the 1930s SHIELD suddenly has advanced technology
6. Also in the 1930s Licorice Calhoun develops reality warping power: Reed's first experiment? As we see from FF annual 17, all it takes to change someone's cells is a glass of milk. Add the Skrulls' interest in hypnosis (as used many times in FF 91-93) and the possibilities are endless.
   
7. Also in the 1930s Skip Collins is born (judging by his age): Reed's second experiment? One glass of milk and hypnosis for an adult, one for a pregnant mother?
   
8. By 1966 Reed has perfected the dimensional portal, and in 1967 Franklin was conceived, to be born in 1968: Reed's third experiment? Note that Reed took years to decide on a name. As the Impossible Man remarked, shape changers don't have much use for names. Reed would not see life and death in the same way we do: Skrulls can multiply very easily (see FF annual 17) and changing someone's nature would not be seen as an ethical problem.
   
9. In 1968 Willie Evans was conceived: perfect timing to use information Reed gained from Franklin's birth?

All of this might seem to suggest that Reed has an enormous ego. And that is the background to this story: the approach of Ego, the living planet. But where did Ego come from?

About Ego
How was Ego created? "Ego once told Thor that he was the result of a scientist merging with a planet when that planet's sun went nova" (Wikipedia). We see in annual 17 that Skrull cells are uniquely adapted to this: they can merge with humans, animals, plants, and any life form, and expand in a rapid chain reaction. We also learn from Galactus that entire planets have life energy. It is no stretch to see how a Skrull scientist, in a moment of crisis, could conceive of merging with an entire planet. That special unique scientist would be the closest thing we have to Reed's colossal ambition.

• "Ben Grimm makes note to his bartender and old friend Mick Clancy, 'Lotta things changed since we wuz test pilot. Flyin' and drinkin' was all part of life then...' Around this time (1979), impairment by alcohol and alcohol awareness campaigns were in its early stages." (source)

• Strength
  This is a good example of Ben lifting thousands of tons, before the bridge grew lighter. For how strong he really is, see his own page.
• The Skipper and the Franks
  "Skip" is of course short for "skipper" - the one who controls the ship. Similarly "Franklin" is also a name that indicates power. It comes from "Frank" and to "be frank" meant to be free to say what you wanted without fear of reprisal. Because, as every reader of Ivanhoe knows,  in days of old the invading Franks (French) had more power than the native Anglo-Saxons and could do what they wanted. (see C.S.Lewis' excellent word studies book: he wrote more than Narnia, you know).
• Buzzing
  Skip feels a buzzing in his head, indicating his power. When Nicholas Scratch possessed Franklin at the end of FF222 he was compared to the sound of the buzzing of a fly. Coincidence? Probably.
• The boy with the power
  Note the parallels with the other Franklin-like reality controller in FF203, who gained his powers in a similar way. Like this one, that story was similarly four issues into a major new era for the team (after FF200, the number four includes annual 13).
• Cover homage
  Byrne appears to be homaging this famous Deadman cover. Thanks to "Farrar" of the Classic Comics board for pointing this out.
  
  

• Nostalgia: Marvel UK ends here
  I grew up reading Marvel UK. They reprinted the FF every week (more or less) from issue 1 right up to this issue (I think - possibly the next one). It was the end of an era.
  Thanks to the Starlogged blog for these scans: I think this is the last time the FF appeared on a cover (showing FF233)...
  
  ...and a few weeks later, one of the last times the FF appeared inside.
  
  
  Marvel UK reprinted comics in a weekly format, and by this time they had almost caught up with the American originals, so had to stop. But what a run it was! As a Brit I felt privileged to have something the Americans never did: the whole run in the space of one childhood. Marvel UK published 20 years of stories, one after the other, in just ten years, and I collected them (mostly second hand) over a period of five years. I was able to watch the family grow up. The feeling of progress and moving forward was palpable: this partly explains my passionate interest in continuity.  I experienced comics, as a single giant story moving ever forwards, and I loved it.
  
  Now that the reprints had run out of source material they went back to reprinting some of the earlier issues. So I finally started ordering the American comics to find out that happened next. The first one I read was Fantastic Four 251, which begins with Ben staring into the pit that leads to the Negative Zone, saying "I don't get it". That reflected my feelings. I was hoping for an artist like George Perez, and for stories that moved the characters forwards, but Byrne was trying to put the clock back. I felt betrayed - I had followed the story for so many years and now it had ended! Years later I was able to see how Byrne's run did in fact move the story forwards, but in a darker, sadder way. But either way, Marvel UK had hooked me on the FF and I was in too deep to give up now.
  

235

Issue 235: it's all about ego

Ego the rogue planet first appeared in Thor comic in the 1960s, and in Fantastic Four in 1981. Once again, the stories are years ahead of science. Real rogue planets (born in mid space, not simply knocked off a star) were not discovered until 2013. It is still not known whether any of those planets is alive. :)


As for the story...

236

Issue 236: what Ben really wants

This 'Tiny Town' story shows what Ben really wants, and it leads to Alicia seeing that her relationship can go nowhere. This is one of those major defining moments in Ben's life.

A lot more could be said, but it's just a great story. Go and find it, read it, enjoy it!

Other points to note

• Triple sized
  This is a triple sized twentieth anniversary issue of the Fantastic Four. it was inspired by Byrne noting the times when Doom is shown on a cover symbolically towering over the team. He started thinking of a story where that really happens.
• Kirby
  Marvel wanted Kirby's input for the celebration issue, or at least to use his image, and he was drawn on the cover with Stan Lee. But Marvel at the time was in dispute with Kirby over not returning his artwork, and would not pay him for any input, so he refused to have anything to do with it. So they erased Kirby from the cover (see the white space between Lee and the Silver Surfer). For similar reasons (Kirby would not work for them until the dispute as resolved)  they used one of his cartoon story boards as the basis for the backup strip, without paying him anything. After leaving Marvel in the 1970s Kirby had gone to work on cartoons, where he got more respect, even though they didn't know him from any other artist. See "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" by Sean Howe, p.236
• Doom unmasked
  In this issue Sue sees Doom unmasked. Was his mini face the same as his full size face? How badly is he scarred from the explosion that he always blamed on Reed (see annual 2)? Kirby always maintained the scar was tiny, and Doom's vanity did the rest. Stan Lee maintained that he was horribly scarred. Byrne compromised and said that the initial scar was tiny, but when Doom first put on his mask he was impatient, the mask was still hot, and that is what ruined his face (close ups usually show scarring around his eyes). However, this may just be what Doom wants us to think: Kirby once draw an image of Doom without his mask, and Doom was handsome. No doubt Doom has the technology to fix his face if he wants to, but it could ave been a symbolic image. Basically nobody knows.
  

• Doom's character development
  For an overview of Doom's development in his twenty appearances see his own page.

237

Issue 237: Sue's charm offensive

Here we see Sue's Stepford Wife gambit in all its glory. She looks like a doll, she takes Reed on dates (nobody seriously thinks this was his idea, right?), she lets Franklin see Reed being affectionate, and Franklin loves it. So far so good. But time will show that it's not enough. Reed does not change. Note his haggard face: Reed's face reflects his confidence. He is in a desperately bad way, but he refuses to see it.

Franklin uses his powers again to save his family. Reed can't cope with this concept, it troubles him deeply But rather than get to know his son and help to guide his marvelous gifts, Reed just wants to shut them down. Unconsciously Franklin, like Ben, is a rival. So all of Sue's plans come to nothing.

Other points to note

• Sue and the alien: parallels
  Sue's desperate attempt to use passion to guide Reed is reflected in the main story: a woman who towers over others, and makes others feel as she does, drunk with oxygen. It reminds us that desperate attempt cannot work, and that real power always lies with Franklin. Sue does not need to focus on enhancing her cleavage, she needs to persuade Reed to realize his son's abilities.
  
• Johnny's maturity
  This is the issue where Johnny sees his girlfriend undress. On the surface this is cheesecake for male comic fans (though we do not actually see anything, and neither does Johnny). It may be the first time Johnny has ever got intimate in any way past kissing, but either way it serves to show that Frankie is just as immature as he is: remember how she treated him before, and how she will soon be happy to find planets for Galactus to destroy, figuring that ugly aliens don't count.
• Byrne's cover cameo
  For Byrne's cover cameo and many others, see the notes to FF216.
  

238

Issue 238: sexual maturity

FF237 was about Sue and Reed's sexuality. FF238 is about Johnny's and Ben's.

Story 1: Johnny versus passion

The title is a reference to Christopher Fry's play "The Lady's Not For Burning". "It reflects the world's 'exhaustion and despair' following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live." (- Wikipedia)

Fry's play is about the need for maturity: that fighting and passion and quick judgment are not always the answer. FF238 is about the opposite, a girl who represents immaturity:

• She has never learned to control her emotions, always going too far
• She was controlled by her father, and has never even see herself naked
• Her big reveal (dropping her clothes at the end of the previous issue) was designed to be as salacious as possible
• Finally she shows her immaturity in FF 244, where she is does not care if others get hurt as long as she gets what she wants
  

Johny has to learn maturity in his personal relationships. He already learned maturity in his duty to the team years ago, but still has not gained self knowledge. To do that, Johnny must see both extremes:

1. the immature firebrand he thinks he wants (Frankie)
2. and the extremely mature girl he never imagined he would want (Alicia) - Alicia is like the misunderstood woman in Fry's play.

Only then can Johnny be ready for his soul mate, Crystal, who combines both passion and wisdom: see their own page for details.

Other points to note
This issue and the next connect to some very long term themes.

• The Horton family:
  this issue gives Frankie's origin, and we see how the Hortons, through the original Human Torch and now Frankie, are major players in the background. Professor Horton is another mirror of Reed: controlling his children and creating heroes, trying to do the best but emotionally flawed,
• Two Torches
  The two torches foreshadow the two Things in act 5. They serve the same purpose in the long term story: previous failure at love, finding an obvious match frees them from their fear of commitment. Their mirror is not their soul mate, but the one who prepares them for their soul mate: their real soul mate was the one they drove away, the one who truly complements them, the one they need and who needs them. (You cannot need someone who only offers what you already have.)
• Two stories and a pinup
  The two story structure, pinup, and reverting Ben to his earlier form, is a conscious node to the early days of the FF, part of Byrne's "back to basics" strategy.

Story 2: Ben can't cope with what happened at Liddleville

239

Issue 239: uncle Jake

Reed almost never lets his feelings show. This is nothing compared to his other major failures in Act 4. Ben doesn't even seem that bothered. The fact that Reed can fall apart under such a small thing indicates his tremendous internal stresses. Normally he bottles it up behind a smile but his face looks haggard.

In this issue we also see that Crystal is loyal and genuine. This is important so that we can see that her later affair is completely out of character, and Maximus told the truth, that he made it happen through mind control.

But more than Reed of Crystal, this issue is about Uncle Jake,

Aunt Petunia, and how Jake learned peace.

As the Great American Novel, we might expect the book to have something to say about an earlier age when men were more violent. Yes it does, and this is represented by Ben Grimm's upbringing among gangs. It is particularly represented by the redemption of his uncle Jake. This is not specifically stated, but it is sold sensitively through the story of another person.

Since 1964, Ben Grimm (The Thing) has referred to his "old aunt Petunia" as a source of wisdom. Note the word "old." He even jokes about her aged appearance, as seen in issue 134.

But in FF 238-239 we finally see Petunia, and she is young.

How young? She looks to be in her 20s or 30s. O'Hoolihan calls Petunia "a foin broth of a girl" and Johnny considers her attractive. Assuming an upper age of 35, and with the stretching time scale between 1961 and 1982, she was born after 1935. But for Ben to have fought in WWII he left home in 1945 at the latest. Petunia would have been 10 or younger when she was dishing out old lady advice to a teenage Ben. More seriously, she was supposedly a qualified nurse and possibly even married to uncle Jake at this time. The numbers do not add up.

As an aside, Petunia has a highly dated name. Flower names (rose, lily, iris, etc.) had an explosion in popularity around the year 1900, but the fashion soon ended. Babycenter.com now ranks Petunia as number 12,986 in popularity (compared with the dated but still possible Susan at 840 and relatively trendy Alicia at 185). Everything points to Petunia being a generation older than Ben, and not a married nine year old graduate.

However, the story suggests a solution. Petunia appears to ask Ben's help with problems in the town. We learn that ancient earth spirits are causing the bad people to face their inner demons and die, and the solution is to get the bad people to leave. Only a handful of good people are left, including Petunia and Jake, and a girl called Wendy who spends time with the spirits. Perhaps Petunia also spends time with them? 

Wendy does not tell people what she knows about the spirits. At the end of the book she is shown with the spirits, a fact not revealed to anybody. But if it was not revealed, how was it in the book? In the Fantastic Four we only see what the team tell Marvel: if the team don't know about it then it can't go in the book (see FF 10, FF 176). How, then, did they know Wendy's secret? Presumably somebody else had experience with the spirits.. Who else could it be but Petunia? Jake is not mobile, but Petunia is feisty and curious: another Wendy. Petunia would have explored the are as a small girl (face it, there was not much else to do) and, like Wendy, would have discovered the spirits. Perhaps "Wendy's friends" are not just the spirits, but also Jake and Petunia.

Jake is also another version of Wendy's father: he was once angry, we are told. 

Jake comes from a time when men were often violent, and Ben comes from a culture of violent gang members. But now Jake is at peace. Perhaps Wendy's tale is also Petunia's tale. Perhaps it is really all about Jake, but like Wendy, Petunia and Ben are too loyal to ever speak against him. Jake had to face his inner demons, the demons of the violent earth that made his generation (the last generation to sweep the native Americans away): he had to reap the whirlwind. Notice that redemption comes from the land itself. The American settlers lose their thirst to conquer the land and begin to cooperate with it. The Grimm story is the story of the people of the land.

Note that none of this contradicts "second wife" or "many years younger" story. But the significance is not that a 50 year old man married a 9 year old, the significance is that a 50 year old man married a 30 year old who healed his anger.

This raises several questions. 

First, did Petunia move to Arizona too late to be this young? She said they moved to Arizona "shortly before" FF 1. But why would two New Yorkers choose Arizona? Seems  along way from new York - where they trying to escape? Or did they already have connections there?

Second, Jake is portrayed as a nice middle class doctor who was only angry because of his legs. He contrasts with Ben's alcoholic father and gang leader brother. In The Thing issue 2 we see how Ben idolized his brother, but then his brother was killed in a gang fight, and Ben went to live with uncle Jake. Later Ben became leader of the same Yancy Street Gang, And only THEN did Jake talk to Ben about leaving the gang. Something does not add up. While it is possible that a lower class alcoholic has a middle class doctor for a brother, it is statistically unlikely. More seriously, Jake knew that Ben's favorite brother was killed in a gang fight. Why did Jake wait until Ben was gang leader before suggesting it was a bad idea? It sounds like Jake was saw gang membership, including stabbing, as perfectly acceptable.

Third, we are told that people disapproved of Jake marrying a much younger woman. But the numbers suggest this was only a man in his fifties marrying a woman in her thirties - unusual but hardly a scandal. Which leads to our next curiosity, and another explanation for the scandal:

Fourth, why did Petunia have such an influence on Ben? According to The Thing issue 2, Ben was raised by his aunt Alyce, and Petunia did not arrive on the scene until later. Ben was a gang leader while Petunia was a student nurse who claims she never questioned anything Jake did. Why would Ben be influenced by Petunia more than Alyce? Petunia's story is all very neat - far TOO neat. Jake was an idealized man? Jake needed the excuse of an injury to explain why he met this nurse? But he was a doctor in a busy hospital (FF238, 257): he worked with nurses all the time! Then it took years for Petunia to be Jake's student  and then eventually his wife, and then become an influence on Ben? There isn't enough time. And Petunia never questioned Jake? This doesn't sound like a woman that the rebellious Ben would idolize.

A simpler explanation is that Jake was seeing Petunia before the accident, and we are hearing the sanitized version of events.  I am not suggesting that Jake killed his wife deliberately. But if Jake was seeing somebody then his marriage may not have been a happy one: Jake's brother was an alcoholic. It's easy to see how Jake might have been driving after drinking, and having a lot on his mind. That would explain why he and Petunia wanted to move from their home in New York and get as far away as possible: accidentally killing your wife then marrying your much younger mistress is quite a scandal, and they would want to get away.

In short, Jake was not innocent. Though Petunia probably is. Petunia must have a pure heart, to survive being friends with the spirits.
Fifth potential problem: if Petunia knew about the spirits, why didn't she tell Ben? For the same reason that Wendy kept them secret, right to the end. Some things are best not discussed. But why would Petunia come to ask help from Ben if she could already talk to the spirits? Because the evil in the town is causing deaths, and she needs help to get the bad people out of there. Wendy did not tell everything she knew, so why should Petunia?

Finally, why did Ben not notice that Petunia had not aged? Reed notes that the spirits may still be around in ten thousand years. Like the native American "ancient ones" found by the Miracle Man, they appear to have slowed aging to an almost standstill. Being around time-stretching superheroes keeps a person young (as noted in the fourth-wall-breaking She-Hulk book), so perhaps being around these earth spirits will slow aging to a crawl. This would explain why Petunia had barely aged since Ben knew her when Ben was a child (and 35 then seemed ancient). This also explains why Ben does not notice that Petunia has not aged: time dilation in comics is never noticed by those who experience it.

A16

Annual 16: one of the most important FF stories ever

TO BE CONTINUED

For years I thought this story was not part of continuity. I have never been more wrong. This story is the KEY to understanding the continuity of the big FF story. It will take a long time to finish this review - so much to say! But I will leave you with just two tasters:

The art is superb

(but perhaps not what you're used to)

I have a whole page on the topic of Ditko's art, and it includes some major themes from this annual.

This annual is the key that unlocks the secrets to Gregory Gideon, "Aron the Watcher", Lockjaw, and more. Does this look familiar?

Part 2: global stories

240

Issue 240: China industrializes: i.e. Crystal has a child

Johnny still loves Crystal, deep down. She is his soul mate. One day this child, Luna, will probably be a member of Johnny's Fantastic Four. For how the baby leads to a revelation about Lockjaw, click here. (Quicksilver wants to force Luna into danger due to his own pride, just as Reed always puts Franklin in danger, and Lockjaw intervenes.) 

Medusa' secrets
Note that Medusa was captured by the Enclave in FF207 and remains captured for "many weeks", yet Lockjaw does not rescue her. We know from FF160 that lockjaw can track somebody across dimensions just from a piece of their clothing. yet he does not track Medusa. We later learn that the Enclave are defeated when Maximus sacrifices his life. We are shown none of the details. Something very strange is going on here. Maximus, Medusa and Lockjaw are probably the three most secretive Inhumans. We know that Medusa treats Lockjaw as an inferior: did he deliberately not try too hard to find her? We know that Medusa can be very secretive (her early years as a "villain", or arranging for reed and Sue to reunite), and sometimes appears to go against Black Bolt's wishes (e.g. in not wanting Crystal back). We also know that something prevented the royal family family from ever seriously restraining Maximus. We only ever have hints, but something very interesting is going on here.

This issue is important in relation to others

• Crystal
  For more about the significance of Crystal and how she an Johnny develop over the years, click here.
  
• Johnny
  For Johnny's time line, see the notes to FF 192.
• Sphinx
  For the probable role of the Sphinx in this story, see the notes to annual 12.

China: The zeitgeist

This is where the Inhumans leave Earth, due to air pollution. In this issue we are reminded that the Inhumans live in Tibet: with their family values and martial arts, they represent east Asia.

This period is where China began to expand beyond its own lands economically, creating exactly the air pollution the Inhumans had to escape.

FF240 was cover dated March 1982 (i.e. written around Sep 1981), and these are the events of the time:

• 1980: the first Chinese Special Economic Zones, where capitalism was first embraced. These were planned in the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978 (see issue 200 for why 1978 was so important). Since 1980, the PRC has established special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province, and designated the entire province of Hainan a special economic zone.
• 1982: not just China! In 1982 the Japanese car firm Honda opened its first plant in the US. Like the Inhumans, the Japanese (demonized as inhuman in World War II) was leaving Japan. Japanese technology, once mocked as inferior, was being seen as the best in the world (a point made in the movie back to the Future, comparing 1955 with 1985)

All about the Inhumans
or... is Johnny the real father of Luna?

Nathan Adler (of "How Would You Fix") has given the Inhumans a great deal of thought, which leads him to several interesting hypotheses. The whole thing is worth quoting. The subtitles are my own:

1. Having a child was massively important:
   "Crystal would have to be a damn sight sluttier to make a significant difference to the Inhuman gene pool. So there is clearly some other reason why she might need to conceive a child by an outsider, and who turns out to be entirely human."
2. Crystal was born to meet Johnny:
   "There is evidence to argue that the Inhumans bring forth the individuals that their society will need, somehow unconsciously anticipating what is to come. If rebellious, heart-led Crystal had not struck up her romance with Johnny Storm, the entire Inhuman population might have been destroyed, or at least subjugated by Maximus and later by the Kree."
   [For why Crystal left for Quicksilver, see the page on Johnny and Crystal]
   
3. Crystal was born to have Luna:
   "If Crystal had not birthed Luna then the Avengers would not have survived the Crossing. And who knows what need the Inhumans might have for Luna in the days to come?"
4. The supreme intelligence's priorities
   "Remember that [the Inhumans] they were an early, forgotten, genetic experiment by the Kree. This takes on a new relevance in the light of the Supreme Intelligence’s sacrifice of the entire Kree galaxy in order to promote the genetic advancement of his race. We have never seen anything like an Inhumans experiment on another planet, yet somehow this unique accomplishment, which has significant military value and which had both a Sentinel and Shatterstar set to watch over it was overlooked for millennia. Only the Supreme Intelligence himself could bury data that well. And the Inhumans started interacting with the outside world just as the Skrulls began their major campaign on Earth, and shortly before the Kree/Skrull War (in which they also played a role). Is there still Kree programming somewhere in the genetic code of the Inhumans? Is the Supreme Intelligence saving this experiment for something special, perhaps something to do with his plans to revitalize the Kree genetic inheritance? Has the Supreme Intelligence got a purpose for Luna? These what-if games can get very deep, can’t they? Perhaps it’s safer to assume that Crystal is a fallible, all-too human girl who has made good judgments and bad in her time. Not the culmination of an ancient plot by the Supreme Intelligence to exploit the genetic potential of humankind and spread his power across the stars.  But the latter sounds like much more fun!!!"

In short, this was all planned, so it makes much more sense for Johnny to be the father than for Quicksilver. I would add two more lines of evidence:

1. Johnny's ancestry
   None of this is accidental (For details see the notes on magic, by FF 48.) If this is all carefully planned then Johnny is the obvious father: being probably one quarter Atlantean, so mixing all the surface races. And note that Johnny as born as a normal human, despite having cross-species genes, just as Luna was. Coincidence?
   
2. Quicksilver's behavior
   Are we being too prejudiced against Quicksilver? He turned against his evil past (he began in "the brotherhood of evil mutants"), and Crystal fell in love with him. This suggests a strong, noble heart. Yet something happened to turn him almost mad with anger. His neglect of Crystal began after Luna was born, and before Crystal's affair. What caused him to change his feelings? What did he learn?
   

When was Luna conceived?

1. She begins in an action pose, as if using her powers, with the upper half of her body near the lower half of Johnny's body.
2. She ends having passed right over him, and Johnny's legs are now apart (notice how one leg is drawn as if much closer to the camera).
3. And all this time remember how Johnny was feeling: he adores Crystal: losing her as the hardest thing ever, and this is the first time they are alone together. Plus he just came from battle: the adrenalin would be flowing. But now his brain is a little confused, as if drunk.
4. Throughout this time Crystal ensured that Sue, the only other alert one, and the one most protective of Johnny, was always on the opposite side of Ben so could not see clearly.
5. This process took several minutes in the silence of space. It's extremely romantic when you visualize it.
   

So what am I actually saying?
What could have happened for the minute or so when these two star crossed lovers were inches apart? Nothing obvious of course. But it would not have to be obvious.

Crystal is an elemental. She can make make air rub past a person with whatever force she wants, and can make fluids flow up, down, wherever she wants them. "But they remained fully clothed" you say? Of course. but unstable molecules adapt to the requirements of the user. Do you really think Johnny need a zipper in those pants? As for Crystal, Inhuman fabric technology is 20,000 years in advance of our own. Clothing is no barrier to fluids that want to move.

So we can piece together what happened:

1. Crystal had rejected Quicksilver, and wanted Johnny.
2. For the previous minutes or hours, Johnny's desire for Crystal was building
3. Crystal arranged for the to be floating a few inches apart in the silence of space for several minutes, while Johnny felt like he as in a dream.
   
4. She had plenty of opportunity to stimulate anything she wanted, and to move fluids from one place to another.
   
5. Then they would slowly drift apart and nobody watching would know what happened.
6. And nine months later Crystal had a baby, and Johnny was shaken up by the news.
   

And all with plausible deniability.

If Johnny and Luna are as important to the galaxy as I think they are, then what more appropriate time to conceive? In a dream like state, floating above the Earth, where the entire universe could see them yet nobody would see anything. To update Johnny's comment on their first meeting, Crystal makes Barbarella look like a boy.

• Byrne versus Claremont
  "'We're not going to insult your intelligence by placing a sound-effect in this panel.' Now what the heck is that about? Well, let me tell you. [...] Claremont had written into the script of X-Men #119 a sound effect to compliment the explosion of a volcano in the X-Men/Moses Magnum story set in Japan. This really ticked Byrne off and he complained mightily about it and Claremont to any trade magazine that would give him the space." (source)

241

Issue 241: the empty armor. Reed as Lancelot: the empty hero

The Fantastic Four comic at its best
Before looking at the Lancelot motif, we need to appreciate this issue for what it is: an example of the Fantastic Four at its best. A rip-roaring science fiction adventure, accessible to anybody, and packed with amazing ideas.

Cultural references
The thing I love most about the Fantastic Four is all these cultural references and amazing ideas: so many ideas packed into such a small space. In this issue we have:

• A Space station
• Ancient Rome
• Russia versus America (the Russians got there first)
  
• Deepest Africa
• Amazing concepts, like a gigantic screw based wooden elevator powered by slaves
• A reference to Krakatoa, and much more
  

The story is also full of references to eye opening movies and books:

• The movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sue said it was unusual that Reed agreed to see the movie, as he never normally watches films. Was it perhaps because in this universe the film was based on a true story? Reed meets Indiana Jones' grandson in FF annual 1998.

  

• H. Rider Haggard's "She" (the story of a secret African kingdom where time stands still and the the ruler is ancient but kept young by mystical means)

  

• A hollow mountain by a crashed spaceship, reminding us of Devil's Tower, the site used in the movie Close Encounters

  

• The whole approach comes straight from pulps like Doc Savage.
• The ruler sacrifices his soul in order to gain eternal life, as in Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
  

The Great American Novel
The Close Encounters reference shows why this web site exists. On his Byrne Robotics web site, John Byrne was asked about the similarity between his mountain and Close Encounters. Byrne denied any influence, and said he had that idea since he was a child. Yet any outside observer can see the parallels. This illustrates how our minds work: we take in ideas all the time, and only focus on some, but every idea affects us. This web site tries to trace those ideas, even when the writer denies any knowledge of them.

Which brings us to the empty suit of armor idea.

The empty armor
FF241 was written in late 1981. April 1981 had seen the release of Excalibur, what many fans consider to be the best of the Arthurian movies. The greatest of all knights was Lancelot, and he failed in his quest to find the Grail because he lusted after the queen, Guinevere. In the movie this failure is foreshadowed by a nightmare in which Lancelot battles a knight who turns out to be an empty suit of armor. Lancelot awakes to find himself wounded. 

In the 1979 story by Roger Zelazny's ("The Last Defender of Camelot") Lancelot has been kept alive over the centuries, just as had the Roman ruler in FF241. At the end Lancelot must battles the knight who is an empty suit of armor. Lancelot wins, but is mortally wounded and dies, but he finally gets what he wants, a vision of the Grail. This has parallels with three very similar stories about Reed:

1. This is the first,
2. The second is when Reed is suicidal (FF 254)
3. The third is the final triumph over himself at the end of act  (FF 294-6)
   

Byrne and the empty golden armor
We can't be sure if Byrne saw the movie Camelot, but in a thread about the movie somebody said the Arthurian legend was better than Tolkien, and Byrne was shocked that someone would even need to say that. We can safely conclude that Byrne is an Arthurian fan. We do know that Byrne liked the empty gold armor motif a lot, as he re-used it more than once, most notably with "Gilded Lily"  Alpha Flight. As with the Roman in F241, Lily crumbled to dust when her mast was removed.

Act 4 and the empty armor
The second half of act 4 is dominated by the motif of the empty (or nearly empty) suit of armor:

• FF202, just after the climax in 200, is about Iron Man with nobody inside. (Iron Man is the closest parallel to Reed among mainstream Marvel heroes).
• Annual 15, the return of Doom, has the Doom in the mental asylum turn out to be just a robot.
• FF246 and all the later Doombot stories are about Doom turning out to be a metaphorical empty shall (just a robot).
• FF254-5, where Sue declared Reed to be dead because his body has become an empty shell.
• FF259-260, in the death of Doom, the armor is emptied at the end. But as a result (see FF288) he does not know who he is (Doom is a symbol for Reed).
  
• FF269-270 is about Terminus, a largely empty suit of armor (see the notes for how this is really about Reed).

This is part of the theme of doppelgangers and identity that runs throughout the 28 year story. Even the stories that are not about empty armor are usually about something similar, e.g.

• FF235, the triple sized celebration issue is a town that turns out to be fake, like the Stepford Wives
  
• FF263-264, where the people are all robot versions of people who died long before
• FF268: Doom's empty mask
• FF271: a monster whose form become emptier the more power he has (a metaphor for the corruption of power, and the cold war)
• FF272-3: the warlord's armor does not contain what they expected
• FF278-90: Kristof's armor is half empty
• FF282-3: the hate monger's armor is almost empty
• FF286: the Omega level Phoenix turns out to be just a shell: the real Jean Grey was never there
• FF287-8: Doom is not Doom inside the armor, or if he is then he is missing something

It's all about identity.

FF241 and Arthurian Britain
FF241 is set in ancient Rome, not Arthurian times, though the two are very close: the Arthurian cycle is set in the sixth century, in the power vacuum when Rome left Britain. So it is about the colonists leaving and the land returning to its natural magical state. So it is with FF241, when the Roman rule ends and T'Challa is once again undisputed master.

Reed and Lancelot
It is highly unlikely that Byrne was consciously thinking of Lancelot in FF241, but both Lancelot and Reed are examples of the same trope: the great and noble hero with the feet of clay. It is the same hero with different faces, as Joseph Campbell would put it. let us now look at this particular part of the "hero's journey", and the three similar stories, this one, FF 254 (his Negative Zone Folly) and FF294-295, the end of act 5.

The three stories
Each story follows the same outline:

1. Happiness:
   It begins with Reed in his element: smiling, apparently happy, because he's studying physics.  In 241 he's exploring an energy burst, in 254 the negative zone, and 294 a subspace barrier.
2. The city
   In a hidden ancient city (FF 254 is hidden in the Negative zone)
3. The climb
   Reached by a long internal climb (oh the symbolism!)
4. Stuck in the past
   Each city adores the past yet has high technology
5. Fake leader
   The city's leader is a master of illusion (in 294-5 the leader is a frail old sleeping man but appears as a giant)
6. Skeletons
   In the first two the bad guy is surrounded by bones, in the third one the team choose to see inside themselves (more symbolism!)
7. Reed powerless
   In the first two Reed is chained and rendered powerless by his own carelessness. in the final one he at last comes to self knowledge.
8. Stripped nakedness
   In 241 Sue is naked at the end. In 254 Sue and Reed are in Bed. In  294: Sue strips them down layer by layer until nothing is left.
   
9. Empty armor
   The first two are ruled by a hollow golden suit of armor. The third is a high tech helmet that Reed is finally able to remove himself.
10. Illusion to reality
    The first two are largely an illusion. The third is real but should not exist, and Reed makes it right.
11. Reed humility
    In each, Reed must finally learn humility.

In FF241, a soldier gains access to captured alien technology, just as Reed did. He realizes that this technology plus his own intelligence mean he can became the natural ruler, just like Reed. This leads to Ben and Johnny fighting, as with Reed. And of course he falls for Sue, as everyone does: they do it all for Sue. Here is a taste of FF254. See the parallels with FF241: the tower, the empty golden armor, the technology, the bones, the great staircase, all maintained by illusion, etc.

And here is FF294-5: again the great staircase, the helmet, the bones, etc.

The answer in each case is to removing the helmet of the leader: to end his authority. In the final story Reed realizes that he is like that leader, he has been holding his people back. And at that moment the darkness of act 4 ends and the recovery, act 5, can begin, where Reed decides to step aside.

Reed begins to see his weakness in this issue (241), but his brief moment of understanding while chained is not enough: this issue is followed by Reed's biggest act of blind arrogance ever, where he misses he clues that his son is ready to grow up (and therefore Galactus will be bound), and instead he saves the world killer, Galactus.See the notes to the next two issues,

• Russia
  In Act 1, Russia was the great threat. But by this point it really isn't: the only Russians we see are skeletons who failed.
  

• Reed and T'Challa
  Note the contrast between Reed and T'Challa. T'Challa has self knowledge. He also uses empty metal suits (his robots), but uses them to carry his costume. And when Reed is powerless, T'Challa still has full power because his power comes from inside, from who he is, not from some external luck.

• The name Excalibur
  In the Franklinverse, Excalibur was the name of the comic in which Chris Claremont explored the cosmic and mystic issues that explain Franklin and how the realities fit together.

• Colonialism:
  This story covers the three eras of colonialism:
  

• It reads like a nineteenth century story of the white man conquering Africa (but being modern it shows that Africa, in the form of T'Challa, is perfectly able to look after itself) 
• It reminds us that colonialism goes right back to Roman times, if not before
• It begins with westerners looking down on Africa: today we do not directly control the continent with weapon, we use superior technology: the Americans monitor Africa from above, not the other way round.
  

• Chapters!
  This adventure reads like a return to the earliest days of the FF, complete with separate chapter headings! Apart from the triple sized issue 136 I think this is the only Byrne issue to have chapters

• Misogyny?
  This is the first of Byrne's "torture the woman but leave the men alone" issues (see also FF 255, FF280, FF283, FF284), an an example of "woman loses her clothes but the men never do" (see also FF272, FF275, FF276, etc.). Some have accused Byrne of being misogynistic, but most readers say that this issue is a good example of Sue being empowered: she is the one who defeats the bad guy. But then she was always the one most likely to defeat the bad guy, right from the first battle with Dr Doom, and before. I will let the reader decide what this all means. No torture or nudity is shown explicitly, a fact that is applauded by a reader in the letters page about this issue (published in FF 246)

• Ben peeked
  Many people say (at least on the Byrne Robotics forum) that their favorite part is when Sue was briefly visible and naked, and Ben peeked. At least, that is how almost everyone interprets this image (and apparently it is clearer in the pencils, but is still intended to be ambiguous).
  It might not look like Ben's eyes, but in the early issues his eyes were often seen as tiny white circles.
  
  Is peaking at Sue a little immature? We need to go back to the start: In issues 1-7 before Ben met Alicia (who looked exactly like Sue), he always loved Sue: Ben's initial hatred for Reed was partly because Reed made Ben ugly, and claimed Sue for himself.
  

• Hostess Twinkies
  This issue has the last of the 74 "hostess Twinkies" ads that began with FF158. A nostalgic favorite!

• Cover text box
  I think this may be the only cover (in the period 1961-89) to use printed text instead of hand lettering. This suggests a last minute change, but I don't know why.

  

242

Issue 242: Franklin decides to take over

This issue is can be considered a prologue to the prologue in FF244, which itself a prologue to FF245, where Franklin begins to take charge.
Symbolically, Franklin is playing with a toy rocket ship, just like the one that started it all. But this time Franklin is in charge: Franklin powers it.

See the joy on his face! Ever since Sue's efforts to make everything right in FF232, Franklin has seen optimistic signs. On the surface his family seems happier. The child is daring to hope.

This will lead to the next highly symbolic act: Franklin and the cube, in FF244.

Life will find a way
Reed has always tried to be in control, but he can't stop Franklin. This is the message of the family (you can't control your kids forever) and of life itself: as Jeff Goldblum memorably put it in Jurassic Park a few years later, "life will find a way." Reed's efforts to suppress and control his son are doomed. As long as he maintains this strategy of holding his son back, he will fail.

The rocket ship and Frankie
Franklin adds flame to the rocket ship, allowing it to fly. This symbolizes how Frankie will gain the power to follow Galactus in FF244.

Was Franklin involved in that? Well Franklin is involved in everything, unconsciously, but Galactus is his herald, and uncle Johnny is his good friend, so he would be particularly aware of their needs. Franklin would know that Frankie is emotionally suited to Galactus, not Johnny. Frankie also knows that Johnny needs somebody who will stick around, and Frankie is not that (she left once, she is too hotheaded, and she just wants whoever is powerful). So it is no coincidence that the next few issues show Frankie attracted to the most powerful being around, leaving Johnny free to find somebody better.

Who can Johnny find instead of Frankie? Somebody loyal, like Franklin's good friend Alicia. Of course, Alicia isn't single, but whoever Johnny finds needs to have her level of devotion. Franklin understands that.

1. The most obvious indicator of time passing is Christmases: when discussing Marvel Time it is common to refer to the large number of Christmases in what is supposed to be 10-14 years.
2. The end of the issue is firmly anchored to contemporary New York: Terrax stands on the World Trade Center. As the years pass after September 11th 2001, Marvel Time must say that never happened. 
3. Another sign of the later death of continuity is that Byrne needed to feature Spider-Man and Daredevil. They didn't do anything, just commented that this is out of their league. This was necessary because readers still expected a connection between books: if a major event happened in New York city in one book, readers would expect it to be noticed by other New York heroes. But in later years nobody really cared: the universe was only shared when a writer felt like it.
4. The issue contains numerous references to stories still years in the future. With Marvel Time that can no longer happen: anything longer than a single trade paperback (around 6 issues) is seldom referenced. Doug refers to this when speaking of Franklin's returning powers: "The one thing I've always loved about Byrne's writing, although admittedly it can become a fault, is his seeding of subplots. We don't get that sort of writing today, as all stories are mandated to be six issues long. Gotta sell those trade paperbacks!"

All of these signs of continuity, as well as the free use of cultural references (see below)  will be squashed once the Franklinverse takes over, and nobody ever grows up.

• Karen noted: "Julie and her fellow actor are spouting lines out of Elf quest, an independent comic some of you might remember.[...]  I was an Elf quest fan back in the day, and that's a pretty famous scene."
• Frankie's friend Julie dresses in leg warmers and extra short shorts ("Daisy Dukes").

243

Issue 243: Reed's worst decision ever?

Reed's stress causes his worst decision ever: he defends cosmic genocide. His logic is that one living thing must not die. Does he then defend every deadly bacteria? He did not have to save Galactus. As a force of nature, and one with the most advanced technology possible, Galactus could have recovered. Remember how when he attacked Poppup Galactus was dissipated into pure energy and his world ship gathered him and rebuilt him? This can hardly be worse than that. But Reed, true to form, believes that only he can be right. Notice the insulting way he says it - "if you'll think for a moment" - as if anybody who disagrees with him must clearly not be thinking at all.

More evidence that Reed is struggling
In his head Reed is saving everything, but he caused the problem i the first place by releasing Galactus from his pledge in FF211. Reed here is powerless against Galactus: all he can do is beg. Others (the Avengers) defeat Galactus, and the women ultimately solve the problem through cooperation (Frankie becomes his herald).

Despite this being arguably Reed's worst ever decision, Reed is still blind to his own arrogance: 

Galactus and Franklin

Galactus as mirror
Galactus is also Franklin's herald: see the discussion by FF74 and FF600. Galactus' awakening to real world suffering mirrors Franklin's in the previous issue. This is 1982, and Franklin would be 14, He would be discovering other points of view.  Galactus realizes because Franklin realizes. 

Galactus' view has changed
Galactus said "Do not speak to me of four billion lives. Galactus has seen the end of forty times four billion worlds! Must we know grief for each of these? Had he but tears to cry Galactus would weep oceans in their memory, and in the end they would still be dead, and madness would at last have claimed me." But FF50 we learn that previous worlds were uninhabited. This was from his point of view: he did not consider "ants" worthy of consideration. After FF50 Galactus accepted that humans are not like ants. Presumably he then changed his view of previous destruction.

Galactus comes to earth to die
For the background to this story see Gladiator's comment in X-Men 167:

The real answer
How could the problem have been solved without saving Galactus? Galactus is a test for planets (see FF262). If Reed had paid attention to his son then the test would be passed and Galactus would be theirs to command.

• Zeitgeist:
  This is the Early 1980s, Star Trek is becoming popular again due to its movies.  Byrne has Reed use a line from an episode of the original Star Trek ('The Day of the Dove'): "Only a fool fights in a burning house."
  
• Plausible deniability
  Why do New Yorkers not remember all this destruction (after all, these stories are set in the real world)? Galactus said he wiped these event from their minds.
• John Byrne is finally happy with his art
  "The first time I was comfortable with the inks was my first major Galactus story [#243],” (- John Byrne, in "Wizard" issue 47).
  

244

Issue 244: Johnny is ready to grow up.

As Franklin is ready to grow up, so is Johnny.

• Note the The Flash Dance / Dirty Dancing leg warmers. The New York dance scene here is based on the the hit TV show Fame.
  
• Johnny's previous dating was in the Disco era (when he met Frankie and Lorrie). The new music represents a new era for Johnny as well.
  
• Note the Garfield toy on the sofa: in the 1980s those things were huge.
• And of course, note the Rubik's Cube at the end!

The final pages of this issue are two prologs that represent the rest of Act 4:

"Prolog one" deals with Reed buying the Baxter Building. This is a symbol that he has finally given up: in the next few issues Doom (or probably more accurately, "Domos", meaning "home") regains his home, while Reed (a reed shaking in the wind?) abandons his. See the notes to FF279. 

"Prolog two" deals with Franklin stepping in to fix everything:.

Franklin and the cosmic cube

FF242 had Franklin symbolically controlling the rocket ship from FF1. In this issue the symbolism goes further and he controls a cube: a cube that is too complex to understand, so he just forces his will upon it. This leads directly to the events of next issue.

The cube represents the power that caused the Fantastic Four in the first place: see FF319 for details.

Note that Franklin spent the day at home, and the evening with Ben. He would be aware of Johnny's despair and Ben's frustration with his life (symbolized by Ben's inability to solve the puzzle of the cube). In the next issue Frankie tries to solve Ben's problem, and in his simple way he thinks he solves Johnny's problem as well.

The big story: why does Franklin act out of character?
Franklin is normally in control of himself, and the one thing he wants is to not grow up. Yet something as simple as frustration with a puzzle, and a remark on a TV show, is supposedly enough to make him lose control and suddenly grow up. Why? I'm glad you asked. The big 28 year story is about Reed's obsession with the negative zone, so let's look at what Reed was doing at that exact moment.

The big story: the negative zone portal

The two two floors of the Baxter Building were destroyed in FF242, and here they are replaced, These floors contained the negative zone portal, hangar deck, and storage: all the most valuable technology.

How could Reed so quickly replace the portal that took him years (and the help of the Watcher) to create? If such the portal could be replaced then it would change the world. Enemies would get one, friends would get one, Annihilus and Blastaar would have one (they have plenty of advanced tech), and so on. But they don't. Not even other Marvel comics show one (with their more relaxed attitude to realism). Everything we know about the portal shows it was incredibly hard to produce, and there is only one. Even time machines get duplicated, but never the negative zone portal. So how could Reed just order the parts for another one? Come to that, a lot of his other technology must be irreplaceable as well. So how did he replace it so easily? The answer: he probably didn't. If we follow Reed's development of the portal we see that at this point he was experimenting with hiding most of it away in the negative zone itself.

Reed and hiding the portal
This story featured the return of Terrax, so let is go back to his first appearance to see some context.

• The Terrax story was a result of the team were teleported to Xandar. Following that, in annual 15, Reed then experimented with teleportation (which may have involved jumping forward in time, a related technology). At the end he had to give up that method of teleporting: it was too easy for the Skrulls to steal the technology. But in the story he was saved by Captain Marvel, who could swap places with a counterpart in the Negative Zone in a blinding flash, just by striking his gauntlets together. Now that was a technology worth looking at. 
• The next negative zone story begins in 229. In that issue. Reed learns more about transferring energy between the positive and negative universes, and about black holes and how objects can be attracted and merge and be reborn.
  
• In 230, he is able to send an entire city block into the negative zone.
  
• In 231, he manages to transfer it out again.
• The present story (242-244) is just a couple of months later, their time.
• After this story, the next good look we have at the Negative Zone is in FF 251, where Reed has built most of his portal within the zone itself, with only the key on this side. That is clearly his thinking at this point: hide stuff in the zone, but in such a way that you control it from this end.
• That story arc ends in FF 256, where Reed shows that you can swap objects between the zone and here simply by creating the right kind of ghostly counterpart on the other side.
• Then the final appearance of the negative zone is in the climax to the 28 year story, in FF 289. There Reed is exploring the permanent negative zone hole created in space, with an interest that suggests he is not surprised.
• As a postscript, in FF annual 232 we learn that when the building was destroyed, the Watcher removed the equipment and looked after it. Where would he hide it? Back when the portal was created in FF51 we were told that the Watcher, like Galactus and the Surfer, can travel in subspace very easily. So that would be the natural hiding place.
  

So we see that, at this time, Reed would be studying how to move large objects into the negative zone for easy retrieval later. This would include storing the portal itself there, all except for some kind of key

A closer look at when the portal disappeared
Now look again at when the top two floors disappeared. Instead of focusing on Terrax and his great axe, the story focuses on Reed and his machines. This would be the obvious time to trigger any safety hiding feature.

Now look again at FF 244-245. Why did something as simple as a minor use of his powers trigger Franklin to grow up? This was supposedly triggered by a line on a TV show, but Franklin never reacted that way before. In fact, Franklin's whole purpose was to not grow up at all. But that moment was when Reed was rebuilding the Baxter Building upper floors, so he would be returning the equipment from wherever it was stored. Franklin's power came from the negative zone, and he controls dimensions (note the symbolism of the world's most famous three dimensional puzzle, the Rubik's Cube). Imagine the dimensional craziness of pulling objects back from the negative zone without using the conventional portal. Imagine how this would affect Franklin, who was sensitive to such things, and was unconsciously trying to stop all change. He was growing up and was already only barely coping, This was enough to make him temporarily lose control.

The Great American Novel
More than any other issue, FF245 encapsulates the 1980s: the fashions, the pop culture, the open obsession with money, and looking back to a ythical golden age, represented by the iconic TV show "Leave it to Beaver". For more about the return to mythical family values, see the commentary to the next two issues.

Criticisms (source)

• Sue panicked?
  "I really hate the way Sue is portrayed here. When she sees the team returning with Galactus, she freaks out, saying, 'It's Galactus! He's pursued you here! Oh Reed, no! We can't fight him again! I can't bear...' This is the woman who has traveled across the universe, faced all manner of threats, and she's reduced to a quivering jelly. Please." I disagree. Sue shows that she understands the bigger picture: the only way to end the threat is not to fight him, but to find another way. She is just tired with Reed playing his boys' games.
• Alternative fuels
  "Did it occur to you that if Reed could jump-start Galactus with artificial energy, then why couldn't Galactus' own technology create a similar operation? Talk about the USA relying on foreign oil... Maybe Galactus should have been researching alternative fuels." The energy Reed provided was not artificial: it needed Thor's power. Gods gain their energy from connection with believers: same kind of life energy (see discussion of how the surfer found a suitable planet on FF77).

Other points to note:

• The new Galactus Trilogy
  "Many have likened Byrne's run to the Lee/Kirby run, and I'd say that in regard to him ending the third part of this trilogy and then launching into the next story lines halfway through the book feels an awful lot like FF #50." - Doug.
• Equality
  America is about "all men are created equal." So Reed's great strength in one area (science) is balanced by his weakness in other areas (like, enabling genocide)
• How could Reed afford to buy the building?
  Se the notes by FF 279.
  
  

245

Issue 245: Sue's facade breaks, and Reed breaks the "worst decision ever" record again

Sue's Stepford Wife phase falls apart. She gives coy childlike looks to the TV cameras and tells the world what a great mother she is, and at that exact moment the son she neglects is destroying their home. Sue is in denial.

Galactus and Franklin

This issue follows immediately after Reed saves Galactus. This is probably not a coincidence. We see in FF600 that Galactus is Franklin's herald (see notes to FF74). Galactus is a force of nature, so he did not need rescuing, any more than a hurricane needs rescuing (or any more than Mephisto needs rescuing: we later see that when Mephisto is destroyed he is simply re-created from people's evil. When Reed saved Galactus he upset the balance of nature. It is not clear what should have happened here, but Franklin's development was immediately and seriously messed up by that event.

Reed's decision

Reed decides that Franklin should lose his powers. Over the next few months Reed will be guilty of some astonishingly bad decisions (a holiday in the Negative Zone and saving Galactus come to mind), but this may even beat those. Franklin has shown himself perfectly capable of controlling his powers throughout his life until this date. Franklin has also saved his family on several occasions. So what does Reed suggest? Become powerless!

Franklin has been repeatedly attacked in the past (notably by Annihilus and Nicholas Scratch), and Reed has always failed to protect him. So now he says Franklin should lose his powers. Does Reed feel threatened by a superior being with a greater claim to Sue's love? Or is he just being staggeringly stupid? We shall see the predictable result of this inspired decision in FF252. What Franklin really needs is his father's time, as Reed promised in FF229, but Reed will not give in until Act 5.

So it is confirmed: Ben's inability to change was due to Alicia. Then how do we explain the months before FF8? Back in those earliest days he often changed, but Ben was angry at Reed. He wanted to blame somebody, to make Reed look bad (because Reed was stealing Sue), and it unconsciously suited him to be a martyr. This tendency to blame others is Ben's great weakness, and is not finally overcome until Act 5, in issue 303. See, it is not a case of "bad Reed, good Ben:" these are all three dimensional characters.

The title

The title "Childhood's end" comes from the classic Arthur C Clarke story where mankind meets advanced aliens for the first time.

Clarke's story foreshadows the Fantastic Four: when mankind first entered space this was a sign to higher beings that we were ready, and they had powers waiting for us. See FF319 and the page on cosmic beings for details.

Franklin, the child, embodies the big story: will Reed, scientist, look forward (to his son) or be focused only on himself? In FF245 Franklin is tired of waiting and takes charge. He sees what is wrong with Ben and so he acts to return Ben's rocky skin, his emotional barrier between him and Alicia. In the next issue This leads to Alicia begins a train of events that

Franklin is the catalyst for moving forward

• "Barbara Walker"
  Barbara Walker is of course the real world Barbara Walters, the woman credited with making news programs more personality driven. Critics saw it as dumbing down the news: replacing facts with celebrities.
  

246

Issue 246: the role of government

Reed's certainties crumble
Reed has always been sure he was right. Now that surety is questioned: he was wrong about Ben, and now goes through the motions, living a lie. And could it be that he was wrong about Doom? Not only does his greatest triumph fall apart, but perhaps he supported the wrong guy? This mental turmoil will make manifest itself in Reed's nightmares in FF248. 

Deep storytelling
Note the great depth of the Great American Novel: this issue is not a case of good guys versus bad guys, it's about people who behave as real people do. Doom is not a two dimensional villain: he is motivated by a belief in making the world better (his way), and genuinely cares for his people's welfare. And Zorba's dark side is not invented just for this story: while he professes a belief in democracy he is from the old royal family: wants the old life "once again" - but was that really democratic?

Other points to note

• Ben's ability
  When Reed is not in the Room Ben is very smart and capable. Ben knows this, and will soon choose to leave the team altogether.
  
  

Byrne and Reagan: The Great American Novel and the 1980s

Controversial decisions in Byrne's run
In this issue the FF decide to help Dr Doom regain control of Latveria. Yes, Dr Doom, the man who literally rules with an iron fist, treats his people as slaves and punishes the slightest disobedience with death. This is possibly the most controversial issue in Byrne's run, but it is not the only one to raise eyebrows. Other controversies include:

• FF243-244: Saving Galactus, who then went on (in FF257) to cause billions of deaths.
• (And as a footnote, Frankie chose the job as his herald and loved it.)
• After those deaths, Reed argued that he was right because of a higher cause (FF262).
• In FF291: Sue remembers herself as very young when she met Reed. (For whether this memory is accurate, see the notes for that issue). This inevitably placed Reed as a patriarchal leader and Sue as submissive. Granted, Byrne's most famous act was to make Sue no longer submissive in any way, but the age thing raised a lot of eyebrows.

Added to that are changes that most would not call controversial, but they arguably change the nature of the team:

• The team is shown to be wealthy (at least on the surface), with enough money to buy the building. Whereas under all previous writers they struggles financially.
• Reed is shown to have a multi billionaire family, removing him from any connection with ordinary people.
• His father is shown to be a warlord. True, at the end it was blamed on his new wife, but later years showed him to be unreliable.
• Put this together with helping Doom and saving Galactus, and the consensus that Byrne is at his best when writing and drawing Galactus and Doom, and it is many would say that Byrne is more positive toward authority figures than previous writers.
  

The bigger picture: family
This is not an attack on conservatives. The positive message was far more prominent. This is what fans most remember when they think of Byrne:

1. Family. Previously the family nature was just an element of the story, now it became the central defining fact.
2. Back to basics: the style overtly harks back to an earlier, simpler time. While all previous writers paid homage to the later Lee-Kirby era while moving forwards, Byrne harked back to the earlier stories and consciously tried to move the clock backwards. (It is a testament to his integrity as a writer of the FF that he let the stories take over and they ended up going forwards anyway.)
3. And as an often looked footnote, a focus on property ownership. Every member of the team left the Baxter building. Even Johnny stopped freeloading and found his own property. Eventually the team built a new, bigger headquarters.
   

It all add up to...
Let us review these defining features:

1. A focus on the family.
2. Nostalgia.
3. Respect for authority.
4. Willingness to support hard line military power in the cause of stability.
5. Property ownership
   

Yes, Byrne was in tune with the Reaganism of the 1980s.

Byrne's politics
Byrne was a good writer of the FF, and was never overtly political. But he is on record as supporting right winger like Ayn Rand and condemning liberals like Bill Clinton. This is Byrne on the topic of comic employees not delivering what was agreed but doing their own thing: "This is exactly what Ayn Rand often goes on about, the “looters”—her word—who expect to be rewarded for not doing the job they have been hired to do. Tell me if you hired someone to build you a house you would be happy if he left off the back wall, as long as he did a good job on the rest of it." (source) And Byrne on Bill Clinton: "If I can go all Republican for a moment, in Quesada we have the comic industry equivalent of Bill Clinton. Everyone kept saying Clinton would “grow into the office.” As his last days so clearly demonstrate, this never happened—he remained a small-time politico, who never escaped his bumpkin background. Likewise, Quesada—he is now EIC of Marvel Comics!!!, yet he continues to act like the small-press publisher he 'used' to be." (source)

The dates match exactly
Byrne's run coincided exactly with Reagan's term of office:

• Jan. 20, 1981: Reagan is sworn in.
  Comics on sale were dated April (FF229), so the comic being planned was July 1981: FF232, Byrne's first solo issue. Reagan's style was "back to basics." This was also the new theme of the Great American Novel.
• June 8, 1982: Reagan predicts "the march of freedom and democracy...will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history ..."
  At this time Byrne was writing FF247 (this land is mine) or FF248 (nightmares - hallucinating on the moon). These represent two alternate societies: backward Europe or future science; harsh realism versus empty dreams.
• Fall 1982: The nation sinks into its worst recession since the Great Depression (this info is from the NPR web site). "Reagan fears budget deficits as high as $200 billion. On Nov. 1, more than 9 million Americans are officially unemployed."
  At this time Byrne is writing FF251-6: negative zone, which I argue reflects depression, but at the end there is hope for the future: the promise of a new baby. A usual I must emphasize that none of this is planned. John Byrne did not listen to the radio and say "how can I weave this into a story?" And But it just happens that the story reflects the spirit of the times when it was written.
• March 8, 1983: the "evil empire" speech (the U.S.S.R.). March 23, 1983: Reagan unveils his Strategic Defense Initiative, where he plans to create weapons the Russians cannot afford.
  At this time Byrne is writing FF257, where Galactus defeats the evil empire due to his superior technology: he destroys the Skrull throne world. The skrulls were a threat since the start of the FF, representing the soviets (see FF2). Reed supported Galactus in 246(?), just as Reagan supported advanced weapons. Galactus represents ultimate weapons, the highest stakes, bargaining with death itself: note the cover, showing Galactus and death as two halves of the same face. (In FF262 it is revealed that Galactus exists to weed out the weak.)
• 1985-1987: the rise of Gorbachev. Americans are aware of great changes in the cold war status quo.
  See the comparison of the Beyonder and Gorbachev in the notes to FF285.
• Jan. 28, 1986: the U.S. space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lift off, killing all on board
  At the time Byrne would be writing FF293-95: his swan song. Marvel's loss of enthusiasm for the title, following Byrne's loss of enthusiasm, coincides with the end of the space race. After the Challenger disaster, enthusiasm and funding for space exploration dwindled. Over the next few years the shuttles are first grounded and then not upgraded or replaced. A few years later America sometimes had to rely on Russia for space transport.
  

247

Issue 247: who is Kristoff? Doom's first and greatest secret.

This issue raises a whole heap of questions that leads to a single shocking answer: the truth about Doom. Here are the questions. Thanks to Nathan of the Fanfix blog for suggesting this and suggesting a lot of the evidence.

1. The mother
   Why is Kristoff's "mother" more important than Doom? Zorba's guards at first ignore Doom. the Fantastic Four, and the boy they were following: when he leads them to his mothers house they shoot HER, killing her instantly. Only THEN do they issue warnings to the others (who of course can fight back and win). Why was this woman such a threat? Perhaps the robots thought that this new Doom was one of Zorba's reprogrammed doombots? Then why kill the woman he had in his charge? Nothing makes sense unless she was the greatest threat of all.
2. The delay
   Why did Doom wait before deactivating the robots?
   
   He waited to hear what they had to say after killing the woman. (Though as it happened they did not explain their actions.) Why was that so important to Doom?
3. The child
   Then we have the whole Kristoff problem, the one that Walt Simonson and others hate so much: how can a mere child be the equal of Doom? Apparently he was plucked at random and given just a quick education. Five minutes of brain washing cannot make a child into the equal of the world's greatest strategist and master of the mystic arts! It is absurd! What is the real story here?
4. Doom sharing his power?
   And why would Doom ever consider sharing his power. "in case he dies"? He can switch minds - even to robots (As the Ovoids did in FF 10) so he has no danger of ever dying. Doom does not share power!
   
5. Cynthia
   Doom's extreme reaction to this woman's death reminds us of his love for his mother, Cynthia, trapped in hell. And that other great mystery: what exactly did Cynthia do to be in hell? What deal with the Devil did she do? Later comics suggest the obvious: she must have made some kind of deal to save her beloved people. Well, that deal came true: thanks to Doom, Latveria became a world power and was no longer trampled by other nations. But what was Cynthia's role in Doom's power? And how would the Devil twist it? Deals with the devil seldom end well.
   
6. The armor
   Then we come to Kristoff's (later) armor: an adult form, hiding a child's body. It reminds us of Doom's armor, and raises the question: why does Doom wear it all the time? No other armored character wears armor all the time, because armor is uncomfortable.
7. Doom's privacy
   This raises Doom's insane need for privacy. Every other dictator has his inner circle of people he confides in (even if he betrays them later). But apart from Boris, Doom has nobody. And even Boris has a strange relationship, like an adult looking after a child, but at arm's length. Why?
8. Doom's face
   Come to that, why was Doom so obsessed with his face? And why was his face covered in the initial experiment with the nether world (FF annual 2)? Why must nobody ever come close? Except for blind Alicia, and why did she feel that Doom was "sensitive" and "good" (FF 197)?
9. Doom's other "son"
   While on the topic of Doom in FF 197, why did he want a human clone when he had plenty of superb robots to use? And why why it important for his son to be a grown man? Why a human at all, when humans are so likely to betray him?
10. Doom and children
    And come to that, why does Doom not have any natural children? Even though, as we saw in Supervillain Team Up, he could have whatever woman he wanted, whether by force or (more usually) by charm? Not even one accidental offspring? Seems very odd, right?
    
11. The name Kristoff
    The name Kristoff (Christopher) comes from the story of the giant "Opher" who carried the anointed king (the "christ"). What a coincidence that this child would end up being carried by a much larger mechanical suit. Coincidence? Or was he named that way deliberately?
12. The name Vernard (Kristoff's surname)
    Vernard comes from the word for vineyard, which comes from an older word meaning enclosure. In the Bible, God calls his land and people his vineyard. This fits perfectly with Doom's name (the name "Doom" is probably from "domos", domicile or home: see notes to FF 5), and with Dr Doom's role as protector and nurturer of his people. Coincidence?
13. Robots
    On the subject of doombots and Kristoff's armor, why was Doom so obsessed with robots from the very beginning? And how did he become so skilled? Perhaps the early machines were controlled magically, but still, why the obsession with robots that looked like himself (FF annual 2)?
14. His face?
    How could Doom be driven mad by the sight of his own scarred face in FF 200? Yes, he hated imperfection (why?) but to be driven mad by it? And why did he willingly scar it himself when the hot mask was first placed on it? What was so unspeakably horrible about his face that he would happily lose it all? And why were Stan and Jack so horrified by it in FF 10 - surely they were not so rude that they would insult someone who was the victim of an accident? There must have been something else, something worse, about that face. And yet it cannot have been so bad, as Alicia was able to feel enough to sculpt a good handsome likeness in FF 197. What is really going on?
15. And so on
    (I may add to this list if I ever get time)
    

There is a very simple explanation for all of this: Kristoff is Doom. Let us see how it all fits together:

• Cynthia wanted her people to be safe, and her son provided that. As payment, Cynthia went to hell. So, Doom is the demonic gift. But how?
• Doom was obsessed with providing magical or robotic replacements for himself, he would not let anybody get close, and as soon as he could he encased his own body in armor. So there is something about him that is wrong.
• When Doom saw himself in FF 200 it destroyed his mind. The robots took over (See notes to annual15), but what happened to the physical mindless Doom?
• We finally see a child who has the mind of Doom, but of course its potential must be slowly nurtured, as if starting from a blank slate, as if the potential was always there but somehow deeply hidden.

The power of love
Doom is a mirror for Reed. He shows Reed at his worst, but also shows Reed the way out of his dilemma: to care for his family. Doom's family is Latveria. Doom is always at his strongest when he puts his country first. For an overview of Doom's development in his twenty appearances see his own page.

This is also an example of one of the many complex subplots in the Great American Novel. Doom is maturing. He has a 28 year character development just as the others do. At this point he has given up his "conquer the world" plan (unless a convenient opportunity arises of course) in favor of caring for his people. If this trend continues he will eventually become a benign ruler, because forbidding people to leave is a sign of needing them and Doom needs nobody (see FF258). For more details see Doom's five act character development.

This theme continues in FF258 (the image shows scenes from both issues)

248

Issue 248: Reed's nightmare

This issue foreshadows the nightmare to come, and follows from Reed's mental turmoil in the previous two issues. For the psychological symbolism of the underground river in this issue, see the notes to FF314

Reed's breakdown
Here is a quick reminder of the big story:

• Remember that this story has multiple layers. Look below the surface to see what is really going on.
• Reed is probably a good Skrull, wanting to prove himself in the human world (see notes to FF 91)
• The Skrulls know, and all their encounters are warnings not to go too far (see notes to FF 2)
  
• At first he seemed to perform miracles (using alien technology) but pushed himself too far: Act Four showed his life unravel.
• Things have got so bad that Reed even saved Galactus. Did he do this deliberately in the expectation that Galactus would destroy the Skrull Throne World (FF 257)? Around this time we see annual 17, where we see that Skrulls are innately warlike, and easily replaced. So destroying their world might make sense to Reed.
  
• Now he is having nightmares of alien forces far bigger than he can cope with.
• Next issue the Skrulls and the Shi'ar will both send a subtle warning: they are watching him!
• After that (FF251) Reed will try to escape to the Negative Zone. But he will have nowhere to hide.
  

"I have to say, 'This Land is Mine!' didn't hit me nearly as hard as this story did. I dog-eared this issue. Read it over and over. Memorized it. (I still have it. It's beat all to hell.) I loved the science driving the story - the distances, gravities, velocities - just the sheer scope of it. The Thing falling, taking most of a day to hit...(an amazing moment). Yet there was a great riot of Twilight Zone-like story thrown in the pot, too. This is my favorite Fantastic Four story. Hands down. Sorry, Galactus. It is what it is." (Jeremiah Hetherington)

"Now this is one of favorite issues of any comic! The giant spaceship eating the moon, the moon collapsing in the hangar, the Treen-inspired alien, Reed pointing out that the giant alien shouldn't even be able to support its own weight, Ben falling for a day... aaaah so much good stuff." (Dave Rolls)

• The look of the alien is inspired by the Treens from Dan Dare (from the influential British comic the Eagle).
  
• "This was based on an idea JB had for a 'Space: 1999' comic."
• "Due to an inking error, the Human Torch is shown flying with the team on the full-page revealing the alien. It should be Black Bolt with the rest of the FF."

249

Issue 249: man and superman

The title "Man and Superman" comes from George Bernard Shaw's play. Shaw draws the idea from Nietzsche, about mankind evolving into a higher race. Shaw's play is about an old, sensible man and a young revolutionary man competing for a woman's love. Shaw's argument is that, yes, mankind is changing, but women, not men, will decide the future. This is also the message of the FF: Sue and Alicia are the real decision makers. Also in this issue the Shi'ar empire has its empress, and the "superman" (Gladiator) lives to serve her.

In the play, the woman chooses the young revolutionary against the older, apparently wiser man. In the next issue's subplot we see that Alicia plays the role of the woman in the play: her older suitor Ben Grimm has failed to propose, and only puts her in danger (just how much danger we will see in the next issue after that), and so she chooses the more hot headed Johnny Storm. The future belongs to Johnny Storm.

Other points to note

• Reed is the one trying to be both a man and a super-man. If only he would listen to Sue he would see that he does not have to do this alone.
  
• When Byrne left to draw Superman he paid homage to this own "Man and Superman" cover. He was not the only one.
  
  

The 100 issue cycle: how Ben's point of view progresses

Look at this issue from Ben's point of view. In FF245 we learned how deep his insecurities go. Then in FF246 he was unable to hit the real Doom due to an inhibitor ray, then in FF247 Ben had to help Doom regain his power - Doom, the one Ben had once humiliated. Then in FF248 when we see what each person fears, Ben fears being weak. In FF250 we will see Alicia weep because of Ben's lack of inner peace.

But what about this issue? Something very familiar happens: An alien arrives from nowhere. He defeats Ben easily: not only is he far stronger, he has other powers as well. And he's a hit with the ladies (specially the empress). Ben can't hate him because he's so noble. Remind you of anybody? Yes, the silver surfer in FF48-50. That led directly to Ben's depression in the classic FF51 ("This Man This Monster"). Similarly, FF250 leads directly to Ben joining Reed in his suicidal Negative Zone adventure.

It was exactly 200 issues earlier. Coincidence? Just look at 100 issue earlier: another handsome non-human, prince Namor. Another guy who's as strong as (or stronger than) Ben, plus has extra powers. Another guy who's a hit with the ladies - especially with Sue, the one Ben loved from the beginning, and lost to the nerd. 

Or look 100 issues later: this time the entire team is facing more capable replacements (the new Fantastic Four: Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider and the intelligent Hulk), with Sue this time facing a competitor for Reed's affection.

Note the gradual evolution: in 48-50 it's just Ben suffering. In 148-149 it's Reed's lowest point, as Ben is recovering. In 248-250 it's both, as neither has resolved their underlying issues. In 348-349 it's all of them, because character development has ended and they have nowhere to go. And by 448-449? Any complex structure has long since disintegrated.

The 100 issue cycle may be coincidence, or it may be the result of writers assuming that after 8 years it's safe to recycle themes, but either way, there are patters and there is long term progression. It's a useful memory device. The Great American Novel has a large scale structure that makes long term trends easier to see,

250

Issue 250: the final warning to Reed: RUN!!!!

• You cannot win
  Gladiator says that he is equipped to deal with any insurgents (the subtext being "including you, Reed").
• I hope we don't have to be enemies
  Then Reed says he hopes they can be friends. And Gladiator says he hopes so, too - an ominous thing to say.
• Who is going to pay for the mess?
  The last line is left to Ben, "who's going to pay for this mess?" The destruction in Manhattan reminds us of the destruction caused by Galactus, and how Reed then saved him. Who's going to pay for that big, cosmic mess? The answer of course is Reed. Next issue he will try to run, but he can't hide.

The human element

1. Gladiator, the most powerful being around, mistakenly thinks his friends are his enemies.
2. Reed, the smartest one around, is literally over-stretched. He failed because he mistakenly saw Franklin's power as a threat (in the previous issue Franklin could have solved the problem if Reed had not de-powered him). He did this because he could not connect to Franklin's X-factor, his human needs. Reed could stick probes around Franklin's head, but could not get to know his son as a loving father.
   
3. Alicia, the one everyone ignores, will soon put in motion events that will change everything (leaving Ben, marrying Johnny).

• Alicia foreshadows the pain that is to follow: Ben abandons her to her fate, and then abandons her again on Battleworld (when the others leave for Secret Wars and soon return, he does not come back).
• The image of Spider-Man carrying Reed is a homage to the cover to Spider-man's first appearance, Amazing Fantasy 15. The cover to this issue has been homaged many times.
• Gladiator's power is one of the keys to understanding superhero science.
• "#250 was originally supposed to be FF Annual #17 (source)
• "FF#250 should be a textbook or something. This is Marvel Comics at the top of its game. A Big Battle issue that still has big ideas. Great guests used well. Uses continuity but isn't mired in it. Plenty of 'awesome' moments and splashy shots, but still tells big story concisely.
  And appropriately fantastic story-telling and art. I read this until it fell apart." (-"The Mutt")
  

Next: to be or not to be