1987: Act5: the turning point (Gorbachev)

Summary
In 1987 Gorbachev began to make big changes. For decades of the world had stared down the barrel of a nuclear gun. Now the end of the cold was finally in sight.

Act 5
In the classic five act structure, the fifth act is where success is grasped from the jaws of defeat. The first half of Act 5 is where all the failures and disasters of Act 4 start to turn around. Then in the second part the sun rises and the heroes triumph over all their foes, family values are re-enthroned, the unbalanced world is rebalanced, and everyone receives prizes.

In this part, Alicia makes Johnny accept that real love means responsibility. This forces Ben to finally face himself, and admit that his real problem can only be solved inside himself. Franklin (fresh from his adventures in Power Pack) shows that he can handle himself just fine as a superhero. This at long last forces Reed to face up to his responsibility as a father.

296

Issue 296: Ben says sorry for blaming Reed

This frame is a pretty good summary of the Franklinverse that will follow after issue 321. In a real novel, such as FF1-321, the hero finally learns his lesson and the story moves forward, but here progress is slowing down and will soon (FF226) run in reverse.

Reed's self discovery

Note that Sue thinks that Reed's only crime is in causing Ben's initial mutation. But at the end of 295 we see that Reed is thinking more of his recent decision not to tell Ben the truth about his condition. Sue thinks that Reed only made a single mistake (if it was even a mistake). But Reed knows that his sins continued all the way through. He has always treated Ben like a child and that is the cause of Ben's problems, not the space flight.

Sue cannot see how Reed continued to infantalize Ben, because Reed was infantalizing Sue at the same time, right up to her child-like face in her desperate Stepford Wife phase. Sue refers to Reed begging Ben to come back, but does not realize that this was just pulling Ben back like a naughty child, it was part of the humiliation process.

The psychology is powerful here. So often the abuser feels they are innocent, and their abuse becomes so culturally entrenched that nobody can see anything wrong. it is the classic problem of the strict patriarchal society: women and children are treated as incompetent, and when they complain that is seen as proof that they are not just incompetent but pathetic whiners as well.

As the abuser cannot recognize or change, the only way out is for the abused one to forgive the abuser and move on.

As the climax to the Great American novel, this also reflects global politics: each powerful nation considers other nations to be infantile and needing correction, and interprets others' complaints as signs of their immaturity. We see the splinter in another person's eye but cannot see the wooden beam in our own.

Multiple layers in The Great American Novel

This anniversary issue is a masterpiece of subtlety. On the simple level, Reed is a hero and the Mole Man is a villain: the story works on that level, but that isn't the whole story. Look closer:

• The deadly machine?
  Reed says he has analyzed the machine. But this is clearly alien technology and Reed has very limited time: at best this can only be a guess. Reed believes that this would shift the tectonic plates. But would it? It only needed to create an island, not move an entire continental plate. Yes, a crude device might simply push the plates, but why should Deviant technology be crude? A more advanced device would simply make a hole, and do so at a rate that does not cause any build up of pressure, and thus the plates would be unchanged.
• Both sides of the story?
  So does Reed talk to the Mole Man to find out? No, because Reed believes the Mole Man is "mad". Yet Moley has done nothing to indicate madness, and Reed admits that Moley is a scientific genius. So why not just ask him instead of starting a fight?
  
• No time to wait?
  The problem seems to be that Moley wants a few minutes alone, whereas Reed thinks that every minute counts. So Ben could have just spoken gently to Moley, but Reed's influence makes him think Moley is mad. This leads Ben to use force and this starts the fight. But fighting is always more risky than talking. Who is putting the situation at greater risk at this point? Moley, who wants to relax, or Reed? Indeed, a relaxed and happy Moley is more likely to be understanding, so his relaxation chamber is a good thing a this point.
• Which man was putting the world in more danger?
  When Reed gets home (in FF297) he learns that the military is looking for him because the sun is in danger: in other words, Reed's decision to follow Ben put the entire solar system in danger! This is far worse than the theoretical threat to the east coast of the USA!
  
• Was Moley a villain?
  Jump back to their previous meetings with the Mole Man; in FF annual 13 he became almost a friend. In FF275(?) he was again a sympathetic character. In this case he has saved thousands (perhaps millions) of people from lives of misery. He is a saint. There was no reason to treat the Mole Man as an enemy.
  
• What about disfiguring Johnny?
  Even the Mole Man's worst action, disfiguring Johnny, can be seen as an act of compassion. The disfiguring is easy to reverse (as we see at the end) but it forces Johnny to see the world differently: all of Johnny's unhappiness has been caused by him immaturity. Arguably this event is the trigger for Johnny to grow up a little more and propose to Alicia in the next issue.
  
• But what about...?
  At several points the Mole Man is presented in an unsympathetic light, but in every case his actions can be interpreted as innocent and reasonable. If he is innocent and Reed has invaded when Ben told him not to, then he has every right to be angry. This is what sets the Fantastic Four apart from regular comics: you can always see the other guy's point of view. There are no villains, just people we do not understand.
  
• Reed's choices
  Let us see the alternative scenario: had Reed treated the Mole Man as a friend then he could have sent Sue and Alicia, the peacemakers, and asked them to take some video, just in case the technology really was dangerous. Reed could then have analyzed the data with the full resources of the Baxter Building, rather than relying on an uninformed hunch. Heck, if the Mole Man was treated as a friend then Reed would have known about the new island plan years ago, rather than only discovering it by accident.

None of this means that Reed is a villain: at every stage he does the best thing he can. But Reed, like the Mole Man, has flaws. That is what makes him so interesting.

The tragedy of the two lovers
This is the final straw. it is clear that Alicia and Ben still love each other, but neither can say the words they want to. Once again we must see the context: Their great love affair until this point, and how Ben, afraid to commit, abandoned her too many times.

See FF 270 for a full discussion.

In this issue he rejects her again (leaving to live in a cave, tragic character that he is), and again, when he cannot emotionally cope with Alicia who literally reaches out to him one last time:

• The Mole Man in context
  For how the Mole Man's ten appearances reflect racism and the underground in America, see the notes to issue 1.
  
  

  
  
• Realism: which Stockton?
  The town name on page 1 is Stockton.
  "Joe Field launched a campaign to get Stockton, CA named as the definitive birthplace of the Fantastic Four. Lee in fact visited Stockton in February 1986 as part of a formal celebration in front of City Hall. He was given a key to the city and there was the semi-obligatory signing. Not long after, Lee hired Field on as his and his wife Joan's public relations man, so impressed he'd been with the work Field had done on the Stockton campaign." - Sean Kleefeld
  But in the Thing 10, April 1984, written by Byrne 2 years earlier, the landing site was given as Ithaca, New York. The artist in FF296 did not use the photos supplied by Stockton, CA, so all we see is the sign. Possibly this is Stockton, NY. The flight was a secret, so back in 1961 they probably released a false location, and that was the detail Byrne used. Or possibly Ithaca was the last spot they recognized while crash landing.

297

Issue 297: Ben's suicide attempt

This issue is the clearest metaphor of the entire series: the war between two "brothers." It's the sunlit side of the world versus the side that never enjoys the sun.

Umbra and Jaagur are symbolic names, continuing the parallel with Ben and Johnny. They refer to the darkest shadow (Ben's life) and a search for divine solutions to personal problems.

"The umbra (Latin for "shadow") is the innermost and darkest part of a shadow, where the light source is completely blocked by the occluding body. An observer in the umbra experiences a total eclipse." (source)

"Jaagar [spelled Jaagur in the FF] is a form of spirit or ghost worship practiced in the hills of Uttarakhand, both in Kumaon as well as Garhwal. The word jaagar comes from the Sanskrit root, jag or to wake, jaagar is a medium or way in which gods and local deities are called or waked from their dormant stage and asked for favors or remedies for certain problems plaguing the person. It is attached to the idea of divine justice and is organized to seek penance for a crime or seek justice from the gods for some injustice." (source)

The issue begins with the flaring of our sun: like Johnny's triumph. The issue ends when the two brothers combine, foreshadowing Ben and Johnny's future reconciliation.

The helmet and gloves

Ben is in his worst stage of misery, the final darkness before the dawn. He has always felt separated from the world since the accident that gave him his rocky skin. Now he simply cannot face any contact with the world. But, like the pure hearted hero he is, he keeps doing his duty to the last. Anybody who has been very depressed knows this feeling of wanting to hide away, of feeling trapped, but having to keep going to work.

The proposal

This is the issue where Johnny proposes marriage to Alicia, and she accepts. And Ben overhears the whole thing.

Note the misery on their faces. This is not a romance, this is a tragedy.

Johnny only proposes because he thinks he might die. Alicia only accepts because she has given up all hope. Ben only lets it happen because he. too, has given up hope, and plans to end it all.

Ironically, most comic readers consider this a poor issue after the fun John Byrne stories, Which just goes to prove once again that comics are wasted on comic readers.

Parallels with other landmark issues

• This issue is the counterpart to the classic FF51, "This Man, This Monster." FF297 is the final stage in the depression story. Whereas FF51 showed Ben's point of view, FF297 shows him how others see him. They do not appreciate just how bad he has it. Fittingly for the final stage of despair, Ben is emotionally cut off from everyone, even from the reader. We only see hints of his emotion, we do not realize what is happening unless we really pay close attention.
• This is also a counterpart to issue 1. The experimental flight, piloted by Ben, is explicitly compared to the original flight. In that one he lost the girl he loved *(Sue) to his best friend. Now it happens again, only worse. The intervening years have been miserable, and Alicia (the Sue lookalike) was the only glimmer of light in his life. No wonder he feels so bad.
• Ben's attempted suicide mirrors Reed's attempt in FF251. This will be mirrored again by Ms Marvel in FF310-311, where again a space flight leads to a suicide attempt.

Other key points

• Reed is not certain the team can function any more.
• Reed again admits his culpability in holding back information that could have helped Ben. 
• Reed makes Ben an all-over covering, unwittingly reinforcing Ben's belief that he is ugly. This sums up Reed's actions over the first four acts.
• The team is guided by Stephen Beckley, "comet man", foreshadowing his role in the Beyonders arc that wraps up the cosmic themes (climaxing in FF319). Beckley is another reflection of Reed in FF1, the man who wanted to soar to the stars, and finally in FF295 had to admit he had failed. Beckley, like Reed, was a scientist who gained his gained his powers on a space flight, in his case while passing through the tail of a comet. He returned to earth and became an ally of Reed Richards. This was in 1987: just as Reed was reevaluating his role another man appeared ready to take his place. But continuity ended in 1989 so Comet Man never played a significant role.
  

The 100 issue cycle

FF 1,97,197 and 297 are examples of the 100 issue cycle. Where an idea is launched, then 100 issues later it is developed. In this case, FF97-98 are landmarks, not FF 100, because of the importance of the date of the moon landing. 97-98 is effectively a single two part story, contrasting alien and human space travel, and the two kinds of alien: the benign and those that consider us a threat. Some examples of the 100 issue cycle are Reed's maturing personality, the evolution of human space technology, and our connection to our galactic neighbours:

Reed's maturing personality:

• FF 1: the motivation is to beat an enemy.
• FF 97 Reed learns that an enemy can simply be misunderstood.
• FF 197: he is no longer motivated by fear (which leads to hate), but by science and courage.
• FF 297: he reaches the next step of emotional development: he is motivated by love for humanity.

The evolution of human space travel
This refers to technology developed by humans, and not the use of captured alien technology that we do not yut fully understand:

• FF 1: in 1961, mankind can only get as far as just above the atmosphere
• FF 97-98: in 1969 humans finally make it to the moon without any outside help.
• FF 197: in 1978, space travel is in the reach of any nation if it wants to badly enough.
• FF 297: in 1986, thanks to the space shuttle etc humans can even travel as far as the sun if they need to badly enough. Note that the ship does not need to land on a planet and take off again, which makes the very long journey much easier than, say, a round trip to Mars. The big problem would be heat shielding, and the inherent dangers in doing anything so new. But between Sue's forcefields and Johnny's ability to absorb and release heat, and the team's general resilience, they can afford to cut corners.

Our connection to our galactic neighbours:

• FF 1: mankind takes its first step beyond the atmosphere, and the Beyonders are pleased (see FF 319).
• FF 98: the Kree try to stop humans getting any farther. Note that underground moon monster is a parallel with the Mole Man's Deviants in issue 1: while the most advanced non-humans are pleased, more vulnerable non-humans are not.
• FF 197: Reed overcomes his fear and makes the same journey as in issue 1, but this time in full knowledge.
• FF 297: Reed finds that the sun itself can be a dimensional portal for alien travel.

298

Issue 298: it's clobberin' time!

299

Issue 299: no longer dependent on Alicia

Ben's heart will also belong to Alicia (see issue 303 and countless early issue) but he is no longer dependent on her. He is one step closer to mental health.

Continuing the move toward the new generation, this issue sees the team unveil their new home.

This is ultimately a family story, and this issue is about friendship and love solving their problems.

• The zeitgeist: unlike the 1960s there is no deference to authority. Compare the preparations for Sue and Reed's wedding (careful media management) with the preparation for Johnny and Alicia's (the media as enemy).
• This issue contains a summary of what happened on Battleworld, for those who missed it.
• This issue reminds us that Monster Isle is in the Pacific. Some later adventures take place with a different team and different world, where Monster Isle is in the Bermuda Triangle.

300

Issue 300: Alicia solves everything

In this issue, Alicia marries Johnny. This solves all the FF's problems at once:

1. It makes Johnny grow up.
2. It solves Ben's dependency problem.
3. This in turn makes Ben strong, so Reed can give him leadership of the team.
4. This gives Sue what she always wanted: a husband who puts the family first.
5. This in turn solves Franklin's problems.

Just as with Galactus (where Alicia converted the Silver Surfer, thus weakening Galactus' resolve), the weakest member of the group is sometimes the most powerful.

Reed is becoming a good father at last

As the review in "Back Issue" 74 points out, the scene where Reed carries Franklin is a direct contrast to FF222, where Sue plays the same role. It shows how far Reed has come: in FF222 reed was worried, stiff and formal, the traditional patriarch. In FF300 he is beginning to mellow and relax. He is beginning to put his son first. After the long darkness of act 4, the triumph of act 5 is well under way!

This issue also sees development and closure in other key areas:

• Alicia's family: the Puppet Master begins to soften.
• With Doom: he has matured. See his own page for his personal story.
• With the Yancy Street gang: we realize that they are Ben's people, his friends.

Why did nobody hear?

The last time a member of the team got married, almost every enemy attacked them, spurred on by Dr Doom. As they say at the end of the issue, Doom obviously knows about the wedding, so they will be on the highest state of alert. Yet a battle took -place without anybody noticing. Neither did anybody notice when the rather large form of Dragon Man was nearby. At one point the Puppet Master is visible to the congregation, yet still nobody notices. Why not? Here are three possibilities:

1. Or on a more mundane level, this could have been a major achievement, and within the abilities of the Thinker, Wizard and Puppet Master. But their detailed plans for keeping secret were not important to the story.
2. Most heroes' powers are exaggerated. Thor and Iron Man and many other heroes were in the congregation: why didn't they notice anything? The answer is that the FF is based on realism, and realism dictates that the world cannot have many super powered beings. Either that, or the super powered beings are not as powerful as we think. I have noted elsewhere that the Fantastic Four report directly to Marvel, but other heroes do not, so other comics are largely invented. Other heroes are almost certainly weaker than they appear in their own comics. Of course, a fan of those comics is free to suggest an alternate universe where the evidence points to those heroes being the most powerful and all other stories being exaggerated. 
3. It is likely that Franklin was involved. The Puppet Master alerted Franklin unconsciously (by using him to learn the location of the wedding), but on a deeper level Franklin unconsciously controls everything. Compare the similar deep levels of control in the half way point story of Doom and Mephisto in FF255.
   

Other points to note

• Once again the Thinker parallels Reed: in theory everything should now work properly, but in practice it does not. After so many years of inertia, both Franklin and Reed are scared of change, so instead of the start of a new generation we instead get the Franklinverse.
• The Thinker and Wizard are also mirrors for Ben: they say how they see themselves as victims, as does Ben, though this will not last for long.
• The Puppet Master controlled Franklin, or did he? The puppet master then changed his plan, as if Franklin was influencing *him*. Or perhaps the Thinker's certainty was misplaced?
• The Thinker is not as accurate as he thinks. This is finally made clear. Any reader could see that the odds of this going wrong are much greater than the Thinker calculated. His calculations are only accurate where emotion is not involved: another parallel to Reed.
  

301

Issue 301: The prisons of the mind are broken: Reed finally sees the truth

What finally makes Reed face his responsibility? Franklin does it himself: he is not a burden on the family, he is a hero who can save them.

After all these years of Susan trying to persuade Reed, finally Franklin had to do it himself. Franklin, as ever, is in charge.

John Halterman points out: "Crystal defeated the Wizard in FF #81 and it turns out that Sue was not able to beat the Wizard until FF #301." That is, Sue could not defeat Mr Ego until Act 5. This symbolized her four act struggle to tame Reed's ego, and her eventual success.

The prisons of the mind

This issue is about opening the prisons of the mind. The Thinker draws attention to it by quoting from Lovelace's famous poem:

To Althea, from Prison
 
WHEN Love with unconfinèd wings     
  Hovers within my gates,     
And my divine Althea brings     
  To whisper at the grates;     
When I lie tangled in her hair 
  And fetter'd to her eye,     
The birds that wanton in the air     
  Know no such liberty.     
 
When flowing cups run swiftly round     
  With no allaying Thames,
Our careless heads with roses bound,     
  Our hearts with loyal flames;     
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,     
  When healths and draughts go free—     
Fishes that tipple in the deep
  Know no such liberty.     
 
When, like committed linnets, I     
  With shriller throat shall sing     
The sweetness, mercy, majesty,     
  And glories of my King;
When I shall voice aloud how good     
  He is, how great should be,     
Enlargèd winds, that curl the flood,     
  Know no such liberty.     
 
Stone walls do not a prison make,
  Nor iron bars a cage;     
Minds innocent and quiet take     
  That for an hermitage;     
If I have freedom in my love     
  And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,     
  Enjoy such liberty.

• The Thinker represents the rise of computers and cyberspace. Like "the cloud", his physical location does not matter much. So iron bars are no prison.
• In contrast, The Wizard forms his own iron bars: while he thinks of himself as free, his pride is his his prison. He is unable to work with others.
  

• Ben is finally escaping his own mental prison that has trapped him since act two. The Wizard tries to imprison Ben's mind as he did in act two when Ben was depressed, but now Ben's mind is free and it does not work. As Ben says, "that was then, this is now! .... It's changed the way I see the world and myself!" (See Ben's own page for how his strength depends on his emotional state.)

• In this issue Johnny is on his honeymoon, no longer trapped in the Baxter Building or trapped in his role as an eternal child.
• Alicia is also free, no longer afraid of being a victim because Ben is never there: now Johnny is always there to protect her and she can relax at last.
• In this issue we see that Franklin cannot be imprisoned by chains or walls: his mind floats free. And yet his actions are restricted by his fear that his parents hate him so he cannot tell the truth.
• And finally, in his landmark issue of self discovery, after 300 issues, Reed finally sees beyond the prison of his narrow world view, and sees the bigger picture: that he has to put his family first

From the start, where they bust through the wall of the Thinker's lair, to the robots who burst out of the walls, to Johnny and Alicia in the Great Outdoors, to Franklin escaping through a wall, tot he final climax where Ben punches the Wizard through a wall, this issue is all about breaking walls: the old walls are no longer being barriers.

302

Issue 302: the next generation

Here Johnny learns humility. Until now his humility was forced upon him by being in the shadow of Reed and Ben, and he resented it. Now he learns what he knew as a child, that he is just one man in a very big world: this is a healthy humility, devoid of stress. We then see Johnny at his best, solving a problem and using his years of training to good effect (he was often seen practicing and performing skillful maneuvers in the early days). But now that the conflicts are beginning to resolve, where does the team go next? All the indications are that Johnny must lead the team eventually, so this issue is about him. The ideas for this story came from fans at a convention (according to the splash page), so this may indicate where the zeitgeist is going.

• This is the first non- super powered enemy since the Maggia (FF101) and Gideon (FF3X).
• The story is about conspiracies and real world political concerns (nuclear proliferation)
• Non- powered people (e.g. Alicia) are just as important.
• The cover and title are "to flame more": obviously he *does* flame on in this issue, but his intelligence is just as important.
• He's a small part of a bigger real world (note how the military treat him) - this is a return to the down to earth realism of the early days, no sign of the Baxter Building here.
• We see a similar movement in mainstream entertainment. The era of Star Wars gave way to the era of the X-Files. 
• Endless super villain battles were the zeitgeist of the cold war, not the post-cold war era where the enemy is not obvious.
• The stories are more sophisticated: there is no villain, just close friends who thought they were doing the right thing. (Even the leader of the group is sincere, and feels he has no choice.)
  

In short, in the next generation of stories the super powers will be merely a part of the mix: an excuse for ordinary stories to be more amazing. Super powers are like modern technology: in the modern world the use of high technology becomes ubiquitous and not flashy. We all carry supercomputers now, but call them mobile phones, and they're just a way for people to interact in more interesting ways. Super powers will be the same.

Ironically, despite being influenced by fans. at the time of publication this story was not a fan favorite. The art and story didn't seem very good. But this is because readers were so used to cosmic super-villain battles: it takes time to adjust to increased sophistication and a change of pace. We were used to cosmic battles and bombastic art. But the story bears re-reading. if you look closely the art and story are both excellent, as we would expect from a Roger Stern plot, Tom DeFalco script, John Buscema pencils and Sal Buscema inks. Perhaps not at George Perez polish or Jack Kirby power, but perfectly suited to realism.

This issue foreshadows the long Franklinverse era (the 25+ years where the stories exist in his dream world), and what follows: the next generation led by the Torch.

The zeitgeist

• This story came in the era of the Star Wars defense initiative, when unfeasible space technology was in vogue. This was the era of Reagan, a time of optimism and a resurgence of the evangelical Christianity. The idea of escaping into space is a staple of all science fiction, but the idea of a mountain as a gateway to the heavens, and containing the elite, is a religious one. It's seen in Babylonian ziggurats (such as the Tower of Babel), Mount Olympus, the Mountain of God in Sinai (the book of Exodus), and the Mountain of the Lord in Isaiah:
  
  Isaiah chapter 2:
  
  The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
  
  Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
  That the mountain of the Lord’s house
  Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
  And shall be exalted above the hills;
  And all nations shall flow to it.
  
  Many people shall come and say,
  “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
  To the house of the God of Jacob;
  He will teach us His ways,
  And we shall walk in His paths.”
  For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
  And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
  
  He shall judge between the nations,
  And rebuke many people;
  They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
  And their spears into pruning hooks;
  Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
  Neither shall they learn war anymore.
  
  
• The idea of using nuclear bombs to power a space ship is real: its called the Orion project. It provides an easy and cheap way to solve the problem of the need for vast quantities of fuel to lift even a tiny payload (and even more fuel to lift that fuel, and so on). Simply use nuclear explosions: they provide extremely high energy from very low weight. This diagram is from the Wikipedia entry:
  
  Given sufficient nuclear warheads (the comic suggested enough to severely damage civilization) and structural reinforcing (as noted in the comic) it would not matter that the mountain-ship was very heavy. The Orion Project was abandoned for the same reason as given in this comic: it leaves behind too much damage.
  
  

Criticisms

• Hollowing out and reinforcing a mountain and turning it into a space ship? Crazy talk! Or is it? The key point is that shelters are underground. In the very first issue where we learned of the Mole Man. We can infer (and this was confirmed in other comics) that the Mole Man did not breed his own monsters or create his own massive engineering, he made use of materials he discovered there, left behind by an earlier civilization. Advanced civilizations will tend to live underground as a way to avoid detection and as protection from extremes of weather, radiation, gamma bursts, war, etc. In the same way humans began long ago began to live in houses and not in the open. The plausibility of aliens is discussed in the page about realism in issue 1.
• How did a chemical prevent the Torch from igniting? This web site argues that most limits are only in his mind. Normally the Torch is prevented fro flaming on simply because he believes he cannot, but in this case he did not know he had been chemically treated, so surely he should have been able to flame on? The answer is that the people were plainly not stupid (their leaders were literally rocket scientists). They would have done their homework. Possibly the chemicals simply affect the nerves, preventing the "flame on" signal from reaching where it is needed. Hence extreme concentration can bypass the problem by forcing the brain to find some other way round the damaged pathways.
  

Other points to note

• Franklin can easily control his dream self. Is this some special additional power? No. It just means that we are all in his dream. Everyone can control themselves in their dreams (more or less).
• The reaction of the cultists at the end is true to life: some are embarrassed that they believed it, others are convinced there is still a way to make it work.
• The scene with Alicia being the star, and surprising the superhero, happened before with Ben Grimm in FF168. This a sign of maturity in the comics. To those who only want battles, Alicia is boring. But to those who value creativity, she is the exciting one and the boys are uninteresting.
• Franklin's dream self foreshadows the Franklinverse, where first the FF are all dreaming (the S.F.X Englehart and John Harkness issues), and then Franklin's unconscious control becomes total total.
• Why is Ben so unsympathetic to Reed (e.g. the peeping Tom reference - Reed did not intend that to happen)? FF297 indicates that at this time Ben's mind is in turmoil. He is mentally fragile. Next issue he comes to terms with the status quo, and so the following issue he is ready for a leadership position.
  

303

Issue 303: Ben finally stops running from himself.

Ben finally gets a chance to run away properly. Thundra was a woman who always respected Ben, and there was no danger that it was from pity or because she was blind or wanted protection. She gives him the chance to start a new life with respect from others. Then he gets another chance, to turn back the clock and start a new life with Alicia. But it isn't his Alicia. And more important, he is still looking for someone else to make him whole: he was still the same man who abandoned Alicia in FF251. There are still cracks in his facade. He is still running away.

So I finally he admits that he must solve his own problems first.

Finally, Ben is emotionally mature. But he mourns what he has lost. It is healthy to mourn. Still, the story ends on a tragic note.

But this is the fifth act! We don't want no mourning here! Ben won't have to mourn for long: whereas proud Reed Richards needed an entire long fourth act to have humility forced upon him, Ben Grimm is humble already. It's Act 5, Ben is ready to change, and there is no need to delay. It starts with the next issue. Let the good times roll!

next: triumph