1985 - Six From Sirius 2 House Ad

1981 - Uncanny creative differences

I left, as I have stated many, many, MANY times, because I finally hit the end of my rope when it came to Chris and me (and sometimes Chris on his own, and sometimes me on my own) plotting out very specific scenes for very specific purposes in advancing the story, then seeing the finished issue and finding Chris had scripted the scene as something else entirely.

Shooter, at one point, had offered me script approval -- I would be sent a copy of Chris' script to "edit" before it went to the letterer -- but that sounded like too much extra work, especially since I would be expected to do it gratis. So, since I was already set to write the FF, with Bill continuing to pencil, when Bill decided to go with Doug over to MOON KNIGHT, I decided to pencil FF, too.

There was never so much as a single instance of me wanting to do something, Chris wanting to do something else, and Weezie choosing Chris' idea over mine.

 http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35290&TPN=16

From "Comics Creators On X-Men" (Titan Books - 2006):

Why did you leave X-Men at that point?

John Byrne: I know exactly why. Chris and I were getting further and further apart on who the characters were, and what the characters were about. When Roger Stern was our editor, he worked closely with Chris, to make sure the stories came out as close to what Chris and I plotted as possible. Jim Salicrup, who replaced Roger, sort of leaned in my camp. Then Louise Simonson came in as the editor and she came from the school of thought that says the writer is the important guy. All of a sudden, I had no power. I started to develop what I call my 'Argh' moment -- which is, 'How deep can I delve into this issue before I hit something that makes me go, "Argh!"?' There was one particular issue [X-Men #140] where Colossus is pulling a tree trunk out of the ground with a chain on the splash page, and I went, 'Argh!' right on the splash page because of the way Chris wrote it. I said, 'Okay, this is obviously telling me it's time to go.' There was also a little piece off to one side where Chris and I had argued a great deal about who the characters were and how the characters act, and what they say and what they do and I realised that the Chris version of the characters was what was seeing print. They way Chris wrote it was what was seeing print, regardless of what I thought it was in my head while I was drawing the pages. So if I didn't like what Chris was doing, that meant I didn't like the characters. So when I hit that 'Argh' moment, I basically picked up the phone and called Louise and said, 'I can't do this any more.' I was originally going to stay on for another couple of issues, but ultimately I didn't. The characters deserved better than for me to turn in what was going to be a whole lost less than my best work. So I just left.

From Byrne Robotics in 2010:

>>The way you've described it, JB, you really didn't get tired of the X-Men, just aspects of the collaboration.
Byrne: Yes and no. I certainly grew tired of plotting one thing, and then having Chris script it as something else. That rather goes against the notion of a "collaboration".

But I did get tired of THOSE X-Men. As I've noted elsewhere, I strongly disagreed with Chris' characterizations, and, eventually, I realized that since those were what was seeing print, those were who the characters "really" were. So if I didn't like what Chris was writing, I didn't like the characters!

1982 - Master of Kung Fu #111

Writers: Doug Moench (Plot/Script) & Gene Day (Plot)
Illustrator: Gene Day

1981: The FF Forays Into The 80s part VI: Legacies Of A Forgotten Run (or: Where's My Stygorr mini?!)

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

With only one issue of their run left to review, the final part of this retrospective will mainly focus on the Moench/Sienkiewicz Fantastic Four as a whole. Was it really all that bad? Why have we never seen any of their original creations again? Will I ever stop asking questions and just get on with it?

John Byrne was scheduled to take over next month, so Moench and Sienkiewicz had just one issue left to put all the toys back in the proverbial box. Easier said than done, considering Reed Richards had just shifted the Baxter Building and several blocks of New York city to the Negative Zone, with no clue how to bring everyone home again.

"...Heaven help us... we're stuck here, trapped in the Negative Zone... Perhaps forever."

Talk about being in a pickle... But things were about to get even worse, as the team faced two seperate threats in Fantastic Four # 231. First, the natives were getting restless. Getting transported into the middle of a negatively charged universe where everything is lethal can really put a crimp in your day. A mob of ticked off New Yorkers, led by one Lew Shiner, made their way to the Baxter Building to get some answers...

Shiner was more concerned with meeting his deadline than, well, actually dying... or standing atop a bulldozer that's clearly hovering for some unknown reason. And unbeknownst to him, everyone might as well end up dead, courtesy of the second threat... that sensational character find of 1981...

"Stygorr the Night Lord shall repulse the invasion! All shall die!"

It's hard to argue with a purple pink villain wearing a pair of glasses the size of a greenhouse. That wouldn't stop the FF from trying, though they first had to listen to Reed explain their escape plan. 

"The mass of our floating island is just great enough that it will probably bounce off the distortion area, unless we can figure out some way to force it through. 

In other words: they were too heavy to fit through the hole home. And now they had to fight this Stygorr character as well. 

"The power of Stygorr is unconquerable! Know that I am the equal of Annihilus and Blastaar, those petty Negative Zone upstarts... perhaps even their superior..."

Well, at least he has their style of grandiose villainous patter down... But Stygorr does have a point, unlike those two classic FF foes, he can actually alter his body from positive to anti-matter, making him a threat in either universe.

And speaking of purple clad bad guys with weird headgear...

Lew Shiner and his demolition crew were headed for the Baxter Building, armed with bulldozers and explosives, planning to invade their headquarters and force the FF to return them home. Officer O'Roarke tried to stop them, but was overrun by the crowd. His gun was delivered to Shiner, who fired at the Human Torch during their confrontation with the FF, almost killing the young hero.

Shocked by his actions, Shiner's men abandoned him, which caused a maddened Lew to retreat to his construction site to plan anew. Speaking of plans, Reed just had one.

Yup... it's real simple. Still too heavy to pass through the distortion area, they just have to destroy the abandoned construction site, conveniently located near the end of the island. The explosion will propel them all to safety... and Stygorr's attacks are even causing the island to slowly spin around. Just wait for the right angle, blow up the lot and we're home free.

"With a massive effort, Susan Richards expands her force-bubble and the building breaks free... rushing out into sub-space"

Nice going, Sue! But you know Stygorr will just phase shift his energies and revert that debris to harmless rubble, right? Wait, he'll tell you himself...

Yeah, the conveniently color coordinated Lew and Stygorr meet, merge and cause an incredible FA-BA-BA-BOOM in the process, despite the fact space, negative or otherwise, is a soundless vacuum. But an explosion powerful enough to be heard in a space without sound is more than sufficient to push the island out of the Negative Zone and have it appear, how miraculous, in the exact same spot it disappeared from.

Everyone is safe and sound, which throws a real monkey wrench in the newscasters' reports who were rather busy reporting on the Fantastic Four's demise... So much for that eulogy.

"The black stuff's gone..."

I'm sure quite a few readers yelled the same thing a month later when Byrne's arrival spelled the end of Sienkiewicz's overwhelming, heavy inks and needlessly pitch black backgrounds. Moench meanwhile tied up all his ongoing storylines, even breaking up Johnny and his most recent girlfriend Lorrie... Anything to make sure the book was status quo.

Reading these final pages, one can't help but feel everyone was ready for the Byrne era to begin... A fact this fan letter from # 231's Fantastic Four Fan Page stated rather eloquently.

"You have to be the best artist on the FANTASTIC FOUR since John Byrne"

So, looking back... How bad was Doug Moench's Fantastic Four really? Not too great, if you ask the man himself.

Interviewed by Tom DeFalco for 2006's Comics Creators On The Fantastic Four, he already claimed his idea for Marvel's first family never quite gelled with Bill's artistic vision. Moench wrote stories in the vein of the Lee/Kirby days and expected his tales to be drawn by a Jack Kirby like artist. What he got was Sienkiewicz, who was actually channeling the far more realistic style of Neal Adams at the time.

"The funny thing was that Rich Buckler was doing a great Kirby riff at the time. Bill was my friend and doing a great job on 'Moon Knight', and I didn't want to sabotage him or ace him out of doing 'Fantastic Four'. But I was always tempted to call (FF editor) Salicrup and suggest Rich Buckler for the book. I never did it because I had too much respect for Bill."

Loyalty is an admirable trait, but it does make one wonder how Moench's run would have looked had Buckler been allowed to draw it...

Rich Buckler's rendition of the mid-70s Fantastic Four

As for the stories... Moench admitted to being a major fan of the early Lee/Kirby days, citing FF # 21, 25 & 26 as his early personal favorites. Yet, apart from the Sub-Mariner, he never used any of the classic FF villains in his stories,  relying instead on new creations like the Brain Parasites, the Samurai Destroyer, Franklin's temper tantrum fueled Ego-Spawn, not to mention the Ebon Seeker, Firefrost and Stygorr.

There was a reason for that.

"They (the classic foes) had been overused and I was told to stay away from the established guys for at least a year. I couldn't wait to get to them, but Salicrup kept putting me off and telling me to wait. I remember looking forward to doing every one of the classic villains, but I ended up leaving the book before I ever got a chance to use any of them."

Can it really be Fantastic Four without their famous rogues gallery?

Moench tried his best to compensate, casting new creations in the roles of old, familiar foes. The Ebon Seeker from issues # 228 & 229 was a Galactus-level threat. Much like the world eater, he was more than capable of defeating the team and destroying Earth. The FF were only able to defeat him by by persuading his companion, the serene and calm Firefrost, to take action on behalf of Earth... Much like the Silver Surfer was moved to rise up against his master during the first Galactus story.

Stygorr the Night Lord, while certainly possessing an original look, was little more than a stand in for either Blastaar or Annihilus... He fulfilled his purpose in the story as Negative Zone baddie and was never heard from since, a fate shared by most of the Moench-era FF foes. Only the Ego-Spawn would resurface, years later in... of all places... the early 90s FF-spinoff title Fantastic Force.

"Great Kronus!"

So, Moench made the best of a less than ideal situation. Not having the artist or art style he wanted, being denied the classic canon of baddies, it's safe to say he was dealt a pretty crummy hand. Yet, he persevered for almost a year. And while the works of Stan and Jack were his main source of inspiration, Moench broke new ground... he was the first to actually do something with Franklin.

In fact, Franklin was the focal point of most of the Moench run.

Getting possessed by Nicholas Scratch in # 222 and 223, unknowingly inspiring his father to devise a way to take down the Samurai Destroyer in # 226, not to mention finally using his powers in a conscious way to kill brain parasites left and right in # 227... Franklin took central stage, which caused the further investigation into his abilities in # 228, which lead to the creation of the Ego-Spawn.

But Moench was also responsible for a surprising act of feminism. When he started out, the Invisible Girl was little more than a cipher. Moench himself stated he saw Sue's role on the team as Reed's dutiful wife and cheerleader. She was only there to make him look good.

A statement he backed up in the opening page of # 219, his first issue, which saw Sue struggling with the simplest of tasks...

"My invisibility powers may be limited, but there's no reason I can't apply more imagination to them. Still, even with these forcefield tongs, I can barely lift this chair off the floor."

Under Moench, Sue acted like a typical Stan Lee female with a dose of 1970s feminism mixed in for good measure. Above all, she was still the doting mother and housewife, yet also ready to ferociously snap at anyone who threatened her family or even said something remotely disparaging.

Ben, Johnny and Reed all got an earfull at one point or another. By the end of Moench's run, Sue's inherently antagonistic personality hadn't changed all that much... but her power level certainly did...

From barely being able to move an office chair to shoving a whole block of office buildings into the Negative Zone... Sue came a long way, baby. John Byrne would pick up on this thread and finally have her adopt the nickname 'The Invisible Woman'... An overdue and welcome change considering she'd gone through a marriage and two pregnancies at that point.  

Original enemies, a renewed focus on Franklin, the classic disfunctional family feel applied to a new decade... Doug Moench's Fantastic Four truly wasn't all that horrible. If joined by a more fitting artist, Moench might have carried a kind of retro 70s feel into the 80s for quite a few more years.

So why did he leave the book?

"(The reason I left was) Largely because I didn't think I was doing a good job and I was offered another assignment, something I wanted to do even more than 'FF'.  I really loved the FF as a reader, but they didn't work as well for me as a writer. I guess I just couldn't see the FF being done by anyone except Stan and Jack, and that included me."

A frank and honest admission, even though other creators didn't exactly share Moench's sentiments. His successor John Byrne for instance is famous for his mission statement: "Do what Stan and Jack did... and if you can, improve upon it."  

Moench's FF isn't without its supporters, though... Marvel Universe Appendix founder Jeff Christiansen is a fan, stating: "I think Moench's run is one of the high points of the series." The Fantastic Four fansite FF: The Great American Novel praises Moench's run too, even though the writer probably wasn't aware his stories would fit so well in their overall narrative. 

In the final analysis however, the success of a writer in the comic book business is... how is he good for business? Sean Kleefeld compiled a list of Fantastic Four sales that tell just how well received the Moench/Sienkiewicz run truly was...

After a brief spike around # 200, the title slowly bottomed out below the 200.000 copies line, consistently remaining there for much of Moench's run. Only after Byrne took over, the figures started to climb again...

Yet. when all is said and done, the old adage holds true... Sometimes, you do have to take one step backward to take two forward. Without Doug Moench semi-retro touch guiding the Fantastic Four into the 80s, John Byrne might never have been able to take over and skyrocket the title the way he did.

But I'm still waiting on that Stygorr and the Ebon Seeker reunion mini... Make it happen, Marvel!

1981: The FF Forays Into The 80s part V: Of Black Holes and Negative Zones

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the fifth part of the Doug Moench / Bill Sienkiewicz FF retrospective, we're in the home stretch as the team meets the world threatening Ebon Seeker, Reed makes life and death decisions and yours truly finally learns how to properly spell Sien-kie-wicz. 

By the time Fantastic Four # 229 rolled off the presses, it was already common knowledge John Byrne would take over in three months time. That left Moench and Sienkiewicz with ample opportunity to wrap things up, maybe even going out with one, big blow out story.

And they did.

Kinda.

"His name is Moon Knight, Ben... and as a subject... 

He's fascinated me more than any other in years."

The issue opens with Alicia uttering what has to be a bit of meta-commentary from Moench, who at the time was also writing the much lauded Moon Knight, while his Fantastic Four stories didn't exactly thrill the fans.

On a side note: isn't it odd a blind sculptress is able to carve a perfect likeness of someone without having ever seen (obviously) or touched him? Ah, the suspension of disbelief... 

Other than that, it's a perfectly normal sunny Saturday afternoon in New York. Reed and Sue are even out of costume for a change, visiting Central Park zoo with Franklin.

"But let's think of something more pleasant... like cobras and pythons."

When Reed Richards tries to make a joke... Worry. Unless he actually meant spending time with deadly serpents was more fun than trying to think of ways to help his only child deal with his powers. Speaking of power, at 14.22 hours, the skies darkened and a massive, powerful black force made its presence known. 

The effect only lasted for a moment, but the looming presence drew ever closer, growing ebon tendrils that caused all sorts of mayhem. The FF rushed home to the Baxter Building in order to investigate this phenomenon, but before they could get on with it, they were accosted by local New Yorkers who figured this was all their fault. Now, surely, that's an unreasonable assumption, right? After all, the FF is dedicated to prevent incidents like this...

"Then the mob... in a way... they were... right. It IS our fault!"

Yup... Reed had invented a device that the mysterious alien presence now used as a homing beacon.

It was coming straight for the Baxter Building. Johnny's girlfriend Lorrie rushed Franklin to safety at Alicia's while the FF rushed out to face the creature calling itself Ebon Seeker... the living black hole. Let's see how the extended fight scene ended.

"Now the Fantastic Four ARE beaten. Completely, thoroughly beaten."

Disappearing into his black, erm, hole... The team didn't die. Much to their surprise, they encountered a bright presence in the opening pages of Fantastic Four # 230. 

Yeah, the dumb founded look on the FF's faces undoubtedly mirrored that of many a reader when they tried to wrap their head around the origin story of Firefrost and the Ebon Seeker.

All of this actually starts on an alien planet, described as being eons in Earth's future, while being ancient history to the Ebon Seeker at the same time. This highly advanced world had reached an evolutionary dead end and hoped that contact with alien races might be the answer.

That's why they sent out two astronauts, lovers Xanth and Shareen, on a deep space exploration mission. For forty years, they travelled in the vastness of space without even a hint of extraterrestial life. Until one day, they run into an ancient space probe that's about to get sucked into a black hole...

"We're going after that ship! We're going into the black hole!"

I suppose after 40+ years of fruitless searching, one tends to get a little obsessed... but actually flying into a black hole? Still, Xanth followed the probe into the hole and got himself, Shareen and the ship properly crushed.

But, they didn't die... there were strange and powerful voices in the void that spoke to the couple. Shareen listened to them and, as a result, was reborn as the pure, peaceful Firefrost. But Xanth was either unable or refused to listen to the voices, instead becoming the Ebon Seeker, a living black hole unto himself.

And here's where it really gets complex: when he finally escaped the black hole that changed him, Ebon Seeker emerged millennia in the past. Unaware of all of this, the nascient star creature's only drive was a dim memory of his former self's old mission statement: find new life.

So off he went, but because he's now a walking talking black hole, any life he encounters is bound to be destroyed by him, and here's the kicker: the encounter will destroy him as well!

The cloud of dark (negative) energies that surround him (remember the tendrils?) attacks positive matter, which are a drain on Ebon's lifeforce. Whenever he arrives on a planet, he slowly bleeds to death. And what happens to a black hole that collapses in on itself? It takes whatever is near it with him into oblivion.

Only, the Ebon Seeker doesn't really die. He slowly reforms and starts the whole search for life all over again. Think Galactus on a less full stomach...

That's not all, but considering all of this is hopefully a little less dry when accompanied by colourful pictures, let's have Firefrost fill us in. After all she helped free the FF from the black hole so this stuff ought to be old hat to her...

But wait, there's more!

So, not only is the Ebon Seeker's maddened wandering across the galaxy about to cause the destruction of Earth, if the FF fail to stop him, he will inevitably cause a premature big bang. 

The solution to so big a problem proved stupifyingly obvious in the end. If positive energy causes the Ebon Seeker to 'bleed' to death, having him feed off negatively charged energies ought to clear everything up. Reed asks Firefrost to lure Ebon Seeker to the Baxter Building while he rushes to prepare the portal to the Negative Zone to accomodate the creature's size.

Unfortunately, there is no time to either evacuate the surrounding cityblocks or fine tune the settings so only the Baxter Building itself will get drawn in... So Reed decides the lives of a few hundred New Yorkers don't measure up to saving untold billions and throws the switch...

Wouldnt'cha know it... the plan worked. The second he arrived in the Negative Zone, Ebon Seeker returned to his old, reasonable self and had a heart to heart with Firefrost. She managed to convince him to return with her to the black hole that spawned them, so he could listen to the same voices that shaped her... and by doing so, share an eternity of loving each other. 

"Watcha up to, Stretch?" - "Hm? Oh, just reading..."

That's our hero, folks... After stranding several square blocks of New York city real estate in the Negative Zone, Mr. Fantastic kicks back and indulges in a little light reading. He really ought to learn to prioritise... 

Reed went to the Baxter building's library to check a theory he had about the identity of the mysterious space probe... He figured it must have been one of NASA's two Voyager probes that were launched into space in 1977. After travelling for eons, that satellite would set in motion the chain of events that created the Ebon Seeker. 

"The very thought of it, Reed... It sends a chill through me.
It's so beautiful... and yet so frightening."

Beautiful, Sue? If it wás one of the Voyager probes that Xanth and Shareen chased into that black hole, that would make mankind a retroactive accomplice to the untold billions of deaths the creature caused since the dawn of time. Yay us!

And also... let's look at the story Moench told these past two issues: one of the Voyager probes causes the creation of an insanely powerful creature that obsessively roams the galaxy looking for something, cutting a wide swath of destruction along the way before arriving at Earth? With at the core of all this high concept sci-fi the romance between two space faring lovers?

Sound familiar? It should... I just recapped Moench's 1981 tale ánd the plot to 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. And just like that movie, the first two parts of Moench's final arc were overly wordy, extremely drawn out, loaded with unnecessary wide angle shots of space and riddled with technobabble. Let's call it an homage.

But enough movie talk... how do we get home, Reed?

Are the FF really forever trapped in the Negative Zone? Find out next time if you dare... in the sixth and final part of The FF Forays Into The 80s: Legacies Of A Forgotten Run (or: Where's My Stygorr mini?!) 

The FF Forays Into The 80s part IV: Robots, Parasites and the Ego Spawn... Oh my!

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the fourth part of this retrospective on Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz's ten issue Fantastic Four run, the plotlines suddenly start to mesh as half forgotten characters show up, while Sue has more kids without Reed and Franklin really hates everybody. Sort of.

This chapter deals with the events of Fantastic Four # 226 through 228. Like most of Moench's run, these are done-in-one stories constructed in mostly the same way. Every issue opens on the team at home in the Baxter building, enjoying domestic bliss (but still wearing their costumes, oddly enough). Before too long, they're alerted to a threat, which they then proceed to seek out and deal with... And the issue ends with a corny non sequitur.

Wait, I'll show ya...

Fantastic Four # 226 starts out with a mysterious giant robot robbing a gold train in Czechoslovakia (as Slovakia and the Czech republic were called during the days of the USSR. After the cold war ended, Czechoslovakia ceased to be in 1993).

Reed is a little worried about this giant robot...

"I don't like being suspicious of our former allies, but we'd be derelict in our duty if we didn't investigate them".

That Reed...  the mere mention of an unseen giant robot immediately reminded him of the issue's guest stars... those sensational character finds of 1979... The Shogun Warriors. Actually, the entire Shogun Warriors concept was based on a toyline Marvel had acquired the rights to. Doug Moench wrote the adventures of the giant robots and their three valiant human pilots for 20 issues, before Marvel lost the license and was forced to cancel the title.

Moench used this issue of Fantastic Four to provide his characters with a proper send off... but he couldn't show the robots, their likenesses were licensed after all, that's why he had the villain of the piece destroy them off panel. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Ben hadn't returned yet from a date with Alicia, so Reed impatiently waited around for him, while young Franklin was playing a rather interesting game of cowboys and indians.

"What? Of course Franklin, very neat."

Give it up for Reed 'second hand smoke don't kill' Richards... attentive father of the year. Eventually Ben arrived, with some surprising guests in tow.

"We've had intimate dealings with the robot."

That's not half as dirty as it sounds, get your minds out of the gutter... because that's where the Shogun three are after a mysterious fourth robot destroyed their lives. Leaving Franklin with Alicia, the FF rush out to aid the Shogun Warriors in their plight... which took them to Japan and this sight...

"What are we going to do?!"

Good question... the fourth robot was an unfinished prototype that its pilot, an unnamed scavenger, discovered while digging through the Shogun Warriors' old base Sanctuary. Using spare parts meant for the machines he'd eventually destroy, the scavenger finished constructing the fourth robot and used it to have a little fun... 

Which was eventually ended thanks to the joys of semi-absentee parenting. 

Half-remembering what his son said, Reed figured out a way to combat the big bad robot... by hurling a rock at what turned out to its central guidance system... conveniently located on its forehead. 

One hit did the trick, the robot was downed, the bad guy captured and the Shogun Warriors enjoyed their final moment in the sun before returning to their non superhero lives as a test pilot, marine biologist and stunt man... Ya know, safe and cushy jobs.

Commenting on the Samurai Destroyer story, Moench would later say it might have been an attempt to break away from the model established by Stan Lee and Kirby, adding: "On the other hand, maybe it was a lingering effect of writing Godzilla.".

And speaking of monsters that time forgot... Fantastic Four # 227 opened with a mysterious meteor heading for Earth and Reed getting a call about it...

Talk about a quick and ultimately rather generic set up for an issue... Reed is called in by his old friend professor Gideon Carruthers to help investigate this meteor and considering it went down in a resort called The Lost Lake, the FF might as well vacation there.

Would you jump at the chance to stay in a place with a creepy sounding name like that?  But this is the Fantastic Four, they're used to gallivanting across Negative Zones and Inhuman abodes alike... That's why they prepare for a possibly dangerous expedition like this...

"Well, I've made the extra bags invisible and if Reed doesn't notice how funny I'm walking..."

You gotta feel a little bad for the treatment Susan Richards received during Moench's run. From the get go, he decided to treat her like little more than Reed's wife and support system. That's why we get cringeworthy scenes like this...

Here's a woman with the ability to project forcefields capable of holding back Galactus himself, but now she's suddenly reverted to a clumsy waif, trying to sneak extra luggage on board by holding all three invisible pieces in one hand? And when found out, she throws a typically female hissyfit?

En route to the campsite, the Fantasticar is attacked by a pteranodon... The giant, flying dinosaur  actively tries to peck at the vehicle. The Fantastic Four attemped to fight off the creature, until it suddenly exploded... Luckily, Reed was able to catch a chunk. 

"Something similar to a prehistoric trilobite..."

While researching this decidely odd looking creature, Reed and professor Carruthers are disturbed by a local boy whose dog went missing. Mere minutes after the child leaves, they pick up something on the police scanner about a strange occurence at the local gas station and the FF minus Sue go in to check it out...

"It's some kind of... wolf... lapping up the oil from that ruptured drum..."

Just why a weird, mutated wolf would enjoy... wolfing... down petroleum products is beyond Reed. But that doesn't stop him from ordering Ben and Johnny to attack the creature... only to learn it isn't without defenses either. 

Still, after a brief skirmish Reed notices the back of the wolf's head is lighting up so he uses his stretching powers to grab whatever is down there and wouldn'tcha know it... the wolf turned out to be the missing dog and Reed removed another trilobite, a live one this time. 

Let's get it down to the lab...

Curious to learn why both the wolf and the pternadon were out to get some oil? Read Reed's rather convoluted and farfetched explanation for the mind controlling trilobite's behaviour.. And then meet us back here for the next morning, when the FF charter a boat to literally get to the bottom of this mystery by diving up the meteor.

But once the piece of alien rock was on board, a trilobite mutated eel rose up to attack the FF. The waves it generated shook the boat, causing the meteor to crash against the side of the vessel, cracking open and revealing a very... familiar... foe. 

Turns out the 'meteor' was actually a pod for the alien mind control creatures... who are apparently stealthy enough to crawl upon the body of a combat trained woman wearing a skintight outfit. Hiding itself behind her hair, the brain parasite slowly took over Sue... But the others didn't notice the change until they saw her squatting near their Fantasticar...

Ah yes, exposition ahoy. Franklin had been using his latent powers to 'self destruct' the pternadon and the sea serpent, but facing his own possessed mother, he couldn't simply destroy the creature for fear of losing his mommy as well. Luckily, Reed managed to snatch the creature off Sue's back, returning her to normal...

All's well that ends well and with the mystery of the alien mind controlling trilobite meteor solved, the FF prepared to take off, only casually entertaining one final mystery. They saw the trilobite-controlled Invisible Woman squatting near the Fantasticar, but she didn't try to drain any fuel... so what *was* she doing down there?

"After all, he's our only son..."

Ow my, the FF actually ran into trilobite infested Sue as she was spawning offspring underneath the Fantasticar... Not exactly the safest place in the world, considering the craft took off with a decisive fireball, seemingly killing all but one of the brain parasites... 'our only son', indeed...

Fantastic Four # 228 provided a sequel of sorts. Both Sue and Reed had become so worried about their son's growing mutant abilities, they decided it was high time to chart his powers.  No, not at professor Xavier's school for gifted youngsters... that would make too much sense. No, the one scientist deemed worthy of examining Franklin was Reed's old college friend Abe Jankovitz. 

After some initial objections by Moench certified worrywart Sue, Reed actually asked Franklin what he wanted to do. As any child is wont to do, Frank gave a frank answer.

Joining Reed, Sue, Franklin and Ben on this trip to Jankovitz's New Jersey lab were the Human Torch and his latest girlfriend, mechanic Laurie Melton. They were supposed to be out on a first date, but Laurie happily tagged along with this anything but romantic interlude. In the lab, Johnny and Laurie watched from a distance while doctor Jankovitz explained his new (age) technique designed to help determine Franklin's abilities...

Sue initially shied away from this rather invasive procedure and emphasized a focus on more conventional approaches... like hypnosis. But before Franklin could be subjected to that, Johnny and his date decided they wanted to have a little alone time.... Luckily, big sister Sue was able to handle this understandable need with equally understandable tact...

"Come on, Lorrie... let's go dig up some burgers."

Taking the Fantasticar, Johnny and Laurie finally share a kiss, a hamburger and an ever so romantic New Jersey night, until Johnny's inherent showmanship annoyed one Franco Berardi so much, he took action...

"Shut it, Betty... the punk just can't stop showin' off..."

Yes, Franco was getting more than a little fed up with Johnny's showboating that he dared the Torch to a macho off...Bill Sienkiewicz sure draws a mean looking car, doesn't he? But just as Johnny was getting ready to throw down with his foe, professor Jankovitz tried his best to step in and use his technologies to safeguard Earth's future. 

"First one to swerve around does a chicken imitation for the girls"

 But just as Johnny was getting ready to throw down with his foe, professor Jankovitz tried his best to step in and use his technologies to safeguard Earth's future. 

"The ball of force has no substance... it's passing right through the solid glass panes of the window! And don't you see...? It looks like the most commonly reported ufo!"

Professor Jankovitz must have a phd in conversational info dumping... Anyways, Franklin's ball of mind energy takes off and hits a very familiar target...

"I'm gonna make you scream..."

When your son's mental energies turn random strangers into Freddy Mercury lookalikes in pinkish S&M outfits, it's usually safe to assume grandchildren are off the table... But that's neither here nor there.

Somehow, Jankovitz' experiment caused part of Franklin's subconscious to switch with Berardi which in turn transformed the man into the super-powered 'Ego-Spawn', who attacked the FF for a couple of pages until Sue managed to save the day by literally kicking out the plug and shutting down Jankovitz' device...

"And two scrambled egos are back at home, perhaps slightly bruised but intact."

With everyone back to normal, Reed gently tells Jankovitz he's off the case. From now on, he'll conduct the experiments with Franklin's powers himself. But it'll never get to that stage, as we'll  see in the fifth and final part of The FF Forays Into The 80s: Of Black Holes and Negative Zones.