Doctor Doom by Steven Butler

1981 - Marvel 20th Anniversary by Frank Miller and Terry Austin Panel Power Comiccon III, Sydney, Australia

Thing by Chris Samnee

The Fantastic Four by Adam Hastings

1991 - Fantastic Four #350 page 36 by Walt Simonson and Al Milgrom

1991 - Fantastic Four Corner Box Art by Walt Simonson

The New Fantastic Four by Bill Sienkiewicz

1987 - Anatomy of a Cover - Silver Surfer #1 by Marshall Rogers and Joe Rubinstein

The Thing by Mike Zeck

1983: Fantastic Fouryage part II: Fade To Black 'n Blue

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

John Byrne spent most of 1983 having the Fantastic Four explore the Negative Zone. A kinda fun field trip, though things were about to go horribly wrong. Well, they were already pretty bad for Alicia and Franklin who were being abused by Annihilus while the FF played tourist.

By the time Fantastic Four I#254 rolled around, in May of 1983, the team had spent an equivalent of two months charting the Negative Zone (even though only a day or so had passed on Earth). Reed eventually led them to a primitive world when his scanners picked up an energy source far too advanced for that world. Eager to investigate this mystery, they decided to go native.

 "I'm not sure why we have to get all disguised anyway, Reed"

Johnny has a point, even with those disguises they barely resemble the local population so getting to the citadel where those weird readings come from will be cumbersome, even if the Thing wasn't hiding underneath a pile of rags in the back of the ox cart.

Susan Richards could have easily scouted the place by herself or at least have made Ben invisible. But, this was back in the early days when she still acted like her codename. Needless to say, the second they came to town, they were spotted and reported to the local religious leader Taranith Gelstal. The high priest of the Mantracora took an immediate interest in Reed Richards and planned to "surprise" him.

But first, Reed and Sue enjoyed a little alone time at the local motel. 

"What in..."

Without becoming too crude, judging from that first panel we all know what was just in what. In all likelihood, this intimate encounter led to Sue's second pregnancy, but that's a story for another time. The intruders who got a glimp of the bare chested Fantastic Two were actually servants of the Taranith who had come to invite these strange alien visitors to his citadel. It almost sounded too good to be true, but as always Reed's insatiable curiosity got the better of him. 

"We've blown our cover! These people know we're aliens!"

Ya don't say Johnny, ya don't say...

The Taranith hosted the FF for dinner at his place. But it soon became obvious what Gelstal was really after when Mr. Fantastic fell unconscious sipping from his spiked drink. The other FF members were knocked out as well, but Reed awoke as part of a Christmas tree of horrors that actually looked truly terrifying.

"Since you are the final key which forever unlocks my prison house,
you should know your fate before it befalls you"

Here's the classic bit where the villain takes his merry time explaining the plot to the benefit of the readership. It's a bit of a cheat and an easy to deliver exposition, but it got the job done. Y'see, Gelstal himself is an alien, stranded on this primitive world when his ship crashed. Its machinery gave off the energy signatures the FF had come to look for. Gelstal's ship runs on psychic energy and Gelstal had found a way to prey on the brightest minds available to him. By prentending to be the Taranith, he selected the smartest among his flock who thought they were about to receive a great honor when in reality they wound up as living batteries. Reed's massive intellect would the final bit of mental fuel he needed. 

But there was one final reveal...

"The masked role of Taranith seemed suited to the deception I felt I must practice"

Yours truly must have been around eight years old when he first read this scene and it blew his mind. Sure, in retrospect it's a bit like seeing three midgets standing on each other's shoulders in a raincoat... And yes, Byrne had basically did this before when he revealed the Emperor was little more than an empty golden armor. Ow, and he'd do a similar reveal with Gilded Lily in Alpha Flight, but I digress.

Also, the Taranith's name is Gelstal, which is awfully close to the word gestalt that means "a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit". How fitting, because that was what the whole tree of dying aliens minds was: the gathered up psychic remains of dozens of people now forced to serve a single purpose.

With Reed's brainpower as the final catalyst, Gelstal activated the controls and the citadel was revealed to house his spaceship that finally was ready to head to the stars. By then the other FF members, who were on board too, freed themselves and caught up with Gelstal only to find Reed's mindless form. One heck of a cliffhanger.

An issue later, they tried in vain to stop Gelstal when we learned where Reed's mind had gone.

"Alright friend, I have control of the vessel now"

In one of those not too rare instances of "eh, don't wreck your brain over it" science, Reed was able to actively assume control of Gelstal's psychic ship. He forced the intrusive alien into a corner until it fled to a faulty escape pod and seemingly perished when it exploded. The FF then decided they'd better head home while they assembled a helmet shaped device that allowed Reed to house part of his consciousness into his body again so he could control it.

On a relatively unrelated sidenote... This whole "evil alien plans cause a hero's mind to gain control of a living space craft" does sound a tad familiar. I'm not saying John Byrne was inspired by the way Chris Claremont saved Storm by having her become the "brains" of the infant Acanti Prophet Singer in Uncanny X-Men I#166... But that issue came out in February of 1983 and in FF I#254, cover dated May of that year, Byrne essentially winds up with the same deal.

So, how *are* things going back on Earth? Not too well. As we established, Annihilus had managed to slip from the Negative Zone to Earth just as the FF were passing through. And with a name like that, you can't just stop by for a courtesy visit. Nope... Annihilus was dying and had come to have his final revenge on both the negative and positive realities by creating two null(ification) fields that were slowly becoming one. 

"A-Annihilus... Why? WHY??"

Why, Alicia? Cos he's the living death that walks! That's why.

And here's where the story takes an interesting turn and shows the level of comraderie between Marvel's various creators in the early 80s. John Byrne had been friendly with newly minted Avengers writer Roger Stern for years. They agreed to turn what had strictly been a Fantastic Four tale into a mini-crossover, simply by remembering that New York City is home to more than one superhero team. So, when Annihilus activates his null field, driving every living thing out of the Baxter and forming an impenetrable dome around the building, people will take notice.

"I hit... I'm not sure what I hit..."

Also, there's this scene: Johnny Storm's friends Sharon Selleck and Julie Angel got concerned when they called the Baxter Building and a weird sounding man answered (if you buy the notion of Annihilus even bothering to answering a phone). They decided to pay the FF a visit, but couldn't even reach the Baxter. It doesn't get more dated than hearing the news from a man who conveniently happened to be carrying a boombox around on his shoulder

"You're kiddin'! Gimme a listen..."

So that's where the "crossover" really kicks off: Avengers I#233 and Fantastic Four I#255 both told the same story, only from the perspective of the different teams. The FF were still in the Negative Zone, working on a way to get home while Earth's mightiest were trying to deal with the, to them unknown, menace of Annihilus. They were having difficulties penetrating the barrier that kept expanding. Thor's hammer passed right through it, Cap's shield couldn't halt its advance, the magic of the Scarlet Witch proved useless. Worst of all: when Vision phased through it, he immediately shut down.

And then the villain of the piece revealed itself.

"People of the Earth... Hear now the words of Annihilus!"

By then, thanks to the scientific genius of their newest member Starfox, the Avengers knew what Annihilus was up to. The second null field was forming and all of existence had less than 30 minutes of life (which is still at least a long weekend in the Negative Zone). Luckily, they'd figured out a way to breach the barrier: have Captain Marvel slingshot around the sun so she can rocket her way back to Earth like a rather radioactive gamma laser. 

"I'm activating the primary frequency modulator... NOW!"

And this is where it all comes together...

Annihilus gets distracted by the FF who have been busy in the Negative Zone rebuilding the gateway he destroyed when he came through. At the same time, in both FF and Avengers, Captain Marvel appears in the Baxter Building after breaking through the barrier.

To me, this is still the crossover gold standard. All the books involved still told their own stories. The Avengers read like a typical issue of the book, advancing several plotlines that had nothing to do with this and even Fantastic Four set up a number of new plots. They are in the same story, but they simply tell it from their perspective. That's fairly unique and almost non-existent these days. Ever since the 90s, Marvel forces creators to drop everything they're doing to "participate" in a crossover, whether they like to or not. That's disruptive and ultimately detrimental to the books.

Anyhoo, just as Annihilus throws the switch to destroy all that is, the FF return and Captain Marvel breaks through his null barriers. The result is an explosive decompression event that ends with Annihilus caught in a devastating feedback loop that sucks him back into the Zone just as the FF arrive home.

"Wow!"

Wow indeed... Feast your eyes on the new FF costumes, folks. A good year and a half before Spider-Man got his black costume, Byrne decided to go dark. He redesigned the iconic light blue jumpsuits the team had been wearing since Fantastic Four I#3 by having them turn "negative" or whatever that means. The wardrobe change was well received and stuck around until 1996. However, Byrne later admitted he mostly did it because having them wear darker colors saved him time drawing the various wrinkles and creases of the costumes.

The darker costumes also seemed a symbolical sign of the times. In a few short years books like Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen would turn the industry grim and gritty but this story first showed that in the 80s even carefree adventures could have devastating personal consequences. Case in point...

"The woman he loves lies like a broken doll in the midst of the destruction"

And what about Franklin?

"Can't look for Franklin when the whole building could blow up!"

Yes Reed, yes you can. And you should have. There's no reason why Johnny Storm, who's just standing there, couldn't have put out those fires. Heck, he doesn't even need an extinguisher, controlling open flame is one of his superpowers! It's yet another subtle example of Mr. Fantastic not putting family first. Still, let's give him a pass, five minutes ago his mind was still stuck inside a Negative Zone warship, remote controlling his body like a drone.

Sue eventually finds Franklin and brings him back up, a shocking scene seen in both Fantastic Four and Avengers. 

"Good lord."

"I...found...Franklin"

Comparing the two, it's tough to pick a favorite. While Joe Sinnott's inks over Byrne's breakdowns make the Avengers version a lot cleaner, that also takes something away from the emotional impact of the muddier FF (Byrne inked himself here). The look on Sue's face in the Avengers version is more gripping, yet in FF the limp, beaten body of Franklin Richards really tells you all you need to know. 

This tragic homecoming ended the Fantastic Four's six month field trip in the Negative Zone. They saw a heck of a lot, but had very little to show for it. After all, they left their exploratory vessel behind on Mantracora when Gelstal abducted them and that contained all their research data. And to literally add insult to injury, their little adventure left two of the people they loved the most at death's door. 

1983 was a watershed year for the Fantastic Four. The ramifications of their trip would be felt for years to come. Franklin's recovery would take months, prompting Reed and Sue to move out of the Baxter Building and Ben would feel so guilty over Alicia's injuries it was part of the reasons they'd break up. Add to that Sue's second pregnancy that would end in another tragedy.

They might have journeyed into the Negative Zone, but their journey into truly dark territories was about to begin...

1983: Fantastic Fouryage part I: Into the Negative Zone

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

By 1983, John Byrne had been at the helm of Fantastic Four for roughly a year and a half. Up until then, he'd happily updated the classic status quo of the team. But now he was ready to prove he was as a truly original FF creator by sending the team on an exciting, new adventure.

It all began in Fantastic Four I#251 which laid the groundwork for Marvel's first family's extended sojourn into the Negative Zone... An antimatter universe where everything's potentially lethal to the touch, a place that's been giving them trouble since 1966's Fantastic Four I#51 (Gee, ya think that's a coincidence?)

"Seems like an awful lot of fuss fer somethin' you once said you wus gonna close off forever!"

Bashful Benjy isn't too wrong... Mr. Fantastic's sudden desire to jump in and chart the Zone was a bit weird. Not to mention unwise, after all they'd only explored a tiny bit of the negative universe and had already ran into deadly menaces like Annihilus, Blastaar and, ah why the heck not Stygorr the Nightlord. What else could be lurking out there? You'd think Mr. Fantastic would build a large, heavily armored exploratory vessel for this undertaking. 

You'd think.

"Stand by for separation!"

You got that right, Reed... Forcing your wife to go on a road trip in a ship the size of a dixi toilet while a blind woman is left to care for your only child *is* a divorce waiting to happen. The last time you took her into the unknown, she got doused in cosmic rays and crashed on Earth a mutated freak. But at least she had more leg room then.

Speaking of Alicia, this is the system Reed had rigged up so the sightless sculptress would know they'd returned from their Negative Zone trip.

"Remember that sound, Alicia!"

Wouldn't a pager have been easier, Reed? Then again, this is exactly the kind of elegant solution you'd expect from a man brilliant enough to invent unstable molecules yet who still relied on flare guns to rally his teammates... The type of technology that was cutting edge back when the Chinese invented in the late 13th century (thanks Wikipedia!). 

At any rate, Alicia heard the very recognizable *KA-CHUNG!* noise a few hours after the FF left. Not thinking anything of this, after all time passed differently in the Negative Zone, she went to welcome Ben and the others only to find Annihilus. Thanks for leaving the door open, Reed...

Fantastic Four I#252 is where the FF's Negative Zone outing began in earnest and it started in style. Eager to experiment with the comic book format, Byrne decided to tell the story exclusively in widescreen shots. Never one not to toot his own horn, Byrne had the classic cover blurb changed to "the world's most innovative comic magazine". This movie style format meant people had to read the comic upside down, almost like they were checking out a Playboy centerfold. 

Which is fitting since the story Cityscape had about as much depth as the average Playmate. Sure, it looked impressive but it's really silly filler. The FF happened upon a primitive looking culture that's forced to live outside of Ootah, a sentient citycomplex that covered half the planet. With Mr. Fantastic conveniently taken out by a poison dart during the initial, obligatory fight scene, the other three heroes are spoon fed a bunch of fables about Ootah by local leader Mama Shonti. 

According to Mama her people were part of Ootah thousands of years ago. They lived inside him, heck, they were the ones who granted him sentience. Not too long after that, Ootah decided to drive out everybody who lived within him by using an anxiety inducer that caused them to run. He then raised huge defense walls and that was that. For centuries, the locals had been trying to get back into Ootah's good graces by offering him brides. If the young woman was incinerated, they believed Ootah had accepted their sacrifice. It took the Thing to make the locals see the folly of trying to marry off teenage girls to planetary complexes.

"Sunnuvagun! Looks like he ain't as fussy as you thought"

Ben, Sue and Johnny used their powers to breach Ootah's defenses, they penetrated his inner sanctum and wound up lobotomizing it when Thing smashed its "brain". By then, Mr. Fantastic had recovered from his poison induced paralysis, but arrived too late to stop his friends. Turns out, they'd backed the wrong team.

"Now Ootah is dead, and they are swarming over it, destroying it like maggots attacking a corpse"

Yes, the living city was the good guy and the yellow villagers were actually germs on legs. Byrne was going for the kind of twist ending often seen on the old Twilight Zone series. But this wasn't on the level of "it's a cookbook!". It's hard to sympathize with an empty city after all. 

But that's what John Byrne was trying to do: tell the kind of unique and quirky stories he'd loved growing up watching shows like Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and of course Doctor Who. The tiny exploratory capsule he had the FF travel around in was actually an homage to the Doctor's Tardis.

FF I#252 also gave us an update on Annihilus in the Baxter Building...

 "Franklin does not cry out upon seeing Alicia Masters slung up like a side of beef"

Moving right along to Fantastic Four I#253 in which the team was picked up by the crew of the alien space ark Kestor's Hope. About 10.000 years ago, their homeworld Kestor was about to be destroyed because of an unrevealed natural disaster. 

Their Priest-Scientists picked 20.000 Kestorians that were put in cold storage aboard an ark headed for a recently discovered planet that mirrored Kestor's conditions. However, the navigational computers were damaged during launch, forcing the ark to thaw out 500 Kestorians to help repair and run the ship (or so they believed). They were never able to recover the location of their new home which forced them to wander space.

The Kestorians had become a tad anti-social and superstitious over the course of several hundred generations...

"My lance hangs in mid-air!"

I won't insult my readership's intelligence by making an erection joke here. Instead, we'll skip to the part where the FF is introduced to the Captain and his lover Number One who's his second-in-command ánd the Kestor's high priestess. They tell them of the Kestorian quest (or Questorian, if you will) over dinner.

"My portable sensor shows nothing incompatible with our biology, darling. 

In other words... Dig in!"

"Compatible"? Well, considering human stomach acid can dissolve pretty much everything we swallow, that's no surprise. Our bodies can process anything from undercooked chicken to 12 day old Chinese takeout, even deep fried butter on a stick... But that doesn't mean it's smart to eat. Still, the FF survive the foodgasms the Negative Zone has to offer and Mr. Fantastic is soon put to work helping to fix the damaged navigational array. 

Within minutes, he discovered the navigational back-up systems were still intact. It only took minor repairs and then Kestor's Hope headed to its final destination. Upon arrival, the ark touched down and the Captain and Number One donned traditional garb to greet their new homeworld

But...

"This cannot be the world we were meant to colonize"

Now here's where the story took an interesting turn. The Kestorians felt Reed made a mistake (they're excellent judges of character, it seems) and plan to continue on their quest to find the right world to colonize. But Mr. Fantastic refused to drop the matter, especially when he figured out why the Captain and Number One couldn't handle life on this supposedly perfect planet... Evolution!

"NONSENSE! The almighty spirit created all Kestorians complete and unchanging. 

We do not evolve!"

If the previous issue had Byrne channel the Twilight Zone, this one clearly mirrors classic Star Trek which tended to comment on society's issues by placing the problems in the realm of science fiction. They tackled racism, bigotry and the ongoing Cold War by having aliens deal with those issues. In this case, it's religious zealotry. The Captain refuses to believe Reed's very sound theory and plans to kill the FF and some of his own people just to settle the matter. Then, his Number One tells him the Kestor's dirty little secret: the 500 Kestorians revived by the ship are actually the only surviving members of their race. The other 19.500 all died (which would cause one heck of a stench, but that's neither here nor there).

"Good bye, Number One. I'm sorry that I was not able to truly help"

The FF say goodbye to Number One and the remaining crew of Kestor's Hope... Destined to wander the stars looking for a home they already rejected while living out their days in the one place they can survive. Despite its heavy handedness, it's a memorable story even though the FF are once again the unwitting instigators of tragedy. All their experience and instincts as heroes don't amount to a hill of beans in the topsy turvy tableau that is the aptly named Negative Zone. 

In the second part of Fantastic Fouryage: The FF versus the Mantracora and Annihilus takes New York!

The Fantastic Four vs. Doctor Doom by John Byrne

1982 - What If #36

What If #36 
December 1982
"What If The Fantastic Four Had Not Gained Their Super-Powers?" 
Writer/Artist - John Byrne 

"A Stunning Saga of an Alternate Reality!"

Byrne kicks off the issue with a two-page retelling of Lee and Kirby's Fantastic Four origin. Then as usual, Uatu steps in introduces the moment where this alternate reality formed. Instead of risking their lives against those unknown cosmic rays, the team takes the necessary time to properly prepare and not only push past the cosmic rays but make their way to another planet, Epsilon Eridani, 11 light-years away.

Their success gets them government funding and with the patent for their Star-Drive, they create a scientific institute and band together as adventures. The team, donning their Richards caps and blue/black jumpsuits, investigate the disappearance of a nuclear power plant and have their first encounter with the Mole Man and his underworld legion of monsters.

This issue has a lot of big panels and a strong Kirby vibe. Byrne pencils and inks this issue, but I wish they had been able to get Austin to ink the interiors as well as the cover. At this time, Byrne was hitting his full stride on the Fantastic Four as Writer/Penciller. Compared to his regular work, this issue just didn't have the quality. And that may simply be because he was trying to pay homage to Fantastic Four #1. Feels like there was a lot of padding to the story and that Byrne was having fun with the story's panels and layouts.

The Fantastic Four story runs 20 pages and there's a back-up featuring Nova, "What If Nova Had Not Given Up His Powers?".