Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Re-Reads (Now Reading: Swamp Thing: 1971 through 1985)

Sorry I've been so slow to post a reply to your review, Lardy. I had a splitting headache yesterday that's only completely gone away recently today. Will do my best to post my review of 235 either tonight or tomorrow.

Fantastic Four #235

This is the first issue of this re-read which I found wholly satisfying, Byrne finally proving he's got what it takes to simultaneously update and upgrade a book which, a few bright spots aside, had been like a dog chasing its tale for the previous decade. FF 235 has all the grandiose cosmic spectacle of Lee & Kirby at their finest, with none of the icky sexism and paternalism that makes the Silver Age FF seem dated. All four members are equals and all four are given their chance to shine by Byrne.



Agreed. Instead of having the FF fight an old enemy of theirs for the tenth time, Byrne slyly borrows a Silver Age Thor villain cut from the same distinctive Lee & Kirby cloth.



Again, agreed. Too many writers either recycle Ben's anger and angst from the Silver Age, or they make him too much of a big orange teddy bear. Byrne gets the balance just right, and it's a winning touch that the creator proclaims Ben worthy of mentioning in the same breath as the astronauts who had The Right Stuff.



And yet again, agreed. The Marvel Omnibuses are worth every penny. I got the New Warriors one for my birthday a year ago, and I've been savoring it since.

I know! I was so severely disappointed by how Sue was treated as a character when I finally read the Masterworks with the first Galactus saga in it that I don't know if I'll ever dive deeper into the Lee/Kirby FF run. It was shocking, especially as Silver Age Spidey and what I've read of the S.A. Avengers never seemed to have that degree of sexism in their stories. While they weren't exactly ultra-modern feminist manifestos, they never gave me pause like those FF issues did.

Unfortunately, that aspect of the Lee & Kirby FF never went away, so I think it's best you concentrate on other comics.

Come to think of it, did you ever get around to reading that Masterworks volume of Lee & Kirby's Thor? If so, did you find it better than their FF?

I haven't read it yet--it's actually the second Omnibus, not a Masterworks, btw. I do have higher hopes for it because of some things you've said, so it's only a matter of the mood hitting when it hits.

Ah, okay.

And BTW, I expect I'll be posting reviews of FF 236 & 237 tomorrow.

Fantastic Four 236-237

I find these two issues to be a study in contrasts. 236, the 20th Anniversary special, is simply wonderful. So wonderful I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't read it. What I will say is that Byrne really makes a quantum leap as a writer here, doing in-depth characterization the likes of which has never been previously seen in FF, uses the well-chosen villains perfectly, and constructs an elaborate, clever, and ultimately heartbreaking story in which both the FF and the readers see what might have been, what could not have been, and what was. 237, on the other hand, I found very disappointing. If the previous issue transcended the book's template as set by Lee & Kirby, this issue recalls nothing so much as the later Lee & Kirby issues, after Kirby started keeping his best ideas to himself and Lee's dialogue lost a lot of its wit and snap. To paraphrase the story's title, the eyes don't have it, as it were, and its no surprise to me that the aliens introduced in this issue were, to my knowledge, never seen again. Also, we see a none-too-subtle hint of the re-emergence of little Franklin's powers, which has always been one of my pet peeves with the FF and makes me wish Byrne hadn't gone there. OTOH, maybe this is leading to something really awesome that I'm just not remembering since I haven't re-read these issues for such a long time.

FF #236, "Terror in a Tiny Town", was an excellent, super-sized, done-in-one tale that was probably the stand-out in the first trade I first read it in (FF Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 1) a few years ago. I know this because, as we entered this re-read, it was the main early story I recalled in the most detail among that initial batch containing 232-240. In fact, I thought it might have been a multi-part story in my flawed memory. But, no, it's a 40-pager of a masterpiece that comprised the bulk of this issue, which is itself billed as commemorative of the FF's 20th anniversary. (Also included in the Omnibus is a surprisingly forgettable Lee/Kirby story that is both a re-telling of FF #5 and an adaptation of an episode of the FF cartoon--which means, yep, no Human Torch and features HERBIE the robot instead. Yeah... )

It's a rip-roaring mystery/adventure tale that features 2 of the FF's most classic foes which, as Fick says, manages to give a peek at what might have been in what is easily his best script to date in the small body of work he'd put out at the time. We've seen many stories before and since about characters are tricked into thinking they are living out idyllic, alternate versions of their lives, but this is easily one of the best ones of that ilk. This is because the characters really drive the scenario, especially Ben, for whom this life is of the most benefit among the four for what should be obvious reasons. So Ben and Alicia get a big spotlight here and really shine with their particular pathos, and this plays really well with the motives of one of the villains.

Reed, Sue and Johnny all get their moments as well. Johnny, mostly in the opening pages as Reed and Sue emerge stronger and stronger as the story goes on while Johnny mostly fades until the mystery is resolved and the action picks up. There's a lot of subtle work with the couple that I admire here because it makes Reed and Sue seem like a real team of spouses in a way that I doubt they were ever portrayed in the past.

Byrne is certainly masterful in his artwork throughout. I've always pretty much felt he was his own best inker, and there's nothing here to dissuade me of that. My favorite shot in the whole, great story is just one single panel of Sue having a fitful sleep in bed. I'm sure the colorist deserves some credit there as well, but I love the grainier inks used there to portray a scene in darkness. Just an example of some versatility that the better artists of the time displayed while modern artists take shortcuts and hide behind their colorists. Even beyond that panel, I was mesmerised by the details Byrne put into woodwork, clothing and furniture and carpeting patterns. It's all so lush and deep in ways that make most modern comic artwork seem flat and featureless.

Like Fickles, I'm reluctant to divulge specific spoilers. If there's one drawback to reading this story a second time, it's that the fun of the discovery wasn't there as much. Oh, I could admire all of the superb craftsmanship, but I knew that ___ and ___ were behind everything and that they did it using _______ and all that. So because of the nature of this particular story, I'll let the now-32-year spoilers remain...unspoiled...on the off-chance that anyone reading may have the opportunity to discover it for the first time.

I will say that I particularly like the unusual (and rare!) comeuppance(s) that the bigger of the two bads gets. Plus, to me, there's an unresolved plot thread that Byrne could have tied up by a wider shot near the end. It's probably just me being nit-picky, but I would have liked to have seen some *small* remnants of the story one last time... (Trying to be vague here, but I hope you get my drift, Fick! )

Overall, I would say that this would be the standalone story I'd recommend to anyone who'd like to sample Byrne's FF and see if they want to try more. It encapsulates everything that you need to know about the FF and how Byrne was simply born to write and draw the book!

FF #237, "The Eyes Have It", is definitely Byrne's weakest issue to this point. Like the previous issue, it takes a well-worn trope--this time that of a powerful innocent being exploited by opportunistic bad guys--but unlike the successful use of the false reality trope of the previous issue, he fails to make this one memorable in its execution.

In his defense I think Byrne's primary purpose this issue was to give Reed and Sue a light adventure in which his real purpose is to further develop their chemistry as Marvel's premier power couple, as I observed he was doing last issue. In that, I think he succeeds, but it is at the expense of some goofy and forgettable aliens that we'll never see again.

The only cool think about the main alien's power is some pretty cool visuals that Byrne comes up with to show the disorientation she causes. It's a fun effect that is best when it shows Reed's body all mixed up through a cascading spiral. This is on full display on the book's cover, which is fairly striking:



In other news, we get the interesting repercussions involving last issues main villain and that the effects of that story on Ben and Alicia aren't forgotten. As Fick mentions, we get a brief reminder that Franklin has powers, though that didn't particularly bother me. (I did kinda like how Reed and Sue left him in the care of an officer while they pursued the threat--kind of a nice touch.) Byrne definitely misses the mark with the Johnny/Frankie subplot as it comes of unintentionally, I think, hilarious. (I mean, it looks like she strips nekkid for him, and he's floored because he's never seen boobs before! Or that he HAS, but, what, her boobs aren't boobs or something?!? Peaking ahead to the full reveal next issue, the reaction and set-up seem kind of like--HUH?!? )

So, yeah, definitely the runt in the litter to this point, but we know there will be a lot more winners then stinkers in the long haul!

Looks like we pretty much see...if you'll forgive the pun...eye-to-eye on both those issues, Lardy.

Not sure what you mean about the unresolved plot thread, though. Could you please elaborate in a spoiler box?

And I'd like to ask you a favor. Would it be okay if I posted three short reviews this week instead of two? I wasn't terribly pleased with any of those issues, and I'd like to get to the Galactus/Terrax story faster.

Sure, that's fine.



Okay, I guess it's only somewhat unresolved in my mind, but

It's not a deal-breaker by any means, but the story seems a fraction incomplete without the shot in my mind.

Thanks, Lardy.

I hadn't thought about that particular loose end, but now that you mention it, yes, if Byrne had taken care of that, the story would have been perfect.

Fantastic Four 238-240

The first two of these issues are nucking futs, and not in a good way IMO. Frankie Raye's origin is convoluted and creepy, and she doesn't react believably to the memories she recovers. Changing the Thing's appearance into the less simian, more reptilian version of the earliest Lee & Kirby stories comes off to me as pointless fanwank, as does bringing Ben's much-mythologized Aunt Petunia into the book. And the child abuse angle of 239 is just appalling to me -- Reed loses a lot of credibility in my eyes for defending the abuser; and Byrne also neglects to show us the exact event that has the abuser claiming he's changed his ways...show, don't tell, Byrne; finally, the ending is the worst part, because unless I misread it, it seems to me that the abuse will go on and more innocent people will die pointlessly from the child's repressed rage.

240 is an issue that I had good memories of, inasmuch as it has an indisputably gorgeous cover and it features the birth of Crystal & Quicksilver's daughter, Luna. But except for some beautiful inner art, I found it upon re-reading to be a dud. Again, Byrne tells instead of showing the things that the Inhumans have been going through, and Frankie proves to see things in black and white, which makes her less sympathetic in my eyes.

FF 238, featuring the stories "The Lady Is Made for Burning" & "The More Things Change", I found fairly entertaining, especially because Byrne is comfortable enough now to have an entire issue feature no threat for our heroes to battle. Instead, we get a payoff in the form of an origin for the mysterious Frankie Raye and the latest episode in Reed's struggle to cure Ben.

The latter story is a good one to have for the purpose of showing Reed's continuing efforts to reverse Ben's condition. What appeals less is the result, which purports to be both "permanent" in Ben's reversion to an older form and the supposed last word on Ben's search to be normal. In hindsight this is pretty ridiculous. Ben will be his familiar rocky self within about a year of stories, and there are many more developments in his quest for normalcy in the decades to come, including some during Byrne's time left on the book. So it's false advertising, though the story in and of itself is well-done. (Gotta wonder if there is any explanation to come for the glitch in the experiment. Reed is still pondering it the next issue, so it leads me to believe there's an interesting reason. We'll see if that materializes.)

I clearly like the first story more than Fick. I wasn't in love with it, but I especially liked Byrne giving Frankie a connection to the original Human Torch. I feel he created her to give the original Torch a living legacy beyond the Vision. (Of course, Byrne had bigger things planned for her beyond that as we will soon learn soon in what will be his first big epic storyline.)

In a way, though, Frankie kind of comes off as another take on Jean Grey/Phoenix in the early going. There are hints of her having potentially greater power than Johnny and of her also having a dark side. Those, plus the red hair, certainly have at least superficial echoes of Jean. Hell, even the machine Reed used to analyze Frankie reminds me of the Shi'ar equipment used on Jean. He didn't exactly go there, but I wonder if Byrne at least wanted to make readers wonder about that, especially those who followed him from the X-Men. (There's even a direct reference to Jean in 240 when Attilan lands on the Blue Area of the moon.)

FF 239, "Wendy's Friends", seems like a story in which Byrne had a really good core story idea but just lacked the necessary storytelling skill at that point to pull it off. Like Fick says, Byrne simple tells us too much here instead of showing us. We never really quite understand how the spirits scare people to death. I don't think we even properly got to see our heroes overcome their own fears. We see Ben face some shadowy creatures, but we don't get the impression that they represent some primal fear of his.

Basically, Byrne takes too many shortcuts here. He could have let the story breathe better into a two-parter and, I think, had a more effective and creepy story told that was worthy of his idea. I'm a fan of the great done-in-ones of the Bronze Age, but this one needed a little decompression to be effective. In the end this one is another clunker, along with 237.

I did, however, kind of get a kick out of Aunt Petunia and how she defied expectations. If I'm not mistaken, Byrne doesn't use her anymore. If so, it's a shame because I found her memorable.

FF 240, "Exodus", is Byrne taking his first crack at another Lee/Kirby creation central to the FF lore, the Inhumans. And in this first crack, Byrne really attempts to swing for the fences by making two big changes to their lore: the relocation of Attilan to the moon and the birth of Quicksilver and Crystal's daughter (her name's not given this issue).

The biggest flaw in the story is, as Fick states above, another case of telling instead of showing. In this instance we are told of a great, definitive battle that we learn of entirely through dialogue and some brief flashbacks. it's an odd choice because it's defined as such a monumental event (literally because Maximus apparently redeemed himself so much in the battle that a monument is left to him at Attilan's now former site). His choice to show just the coda to an apparent larger story seems to show it was the only part he was interested to tell. It almost seems like his larger intention was to write the Inhumans out for the time being. That's doubtful because you'd want to take them much further out of the picture than the moon if that was the case. If he wanted to tell the story of moving Attilan, Byrne could have just stuck to the pollution sickness as the driving force without all of the off-camera events.

Still, I think the story works overall as an FF story because of larger idea of the FF coming to the aid of a large problem with a proportionately large solution that offers some sheer spectacle. this is another FF story that doesn't feature a villain but a problem that only Reed and friends can solve. It's feel-food and fun and is just the kind of story you wouldn't find in any other team book.

So Byrne got some things very right this issue and showed that he knows the FF is not your ordinary super-team, but he still shows some growing pains as a writer. If a flashback to an untold story seems that significant, maybe it should be given the room to be properly told.

I think you may be onto something here, Lardy, and, without spoiling what lies ahead, I wonder if he had some grand plan for her that he would have completed had he not left Marvel abruptly in the mid-1980s.

Fantastic Four 241

This one definitely has echoes of 60s and 70s sci-fi television shows, as a seemingly intact outpost of Ancient Rome is found deep in Africa, on the border of the Black Panther's kingdom of Wakanda. S.H.I.E.L.D. detects an energy surge in that location by chance (there's a nice bit about how the exodus of the Inhumans last issue was partly responsible for the detection) and asks the FF to investigate. This is a good use of the FF's connection to T'Challa (he first appeared in a Lee & Kirby FF storyline), and Byrne writes the Black Panther very well, emphasizing his cunning and his self-achieved powers. That is why it's more than a little strange that Byrne's plot takes an odd turn halfway through, and T'Challa has no part in the defeat of the villain, Flavius (I wonder if the plot was altered at the last minute?) And while it is nice that Sue is the one to single-handedly defeat the villain, overall the story feels arbitrary and half-baked to me. A mixed beg of an issue, then. (BTW, I wonder if this story inspired Claremont a few years later to create Nova Roma during his New Mutants run.)

Fantastic Four 242

This is more like it. Byrne brings back Terrax, a rebellious former herald of Galactus co-created less than three years earlier by Byrne and Marv Wolfman (though who deserves more of the credit has been a matter of contention) to wreak havoc on Earth and literally kidnap the entire island of Manhattan (in a fashion very similar to the Inhumans' exodus a couple of issues earlier, but I think that's forgivable.) There are wonderful guest appearances by Thor and Iron Man, doing damage control at the environs of Manhattan, and nice cameos by Spider-Man and Daredevil. And the cliffhanger promises much more cosmic goodness to come.

Fantastic Four 243-244

Act Two of Byrne's Galactus 3-parter more than delivers the requisite thrills and chills. Byrne draws a great Galactus, and the scene where he puts Terrax in his place is a classic. The battle against Galactus, who now intends to eat the Earth because he is too weak to travel to another planet, is spectacular, with the FF joined by the Avengers and Dr. Strange, and it ends with Galactus actually felled and fading away!

Act Three begins with a bereft Johnny showing up at Frankie's apartment, to be greeted by her roommate, Julie. Reed and Sue quickly follow. Cue a flashback to the point where the last issue left off, with Reed insisting over Iron Man's objections that Galactus's life must be saved. Thor's considerable power and Iron Man's tech wizardry combine to give Galactus the adrenaline shot to end them all. But Galactus STILL intends to consume our planet, claiming that the uninhabited planets that Reed has found for him are too far away for him to reach in his weak state!

And here's where the story falls apart for me. Frankie offers herself to Galactus as his new herald, reminding him of how Norrin Radd became the Silver Surfer in exchange for Galactus sparing his home planet. But Frankie shows a callousness which I find appalling -- when it's pointed out that she will be party to the destruction of inhabited worlds, she cold-bloodedly shrugs, "What's a few less bug-eyed monsters?" Galactus finds this appealing, because Frankie is not likely to have guilt pangs and turn against him, the way the Surfer did when Galactus first came to Earth.

It's hard for me to feel bad for Johnny, because Frankie's attitude is so off-putting. When she does become the new herald and flies away, all I could think of was, "Good riddance to a genocidal monster." Now, perhaps Byrne might have had her regain at least some of her humanity if he'd stayed with the FF longer, but we'll never know.

And there's another elephant in the room -- Galactus had said he was too weak to travel far. So how does gaining a new herald solve everything? Unless, of course, she finds an inhabited world that is close enough for Galactus to reach. Which I take to mean that it's okay if another world perishes, as long as Good Ol' Terra Firma is still around.

Either way, Byrne seems to be reaching for a profound moral ambiguity, but in the end, it proves out of his reach, at least for this reader.

FF 241, "Render Unto Caesar", had Byrne give the team a team-appropriate mission. When they are exploring and solving mysteries, they are very much in their element. In this case they are investigating an unknown energy source in Africa that happens to be in the proximity od their old friend the Black Panther's nation of Wakanda.

Unfortunately, the Panther and Wakanda seem far from crucial to the story as neither really play a key role. It's almost like Byrne wanted to check them off a list of Lee/Kirby character appearances but just kind of plugged them into a fairly generic "lost civilization" story which seems superficially inspired by the then-recent advent of Indiana Jones as one of the characters even references him. (The story itself is not ripping Raiders of the Lost Ark off, but Byrne seems inspired by it.)

In the end it's a decent story and, again, one appropriate for an FF story. But it's not very satisfying in its kind of quick resolution and its quick explanation for the events. Plus, the Panther and his country are barely window dressing for what I hoped would have been more of a showcase for them.

FF 242, "Terrax Untamed", on the other hand, was much more on the mark. With the story's return of Galactus' latest herald, Byrne gets back to the type of FF story that he seems most comfortable with to this point, that of the big cosmic, widescreen kind of threat. In this one Terrax appears to be out for simple revenge against the FF for beating him in his previous appearance until a twist at the end reveals a larger motive.

It's just after Christmas and New year's in the Big Apple, and Byrne opens with some downtime scenes with Reed, Sue and Franklin, Ben and Alicia and Johnny and Frankie all doing fairly normal activities with an FF twist, particularly as some roughnecks choose the wrong guy to pick on in one Ben Grimm. (Let's just say, they hadn't a snowball's chance...)

Enter Terrax to interrupt their revelries, culminating in a big-time showcase of his powers. He uproots the entire island of Manhattan--and brings it one hundred miles into space! Along the way, we get varying degrees of fun cameos from Thor, Iron Man, Daredevil and Spider-Man. And it climaxes with Terrax revealing his true goal...to get the FF to destroy Galactus, whose ship arrives on the last page and with whom Terrax has had a falling-out with. Needless to say...we have a cliffhanger, here!

All in all, very well-executed on Byrne's part. Well-illustrated and pretty suspensefully-told. It's particularly effective that we don't know exactly what's happening with Manhattan until the end, and that shock is followed by the other one involving Galactus. It's a classic double-whammy of an ending that I couldn't imagine anyone reading it wouldn't be anxious to buy the next installment.

That's a matter of contention? Between Byrne and Wolfman, I assume? Seems odd. Terrax isn't exactly insignificant but is not exactly a top-tier villain either.



Oddly enough, I didn't connect the two events for being overly similar! I guess you can chalk it up to the differences in context, the former being a benign act and the latter a huge threat. But if you think about what Byrne eventually does to the Baxter Building, you can argue it's something a a Byrne fallback!

Well, Terrax was pretty awesome in his two battles against the New Warriors (ahhhh, how I love the first 25 issues of Nicieza's New Warriors...)

Re: Byrne and the Baxter Building, good point well taken.

FF #'s 243 ("Shall Earth Endure?") & 244 ("Beginnings and Endings") finish off Byrne's first story of more than two parts in what I felt was a very satisfying manner. 242 left us with the double-cliffhanger of Manhattan in great peril with the whole area and its inhabitants held hostage in outer space by Terrax, only to have Galactus himself show up with Terrax demanding the FF to destroy the planet-devourer or sacrifice the entire island.

We pick up almost immediately from that ending but not before Byrne features Frankie Raye in a scene with Sue that foreshadows Frankie's larger involvement in this story along with a quick scene at Avengers Mansion to show that Manhattan's other heroes are also affected.

It's great table-setting by Byrne as the three males FFers (Sue is playing a vital role using her powers at the Baxter Building) infiltrate Galactus' ship to find some way to both save Manhattan and defy Terrax. One of my favorite touches in this scene is how Galactus shows a respect for the FF in the encounter that rings true with their mutual history. Galactus normally treats intruders as fleas unworthy of his attention, but I like how Byrne has this not be the case in this instance. It's a mutual respect that the two parties would have earned from their past encounters, and Byrne pays that off with the conclusion of the story.

Galactus quickly (and believably because of his power level) takes down Terrax and restores Manhattan. However, Galactus is so depleted that he feels he must consume Earth to save himself. This leads to an epic brawl without precedent involving Galactus fighting both the FF and the Avengers (with Spidey and DD as witnesses, feeling they're over-matched in this scenario) and then Doctor Strange. It's unusual but justified by Galactus' energies being at an incredibly low ebb because of Terrax leaving him without someone to find suitable planets and then the energy expended to pursue the rogue herald. Normally, the Big G would wipe the floor with our heroes, but the circumstances lead to them taking him out instead.

It's a big, crowd-pleaser of an episode and ends with a cliff-hanger few would expect: Should our heroes save Galactus?

244 answers that question by telling what happened afterwards in flashback. We find Johnny incredibly hurt and upset by whatever happened next, with hints that Frankie Raye factored in hugely, as he arrives at Frankie's apartment exhausted and collapsing in the presence of Frankie's roommate. She calls for help and Reed and Sue fill both her and us in on what happened after Galactus was at our heroes' mercy.

From there, things pick up with Galactus still collapsed and our heroes debating his fate. Reed steps up and asserts that it is their duty to preserve all sentient life. Iron Man steps up as the lone dissenter, but everyone else falls in with Reed.

I have to stop and admire this sequence because it is a wonderful reminder of what was still a more innocent age in comics superhero adventures. Nowadays, it's really hard to imagine writers would take this scenario and go this way with it. Comics are so bloodthirsty now that you just know the characters (and writers) would go for the kill. (I mean, remember Bendis having the Avengers and X-Men debate killing Wanda after House of M?) In THIS scenario, however, I'd be hard-pressed to vote to save Galactus, considering his continuing and massive threat to Earth.

But I love how, seemingly against common sense, our heroes do choose to save his life and how Byrne shows that it is ultimately the right thing to do as he pays off that mutual respect that I noted in the previous issue. You get the feeling that Galactus is genuinely touched and would perhaps rather be destroyed by our heroes than consume their planets after their selfless act.

But before either scenario can play out, Frankie arrives and offers to be Galactus's new herald and to find a suitable world for him. Galactus accepts this option and conveys his gratitude to the FF both by renewing his vow to spare Earth and acknowledging that they may be the closest things to friends that a being like him has.

I really loved this whole story arc and how it played out with some fairly sophisticated ideas about morality. I also appreciated that Byrne portrayed Frankie not as a self-sacrificing Norrin Radd but as someone who had more selfish motives. Frankie was a woman going through the motions of mundane existence and wanted more to do with her powers than to just be a part of the superhuman rat race. She saw an opportunity to do something extraordinary with her life and see and do things few humans ever would.

Unfortunately, Johnny was completely smitten with her and is devastated. Basically, Johnny, we learned that "she's just not that into you." You were head-over-heels; she was on the look-out for something better. It's a microcosm for a lot of real relationships, just on a more mythical scale, and Byrne set this up well prior to this story with subtle looks at her character in issues leading up to this trilogy. I don't see this as an indictment on Frankie or of women in general but kind of a more realistic take on certain relationships and how that might play out in superhero melodrama.

Earlier, I thought that maybe Byrne was playing with our expectations regarding some similarities between Frankie and Jean Grey. I'm not certain that that was what he was doing, but it's interesting how differently the stories played out. Jean was a noble character corrupted by great power until she made a sacrifice to stop herself from going to far. Frankie was of less extraordinary character but somewhat more believable and recognizable who ultimately made a self-serving choice. The first may have made for a better or more memorable story, but the second is a reflection of things we've seen more often in real life.

Anyhow, I thought it was a great story on many levels. If there was anything of a letdown, I suppose I was a little surprised that Frankie wasn't given her familiar nomenclature of "Nova", even by this story's conclusion. I suppose we will when she reappears. At this point, I would rank this trilogy as Byrne's best story at this point in his run, topping even the Ego story and the great epic in 236. Excellent stuff!

Hm. I'm curious to think what you think of my take on Frankie in the above review. I didn't get super-deep into her callousness because I think Byrne set that up some in some of her scenes in previous issues. I can see her being callous and lacking some moral fiber because of her unusual upbringing.



I can feel bad for Johnny. He's had pretty shitty luck with love, and this is one of those times he fell really hard. Just because she wasn't terribly sympathetic doesn't mean I couldn't feel for him. Like I said, there have been too many romances in real life where someone uses the other and flees when something better comes along. Love can be blind sometimes. In a way Johnny lost Frankie to a guy she felt had more to offer her.



Yeah, that's a bit of a plot hole. I think we are to presume that a herald can somehow help him reach the destination with their abilities, probably one of the uninhabited worlds Reed mentions. But, yeah, the larger question of letting Galactus live when he will eventually annihilate more inhabited worlds is why I wouldn't have been so fast to spare Galactus despite my admiration for the heroes' course of action.



I think you know that I felt differently about Byrne's level of success with the moral implications and, of course, with Frankie. I'll be curious to see if my review sparks any new thoughts on those matters. But one point that Byrne makes thru the characters is that Galactus himself is not evil and only acts according to what his nature demands, like a cosmic shark or something. Frankie's not evil either, just opportunistic. Most of us would have moral objections to doing the job she's taking on, but she's not serving an entity that is inherently bad.