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Fantastic Four #251-252

After a year-and-half of aperitifs (some of them quite tasty), Byrne unleashes his first FF epic. The first issue is pretty much an extended prologue, but no less effective for that, and it shows just how character-driven this book has become with Byrne at the helm. We begin with Reed unveiling to Ben the latest, state-of-the-art, foolproof (or so Reed thinks) mode of transportation into the Negative Zone, followed by Ben going for a stroll and clearing up a gridlock as only he can, Johnny auditing an acting class attended by his ex-girlfriend's former roommate, Julie, who in turn introduces him to her friend Sharon, who falls for him at first sight. Then some sensitively executed scenes between Susan & Franklin, and Ben & Alicia. Emotional farewells are the prelude the spectacular launch of Reed's new module, with the other three FF members accompanying him, and a shocker of an ending, where we see that the Baxter Building has been invaded by none other than Annihilus, scourge of the Negative Zone! In all, a very satisfying issue, proving once again Byrne's mastery of understatement.

I find issue #252 a bit more problematic, but I don't think Byrne is entirely to blame for what I perceive as its faults. This issue has an experimental format, where every page (plus the front cover) is laid out sideways. This should have led to some really jaw-droppingly powerful art, but Byrne seems to be holding back, playing it safe, and I wonder how much that has to do with then-EiC Jim Shooter's tendency at the time to have Marvel artists compose their pages as rigidly and downright stiffly as possible. I think that if Byrne wasn't going to be allowed to run wild with expansive European-style layouts, then there was no point in this format experiment in the first place. Now, most of the art's faults could be forgiven if the script delivered the goods, but instead, Byrne gives us a warmed-over 60s & 70s sci-fi TV plot about the FF's well-intentioned explorations leading to death, destruction, and disaster. The only moments the issue really comes alive for me is the brief subplot scene of Annihilus running amok inside the Baxter Building, terrorizing poor Franklin and making the kid a prisoner, as he has already done with Alicia. An underwhelming start to the Negative Zone Saga proper, then (in my opinion.)

Apropos of very little, I hope Lardy will indulge a little quirk of mine, my tendency to "hear" voices from cartoons I grew up with while reading comic book dialogue. I've always thought that Annihilus should "sound" like the late, great voice actor Chris Latta doing his Starscream/Cobra Commander voice. Does anyone agree? If not, what does Annihilus's "voice" sound like to you?

It's exciting to start Byrne's longest epic on the book to date, especially knowing that I've never read the bulk of it. I was a regular Avengers reader at the time, so I know I read that one, but I've definitely not read the early parts and may or may not have followed the story from the Avengers issue.

I'm also excited because the storyline features the FF doing what I feel makes them different from any generic super team: exploration. Issue 251 ("Into the Negative Zone") sets this up beautifully with a fairly quiet story that serves as a prologue to the adventure. I love that they're not going for any particular purpose other than to see what's out there. Lots of nice little character vignettes dot the issue, including Reed having to act as landlord. And then there are several pages simply devoted to showing their ship launch and transition into the Zone. But we're left with a dire danger at home as Annihilus has used the FF's launch to crossed over to Earth, putting Alicia, Franklin and everyone else in peril.

Beautiful work by Byrne on what some may deem a "boring" transition issue, but it stands as one of my favorite individual issues to this point in the run.

Issue 252, "Cityscape", immediately has the FF run into their first stop in the Zone. As Fick mentions, the issue is drawn "widescreen" style and has to be read sideways. I'm not sure what the purpose was, other than an opportunity for Byrne to experiment artistically. I've seen countless times that he obviously has a passion for sci-fi stories and settings, so maybe he felt this could allow him to show things from literally a different angle and show readers this was a different kind of story. If so, I'm surprised he didn't just do the entirety of the Negative Zone exploration storyline like that to kind of highlight the strangeness of the realm. But he didn't, so it's kind of a curiosity.

While I'll agree with Fick that the presentation isn't exactly executed in a revolutionary, eye-popping manner (whether due to Shooter's interference or not), I do think it's pretty attractive and, at times, presents layouts that are different enough to merit the change. I think it would have worked better in a completely self-contained story or as the climactic part of a large story. Used in this manner, it just seems odd and a bit of a stunt overall.

As for the story itself, again, I know Byrne has a soft spot for Twilight Zone-style sci-fi, and this is another example of it, just as he had done recently in 239 ("Wendy's Friends"), 241 ("Render Unto Caesar!") and 248 ("Nightmare!") to varying degrees. Like those, this one's also a little half-baked. In this case the basic lesson and solution are pretty simple and easy to figure out. This one is better than those three, in my opinion, so he is learning something about telling that kind of story. But it's still just this on the other side of being excellent.

I think what it needed was more development with Taiya and Tannar. Maybe something as little as him continuing to stand for her as she was being taken off for sacrifice instead of showing resignation after he had shown solidarity with her earlier.

But even more, in those opening pages as I was trying to guess what her reason for being shunned, my guesses as to what the reason was was more interesting than what was eventually revealed. My working theory was that Taiya might have been found unable to bear children. If that was the cultural bias, it would have made her mate Tannar's continued devotion to her especially poignant.

But instead, we learn that a "Bride of Ootah" is an apparent sacrificial offering, not unlike that of virgins to volcanoes in South American tribes of yore. No information as to how the brides are chosen or why they are shunned. So, yeah, it's a little empty and not as good as the story was playing out in my head.

But we get a lot of inspired art from Byrne, sometimes enhanced by the unusual format. And I like that Johnny and Ben look up to Sue as de facto leader when Reed is out of action. It's also okay to me that she doesn't exactly knock it out of the park with her decision-making in that role because she did the best with the info she had at hand. Plus, it's not all that easy to control Ben and Johnny when they've worked up a head of steam. In any case it wasn't an easy problem to solve with the entity's eventual complete encroachment of the planet endangering the tribe.

And Byrne continue to tease the danger back home as Annihilus threatens little Franklin. I like that Franklin shows a little bit of spunk beyond just childlike terror. And it will be interesting to see how the story on earth progresses.

Overall, a great first issue and a somewhat problematic second issue to kick off Byrne's biggest storyline to date. Whatever my feelings on 252, which are not all negative, I admire Byrne's artistry and his spot-on characterizations of the Four. In a way this is the Byrne epic I've been waiting for in that it highlights their most essential purpose, so I'm very excited to read the rest of it!

Hm. In light of some of the roles Annihilus has played in recent big cosmic storylines like Annihilation, I tend to see him portrayed with a voice with less of a comic overtone like Starscream and Cobra Commander. Maybe something more deep and foreboding like, I think, Super Friends Super Powers-era Darkseid, maybe? (If I'm remembering the voice correctly?)

Very well said, Lardy. I believe it was Mark Waid who coined the term "Imaginauts." Even though I think Waid's FF run failed in the long run, it did start with a lot of promise. Eh, like everything else that went wrong with Marvel during the first half of the 2000s, I blame Bill Jemas.



Agreed 100%.



Good point about how the whole storyline could have been in the experimental sideways format. That would certainly make this issue more than a novelty of qualified success.




Again, agreed 100%.

Funnily enough, the Super Friends/Super Powers animated Darkseid voice (which, BTW, was done by Frank Welker during the same years he was playing Megatron on Transformers and Dr. Claw on Inspector Gadget) has always seemed to me like the perfect fit not for Annihilus, but for the Kree Supreme Intelligence. I guess I feel that since Annihilus is basically a very large and very dangerous insect, he should have a very shrill voice, as Real Life insects tend to do.

Lardy, I'm 99.99 percent sure that I'll have more Byrne FF reviews posted here before I go to bed tonight.

And I hope you don't mind if I once again review three issues (253-255) at once, because the cliffhanger to 254 is such a downer. This would also have the benefit of our next reviews being of the Avengers 233/FF 256 cross-over, which I remember as being pretty awesome!

That's fine. I'll read them soon.

Great! Thank you, Lardy.

Fantastic Four 253-255

And so we reach what might be called "Act Two" of the Negative Zone Saga. In the traditional three-act dramatic structure, the first act is mostly set-up, the third act is the climax and resolution, with the second act in between being often the most difficult for a writer to pull of 100% successfully. I wouldn't say that Byrne's Act Two rates as more than a qualified success, but that's still better than what a lot of other comic book writers (some of whom were more seasoned as writers than Byrne) were managing at the time.

The first third (issue 253,) is arguably the most creatively accomplished of the Byrne FF's adventures in the Negative Zone. Byrne the artist is in top form, producing stunning cosmic panoramas and starships with strikingly cavernous interiors, along with an interestingly-designed race of bulky green aliens on a pilgrimage (or are they really?) And Byrne the writer, while still bound to familiar science-fiction tropes from 60s and 70s TV shows, gives us an engaging story with plot twists that feel organic and an ending that is genuinely affecting. There is also a brief subplot tangent which doesn't come off quite as well as the rest of the issue -- the first panel of the sequence, with Julie and Sharon in their apartment and Julie unsure if her makeover is really her, is fine, but when Julie calls the Baxter Buiding...Annihilus answers the phone, and tells Julie that Johnny's not there, before crushing the phone receiver with his bare hand. That, in my opinion, is just silly. Wouldn't it have been more effective and dramatic if Annihilus had not answered the phone, but rather smashed it without answering it? Either way, the villain's subsequent soliloquy comes across to me as cliché and tedious.

The last two words in the paragraph above also, sadly, apply to most of the content of the 2-parter in issues 254-255. The opening scenes with the FF adopting garb that recalls nothing so much as Middle Eastern human-wear is cringeworthy (if it had happened in a 60s or even an early 70s comic, I could have forgiven it, but in an early 80s context, such appropriations of non-American cultures feel unacceptable.) The villain, Mantracora, is by this time a familiar Byrne type -- the slimy invertebrate creature hiding behind a vertebrate, humanoid façade, and it comes across to me as nothing less than self-cannibalization on the creator's part. Ironically, the tangent scene in 254 is a vast improvement over the one in the previous issue -- Annihilus talks to himself a lot less, and instead finally gets on with putting his evil plan into motion. Outside the Baxter Building, two unsuspecting super-heroines -- gal pals and Avengers teammates She-Hulk and Wasp -- banter charmingly before having an unexpected encounter with the effects of the villain's unfolding scheme; this scene also sets up the upcoming cross-over with the Avengers, whose book was being written at the time by Byrne's good friend Roger Stern.

But before we get there, we have to deal with the melodramatic and tedious outcome of the FF's clash with Mantracora, which stretches on for most of issue 255, alleviated only by the opening pages set without and within the Baxter Building. Daredevil's appearance doesn't seem to me to have much point other than proving that Byrne can draw any of the vintage superheroes beautifully, but the confrontation between Alicia Masters and Annihilus is genuinely scary and disturbing, and it also places the FF's actions over the years in a troubling perspective -- in a nutshell, are the FF oppressive missionaries and plunderers, or ambassadors of goodwill towards all foreign civilizations across the universe? This is potentially meaty stuff, and I can't remember at the moment if Byrne explores it further during his FF run or not, but I hope for the former. In the meantime, the issue at hand finally redeems itself with a stunning final page which pays homage to peak-era Lee/Kirby FF while cleverly avoiding an empty rehash of the past, and setting readers up for the double-whammy climax, coming up simultaneously in the aforementioned crossover of Avengers 233 with FF 256!!

Fick really covers the bases very well in her above analysis of FF 253-255 so well that I think my commentary may be a little bit shorter than usual. Or maybe it'll be as long? We'll see!

FF 253, "Quest", kicks off our next stop in the FF's exploration of the Negative Zone. This one feels like Byrne's most successful venture yet into the kind of Twilight Zone/Star Trek one-offs he's been telling. Yet it still has one flaw keeping it from perfection. Unless I'm just super-dense, it's not completely clear in the art what is so unsuitable about the new world the aliens have found. The full page, mostly-silent introduction to this world makes it seem like its strangeness of lush flora and fauna are just too much for them to comprehend. The subsequent dialogue spells out that its atmosphere is incompatible and poisonous for this species which has evolved too far from its original state to tolerate a non-artificial atmosphere. I can accept this, but the art should have shown more of a physical diffculty and less of what looked like revulsion or simply fear.

In the end it's mostly a quibble for what is, all in all, a very affecting issue, but that was my reaction and it comes from my holding Byrne to a high artistic standard.

It's also an interesting and, I think, an overall good choice that the FF come off somewhat as background characters in their own book. This is the Kestorians' story, and I admire the choice.

254, "The Minds of Mantracora", features 2 bits that make it very notable for me:

1) She-Hulk, along with the Wasp, makes a guest appearance. This is huge for me because it is a preview, intentionally or not (probably not), of her future membership in the FF. Seeing the FF's status quo changed with Shulky as a member, was what drew young me to start picking up FF! I wasn't particularly a fan of hers at the time, but I was intrigued enough to see what was up. As it happened, I did become a huge fan of her over the time of her membership and have always liked how he wrote and drew her ever since. So this is a nice appetizer of good things to come later in the run.

2) Reed and Sue, not so subtly get busy in this issue (though a stray comment of Sue's that she was glad Reed could "afford a few minutes with your wife" kind of casts aspersions on his performance... ). It's pretty important because it sets up future developments. Plus, it's nice to see that Reed and Sue have a relatable marriage and not just some sterile Ward and June Cleaver thing. I think Byrne worked harder to do that than most writers did.

FF 255, "Trapped!", concludes both the Mantracora story and the exploratory part of the Negative Zone storyline. Fick mentions that this 2-parter didn't have all that much going for it, and she's correct. However, I did like the idea of having Reed's disembodied intellect taking over the ship and saving the day. I especially like the undertone of Sue's fear of Reed possibly not being restored to his body. It's not stated, but this situation is the literal extension of how Reed's intellectual abilities sometimes seem to cut him off from his humanity. It's basically the realization of all her fears. And in the cliffhanger, there's a stop-gap but one not completely resolved, and you can see her fear lingering. I'd say that that one subtle touch redeems the otherwise uninspired Mantrcora story.

Maybe I'm wrong for doing so, but I enjoy cameos that Byrne does, like the extended one with Daredevil this issue. I like seeing him have a chance to draw other characters in that we don't ordinarily get to see him depict much. Plus, New York has an ASS-load of super-heroes running around, so why not?

So the Negative Zone exploration is a mixed bag, but the Annihilus subplot sure looks to be building to a memorable finale. Can't wait to read it!

P.S. Guess it wasn't such a short write-up, after all!

Thanks for the kind words, Lardy.

Before Byrne and Stern, She-Hulk had been an obnoxious caricature. Both creators, in their respective books, FF and Avengers, helped her get in touch with her sense of humor and helped her learn to not only accept herself, but to revel in the super-powers and the Amazonian-to-the-extreme physique which made her different to most women. It was a remarkable turnaround, once again proving that there are no bad characters, just bad writing.

Lardy's comments about Reed & Susan's seemingly newfound sex drives made me laugh. I mean, they had to have...done it...at least once before to conceive Franklin, but now I have these images of them which I feel I have to put in a spoiler box to keep this thread work-safe and family-friendly:



(I've got such a sick mind.)

And, yes, I do agree that Byrne was the first FF writer to change Reed and Susan from starchy nuclear-couple caricatures into people who were sympathetic and relatable despite their super-powers.

Finally, I can't wait to read the concluding crossover, either. Who knows, I might even take no more than one week to post my next review.

Famous last words...

Lardy, I'm so sorry I've fallen behind *again*, but as I'm sure you've noticed from my other posts in the last few days, I'm kind of on a roll with the fics. But I *promise* that once the Gobots one is posted on Monday, will get to what I need to do for this thread.

That's fine. I personally haven't read the next 2 stories yet. I MAY go ahead and read them after I finish up Essential PPSSM Vol 1 and the latter portion of my Clone Saga TPB very soon. If so, I might post my review before yours if that's okay.

Perfectly OK, Lardy, but it was very sweet of you to ask first.

With Reed's power-set, it's NOT a stretch ( ) to think of sexual, er, applications of said power, right?

And who's to say that Sue wouldn't indulge her voyeuristic side with such powers? Especially when Reed's all busy inventin' and ain't givin' mama enough attention, right?

I wonder what happens whenever the zipper on Reed's trousers...malfunctions?



I just had another filthy Sue scenario pass through my mind (Warning: not work-safe nor family-friendly):

And the multi-part Negative Zone/Annihilus reaches what I think is a rousing conclusion in Avengers 233 and FF 256! Both share the same title, "The Annihilation Gambit", and rather than being a traditional 2-parter, each book tells essentially 2 sides of the same story. Avengers 233 details the Avengers' efforts (seeded by their cameos in recent FF issues) to penetrate the mysterious barrier expanding outward with the Baxter Building as its locus. FF 256 shows the FF still in the Zone trying to figure out what has destroyed their ability to return home. Obviously, Annihilus turns out to be behind both phenomena, and it takes the efforts of both groups, separately, to defeat him.

One benefit of having a prolific artist like Byrne involved is that he contributes artwork to both books. In the Avengers half, he's credited on breakdowns with Joe Sinnott providing finishes. The FF half definitely looks richer, fuller and more gorgeous, but it's definitely beneficial to have him on the Avengers issue. there are moments there where his style still shines thru. But given a choice, I'm glad the FF half gets his full attention because all of the vistas, moments and effects of that half of the story really demand the full-Byrne treatment. And I think he pretty much knocks it out of the park!

The Avengers story is weaker than the FF, but it is still very entertaining. Good friends Roger Stern and Byrne get to collaborate on a story that shows the Avengers going thru a trial and error process of trying to figure out how to stop the barrier and penetrate it. And it feels like an Avengers story and one that can be enjoyed on its own without reading the FF half. I mean, yeah, this one needs the other half more than the FF half needs it because the latter informs the former, but it is both enjoyable on its own and not without consequence for the Avengers.

FF 256 just feels incredibly like what an FF story should be and sees the group act as a unit in the way that is unique to them. In a real way this one's the Reed Richards Show, but the rest of the unit is there to back him up in such a way that he couldn't accomplish the goal at all without them. They all need each other and complement each other, and this is very evident here.

There are two subplots intertwined in the story, one unnecessary and the other effective. The former is a one-page aside with Johnny's would-be love interests, Jule and Sharon. This one feels like filler and just kind of reminds us that they exist. I suppose it's a decent man-on-the-street/plug for Avengers 233 and a bit of set-up for the second, better subplot, but the overall effect is undeniably filler.

The latter is a stunning 2-pager setting up the return of Frankie Raye and Galactus that teases his next meal as the Skrull Throneworld! Now THAT's a subplot worth setting up, even if you could argue it distracts from the issue's proceedings a bit. But that doesn't prevent Byrne delivering a whopper of a conclusion to the threat of Annihilus, punctuated with some terrific artwork and some choice use of black and white.

Plus--something I love from these issues--they both end with the exact same last 2 pages of dialogue and captions. BUT Byrne doesn't simply recycle the images, he produces alternate takes that showcase the point of view of whoever's book we're reading. We get alternate angles that present different takes! Who in the modern era of comics would ever go thru that extra effort? No one! Love it! Some would decry reading the same words twice, but it's literally the point where the two stories merge, so it really works. And the extra effort to re-present the scene is much appreciated.

So when all is said and done (even with an epilogue to come resolving Franklin's condition), I've decided to update my Byrne/FF story ranking with the conclusion of this Negative Zone/Annihilus saga. Though it's not without its flaws, I think this long-form story just hits the nail on the head with its defining how the FF should be done. Everything I want to see from the Fantastic Four is here: from the characterizations to the dynamic that makes it go, to the far-out ideas, to the sense of exploration, to science fiction being more at its heart than super-heroing, to the large scope, to the just the x-factors of the perfect art and the choice of villain, to the sense of the creator taking chances and not looking back--this has got to be the new number one on my list of the run to this point!

Which takes us to....

1) Negative Zone/Annihilus Saga (FF 251-256, Avengers 233)
2) Terrax/Nova/Galactus (FF 242-244)
3) 20th Anniversary/Liddleville (FF 236)
4) FF vs. Ego (FF 235)

Thanks for re-activating the re-read, Lardy. I'm sure you're aware of my writing travails this week, and how they derailed and delayed a lot of my planned posts (though I left the gory details for a different community, one composed entirely of fanfic writers). Luckily, that's all behind me now, and this re-read is near the top of my catch-up list.

Your review of the double-whammy Negative Zone Saga conclusion is excellent as usual. I'll do my best to at least write one that's equally fine. I agree that FF 256 is a more-than-fitting conclusion to this multi-parter, and look forward to elaborating. And being the Avengers fanatic that I am, I'll probably provide some extra details about Avengers 233.

Stay tuned...

Looking forward to it!

BTW, I had so much to say about this story that I forgot something: I'm a big fan of the costume change that Byrne makes for the FF in this finale! It's a subtle change involving coloring only, but I think the switch from blue to dark blue and from black to white is wonderful. It keeps the basic costumes intact but, imo, makes them more striking and distinctive. After first experiencing Byrne's color scheme, I always thought the old blue and black was very drab in comparison. Love it!

Fantastic Four 256 & Avengers 233

It took me quite awhile to settle on a different kind of review format fitting for such a special, different kind of tale, until I finally hit on the idea of Lardy's review and my review inter-twining with each other, just as Byrne's and Stern's installments of the same story do here.



This, IMO, was a far more successful experiment in form that the sideways issue of FF. What I think is one of the coolest things about Byrne & Stern's accomplishment is that the issues can be read in so many different ways -- as separate from each other, as linear narratives, as non-linear narratives looping in an out of each other...nicely done!



Agreed. The darker elements of this story, along with the grit of the NYC street settings for a large part of the story, necessitate a grainier, more textured approach to inking, such as Byrne's. And Sinnott...I mean, the guy was already a living legend to Marvel fandom at that point, but by his own admission, he was phoning it in most of the time during the 80s; after he went into semi-retirement in the early 90s, his sporadic work during that decade was a much better showcase for his talent. And just to make it clear that I'm not "throwing the old man under the bus", there are come-and-go glimmers of his real talent throughout Avengers 233. She-Hulk in particular looks lovely in all of her panels -- and just look at the subtlety of facial expression that Sinnott achieves with Jennifer in Page 8, Panel 3 ("Hmmm...I've never had anyone fall for me like this before"), and Page 19, Panel 1 ("You mean, just like that, the wall is...gone!") Sinnott also does a nice job on the entirety of Page 5, where we see Captain America in civvies, and an always-welcome cameo by Bernie Rosenthal (who, let's recall, was created by Stern & Byrne during their all-too-short run as the creative team on Cap's solo book.)



Yes, indeed. I've actually re-read this issue more times in recent years than the FF issue, partly because, several years ago, I foolishly gave away all of my Byrne FF issues and trades (including an original edition of the Trial of Galactus trade that I bought brand-new at a now-defunct chain bookstore back in the early 90s -- the paper stock that Marvel used in their trades back then was exceptional, and I'd imagine that a copy of that trade in better-than-average condition would fetch a fortune these days.) Also partly because the first half of Stern's Avengers run (the half before John Buscema & Tom Palmer joined Stern) is, for the most part, not exactly a feast for the eyes, so to see Byrne drawing an Avengers issues, and a well-written one at that, is a treat, no matter how erratic Sinnott's inking is. And partly because this was right around the time that the Avengers book, under Stern's and editor Mark Gruenwald's guidance, was pulling itself out of the muck that Jim Shooter & Jim Salicrup had dragged it through during the 210s and most of the 220s. This was the beginning of Jennifer coming alive, and her friendship with Janet solidifying, and Stern's creation Monica Rambeau/Captain Marvel II getting some well-deserved promotion not long after her 1982 debut in an Amazing Spider-Man Annual; in other words, the estrogen was flowing strong and true through the team's veins in a way unseen since Steve Engelhart was writing the book in the mid-1970s.




Again, agreed all around. Byrne's industrious efforts over the past two dozen issues, to make the FF feel current and state-of-the-art while also reminding us of everything that was good about the book during its first creative peak circa 1965-1967, reach full fruition at last in this issue. It was trial-and-error for quite a while, but in the long run, it paid off a thousandfold!!



And, naturally, I'll update my list as well:

1) 20th Anniversary/Liddleville (FF 236)
2) Negative Zone/Annihilus Saga (FF 251-256, Avengers 233)
3) Gladiator/Man and Super-Man (FF 249-250)
4) FF vs. Ego (FF 235)
5) Terrax/Nova/Galactus (FF 242-244)

What do you think of the costume change, Fick? Like I said above, I think they're aesthetically more pleasing than the black and blue. The white, particularly, seems to suit the brighter, more optimistic nature of the team in general.

I'm pleased to see this Negative Zone saga ranks high on your list. I wasn't sure if it would because we both found flaws in the exploration issues.

I tend to put the more cosmic stories of this one and the Terrax, etc. story above the excellent Liddleville story because I'm such a sucker for them. I've learned over the years that it's actually very hard to get cosmic stories right. When I consider that and how well the FF is suited for stories above the terrestrial, those stories, executed well by masters like Byrne, stand out and earn special appreciation.

That's a perfect way to put it. I also like it better because it's less tied to the old, outdated ways of comic book coloring, where the blue was the default color to avoid the flatness of a mass of pure black.



The FF/Avengers crossover climax, or to use the borrowed phrase I applied to it, the "Double-Whammy", more than excused the hit-and-miss quality of the exploration issues for me, I'm happy to say.



Good point well taken. I suppose I'm just very hard to please when it comes to cosmic stories, very nitpicky and hyper-critical. One false note can wreck the entire delicate balance in my view. To give an example you've already alluded to, the Terrax/Nova/Galactus storyline, Byrne putting words into Frankie Raye's mouth that could be construed as xenophobia soured the whole thing for me. I ended up feeling that the Earth, and Johnny, were ultimately better off for losing her.

The more I think about it, I think that was more or less Byrne's intent with Frankie. He set her up as something between the conscientious Silver Surfer and the evil Terrax. She pretty much lacks empathy and wants to see what's out there. In a way she's presented as arguably the best candidate for the job of Herald we'd seen to that point.