Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3

Reprints Fantastic Four #251-257, Fantastic Four Annual #17, Avengers #233 and Thing #2
Written by John Byrne and Roger Stern.
Penciled by John Byrne and Ron Wilson.
Inked by John Byrne and Joe Sinnott.  

Note from your trusted Bronze Age Reprint Reviewer:
60 years ago today, Fantastic Four #1 was published. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby collaborated on the creation of the FF and it lead to the creation of the Marvel Universe. Today's review is dedicated to Lee and Kirby and I will be posting reviews of Fantastic Four reprints and FF-related reprints through the end of this month. Thanks for stopping by!

Summary:
The Fantastic Four's leader Reed Richards has decided it's time for the team to once again explore the Negative Zone. He's designed a new vehicle that will safely take them through that dimension.  

They encounter many different alien life forms in the Negative Zone, some friendly, some hostile.

Unfortunately, the moment the FF leaves their dimension, Annihilus, the greatest menace of the Negative Zone, arrives in the Baxter Building! He terrorizes Reed and Sue's son Franklin and the Thing's girlfriend Alicia Masters. 

Annihilus also creates a null field that surrounds the Baxter Building and keeps growing, threatening to destroy the universe. The Avengers notice this and try to shut down the null field. The Vision attempts to phase into the field and collapses inside it.

When the Fantastic Four tries to return home, they're shocked to discover that their Negative Zone portal is closed off! Even if they're able to get back to New York, it'll take the combined might of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers to stop Annihilus and save the universe!

But that's not all!

Ben Grimm flashes back to the days before he became the Thing to remember the first woman he ever loved.  

Galactus, the devourer of worlds, is dying and needs to consume a planet in order to survive, so he sets his sights on the Skrull's home planet!

Finally, the Human Torch's friend Sharon Selleck gets stuck in a small town and is attacked by the town's residents, who turn into monsters. Sharon is able to contact the FF, who arrive to rescue Sharon and investigate the monsters. Reed is shocked to learn that the monsters are connected to some of the Fantastic Four's oldest enemies! 

Can the Fantastic Four save Sharon and defeat the monsters?

Review:
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3 gives us 243 pages of one of the 20th century's greatest comic creators at the height of his powers!

Story:
The bulk of this book reprints the six-part "Into The Negative Zone" story that ran in FF#251-256 and crossed-over into Avengers #233.  Byrne always understood that the Fantastic Four's primary mission was scientific exploration and the team does lots of exploring in these stories. In fact, these stories reminded me of the original Star Trek series.  

The FF encounters lots of hostility in the Negative Zone, but sometimes Byrne shows that even superheroes can make mistakes when they interfere in alien societies they don't fully understand.  

Byrne shares co-plotting credits with scripter Roger Stern in the story from Avengers #233, which crossed over with the Fantastic Four series. Stern's era helming the Avengers is one of my favorite eras of the team and it makes sense that "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" would investigate the disturbance in the Baxter Building with the FF being absent. What's interesting about the cross-over is that we get to see the end of the battle with Annihilus told twice, once from the perspective of the Avengers and a second time through the eyes of the Fantastic Four.

While they're in the Negative Zone, Annihilus is in the Baxter Building torturing Alicia and Franklin.  Annihilus is just about as evil as villains come in these stories. He's dying and shows that he's willing to take the whole universe with him, since he blames Earth for his impending death.  

The Negative Zone saga concludes with the Fantastic Four uniforms changing colors. This was a gutsy move at the time, since it pre-dates Spider-Man's costume change by several months. They would keep these uniforms for more than a hundred issues.  

After the Negative Zone stories, Byrne gives us several more shorter tales. We get an untold tale (from Thing #2) about Ben Grimm's first love, before he was transformed into the Thing. It's a good story and it's a retcon that adds depth to Ben's character.  

The Galactus story shows that the "devourer of worlds" is truly above good and evil. Byrne gets that Galactus is a force of nature and shouldn't be written as "just another villain."  

The final story, from Fantastic Four Annual #19, has long been one of my favorite FF stories. It's a great "done in one" tale that ties in to one of the Fantastic Four's earliest adventures.  

If there's anything to criticize here, it's the treatment of Alicia. In recent years, we've heard about the "Women In Refrigerators" trope in comics. The wives and girlfriends of superheroes are often killed or nearly killed so a male hero can experience "growth." I think in this case, Byrne was demonstrating Anihilus' cruelty, but it's my least favorite aspect of the book.  

All in all, Byrne, with a little help from Stern, tells great stories full of action, drama and character development in Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3.

Art:
Byrne pencils and inks 8 of the 10 issues reprinted here. He gives us lots of amazing looking worlds in the Negative Zone and also pencils plenty of great fight scenes. I've always loved this great two-page spread ever since I first saw it in Fantastic Four #256:

The artistic high point is the portion that reprints Fantastic Four #252. This was the first "widescreen" comic book ever published and it had to be turned on its side to be read. Byrne makes the most of this wider canvas and the art still looks amazing 38 years after its original publication. Here are some widescreen pages from that story:

The Avengers story features breakdowns by Byrne with finishes by Joe Sinnott. They previously collaborated on FF art several years earlier and this story gives us nice art that shows off the talents of both artists.  

The story from Thing #2 features pencils from Ron Wilson inked by Byrne. Wilson always provided nice Marvel house style art and Byrne's inks over Wilson helps makes this story feel more connected to the stories that ran in the FF's series.

In addition to great depictions of the FF and their foes, Byrne gives us a brief cameo of Daredevil that makes you wish he'd drawn the character more often during the Bronze Age.

She-Hulk later became a character identified with Byrne, when he added her to the FF and when he wrote and drew her solo series. Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3 includes an early Byrne depiction of the character.

Byrne even sneaks in an appearance by Al Capp's Lil' Abner!:

How does it look?:
Here are two pages scanned from Fantastic Four #257:

And here's how the same pages look in Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3:

Looks great to me. I don't notice any weird re-coloring.  

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 3 features beautiful art and great stories from a creator who loved and understood the Fantastic Four as well as any creator who told their stories since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  

J.A. Morris' Rating:

4 Sals!

Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up

Reprints Marvel Two-In-One #10, Marvel Team-Up #57, 82-85, 98 and 141 and Marvel Comics Presents #53, 70 and 93
Written by Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo, Marv Wolfman, Christopher Priest, Roger McKenzie, Fabian Nicieza, Robert Campanella, Dan Slott and Tom DeFalco.
Penciled by Bob Brown, Sal Buscema, Will Meugniot,  Ron Frenz, Greg Laroque, Rob Liefeld, Larry Alexander and Dwayne Turner.
Inked by Klaus Janson, Steve Leialoha, Dave Hunt, Bruce Patterson, Mike Esposito, Bob Wiacek, Jack Abel, Al Milgrom, and Dwayne Turner.

Summary:
170 pages of Bronze Age greatness starring martial artist and super-spy the Black Widow!

On a peaceful springtime Sunday afternoon in Central Park, the serenity is broken by a high-speed car chase! At the wheel of the lead car is Natasha Romanoff, better known to the world as the Black Widow! She's being chased by a car full of armed gunmen.

Elsewhere in the park, Ben Grimm, The Thing of Fantastic Four fame, is enjoying a pleasant walk through the park with his girlfriend Alicia Masters. Their afternoon is interrupted when Black Widow's car crashes into Ben. She and the Thing are then taken captive by the gunmen to a prison in the middle the Atlantic Ocean.

The heroes learn that the gunmen are part of a terror organization that calls itself the Sword Of Judgement. Their leader, known as Agamemnon is an old acquaintance of the Widow. The Sword has a thermonuclear bomb powerful enough to wipe out New York City and all its citizens.

Can Ben Grimm and Black Widow prevent the Sword Of Judgement from detonating the bomb?!

Some months later, Spider-Man stumbles on a robbery of an antique store on Madison Avenue. The wallcrawler stops the robbers, but is then attacked by the Silver Samurai, who has battled Daredevil and Black Widow in the past.

Surprise gives the samurai the advantage, but fortunately, Black Widow arrives to assist Spidey!

Can their combined might defeat the Silver Samurai?!

Subsequently, a school teacher named Nancy Rushman is walking through Midtown Manhattan and is attacked by a gang of muggers. Thankfully, Spider-Man intervenes and saves the day. The webhead immediately recognizes "Nancy Rushman" as none other than the Black Widow!

But Rushman has no memory of being a superhero. Spider-Man digs the Widow's costume out of her bag and convinces Nancy to try it on. She does, but this does nothing to bring back her memory.  Spider-Man has another problem when he finds himself attracted to "Nancy," and the attraction is mutual.

In the midst of this, Spidey and Nancy are attacked by Agents of SHIELD! Suddenly, Nancy goes into full "Black Widow-mode" and takes out the agents. However, Nancy still doesn't recall her life as the Widow.

Spider-Man and Nancy soon discover that the SHIELD agents are being mind-controlled by the master criminal known as the Viper! The villain is also accompanied by the Silver Samurai and Boomerang! In addition to crushing the heroes, Viper plans to destroy the United States Capitol while every U.S. leader is in the building for a Presidential address.

Fortunately for Black Widow and Spider-Man, help arrives in the form of Nick Fury and Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu!

Can the heroes thwart the Viper's plans and restore the Widow's memories?

Sometime after that, an intelligence agent named Simon is kidnapped by a gang of criminals. Simon is an old friend of the Black Widow. With the help of Spider-Man, the Widow learns that Simon is being held captive at a Long Island mansion. 

When the heroes arrive, they're shocked to learn that the villain running the show is their old enemy the Owl! A recent battle has left the Owl crippled, but the Maggia crime cartel has outfitted him with a floating wheelchair that's a veritable arsenal! Can Spider-Man and Black Widow save Simon and defeat the Owl?

Finally, during a New York City blackout, looters raid a pawnshop. Spider-Man arrives to stop the looting, but when the pawnbroker pulls a rifle on the looters, he's shot to death by an unseen assailant.

A young man named Juan Santiago is arrested and charged with murdering the pawnbroker. During his arraignment, he's represented by one of New York's best lawyers, Matt Murdock. Since Murdock is actually Daredevil, his superpowers enable him to detect that Juan is telling the truth about his innocence. However, he can't explain that to the authorities without exposing his identity.

When Murdock tell his old friend the Black Widow (who knows Murdock is Daredevil) about his client's innocence, the Widow decides to investigate the underworld to find the real killer. Spider-Man joins Black Widow's quest for the truth. They capture a few criminals, but don't get any closer to finding the killer.

In the middle of their investigation, Spider-Man disappears! The webhead seems to have vanished and no one knows where he is! Thankfully, Murdock puts on his Daredevil costume and helps the Widow solve the mystery.  But in order to free his client, Daredevil may have to make a deal with one of his greatest foes: Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin Of Crime!

Can Black Widow and Daredevil locate the real killer before it's too late for Juan?  And what has happened to Spider-Man?

Review:
Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up is a fun book and a nice showcase for Natasha Romanoff. It's worth noting that Black Widow was not part of any ongoing series when these stories were published. This allowed writers to include her in team-ups and avoid messing up continuity or worry about what she was doing in another series that month.

Story:
The opening story, taken from Marvel Two-In-One #10, features good interactions between the Thing, Black Widow and their captors. Chris Claremont wrote this and it includes some nice character development for Ben Grimm. He hates being a "monster," but we get a scene where Ben acknowledges that if he wasn't the Thing, he wouldn't have been able to save the world from the Sword Of Judgement's bomb. The only problem with this story is that Agamemnon and his minions are generic gunmen who are never seen again.

Claremont also penned the second adventure, from Marvel Team-Up #57. There isn't much in the way of story, but it's an entertaining brawl that features Spider-Man and Natasha taking on Silver Samurai.

The heart of this book is the four-part story that features Black Widow, Spidey, Shang-Chi, and Nick Fury teaming up against Silver Samurai, Viper, and Boomerang. When Widow is brainwashed into thinking she's a teacher named Nancy Rushman, Spider-Man thinks to himself that he might like her better as "Nancy" and they begin to fall for each other. Under a different writer, this could have come off as creepy, but Claremont handles this well. Since he's a superhero, of course Spider-Man ultimately helps Natasha regain her memories and puts his romantic interests in Nancy aside so that Black Widow can regain her memories and help save the day.  

The Owl tale was plotted by Marv Wolfman scripted by Roger McKenzie. It's a solid done-in-one that shows a menace like the Owl could be dangerous even if he's confined to a wheelchair.

Last but not least, the Spider-Man/Black Widow/Daredevil two-parter was written by the trio of Tom Defalco, Christopher Priest, and Bill Mantlo. It's a good street-level crime story that also features an early appearance of Spidey's black costume.

There is one big problem with the last three stories reprinted in Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up. In the Viper story, Spider-Man helps Widow regain her memories. Yet in the next story, Natasha at one point observes that, "It's true what they say about Spider-Man. All that he cares about is the glory." She doesn't make any reference to her "Nancy Rushman" phase in the next story either. I realize different writers wrote these stories, but that's a continuity gaffe. They could've written at least one sentence where Black Widow acknowledges how Spider-Man saved her life and helped her regain her memories.  

Art:
The art in Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up is good from start to finish. The opening story features Bob Brown's pencils inked by Klaus Janson. It's good storytelling from the art team that also collaborated on Daredevil during the Bronze Age. I thought this page below (left) perfectly captured the helplessness of Alicia Masters when she realizes Ben Grimm is missing:

Sal Buscema and Dave Hunt are the art team on the second story. They provide nice Marvel house style art and lots of great fight scenes. Buscema gives us one of his trademark scenes where a character gets punched towards the reader.

The Nancy Rushman story also features Buscema on pencils, inked by Steve Leialoha. These two artists had very different styles, but they work very nicely together here. Buscema and Leialoha create a great-looking combination of both their styles and it's the best art in the book.

Will Meugniot and Bruce Patterson are the penciler and inker, respectively, on the Owl story and it features enjoyable art. Meugniot is best known for his work in independent comics and animation and this is one of only six Marvel stories Meugniot penciled.

The last tale features pencils by Ron Frenz and Greg LaRoque, with Mike Esposito embellishing their work and they produce some solid house style art.

How Does It Look?:
Here are two pages scanned from a copy of Marvel Team-Up #82:

And here's how the pages look in Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up:

Extras:
This book features three stories published after the Bronze Age, three pages of original art, plus Black Widow's profile from the 1983 edition of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up is a good book and a nice introduction to the Black Widow's Bronze Age escapades. These stories aren't classics, but they're fun and the Nancy Rushman saga makes the book worth buying all by itself.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.