What Were YOU Reading in 1983?

 

Forty years ago in August of 1983, we had these items of trivia occupying our minds and media:

• 12-year-old Samantha Druce becomes the youngest female to swim the English Channel (21 miles), at 15 hours, 27 minutes (and locks it in for good--the minimum age for solo attempts to swim the Channel is now 16 years)
• John Sain of South Bend, IN builds a 3.91-meter house of cards (hopefully avoiding drafts)
• San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hotel San Diego
• La Cage aux Folles opens at the Palace Theater, NYC and runs for 1761 performances, winning 6 Tony Awards
• Revival of the Jerry Herman musical Mame starring Angela Lansbury closes in NYC after 41 performances
• Albums released: Billy Joel, "An Innocent Man"; Elvis Costello, "Punch The Clock"; Jackson Browne, "Lawyers In Love"; Heart, "Passionworks"; Cheap Trick, "Next Position Please"; Bette Midler, "No Frills"; Rick James, "Cold Blooded"
• Rock singer David Crosby is concurrently sentenced to 5 years in Texas state prison for possession of cocaine and 3 years for illegal possession of a loaded handgun (i.e., the 5-year sentence controls) (I believe he ended up serving nine months--there are conflicting accounts as to when he was released)
• Nuclear tests are carried out by the U.S. (Aug. 3 and Aug. 27), France (Aug. 4) and the USSR (Aug. 18)
• Marriages: Paul Simon (41) and Carrie Fisher (26) (divorced the next year); Film director Philippe de Broca (50) weds actress Margot Kidder (34)
• Birthdays: Chris Hemsworth (39); Andrew Garfield (39); Mila Kunis (you guessed it, 39)
• Top Five Songs in the U.S.: (1) "Every Breath You Take" (The Police); (2) "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" (Eurythmics); (3) "She Works Hard For The Money" (Donna Summer); (4) "Maniac" (Michael Sembello) (no relation to this guy); (5) "Is There Something I Should Know" (Duran Duran)
• Deaths: lyracist Ira Gershwin (86); actress Carolyn Jones (53); actor Simon Oakland (61)
• Cost of Living: Avg rent, $335/mo.; Gallon of gas $.96; Ford Mustang $6,572; Avg. income/year, $21,070; Price of a comic book: $.60

And speaking of your hard-earned 60¢...
The Marvel checklist of books published during August of 1983. What were you reading around this time?

Birth(s) Of A Living Legend

 

There have been no less than four full-fledged origin tales of the star-spangled Avenger known as Captain America, which in a way is astonishing considering that Cap's origin is among several that could probably be easily repeated by any number of comics aficionados or laymen, even if one doesn't go into detail. Nor did that change (and you'll discover why shortly) when Marvel decided in 2010 to revise the origins of a number of select characters whose pasts were deemed to need a fresh approach or were otherwise too dated to bring forward through the years. And yet, researching this topic yielded a certain level of fascination for me--and I imagine similar feelings must have occurred to writer Roger Stern and artist John Byrne when they put together the definitive (emphasis by Mr. Stern) origin to celebrate the character's fortieth anniversary issue, a story which weaves in elements of those four tales as well as new tidbits of history for Cap as well as Steve Rogers prior to the latter's astounding transformation.

Add to that the curious coincidence that three of those four tales were published in the same month of their respective years, and taking place roughly fifteen years apart each, and you have to figure that their creators might have each been tipping their hats to history.

So in the spirit of both discovery and nostalgia, let's take a look at the ways in which writers in more contemporary times did their part to add to the material which Joe Simon and Kirby first crafted in 1941, introducing their readers to a character who would continue to endure over eighty years later.

Two! Two! Two Annuals In One!

 

The year 1979 saw the character of Spider-Man at the height of his popularity, featured in three titles (Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up, and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (while also having racked up his share of the Giant-Size books) with, unbelievably, even more on the way. It was fair to wonder at times what depths were being dredged to come up with all the new story material that required taking into account Peter's double life and revolving cast of characters (anyone here remember Marcy Kane?), to say nothing of the artists tapped to churn out story after story of the web-slinger's adventures along with the travails of the stretched-to-the-limit Peter Parker, who somehow, somehow, managed to combine his activities as Spider-Man with his college, Daily Bugle, and family responsibilities while squeezing in something of a social and/or love life and hopefully some sleep, all in a 24-hour period. The coordination between the writing and art staff must have been nothing short of a trapeze act.

The one thing that Peter didn't have to worry about, of course, was a shortage of villains--with one of his deadliest pulling double duty in that year's Amazing/Spectacular annuals which shared the same plot, thanks to writers Marv Wolfman and Bill Mantlo teaming with artists John Byrne, Terry Austin, Rich Buckler and Jim Mooney. To help keep track of the events occurring in both and figure out where things are headed, the PPC ties these two annuals together in one post, as Spider-Man attempts to head off a scheme which could see Dr. Octopus launch his greatest and most ambitious plan--one that might well lead to a nuclear holocaust!

The Fantasy Scenarios of Marvel's Epic Illustrated

 

Throwing its hat into the ring with publications such as Heavy Metal, Weirdo, Raw, and heaven knows how many horror magazines, 1980 was the year that saw the launch of Epic Illustrated, Marvel's comics anthology magazine which brought a variety of talent to its pages from such notables as Harlan Ellison, Frank Frazetta, Robert E. Howard, Neal Adams, Berni Wrightson, and Pepe Moreno and Rick Veitch (both new artists at the time)--along with familiar names from Marvel such as Bill Sienkiewicz, Marv Wolfman, Marie Severin, John Byrne, Doug Moench, Denny O'Neil, Bill Mantlo, Frank Brunner, Archie Goodwin (Epic's Editor), Barry Windsor-Smith, Rich Buckler, Stan Lee, Craig Russell, Ralph Macchio, Terry Austin, Roy Thomas, Stan Lee, et al. Epic, not bound by the Comics Code and opening its door to more explicit content than what's normally found on the comics page, offered an outlet which no doubt appealed to its contributors, who retained ownership of their material and were paid royalties.

In addition, many stories were continued from issue to issue, effectively allowing their creator(s) a gap of 2-3 months to turn in their pages. Yet that leeway would work against one such tale, "The Last Galactus Story"--consisting of nine installments, but its last unfortunately coinciding with the magazine's cancellation in 1986 before it could see print. Epic's twenty-sixth issue bears a splendid cover by Bill Sienkiewicz (pictured above) which represents that story, while inside we find the story's first installment by John Byrne and Terry Austin.

Byrne would later provide on his blog a synopsis of the intended tenth installment, which visually would have been something to see:

"At the virtual End of the Universe, Galactus is confronted by a Watcher. This Watcher turns out to be the same one who witnessed the "birth" of Galactus in our universe. The Watcher (not Uatu) was eventually driven mad by the accumulated guilt he feels for the acts of Galactus. He has been trying to move galaxies to somewhere Galactus cannot find them, but has been destroying them in the process. Galactus and the Watcher battle -- a huge cosmic confrontation that stretches over centuries, as the universe falls into near total entropy. Finally, to defeat the Watcher, Galactus sucks all the remaining energy out of the Universe. Nothing is left but Galactus and his loyal herald, Nova. Realizing at last what his purpose is, Galactus cracks the seal on his suit, starts to remove his helmet, and in that instant all the energy he has absorbed explodes out of him. He becomes the "big bang" of the next universe, and when the smoke clears, we see Nova has been reborn, as that universe's Galactus."

Stan Lee (with artist John Buscema) also contributed his own Galactus story, this one involving the Silver Surfer and taking place at the end of the universe... but what lies beyond?

And it wasn't at all surprising to find writer/artist Jim Starlin contributing material to its pages.

In its first year, Epic was published seasonally and thereafter shifted to bimonthly publication from that point on. Its selling price then at $2.50 an issue, combined with with its expensive printing process and reportedly poor sales, led to the magazine closing shop after 34 issues in 1986. But what an impressive step forward for the genre, and a successful experiment that's seen its stories appear in other collected works through the years. In addition, Epic Illustrated led to the Marvel imprint Epic Comics launching in 1982, which operated under the same freedoms and benefits for its contributors and consisted of titles such as Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, Frank Miller's Electra Lives Again, Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown by the Simonsons with artists Kent Williams and Jon Muth, and Swords of the Swashbucklers by Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice.

The John Byrne Might-Have-Been Incredible Hulk, 1985-86

 

Aside from his other work with the character, artist/writer John Byrne would make two stabs within a thirteen-year timeframe at putting his imprint on titles featuring the incredible Hulk--the first taking place during the mid-1980s in the Vol. 2 series of the same name, and the second during the launch of, simply, Hulk in 1999. If you have difficulty recalling either, you could probably chalk it up to having "blinked and missed" them, as the saying goes when describing something of such brief duration as to be easily overlooked, given that those instances only amounted to six or seven issues, respectively.

Each effort showed promise, with Byrne handling story and art in the first, and teaming with artist Ron Garney in the second--but reportedly, there were intra-office factors in play which prompted Byrne's early exit in both cases. In a segment from a 2000 interview with Byrne conducted by Comic Book Resources' Michael David Thomas, the details regarding each are as sparse as the issues in question:

MDT: One of the shortest runs on a character that you plotted and sub-plotted for in those five [sic] issues [#s 314-319]. What happened?

JB: "Betrayal" would be an excessively strong word for what happened. I took on the Hulk after a discussion with [Editor-In-Chief Jim] Shooter, in which I mentioned some of the things I would like to do with that character, given the chance. He told me to do whatever was necessary to get on the book, he liked my ideas so much. I did, and once installed he immediately changed his mind - "You can't do this!" Six issues was as much as I could take.

MDT: You returned to write the new series [in 1999] and then within the space of 7 issues were cut from the book. Can you talk a little about what happened in that situation?

JB: No.

Having previously touched on the Byrne/Garney collaboration in 1999 as part of a broader look at Byrne's other late-'90s projects, we'll focus here on his earlier Incredible Hulk contribution for the benefit of those of you who may have missed those issues (as well as those who care to revisit them) and feature highlights that showed the direction Byrne was heading in as he assembled and implemented the building blocks of the plots as well as the various characters, fresh or familiar, who would meet and deal with both Bruce Banner and his raging other self.  That storyline stems from a chemical procedure performed by Leonard "Doc" Samson which succeeded in separating Banner from the Hulk (following Samson's capture of the brute), which introduced the possibility of the subsequent blank slate of the Hulk's mind being conditioned for the purpose of the Hulk becoming a benefit to humanity--a hope dashed by S.H.I.E.L.D., which swooped in to take custody of the Hulk as a prelude to destroying him, which prompts Samson, in turn, to raid his transport detail and free him. In the process, however, Samson discovers that the Hulk is now a creature of undiluted, mindless rage, and, holding himself responsible for the destruction and devastation which the Hulk goes on to visit on those innocents in his path, decides to hunt down and recapture him.

Following Byrne's exit, we're provided with a brief flashback of how things spun out of control from there:

A series of developments we'll now examine more closely--along with what Bruce Banner (remember him?) is doing with his new lease on life.

(With a tip of the hat to artist Joe Jusko for his homage framing art above.)
You hit it out of the park, guy!

Wrath of the Proletarian!

 

OR: "Whole Lotta SFLANNGin' Goin' On"

Previously, we'd been taking a look at a mid-1979 issue of Uncanny X-Men which catches up with the team following their return to the states from Canada and finding their Westchester base virtually mothballed, with no sign of Professor X. Yet we also learned that Peter Rasputin, the steel-formed Colossus, was experiencing doubts about his capabilities as an X-Man--even as an assassin by the name of Arcade is hired by "Black Tom" Cassidy and the Juggernaut to destroy the mutant team.

Arcade is also known by readers of Marvel Team-Up from a prior story in early '78 where the Maggia had contracted him to kill Brian Braddock (the civilian identity of Captain Britain)--and it's that story we briefly return to first, as Spider-Man joins forces with the Captain only to fall prey to a method of capture which is as clever in its simplicity (and originality) as it is perplexing in its ability to succeed against super-powered individuals who appear helpless to either evade or stop it.

Thankfully, both Spider-Man and Captain Britain prevailed in their struggle against Arcade--but when Arcade begins to corral the X-Men for their own visit to "Murderworld," artist John Byrne, perhaps with the old adage of if it ain't broke, don't fix it in mind, recycles Arcade's previous method of capture which turns out to work just as reliably with super-powered X-Men.

(You can bet Cyclops didn't waste time adding this rig to the team's Danger Room.)

Being a careful man when it comes to a job, Arcade naturally doesn't put all of his eggs in the same basket when it comes to capturing his new targets--and so he personally surprises and snags the rest of the X-Men from their mansion, and off they go to his Murderworld complex, where his planned treatment of Colossus is soon underway.

For the sake of the story, a brainwashing treatment that would have normally taken a minimum of days to succeed is expedited--and faster than you can say "Dmri, tovarishch!", the Proletarian is unleashed on his fellow X-Men, who have become separated in the deadly chambers of Murderworld.

As for the instigator of this madness, he couldn't be happier at the X-Men's predicament. After all, for Arcade, fun is the name of the game when it comes to murder.

(I wouldn't go so far as to say the Proletarian is "power-mad," Mr. Cover Captioner.)

Homecoming

 

As a transition issue that sees the X-Men return from Canada following their retrieval of Wolverine from Alpha Flight, and prior to their first engagement with the assassin-for-hire known as Arcade, "cry for the children!" from mid-1979 lets us see some down time for a few of the team members even as they collectively face the mystery of the absence of Professor X and finding their Westchester school for all intents and purposes mothballed. Scripter Chris Claremont continues to guide these diverse characters on a steady course toward becoming a solid fighting team while also establishing deeper ties getting to know one another; but you'll also find impressive work here by Terry Austin, who once again inks but also acts as finisher to the pencil breakdowns of John Byrne (their roles being the same in the first half of the Arcade arc), though frankly it's difficult to tell if Byrne is simply a strong layout artist or Austin is more than than comfortable with giving Byrne's style room to breathe.

As for the opening pages of the story, "down time" for the X-Men doesn't necessarily mean their "Danger Room" training facility is going to be collecting dust, if Cyclops has anything to say about it; in fact, you might say the recent performance of Colossus in the field has become Scott Summers' *ahem* pressing concern.

These Odds and Ends Approved by Princess Zanda

 

Recently, I had occasion to go through a lot of graphics files that have been collecting dust over the years--looking them over after so long, clearing out the chaff, that sort of thing. Many of them consisted of content for old blog posts long since completed; some were curated as fodder for framework ideas for either home or office; and there were a few curiosities in the mix that evoked my earliest days of collecting comics memorabilia, a sort of digital "scrapbook" I hadn't even realized I was contributing to. By contrast, however, there were also a few such images that had me wondering just what I'd intended for them, but for whatever reason decided not to pursue or preferred to put on the back burner indefinitely.

Yet there were enough of these to share with Peerless Power readers and perhaps convey the same mixture of nostalgia and curiosity that I still have toward them--a sort of "grab bag" of comics tidbits that will hopefully evoke some thoughts on your part, as well.

We can start off with a montage of Alex Ross renderings that never made it to a wall hanging, but were most suitable for throwing together a desktop wallpaper montage:

(And if you're wondering why there's a Batman/Green Hornet graphic among the Marvel scenes, the only explanation I have is that it was too awesome not to have on my desktop! :) )

The Annuals of '83!

 

What do these seven Marvel Annuals appear to have in common?

For one thing, they were all published in 1983; but more to the point, it looks like they're all depending on their lead character(s) to sell the book on the stand, in a solitary pose with nothing and no one else pictured that might help in that regard--a curious decision on (presumably) Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter's part that banks on the titles' readers and nonreaders alike to make a purchase without having an idea of what the story is about or what antagonists are involved. We do see, however, that three of the annuals make exceptions in that regard, if minimally:

• The background of the Captain America annual, for instance, cube-shaped to accompany the caption that tells us of the Cosmic Cube's involvement (as well as its UPC symbol appropriated to indicate who else is in the issue);
  
• Wording on the Iron Man annual indicating that the Eternals are featured, while we can make out in the collection of facial outlines that their foes, the Deviants, are also involved;
  
• Thor's caption is vague but gives off a Tales Of Asgard vibe; and
  
• The Marvel Team-Up issue gets around the problem by virtue of the fact that it is a team-up book and can feature any and all characters who are joining forces with Spider-Man.

It's the only year that I recall seeing this sort of thing done across the board in this way, as opposed to isolated instances (e.g., the '81 Cap and the '94 Iron Man annuals). Interestingly, there were some notable absences of annuals that year, including The Avengers and X-Men, along with Daredevil (no surprise there, having lapsed from 1977-88) as well as Marvel Two-In-One, which gets a pass since the series came to an end in June of that year.*

*I've been corrected on the Avengers and X-Men annuals--see the info from alert reader David P. in the comments section!

And so in terms of what's left, how did these particular annuals do with you at the store? Were you tempted to browse the issue based on its star power, or even pay your buck and take it home on faith? Or did you decide it was better to just wait a few decades and let the PPC size them up for you? No problem, friend, we've got your back.

The Dragon Seed Saga!

 

In 1991, John Byrne, the writer for the Invincible Iron Man title, began a one-year story arc which focused on essentially three things: the deteriorating condition of Tony Stark, his entire nervous system compromised by an aggrieved engineer using the resources of a ruthless corporation... the ascendance of one of Iron Man's oldest and deadliest foes, the Mandarin... and establishing the origin of a Marvel character which dated back thirty years. And while all of these things cross paths either indirectly or otherwise, we begin with the latter two characters who meet due to the involvement of one other: Chen Hsu, by all appearances an aged wizard who helps the Mandarin to recover his memories and subsequently brings him to the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon in southeastern China, in order to awaken a dreaded creature the PPC has only recently profiled.

Whatever passed between the Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom from that point was presumably not for our eyes and ears, but it was apparently convincing enough to rouse the dragon from his chamber and meet in force an army of 3,000 soldiers sent in response to the Mandarin's incursion into the dragon's resting place--even as the Mandarin and Chen Hsu, calmly observing the death and devastation which followed, come to an understanding between them.

And "romp" our dragon most definitely will during this saga.

The Sub-Mariner For The 1990s

 

The year 1990 brought a new series to the comics racks that I'm surprised I passed on:

Shaped and handled by artist/writer John Byrne, Namor the Sub-Mariner provides the title character with a new direction that takes advantage of his past dalliances as a figure with corporate holdings while also seeking to recast him as less of a man who is prone to fits of rage over perceived misdeeds or affronts. Given Byrne's proven record on Fantastic Four, this new series should have piqued my interest--so why wouldn't I have even picked up an issue to thumb through? There were a number of things that might have come to mind for me at the time--one being a sense of wariness, given that Byrne had more than once set up shop on an existing book only to subsequently exit not long thereafter. But more pertinent to me was the character of the Sub-Mariner himself, whom I came to believe would have difficulty sustaining another series of his own, in light of so many new directions attempted for him (either in his first series or afterward) not panning out. (I was surprised as anyone to see Namor as an Avenger; then again, sooner or later, everyone becomes an Avenger. ... Maybe not Mr. Hyde. Or Terrax. But I'm not ruling out Galactus.)

In this first issue, that trademark volatility of the Sub-Mariner is on full display when he emerges from the sea in view of two marine biologists and lands on a nearby island--where Byrne, in a nod to a classic scene from The Avengers, demonstrates that whatever the time or place, Namor has little regard or patience for native dwellers.

Soon afterward, our two biologists, Caleb Alexander and his daughter, Carrie, locate Namor in a dazed, hallucinatory state and convince him to return with him to their boat, the "Oracle," where a new twist is introduced to the story of the Sub-Mariner that serves to retcon the instances of violent behavior occurring in his past--once that behavior is, for want of a better word, diagnosed.

(No, I don't know how a tribal spear, like bullets, failed to make a dent in Namor's skin, and yet I.V. needles are inserted with no problem--though Namor isn't likely to look a gift horse in the mouth here.)

Now "out of the woods" for the time being, Namor has an opportunity to learn more of the Alexanders, characters which Byrne will deal into the book's stories for some time.

Later, in an issue which attempts to put to rest Namor's past crimes against humanity, it becomes apparent that Byrne intends to treat this new factor in Namor's behavior as a chronic condition to be managed.

As we can see, by this time Byrne has assumed inking duties on the book as well (and, for a time, lettering)--a nice show of his commitment to the series while demonstrating a level of talent that arguably surpasses his FF work from the '80s. Along the way, he deals in a number of characters that keep Namor and his book busy and an intriguing read from issue to issue, either affiliated with his company, the Oracle Corporation (named after Caleb's boat), or of a more super-powered nature, while also keeping ties to Namor's Atlantean heritage.

But "All good things...", as they say*, as Byrne began to taper off from the series with its 26th issue, removing himself from art for the book until finally exiting the series at the end of 1992--the Sub-Mariner by that time hip-deep in a savage conflict with Master Khan, a mystic threat who goes all the way back to a 1960 issue of Strange Tales and who began a vendetta against Namor when he freed Iron Fist from the fate that Khan had arranged for him. Issue 62 in 1995 would finally mark the end of the series, its current storyline to be continued in another title the following month.

*With apologies to Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde.

BONUS!
Namor in his classic glory days, as depicted by Mr. Byrne.

Mayhem on Monster Isle!

 

At the end of 1982, when Fantastic Four artist/writer John Byrne had hit his stride with the book and introduced the team to the might of the Shi'ar warrior named Gladiator, another Byrne-produced story was published which presented the team in a new light*--one that saw their history develop very differently from what we know, and instead brought them together as a team which approached a crisis without the benefit of their fantastic abilities. A pity we can't say the same for the all-too-familiar threat which emerges from the depths of the Earth to menace them anew, for the first time.

*In case the FF masthead isn't enough to catch the eye of the comics browser, Byrne stacks the deck a bit by including an additional corner box so that the full super-powered team in all its glory stands out--and, while he's at it, also ensuring that the Nova blurb takes advantage of the double-feature aspect of the issue.

At the size of a regular (at the time) 20-page story which obviously focuses on the incursion of the Mole Man, the beginning of this new FF "origin" must of course first deal with why and how our four principals apparently avoided the chain of events which led to their exposure to cosmic rays--and while the segment perhaps spends too little time on this portion of the story which details the success of their rocket flight, it covers the bases well enough, while expanding the flight's mission substantially.

In the original story, it was clear that time was of the essence given the urgency that both the United States and an unnamed communist country felt to win the "space race"--so much so that Sue Storm, of all people, would stress the need for launching as soon as possible and ignoring what all of them appeared to acknowledge to be true about their ship's inability to protect them against cosmic ray exposure. Here, however, the concern is fiscal rather than foreign; their project has stalled, and there is worry about losing their funding if they aren't able to justify its continuation. Perhaps they finally realized that taking a little extra time to successfully bring this project to fruition was preferable to it all ending in disaster.

And so in the here and now, Reed's company continues to benefit from the generosity of the goverment, while Reed himself has become a trusted and valued consultant whose expertise is sought when nuclear plants across the world are disappearing beneath the surface without explanation. But even Reed is surprised to see which research installation has now been added to the list.

Marvel's Classic Corner Boxes: Fantastic Four Vol. I

 

Nine years ago, the PPC briefly took a look at those eye-catching corner boxes which once graced the left corner of issue covers and featured the character(s) which starred in the comic you took home to read. At the time, we explored the subject within the context of where the art for the characters might have originated from; but during this week, we'll expand our look to showcase a near-entire run of a title's first volume of corner boxes in all their mini-glory, from beginning to end. And why not begin where Marvel began, in the comic which set the standard for its new line of super-hero books?

It took a year and a half for the first corner box to appear in the Fantastic Four comic since its launch--but with variations, that box would endure for the next four years and appear in nearly fifty issues.

End Of A Hero

 

During the Secret Wars II limited series from 1985-86, the struggle of the Beyonder to understand humanity and achieve it in himself was full of pitfalls that complicated his goal and brought him into conflict with Earth's super-beings, many of whom had unpleasant memories of being abducted to the Beyonder's makeshift world and pitted against a sizable group of Earth's super-villains while being studied from afar by their captor. Coming to Earth as a virtual "newborn" while assuming an adult human form, the Beyonder's naiveté, combined with his ability to wield ultimate power, made him unpredictable and potentially dangerous to those he came into contact with--while his tendency toward wanting to explore the concept of desire and enjoy only feel-good experiences, while rejecting the consequences of his actions, ultimately made him a menace. In the end, his failure to find happiness for himself led to near-disaster for the Earth, and his own presumed end. And so, despite well-intentioned guidance from others, it's not surprising that the tally of stories in this crossover event which paints the Beyonder in a sympathetic light is a small one.

One of those stories, however, stands out in not only offering a more dignified portrait of the Beyonder, but bringing a lot to the table for Fantastic Four readers with a plot which is more introspective rather than action-based. Written and pencilled by John Byrne, "Hero" brings focus to a single FF member: Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, who has become the fixation of an introverted young boy who idolizes him. What grabs our attention initially, of course, is the issue's cover, where we see that Johnny has made a momentous decision--one that will affect the entire team, but which was brought about by devastating news that would have an impact on his own life.