Post-Byrne Fantastic Four*

I remember being HUGELY disappointed in Fantastic Four #296 when I first read it in 1986. Part of the the reason is that it appeared immediately after John Byrne's last issue on the title; and another part of the reson is that it is the 25th anniversary issue. If only John Byrne had been able to sick around for one more issue. But he was up against a hard deadline to revamp Superman for his 50th anniversary, which was a much bigger deal. I don't know how much lead-time Marvel had to come up with a suitable replacement, but this anniversary "celebration" has a real slap-dash feel to it. The first three pages, by Barry Windsor-Smith, are well worth reading, but the other 61 are a mish-mash of pencilers and inkers with mismatched styles, incluing: Al Milgrom & Klaus Janson; John Buscema & Steve Leialoha; Marc Silvestri & Joe Rubenstein; and BWS and Vince Colletta. The whole mess is plotted by Jim Shooter, although it is plotted by Stan Lee.

Then I read it for a second time in 2008 as part of the Fantastic Four: Lost Adventures collection. there's nothning particularly "lost" about #296 (other than that it deserves to be), but I remember coming away from it thinking it maybe wasn't quite so bad after all. Then I read it for a third time in 2021 and posted my thoughts on it HERE. I just finished reading it for an unprescedented fourth time, and my opinion hasn't changed. the story has a cogent beginning, middle and end, but in order to be a good story, it must also be one worth telling, and this one most certainly is not. It's the kind of story most people who do not read comic books assume comic books are like. I would be ashamed for any non-comic book reader to read it.

*This discussion immediately follows "Post-Kirby Fantastic Four".

Starting with #297, the new creative team became Roger Stern and John Buscema, yet for some reason, I wasn't quite as excited as when they took over Avengers a year or so earlier. Buscema's first FF inker during this run was his brother Sal, and of the three, John stayed the longest, through #309. Stern and the younger Buscema stayed through #302, a mere six issues. Although I have read #296 four times in the last forty years, that is not the case with the next three dozen or so issues. I continued to buy them, but not necessarily to read them, a situation which contributed to the first of my Comic Collecting Precepts, "Don't buy what you don't read." Some the comics between here and the beginning of Walt Simonson's run I have read only once, some of them not at all.

I had always thought I might follow up "Post-Jack Kirby FF" with "Post-Byrne FF," but I was waiting for MMW FF to catch up. The recent rumor of the MMW series going on "indefinite hiatus" has put me in the mood to read them right away. Most of the first 295 issues of Fantastic Four (except for #204-231) are available in omnibus format, and all of them are available in MMW format. Beyond that, every remaining issue of the original series is available in Marvel's "Epic Collection" format... or I should say were available, since Vol. 17 ("All in the Family"), the one reprinting #296-307 et al is long-since out of print. I would have preferred to read this run on a paperstock other than newsprint, but after a fruitless search for a copy at a reasonable price, I have decided to go "old school"... yes, I'm reading the actual comic books.

#297-298: The first issue of this two-parter tells two distinct stories: that of the FF and that of two warlord bothers in a far distant galaxy. The two stories are wholly unrelated until the end of part one, when circumstances bring the brothers to our solar system and fuse them into a single being. Their threat has been dealt with by the end of part two, and really nothing of any significance happens.

#299-300: Issue #300 presents the wedding of Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters. A relationship between Johnny and Alicia is something I never knew I wanted until it was revealed that they were sleepijng together in #277. It had previously been established that Alicia was only 19 years old when she first met Ben Grimm. She hadn't even been out of the apartment she shared with her step-father very often for three years before that, and she was almost certainly a virgin at that point. What ever sex life she and Ben may or may not have had at that point, I didn't think it was right (as soon as I stopped to think about it) that a healthy young woman in her prime shouldn't have an ordinary sex life.

#301-302: I just noticed that #301-302 have post-market price stickers from my former (no-longer-local) comics shop in St. Louis and realized I have never read #301-303. Here's what happened: after five disappointing issues in a row, I decided to drop Fantastic Four with #300, which seemed like a nice round number. then Steve Englehart came aboard with #304 ans I decided to buy the three issues I skipped to maintain my complete collection. [Back in the days when Marvel numbered their comics sequentially it was much more difficult to drop a series.]

#303: Roy Thomas was brought in to bridge the gap between Roger Stern and Steve Englehart (with Romeo Tahghal as guest inker). Joe Sinnott would join John Buscema with #304. the stories in #301-303 are unremarkable. And that's the equivalent (more or less) of FF Epic Collection v17. Some of the other later editions have already gone back to print; perhaps this one will, too, someday... espectially now that the MMW series is [rumored to be] kaput.

NEXT: Steve Englehart

Replies

Philip Portelli June 16, 2025 at 10:06pm

You must remember this happened during Jim Shooter's peak "Only I Know How to Write Marvel Comics/I'm a Genius" phase.

Only last week, I wondered what Marvel was doing when Byrne's Superman #1 (Ja'87) came out, "counterprogramming" it if you will. Besides Marvel's 25th Anniversary, they had the New Universe and Star Comics!
Jeff of Earth-J June 18, 2025 at 9:50am

Starting with #297, the new creative team became Roger Stern and John Buscema, yet for some reason, I wasn't quite as excited as when they took over Avengers a year or so earlier. Buscema's first FF inker during this run was his brother Sal, and of the three, John stayed the longest, through #309. Stern and the younger Buscema stayed through #302, a mere six issues. Although I have read #296 four times in the last forty years, that is not the case with the next three dozen or so issues. I continued to buy them, but not necessarily to read them, a situation which contributed to the first of my Comic Collecting Precepts, "Don't buy what you don't read." Some the comics between here and the beginning of Walt Simonson's run I have read only once, some of them not at all.

I had always thought I might follow up "Post-Jack Kirby FF" with "Post-Byrne FF," but I was waiting for MMW FF to catch up. The recent rumor of the MMW series going on "indefinite hiatus" has put me in the mood to read them right away. Most of the first 295 issues of Fantastic Four (except for #204-231) are available in omnibus format, and all of them are available in MMW format. Beyond that, every remaining issue of the original series is available in Marvel's "Epic Collection" format... or I should say were available, since Vol. 17 ("All in the Family"), the one reprinting #296-307 et al is long-since out of print. I would have preferred to read this run on a paperstock other than newsprint, but after a fruitless search for a copy at a reasonable price, I have decided to go "old school"... yes, I'm reading the actual comic books.

#297-298: The first issue of this two-parter tells two distinct stories: that of the FF and that of two warlord bothers in a far distant galaxy. The two stories are wholly unrelated until the end of part one, when circumstances bring the brothers to our solar system and fuse them into a single being. Their threat has been dealt with by the end of part two, and really nothing of any significance happens.

#299-300: Issue #300 presents the wedding of Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters. A relationship between Johnny and Alicia is something I never knew I wanted until it was revealed that they were sleepijng together in #277. It had previously been established that Alicia was only 19 years old when she first met Ben Grimm. She hadn't even been out of the apartment she shared with her step-father very often for three years before that, and she was almost certainly a virgin at that point. What ever sex life she and Ben may or may not have had at that point, I didn't think it was right (as soon as I stopped to think about it) that a healthy young woman in her prime shouldn't have an ordinary sex life.

#301-302: I just noticed that #301-302 have post-market price stickers from my former (no-longer-local) comics shop in St. Louis and realized I have never read #301-303. Here's what happened: after five disappointing issues in a row, I decided to drop Fantastic Four with #300, which seemed like a nice round number. then Steve Englehart came aboard with #304 ans I decided to buy the three issues I skipped to maintain my complete collection. [Back in the days when Marvel numbered their comics sequentially it was much more difficult to drop a series.]

#303: Roy Thomas was brought in to bridge the gap between Roger Stern and Steve Englehart (with Romeo Tahghal as guest inker). Joe Sinnott would join John Buscema with #304. the stories in #301-303 are unremarkable. And that's the equivalent (more or less) of FF Epic Collection v17. Some of the other later editions have already gone back to print; perhaps this one will, too, someday... espectially now that the MMW series is [rumored to be] kaput.

NEXT: Steve Englehart

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