A while ago I bought the last issue of Dan Slott's run because it purporeted to contain an explanation of the mis-characterization and the continuity problems which did and do plague today's MU. It did, but I didn't realize that part of my enjoyment of the explanation was predicated on having read Fantastic Four #160-163. As I mentioned in another thread last week, my FF collection is merely nigh complete, and those issues are four I'm missing. They're readily available on the backissue market, but priced out of my range. Besides, the next Essential FF with start with those four issues.

 

However, the alternate Earth featured in those stories (Earth-A, for "alternate") originally debuted in FF #118, which I recently re-read for the first time in many years. After that I thought I'd give She-Hulk #21 another read. The inhabitants of Earth-A (here come the SPOILERS) are entirely super-powerless, except for Reed Richards who transformed into the (or rather "a") Thing. What I remembered from that issue is that non-powered vacationers from Earth-A were travelling to "Earth-B" (i.e., Earth-616, the MU proper), and gaining the powers (if any) of their super-powered counterparts, thus ecplaining myriad discrepacies in characterization.

 

What I didn't rememeber (and am asking someone to confirm) is that the She-Hulk from Dan Slott's entire run (?) was apparently Jenifer Walter's Earth-A counterpart. Is that right?

 

Also, while I'm at it, in which series/issue did Tony stark inject She-Hulk with transformation-inhibiting nanites?

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  • No, the alternate Jen was used to explain the out of character things like Jen sleeping with Juggernaut done by a different author, but 616 Jen was the star of the book the whole time.
  • Better if Marvel could keep track of who's dead and who's not. Or just send an internal memo not to use the same villain in two or more books at the same time!
  • I'm confused - how can an alternate Earth which featured in FF #160-163 have debuted in FF #218? Over 50 issues later?

    Slott's solution has an elegance to it. This way, you can decide such and such didn't happen to the 'real' character and I can decide that something else 'did'. Slott didn't produce a great tome listing what was 'real' and what wasn't along with that issue of She-Hulk.

    It's a little bit similar to that thing they did where Doctor Doom shows up and when someone laughs at him for being slapped around by the Dazzler in her first week as a superhero or something, he says he was travelling and he often leaves his Doombots to stand in for him while he's away.

    Better if Marvel could keep track of who's dead and who's not. Or just send an internal memo not to use the same villain in two or more books at the same time!

    It's not so much that, as one set of editors/writers thinking that something like Jenn sleeping with the Juggernaut was a valid way forward for the character, and another set of creators deciding ... maybe not.
  • Thanks for the answers, guys! I'm considering buying certain Marvel titles via tpb collections [chief among them Thor (JMS), She-Hulk (Dan Slott), and Hercules] and this information will help me decide.

    In answer to your question, Figs, FF #117 was to have been one of those big format 25 cents comics Martin Goodman tried for a month (when comics went from 15 cents regular size, to 25 cents big size, to 20 cents regular size), but when it was reduced to regular size the contents didn't quite fill two issues, leaving #118 several pages short. Roy Thomas wrote a short "in between panels" story of Lockjaw accidently transporting the Thing to an alternate reality in which [SPOILER] the only super-hero is Reed Richards, but he's a rocky "thing", not stretchy Mr. Fantasic. [END SPOILER] It was intended to be a on-off character piece, but I can only assume (not having read #160-163), someone decided to revisit that universe.
  • Oh! Typo! I should have said, "...originally debuted in FF #118" (not #218).

    Initial post corrected.
  • Archie Goodwin wrote the initial story, if you'll pardon me. Roy Thomas brought him back in a carelessly plotted story about Arkon trying to cause an interdimensional war.
  • That is correct (about Archie Goodwin, I mean; whether #160-163 is "carelessly plotted" or not, I cannot say). Roy Thomas wrote the introduction the Marvel Masterworks contain issue #118, which is what I was thinking of. I'd edit my earlier post if I could but I can't so I won't.
  • And Johnny was this evil Silver Surfer type with a hockey motif!
  • I believe he was called Gaard and not up to the 80s. I'm not familar or remember 90's FF so after that, I'm not sure!
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