Fantastic Four 221

Fantastic Four 221

Aug 1980

Tower of Crystal… Dreams of Glass…

by John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Jim Novak, Carl Gafford, Jim Salicrup

Reed, Ben, and Johnny fight with the aliens' worker robots while Sue meets with the aliens themselves. She convinces them that they should not destroy the Earth. 

Thoughts

This is the last story in Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 0. 

I guess Reed was right about the Earth being serious danger.

Fantastic Four 220

Fantastic Four 220

Jul 1980

…and the Lights Went Out All Over the World!

by John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Jim Novak, Irving Watanabe, Bob Sharen, Jim Salicrup 

The Fantastic Four fly to the North Pole after the power goes out briefly all over the world. They find aliens building something big at the North Pole. 

Thoughts

This is part one of a two-part story. According to my research (see comics.org) this story was originally intended to be part of a promotional comic book for Coca-Cola.

John Byrne wrote and penciled this story. He managed to squeeze in a one page retelling of the team’s origin, even though this story is just 16 pages long.

Fantastic Four 218

Fantastic Four 218

May 1980

When a Spider-Man Comes Calling!

by Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Jim Novak, Sean Bean, Jim Salicrup

The FF (Frightful Four) arrive at the Baxter Building with the intent to kill the FF (Fantastic Four). The evil FF have already captured Spider-Man. The Trapster, disguised as Spider-Man, tricks Johnny Storm into opening a window and letting him in. The Trapster knocks Johnny out once he is inside. The Trapster next deals with the Thing.

The Trapster deactivates the buildings security system which gives his teammates (Wizard, Sandman, Electro) the opening they need to break in and join him. Electro uses his powers to knock the Invisible Woman out of the fight which just leaves Mr. Fantastic to be dealt with, or does it?

Fantastic Four 217

Fantastic Four 217

Apr 1980

Masquerade!

by Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, John Costanza, Bob Sharen, Mark Gruenwald

HERBIE turns on the Fantastic Four and attempts to murder them. HERBIE is being controlled by Dr. Sun at the time. HERBIE, in the end, regains control long enough to destroy himself before Dr. Sun regains control of his circuitry.

Thoughts

It’s kind of funny how quickly and how easily Dr. Sun manages to almost kill the team using HERBIE. What happened? I thought the Fantastic Four were tougher than that?!

Fantastic Four 216

Fantastic Four 216

Mar 1980

A God Walks Times Square!

by Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Pablo Marcos, Irving Watanabe, Michael Higgins, Carl Gafford, Mark Gruenwald 

Futurist, the being that was once the scientist known as Professor Randolph James, heads for the Baxter Building. Mister Fantastic intended to arrive there with him but Futurist sensed that Reed Richard’s, his old friend, intended to revert him back to his human form. Futurist did not approve of this course of action.

Blastaar emerges from the shadows and convinces Futurist that the Fantastic Four intend to do both of them harm. Together they make their way to the Baxter Building. They take down the team but don’t consider that young Franklin Richard’s might also be a worthy opponent. 

Fantastic Four 215

Fantastic Four 215

Feb 1980

Blastaar!

by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Joe Rosen, Carl Gafford 

The Fantastic Four visit Professor Randolph James, an old friend of Reed, in his lab. Reed is helping Professor James with an experiment when something goes wrong, debris starts flying everywhere. Much of Professor James' lab gets destroyed.

The Fantastic Four returns to the Baxter Building where they discover that Blastaar has escaped from the Negative Zone. He attacks them when they show up. He disappears into the sewer after the Human Torch blasts him out of the building.