BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #205

It’s tough to find a Marvel comic from this period that didn’t feature any cover copy whatsoever, but this latest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR fit the bill. It probably could have used some, honestly, if only to contextualize what the FF were fighting. But it’s a nice action piece either way. And I didn’t need any additional prompting to pick up an issue of FANTASTIC FOUR, it was my favorite series of the time. This run of issues suffered a little bit from embarking on a storyline that was supposed to play out in parallel in writer/editor Marv Wolfman’s other series, NOVA. When NOVA was cancelled, Marv had little choice but to shift all of the material into FF–which led to this storyline running up through issue #214, far longer than was wise. But needs must.

The artist on this issue was Keith Pollard, an artist who has largely been overlooked by fandom in the years since then. He wasn’t flashy, but Pollard was a meat-and-potatoes performer who had really good stints not only on FANTASTIC FOUR but also AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and THOR at around this time. He most often did breakdowns, though, which meant that the finished pages were typically left at the mercy of a variety of finishers, not all of whom were up to the task of rendering Pollard’s open layouts into something attractive. Joe Sinnott, however, was more than capable of such a thing, and so he provided his typical slick finish to Pollard’s compositions. While the book looks a bit too sterile to my eyes today, at the time I liked what Pollard was doing here a lot.

Having agreed to assist Suzerain Adora of the Planet Xandar in repelling the Skrull armada that was threatening her people, thee members of the Fantastic Four–Reed, Ben and Sue–find themselves teleported to that planet. Or rather, what remains of it. Xandar, it turns out, had been destroyed years before, but thanks to the quiet intervention of the Watcher, four cities still survived, encased in atmospheric bubbles and connected to one another by a series of networking tunnels. But the Skrulls were attacking this makeshift structure, threatening to destroy it. And so the FF launch themselves into the fight, somehow causing the Skrull battlefleet to retreat after a small skirmish. Reed realizes that this behavior is fishy, but the respite gives them an opportunity to get some answers about what’s going on.

Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, meanwhile, has remained behind on Earth. The reason is that he’s been accepted to a new and exclusive private school of higher learning, the suspiciously-named Security University. So while his partners do battle, the Torch settles into his new environment–unaware that he’s being observed by an old foe. This is the Monocle, a forgettable villain from one of the final Stan Lee/Jack Kirby issues of the book who back then attempted to start a war. Here, he’s working for a shadowy Enclave. They’re using mind control to brainwash the students–each of whom is the scion of a diplomat or a person in high finance or a super hero–in order to gain control of the assets they have access to. The Monocle wastes no time in turning his brainwashing apparatus on Johnny as the kid sleeps.

Back in space, Reed and the others get to question Adora as well as Prime Thoran and other high-ranking members of the Xandarian government concerning what the Skrulls are after. Given that Xandar is merely a remnant of the planet that it had been, it can hardly be a threat to the Skrull Empire. But they are told that the Skrulls’ war against the Kree has been going badly, and so they’re hoping to be able to seize Xandar’s enormous living computer in order to turn the tide of the conflict. Pollard and Sinnott do a great job of making the computer seem epic in a full page splash. For those with a knowledge of events to come, this is what will eventually become known as the Worldmind.

But while the group has been talking, the Skrulls have renewed their offensive, targeting the population centers of the makeshift planet. Master Xar presents the FF members with anti-gravity belts that will allow them to fly under their own power, a necessity if they’re going to engage in aerial combat with the invading Skrulls. And so the battle is joined by the FF, who spend a couple of pages walloping random Skrulls and fighting side-by-side with the Nova Centurions who vainly attempt to defend their homeworld.

But it’s still only three super heroes up against and entire military armada–the odds are too stacked against our heroes. And so, as the issue nears its close, Ben, Reed and Sue are incapacitated by Skrull attacks and captured, sucked up into a waiting Skrull starship and a fate unknown. Back on Xandar, Master Xar informs Adora that the FF are being brought back to the Skrull homeworld–a place than nobody has ever returned from. To Be Continued! It’s pretty clear to see the influence that STAR WARS, which was still a hugely popular phenomenon, was having on this story. While everything is very plot-motivated rather than character-motivated, it all has a sense of scale that helps to keep things engaging.