Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Volume 13

Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four, Vol. 13 by Roy Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Volume 13 collects issues 129-141 of The World's Greatest Comic Magazine.

The Fantastic Four has long been one of my favorite Marvel books. I was a subscriber for five years or so in my teens. Lately, I've been intrigued by the era after Jack Kirby left and before John Byrne took the reins. Luckily, I found this for twenty bucks at a comic convention not long ago.

John Buscema handles the art chores on all but two issues in this collection. While I'm not crazy about his depiction of The Thing, I have to say his art is spectacular for the most part. There are some panels I'd like to have blown up and framed. His Medusa and Thundra are easy on the eyes and he even makes Gregory Gideon and Miracle Man seem like world-beaters. Ramona Fradon's fill-in makes me wish she'd done more Marvel work. Ross Andru's, however, isn't great. It's hard to believe he'd be an iconic Spider-Man artist a few years later.

The writing by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway is some crazy shit. Apart from Annihilus, the threats aren't anything special. It's the turmoil within the Fantastic Four that drives the story. Reed drives Sue and Franklin away by being a Fantastic asshole, leading Medusa to join the team. Thundra joins the Frightful Four and the Frightful Four actually seem competent for a change. Johnny goes to the Great Refuge to find Crystal in the arms of another man. Wyatt Wingfoot returns to the fold. The new Fantastic Four struggles to keep things running smoothly, culminating in a two-parter with Annihilus in the Negative Zone and possibly Reed Richards most dubious decision so far.

I think the addition of Medusa to the lineup was my favorite part of this. She does her best to fill Sue's spot, even though her super power is her wondrous hair. The guys still dump on her like they do Sue, though, which is weird since with Thundra being from a female-dominated future, you'd think someone in the Marvel office was thinking at least a little progressively. I also liked Johnny's new red costume. It's funny how Roy thought minor tweaks like this would boost sales, as per the introduction.

I have to wonder if they were kicking around the idea of phasing Reed and Sue out of the book at this point. The ending of the final issue in this collection is going to be hard for Reed and Sue to come back from. I have a feeling it's never referenced again once Thomas and Conway are off the book.

My initial foray into the post-Kirby, pre-Byrne era of the Fantastic Four was a very enlightening one. It'll be interesting where they go with Reed "Father of the Year" Richards after this. Four out of five stars.

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