Fantastic Four: This Flame, This Fury

Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 22: This Flame, This Fury by Tom DeFalco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fantastic Four Epic Collection: This Flame, This Fury collects Fantastic Four #362-376, Annuals 25 and 26, plus a short story from Adventures of the Thing #3.

I was a subscriber to Fantastic Four for several years in the early days of my comic fandom and most of the issues in this volume were during one of those years. Since a trade is more convenient than looking through ten plastic totes for the individual issues, I decided to pick this up.

The early 1990s were a weird time for comics. The market was perched atop a bubble just waiting to burst and Image was just picking up steam. Extreme was in and the Fantastic Four weren't immune. The cover of this collection, Sue Richards showing skin and the FF packing heat, is cited by many as a prime example of this.

However, as maligned as this Fantastic Four run is by some, it's really not that bad. DeFalco dares to color outside the Lee & Kirby lines. Johnny has conflicted feelings about the Skrull he was married to and is on the run. Sue has embraced the Malice side of her persona and is lashing out at everyone around her. Ben is torn between Alicia and Sharon Ventura and becomes more disfigured. Franklin is liberated from his psychic bonds and threatens to destroy the universe. And Reed is trying to hold things together. As for bad guys, the FF go up against new foes like Occulus, newish foes like Aron the Rogue Watcher, Dreadface, Devos, and Paibok the Power Skrull, and old favorites like Victor Von Doom.

DeFalco is no Alan Moore or even Walt Simonson but he was more than capable of guiding the destiny of the Fantastic Four in their monthly adventures. Things will be shaken up even more in the next volume, not that this volume was without turbulence. People remember things like Ben getting slashed in the face by Wolverine, Sue wearing her new revealing outfit, and Franklin growing into a teenager between pages.

Paul Ryan's art was the star of the show for me. The guy was a workhorse, capable of drawing anything and drawing it on time. His Ben Grimm is iconic and the rest of the characters are always on model. The guy didn't get much credit while he was still active, probably because the Fantastic Four wasn't a top book at the time, but he always delivered.

Fantastic Four: This Flame, This Fury is a way better read than the cover would lead you to believe. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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