FANTASTIC FOUR #262
(Cover by John Byrne)
Published and © by Marvel, Jan. 1984
[Buy from Mile High]
“The Trial of Reed Richards”
Synopsis: Lilandra and the survivors of Galactus put Reed Richards on trial for saving the life of the Devourer of Worlds.
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: Byrne
Inker: Byrne
Review: Your Comics Bronze Age editor took superhero comics very seriously back in the day, making things like Assistant Editors’ Month quite painful. Luckily, John Byrne found a clever way to keep that “event” from derailing his “Trial of Reed Richards” arc. Pressed into service at the behest of the Watcher, Byrne himself is a character in this issue. The gimmick works well, and doesn’t detract from this excellent courtroom drama in which survivors of Galactus seek to hold Reed responsible for saving the world-eater in FF #244 (see review). Other than a rushed conclusion, this cosmic issue is consistently excellent.
Grade: A
Second opinions: “Totally brilliant! Engrossing! Original! Absorbing! Unique! Incredible! A masterpiece of artistic skill and imagination! — I liked it!” — Stan Lee, in a LOC on the “Fantastic Four Fan Page” in Fantastic Four #269. … “Loads of nice little touches in amongst the cosmic splendour … 9/10.” — Matt C, Paradox Comics Group. … Recommended by The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide (second edition).
Cool factor: A morality play staged on a cosmic scale. That, and the Watcher and Galactus holding hands.
Character quotable: “How else can I plead but … GUILTY!” — Reed Richards, proving that even the smartest guy in the world can sometimes say dumb things.
Collected in: Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 4 [Buy from Mile High]
Loving the FF reviews and looking forward to Warlord! And oh, by the way…
Whether you want it or not, you’ve won the Kreativ Blogger Award! Congrats! See my 2/1/10 post!
Your recent enthusiastic reviews of the Byrne years of the FF caused me to dig the issues out and re-read them.
Whoof. I really can’t go along with your glowing accolades.
Well, okay. The basic plot-story you’re describing is pretty cosmic and cool. However, that barely fills half the actual page count. All the issues are full of garbage. Some of disconnected crap, to be sure, is by editorial mandate, but it is still hyper annoying. Characters appearing and disappearing between panels. Unrelated scenes from other comics. All with a happy little note at the bottom of the panel: “See ‘Alpha Flight’ #23 for details!” “Read ‘Thing’ #3 for why Ben has a diaper!” (and the worst offender) “Buy ‘Secret Wars’ for the inside scoop!”
That cross-connection muck aside, much of Byrne’s story revealed a man positively YEARNING to write “True Heartbreaking Romantic Angst for Lovers” comic books. One page is pulp age sci-fi action with giant aliens or nuking the Earth’s core and then the next page is *solid* word balloons of relationships and identity anguish. I fully acknowledge that a miscarriage is a great personal tragedy, but it belongs in the same story featuring the Mole Man the way chocolate sauce belongs on a hot dog.
I reckon to be a huge fan of this work, a reader has to cover one eye and only read the action parts or close the other eye and only read the tortured angst parts. To read with both eyes is to be a cooly moderate fan.
Blaze:
Love the “cooly moderate fan” line. I agree that the cross-connection stuff can be an issue. I think that’s probably part of the problem I have with new comics today. But, back in the Bronze Age, I was totally plugged in, particularly to all the books Byrne was involved in. Secret Wars might actually have been the first crack in the armor for me; I was not fond of that series! The character angst, on the other hand, was great. The soap opera stuff is part of what makes Bronze Age comics Bronze Age comics, and Byrne was a master of melodrama. Your mileage may vary, or course, but I’ll take that Mole Man story over a chocolate-covered hot dog any day!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your take!
Cheers,
Andrew
Thanks, Groove! You know the love is mutual. (And if any of you aren’t already regulars over at Diversions of the Groovy Kind, make sure to check Groove’s site out ASAP!)
Andrew
Hmmm, to a certain extent I agree with Blaze, in the sense that I hated the whole “Secret Wars” cross-over thing and it was one of the factors that led me to stop buying almost all comics at around that time well ahead of the big Crisis at DC (I plugged along with the X-men for another year or so out of a misplaced sense of loyalty…)
As to Byrne’s FF, I stopped reading about an issue or two before this one, but after reading the Reed Richards’ trial story much later, I found the whole thing kind of forced because in the Marvel Universe there really is no good reason to save Galactus’ life if he’s dying (other than you just can’t get rid of such an awesome character). As I recall, Reed’s rationale was that Galactus is part of some cosmic triad together with Death and Eternity – which is honestly rather ridiculous. In that scheme of things, Galactus would just be Death’s “little helper”, while the third part of a triad consisting of Eternity and Death would logically be – Life.
As to the other part of Blaze’s criticism, I see the point, but I don’t necesarily agree. Hell, what drew me to keep reading comics at that time (and I’m dead sure I wasn’t alone in this) was not just the earth-shattering and/or cosmic-scale battles, but also the fact that they were interspersed with angsty romance and identity crises, etc. After all, that’s almost the definition of the Claremont/Byrne X-men run…
I should clarify my stance a bit, or I’ll be labeled unromantic and shallow!
My concern isn’t with the mix of personal issues with cosmic battling. I just don’t think Mr. Byrne did it very well. Other writers blend it a better. A carefully placed thought balloon (gawd, I miss thought balloons) in the middle of a fight could reveal volumes of Nightcrawler’s uncertainties about being take seriously or Kitty’s crush on Peter.
I’m willing to give the poor, beleagured hacks that write comics some slack, but Byrne tries to have me accept mile-wide alien destructo beams writing grafitti across North America on one page, then the next I’m supposed to gear down to accept Sue sitting in a one-third of a page panel fighting off depression and hugging Franklin. Ah, that’s tender and warm and *WHAM* giant alien razing Oklahoma.
So, in summation, I guess I’m saying I find Mr Byrne’s artistic skills to far outstrip his writing skills.
Blaze:
Obviously, we have a difference of opinion here. The mix of cosmic and personal drama (OK, even melodrama) works for me, especially on the Fantastic Four. And, while I still like Byrne best as an artist, my revisitation of his FF run has made me appreciate him more as a writer. Especially when compared to something like the shallow Adventure Comics stories (#449, #450 and #451) I’m reading this week.
We agree on thought balloons, though. They’re one of the medium’s most powerful devices and it’s a shame they’ve fallen out of favor.
Cheers,
ndrew