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Aug 10, 2017

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 897: Fantastic Four v.1 #255, June 1983

https://www.comics.org/issue/37501/


Off we go on a slight detour into John Byrne's Fantastic Four which, as I mentioned yesterday, is one of that artists few major runs that I quite enjoy. We'll get into my problems with Byrne some time, but not today.

We're in media res today, with the FF stranded in the Negative Zone and Annihilus in the Baxter Building, attempting to tear down the barriers between his universe and the Marvel U in order to destroy both. That whole cataclysmic destruction angle of villainy has always mystified me. Were I a super villain, I don't think I'd just want to blow everything up. I, by definition, am a part of everything. The nice thing in this situation is that Annihilus' very existence is built around the destruction of everything. He is the most nihilistic of nihilists, and certainly has a pure belief in the perfection of nothingness. It's a wonderful way to articulate the alienness of the Negative Zone, and of one of it's most powerful inhabitants.

But more to the point for us, a strange wall of force has been erected in downtown Manhattan - Daredevil slams into it in the early pages of today's comic in much the same way the Avengers discovered it in yesterday's. Neither the Man Without Fear nor the World's Mightiest Heroes know what it is, or what it portends, but I imagine as the crossover continues, the seriousness of the situation will make itself known.

Will our heroes triumph? (Yes, certainly). Will they suffer losses? (Yep, though not permanent ones. This is superhero comics after all). Will it be a cool story to read? Of course. To be continued.

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