Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1 (New Printing)

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Great collectors item and these Marvel omnibus books really are the business whatever age you are - so cool right now!

The art is at a period when Byrne was on his game and putting a lot of effort into his work (it went downhill on his Superman run). Surprising to me, was the constant sexual suggestions and urges of Susan Storm who feels she needs to constantly "remind Reed of his husbandly duties. When Byrne refers to Galactus as a “brother” of Death, I fail to see how defeating Galactus is any different from an attempt to cure cancer. This omnibus doesn’t have all of Byrne’s FF that you might want – indeed it ends with a cliffhanger; but The Trial of Galactus should give you all that’s left of note beyond that.

The internet has not been kind to Byrne, with a large majority of his work being ignored or readily-trashed, regardless of how it might have been received upon publication.

In Kirby's final issues, Doctor Doom lurks in the shadows, the FF save Apollo 11 from an alien threat, and the Sub-Mariner and Magneto team up to attack our heroes! Any story which deliberately violates core concepts and themes of original materials is not, by definition “a good story.We’ve been reading about these characters for over two-hundred issues, so it’s easy to take these things for granted.

John Byrne was largely responsible for making the Fantastic Four a must read title during the 1980's. To read the Claremont/Byrne run, or early Claremont, period, is to see the X-Men's universe taking shape as innumerable new characters are introduced.Pencilled this time by Kirby, the dramatic duel benefitted from Ditko’s inking which created a truly novel look. For, as the big brain of the Fantastic Four will find out, solving everything carries with it a great cost, and one that is perhaps too much to pay. Whereas Byrne, of course, resolved the matter in the course of a few pages, and with nary a tweet fired off in faux righteous indignation. The Fantastic Four are so comfortable in themselves that they don’t even notice how surreal they must seem – perhaps Byrne commenting on how easily the “fantastic” can be rendered “mundane” through mere exposure.

wherein the arch villain used Stan and Jack to lure the Richards into a trap where his mind is switched with the bad Doctor’s. The team-ups are fine – indeed the MTU one, with a Chris Claremont script, is rather good – but the earlier FF stories show how much a shake-up was necessary.

Comic books have changed, and it’s easy to make the case that the Fantastic Four have simply been left behind. Byrne came to the book off a long and distinguished collaboration with Chris Claremont over on Uncanny X-Men. I suspect Byrne is leading into some nice pay-off in the next edition, but it’s frustrating when so many great ideas are thrown together so fast they barely have room to breath. While the other members of the team aggressively challenge Doom, Sue dares to ask, “But — Reed, what if he is telling the truth? The Skrull infestation of King’s Crossing has absolutely no long-term negative effects for the residents – only good ones!