Fantastic Four 335 - Acts of Vengeance

This time our heroes are up against "the most powerful villains in the universe". "You're kidding, right?" asks Sharon.

Fantastic Four #335

Writing: Walter Simonson
Penciling: Rich Buckler
Inking: Romeo Tanghal
Lettering: Bill Oakley
Colouring: George Roussos
Editing: Ralph Macchio
Editing-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Following on from the previous issue the Five have arrived in Congress for a hearing about the proposed Super Hero Registration Act (there's several different names for the bill flying around), leading to a discussion about the rights of wrongs of requiring individuals to register their powers against the back-drop of a conflict.

If this sounds incredibly familiar it's because legislation of the same nature underpinned a later big Marvel event, Civil War. But whereas that crossover saw major actual conflict between heroes, here the debate takes place entirely within a committee room of the US Congress with only minor moments of action as yet more lame villains show up to try to attack the Fantastic Four and fail miserably. But it's also interesting to see just how the position of particular heroes changed over the years. In Civil War Reed Richards was all in favour of registration, leading to a falling out with Susan. Here, however, Reed takes a much more critical position. It's also interesting to see how during the first Bush presidency the political debate is presented in a much more nuanced way. Speakers at the committee hearing include a general supporting the military benefits of registration, government arsehole-in-chief Henry Peter Gyrich speaking in support of the public good to control power overriding the liberties of the individual and Hamilton Nathanson, a fictional spokesperson for the National Rifle Association (despite the similar name, I don't think Charlton Heston had yet become a prominent NRA figure in 1989), arguing against registration because they see it as a step towards a ban and take the same approach to powers as to guns.

Being from another country where both the structure and manner of political debate is different it's interesting to see a more nuanced take on US conservative arguments in a medium that often has little time for them. It's critical to note that "conservative" means many different things and so Gyrich's statement "I am a conservative... I believe that that the more government is kept out of the lives of the individual, the better," is one that not all conservatives would agree with, especially when it comes to law and order (for instance the UK Conservative Party's effective founder was the same man who founded the Metropolitan Police). Still the debate over public protection versus individual freedom is one that resonates across borders and the approach here shows that there aren't easy answers and even a group like the National Rifle Association can put forward points that people agree with. There's also some mockery of the processes, with the story titled "Death by Debate" and Reed pulls the trick of trying to bore the committee to death by present a huge report that they eventually decide to accept without examining it further.

The villain fest continues with some odd moments. Apocalypse flies over the capital but it proves a false alarm as he never lands and it's unclear what he's doing there, particularly as he's in a very different league from the foes who make it inside. In quick succession the likes of Ramrod, Plantman, the Quill, the Flying Tiger, the Vanisher, the Eel, Thunderball and Mad Dog attack but all are quickly felled, in some cases through their own incompetence. (Thunderball's inclusion is surprising given he's normally treated more seriously.) Eventually it's realised that a strange has been mentally controlling the villains, leading to a Congressperson to accuse Reed Richards of staging the whole affair.

It's surprising that despite being a new run by an acclaimed writer and part of a crossover whose main selling point is previously unseen fights between heroes and villains that instead we've so far had two issues of almost complete non-action and instead characterisation and debate. Yet this doesn't in anyway feel as though things are dragging, with instead a good look at a complicated issue with real world parallels. The connection to the wider crossover isn't yet clear but all in all this is one of the best issues so far.

Fantastic Four #335 has been reprinted in:

• Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson Volume 1 (2007)
• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)
• Fantastic Four Epic Collection: Into the Timestream (2014)