Fantastic Four Annual 21 - The Evolutionary War

Multiple higher powers demand that Crystal returns to her husband.

As noted on Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 that annual and this one have the lead and back-up features in opposite orders. So I'm publishing these post simultaneously to keep the sequences as clear as possible.

Fantastic Four Annual #21

1st story: Crystal Blue Persuasion
Story: Steve Englehart
Breakdowns: Kieron Dwyer
Finishes: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Lopez
Colors: Wright
Editor: Macchio
Chief: DeFalco

This annual comes from one of the more unusual periods of Fantastic Four history. Steve Englehart had shaken up the team by retiring Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman off to spend more time raising their son and in their placed added Crystal and the second Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura). Ms. Marvel had then been transformed into a female version of the Thing whilst the Thing (Ben Grimm) himself had been subject to an even further mutation into an almost pineapple form. And there were multiple tensions surrounding the Four. Not long before Englehart's run began the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) had married Alicia Masters, once Ben Grimm's long-term girlfriend. Now Johnny was on a team with his first true girlfriend Crystal, estranged from her husband Quicksilver (Pietro... his surname seems to wander between Maximoff, Magnus and Frank reflecting the numerous revelations and retcons about his parentage over the years) after an affair. It was quite a different set-up from before.

Whether it was more popular is disputed. The opening scene sees the Four's robotic receptionist Roberta hand the Thing fan mail and declare "I can't get over how popular the team has become since you revamped it!", a claim that is similarly reflected on Englehart's website. But others have pointed to the figures in the annual Statement of Ownership showing the title's sales were flatlining or even declining. And when at the start of 1988 Marvel introduced a two-tier pricing on their regular titles by raising the cover price on the nine top sellers, Fantastic Four was noticeably absent from the list. It wouldn't be the first or last time that the sales figures surrounding a controversial period are in dispute but it's unusual to find one side's claims so blatantly placed in the title itself.

(It will come as little surprise that the nine titles that had the price raised all have annuals in The Evolutionary War - the three Spider-Man titles, the three mutant books, Silver Surfer, Punisher and Avengers. Fantastic Four and West Coast Avengers - the third title written by Englehart at this time - were the only other two regular superhero series so blessed.)

And that's part of wider disputes that are partially well known because Englehart has put his side of the story out there including on his own website, though his editors' position is not so well known. Editor Ralph Macchio is interviewed by Tom DeFalco in the latter's Comics Creators on Fantastic Four (London; Titan Books, 2005) and is specifically asked about Englehart's eventual departure but just alludes to creative differences without being specific - "We had a part of the ways, creatively. I remember there was a storyline he embarked on and I knew right away that we were beginning to see the characters differently. There were stories that he wanted to do that just didn't work for me. I liked a lot of his run, but I didn't like the way he wanted to go so I made a change." (p.166) Englehart is not interviewed in the book but the-then regular artist (although not drawing the annual) Keith Pollard is. He doesn't comment on Englehart's departure directly but notes that he was told sales were up and fine but later heard a rumour third hand that he had been fired and discovered that Macchio wanted to bring back the traditional line up "in a bid to increase sales". (p.71)

It would appear that ultimately the problem was that Englehart had signed up for a run when Don Daley was Editor and Jim Shooter Editor-in-Chief but almost immediately they were replaced by Macchio and DeFalco respectively and once everyone was fully settled in disputes emerged over which way the series should go. It is not unusual for new management to not agree with or stick to what their predecessors had agreed and this has led to many a dispute. This is not the last time we'll be encountering Englehart's writing in a rather extended departure from Marvel and we'll see a number of effects of this departure as we go.

Here the main effect is the enforced writing out of Crystal from the team as her family, the Royal Family of the Inhumans, turn up and simply demand she return to her husband and family on the Moon. It is a very blunt assertion of authority perhaps reflecting the behind the scenes struggle and the result is a battle between the Four and the Royal Family. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary arrives on the Moon seeking to steal the mutagenic Terrigen Mist to advance his schemes. This leads to a brief encounter with Uatu the Watcher in which the whole event so far is recapped (hence why the disconnect between the order of the lead and back-up strips stands out) though a few errors appear in recapping the events of New Mutants Annual #4 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22. The battle between the Evolutionary's forces and the Inhumans is fierce with Quicksilver taking a leadership role and turning the tide, earning redemption amongst his in-laws. In the aftermath Black Bolt tries a new tactic with Crystal and actually talks her into staying. The rest of the Four depart for home.

This annual is firmly wedged between issues of the regular series and so references to a quest into the Negative Zone to find a race of aliens called the Beyonders can be a little confusing to the visiting reader, as is an appearance by a second Watcher who seems about to reveal where the Evolutionary and his forces have teleported away to until Uatu suddenly intervenes to stop him. But in general this story manages to work well as a big development for the team and stand alone sufficiently well. However as the first chapter of The Evolutionary War in which the High Evolutionary has taken an active role in the field it's a surprisingly low key encounter with the battle serving more to drive the character developments for Quicksilver than to seriously advance the lead villain's plans.


2nd story: Crystal
Story: Edward L. Norton
Breakdowns: Jackson Guice
Finishes: Jose Marzan
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Chief: Tom DeFalco

"Edward L. Norton" has a history of being used as a pseudonym in various Marvel issues. Here it hints at the dispute over the series. This is a very odd little story where the dialogue and pictures rarely seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet, suggesting a significant rewrite. It would appear that this story was meant to establish Crystal agreeing to go with the Fantastic Four to see out their quest with the Beyonders but was instead rewritten so that she stays permanently on the Moon with Quicksilver and the Inhumans. In story Crystal is even told that she is expected to look as though she likes living with her husband to set a public example. It's hard to not think of real life Royals also forced into such public displays of affection despite private strife even though this annual came out a few years before some of the most famous revelations.

Quicksilver had been on an odd character journey through the 1980s in large part because Englehart didn't agree with him being a hero and not always accepting other writers' attempts to row the character back. So at times he was written as mad and other times this was explained as the influence of the insane Inhuman Maximus the Mad only for later Englehart stories to revert the character to villainy. Here he's shown regaining his speed powers which had been temporarily constrained by a mental block but he's also shown acting suspiciously when at the end of the story he leaks details of the Fantastic Four's quest to none other than Doctor Doom. The dialogue has him stating that he wants revenge on Kristoff, the other Doom who is currently ruling Latveria, and that an empowered Doom is best placed to defeat him but this reads so oddly that it is almost certainly a rewrite of the script working against the dialogue.

As a result we're left with a short story that's trying to settle Crystal back into married life but it just doesn't hold together well because of all the conflicting forces pulling on it.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: Silver and Crimson
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Ron Lim
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez & Joe Albelo
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

This is more of a straightforward single incident chapter as Herbert Edgar Wyndham finally encounters the Werewolf that killed Merriam Drew and creates his armour in order to protect himself in future encounters then captures it when it later invades the citadel. However it seems to have driven away the Moloids for good. The biggest developments come in side moments as we learn that Jonathan Drew has departed in grief, even though he has left his daughter behind in suspended animation, and that the uranium mine has generated enough wealth to buy the most advanced technology and expertise available.

It's a good attempt to explain just how a man from the 1930s could have come up with all the long-term technology the High Evolutionary has been shown to have over the years but it does ring a little hollow to suggest the solution was merely wealth. However the alternative would have required adding either another mysterious benefactor or some alien influence which doesn't quite fit with the character's outlook. Otherwise this chapter is straightforward and the only real problem is the out of sequence printing.

Other material includes a pin-up gallery by Keith Pollard and Joe Sinnott of the Fantastic Four and other key characters including the Invisible Woman (who expresses her surprise at some recent letters to the comic) and Crystal who declares "I'll never leave again!" with an editor's note explaining "this feature was compiled before the astounding events of this issue". It's another sign of the conflict over the direction of this series. Sadly this conflict means the annual as a whole is a rather disappointing package even though the lead story works well on its own.