Fantastic Four 323 - Inferno

Kang travels into the Inferno of New York as part of his plan to steal a weapon buried in California.

Fantastic Four #323

Story: Steve Englehart
Pencils: Keith Pollard
Inks: Romeo Tanghal
Letters: Ghastly J. Workman
Colors: George Roussos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Fantastic Four or rather Three encounter Mantis as she searches for help to find her child which they offer once they have ascertained the situation in New York can be handled. Meanwhile Kang the Conqueror is seeking a powerful weapon created by a Celestial buried in California and plans to use Mantis's power as the Celestial Madonna to secure it. However she has lost this power and so he has to try other ways with the Three pursuing him to California and attacking as the Human Torch's power gets out of control.

Why isn't Kang a Fantastic Four villain? He made his debut in the series under the identity of the time travelling Pharaoh Rama-Tut. It was originally suggested that he was a descendent of Doctor Doom or even perhaps a future incarnation of Doom himself. Later it was revealed that he was from a parallel timeline that had been influenced by the intervention of Nathaniel Richards, Reed's father, who became an alternative candidate for the ancestor with Kang's real name revealed to be Nathaniel Richards. But instead the character got used in Avengers where he got his best known name and appearance and rarely ventured outside it. Prior to this issue his sole encounters with the Fantastic Four have been restricted to a cameo in an annual when just about every villain in the fledgling Marvel universe tried to attack Reed and Sue's wedding or a single story in the Human Torch/Thing strip in Strange Tales. Otherwise he had mainly been in Avengers but did sometimes turn up in other series. It's odd as a time travelling dictator who is the descendent of either the Four's archenemy or else of the (usual) leader's father would surely be a natural foe to turn to. But instead he has rarely come to these pages and here the attraction is not so much the team (who currently lack any of the Richards clan) but rather his pursuit of Mantis and Steve Englehart's continued attempts to tell her story.

(Later on in the mid 1990s the Fantastic Four did indeed get another foe who is a time travelling future dictator descended from the family. But I seem to be about the only reader who liked Hyperstorm. And he's also connected to another prominent Marvel family who are not known to have encountered him yet.)

As discussed previously on Fantastic Four Annual #21 (and more briefly on Silver Surfer Annual #1 and West Coast Avengers Annual #3) this was a period of prolonged behind the scenes struggle between Steve Englehart and his editors on all three titles with disagreement over the direction they should go in and the use of particular characters such as Mantis. Consequently after leaving West Coast Avengers he transferred his plans to Fantastic Four hence the use of traditional Avengers villains both last issue and this one. It would appear that Englehart had also planned a semi-crossover with Avengers as Kang is here seeking the same goal as Nebula over in the Fall of the Avengers storyline and working sneakily to avoid the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. The result of all this is that the Three are all too clearly wandering through someone's else's storyline and despite the "Inferno continues" triangle on the cover this issue is only very tangentially related to the crossover with a minor encounter with living parking meters and Kang commenting on how he can use the dimensional upheavals to slip in undetected by his counterparts being the only significant features. The Torch initially thinks his problems with controlling his flame power are down to the effects of Inferno but the problems continue even out on the west coast.

Combined with some poor art that seems to be a consequence of new inker Romeo Tanghal struggling with both the Thing and Ms Marvel the result is that this really doesn't feel like an issue of Fantastic Four or an Inferno crossover. Instead it is hard to disguise that it is supposed to be a West Coast Avengers storyline with even the California location retained. Also if editorial was closing in on Mantis then it would have helped to accelerate the telling of her story but instead things continue to drag out with Kang's intervention feeling more of a distraction than an advancement of the plot. This issue is forgettable.

Fantastic Four 322 - Inferno

A battle breaks out between two fundamental forces.

Fantastic Four #322

Story: Steve Englehart
Pencils: Keith Pollard
Finishes: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Workman
Colors: George Roussos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Chief: Tom DeFalco

Graviton is flying the chunk of Earth that had been his base back towards the planet as he reflects on how he survived an encounter with the West Coast Avengers. In New York the remaining three members of the Fantastic Four - the Thing (Ben Grimm), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) and Ms Marvel (Sharon Ventura) - tackle mailboxes, bins and bikes that have all come to life. A rogue Watcher observes from high up in the Empire State Building as Graviton arrives in the city, encounters the demons and reflects on how his power could prevent the merger of two separate dimensions. But before he can decide to do it or not Ben and Sharon attack with Johnny soon joining. Graviton quickly overcomes them and is crushing them with his power when the Torch tries again and challenges the fundamental force of gravity with the equally fundamental force of fire using temperature changes to keep Graviton off balance until Ben knocks him out. The observing Watcher notes how Ben did what he thought was right but stopped Graviton from dealing with the wider threat. Meanwhile Johnny finds it a little harder to turn off his flame.

This issue is an interesting staging post. As has been discussed in some of the other reviews and elsewhere on the web it was around this time that Steve Englehart had big disputes with his editors that resulted in him leaving West Coast Avengers, Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer one by one, and also trying to transfer key plots and ideas from one title to another. Here this only manifests with the use of Graviton, a hitherto Avengers foe who was seemingly being built up to be one of the main recurring enemies for the West Coast team, with the bigger transfer coming in the next issue. What's a more notable sign of editorial disputes at this stage is that the Fantastic Four have been numerically inaccurate for several issues now since the departure of Crystal in the annual and no fourth member has yet come forward.

Also notable is the way that Inferno is only used as a small backdrop at this stage with a few demons and animated objects running around and Graviton's consideration of trying to stop the dimensions merging is more theoretical than a driving plot point. Instead this is a character and action issue as the Three try to take down Graviton upon seeing him and considering their current situation. There's a scene where Sharon and Ben reflect on how her appearance is changing from leathery skin to a rockier form much as Ben's did in the past. Although this follows the pattern with the Thing it must also have been a relief for the artists to make Sharon a little easier to draw - especially as Ben's current "pineapple" look must have been a nightmare and probably wasn't designed or agreed with long-term use in mind. Ben tells Sharon that there may be a way for her to change back as there was once for him but a mental block was in the way. However although it's not explicitly said it seems Sharon has come to terms with her current form making Ben's comments feel crass.

This was Joe Sinnott's final issue of the series. His first was as early as #5 and he'd been the series's regular inker for most of the period since #44 bar the John Byrne years (when Byrne did his own inking). He would switch to Thor for a few years before retiring (although he continued to do the Spider-Man newspaper strip until it ended in 2019) so it's a pity that he left on such a flat issue that doesn't feature the traditional line-up when there was editorial pressure to go back to it. This is unfortunately just an example of how crossovers often mandate an excessive number of issues with some such as these forgettable.

New Mutants Annual 4 - Inferno Prologue/The Evolutionary War

The High Evolutionary seeks to remove the powers of particular mutants...

New Mutants Annual #4

1st story: Mind Games
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: June Brigman
Inker: Bob McLeod
Letterer: John Workman
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editors: Ann Nocenti & Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Mutants are the next stage in human evolution and so it's natural they will attract the attention of the High Evolutionary sooner rather than later. Here his plan is to remove the powers of high level mutants through the use of a machine that can strip them of their powers. In the process we get a subtle explanation for some of the inconsistencies in the event.

The Evolutionary himself is shown as sympathetic to mutants and not wishing to kill them but the same cannot be said for some of his subordinates including Dr Stack and Major Purge. Given the scale of the Evolutionary's overall plans it's unsurprising that many individual tasks are handled by underlings but he doesn't seem to have realised just how dangerous some of them are. This disparity in goals can help to explain some of the variation in the overall story as well as showing potential problems for further down the line.

After having captured and depowered the mutants Glow Worm and Bulk from an early X-Factor adventure the Evolutionary's Purifiers turn their attention to Magma (Amara), now living in Nova Roma and hating the prospect of an arranged marriage. The Hellion Empath is with her and there's a clear confirmation from Purifiers' scans that Empath is subconsciously using his power on Amara without perhaps realising it. Elsewhere at least some of the New Mutants suspect the power is being used but seem very relaxed about it. This can't be dismissed as an "of its time" blunder since this came out not longer after the West Coast Avengers storyline where Mockingbird was drugged and seduced by the Phantom Rider against her free will. At this point they are completely grounded by Magneto who also bans them from using their powers without supervision, still angry about how Doug Ramsey died. But this has never stopped them and news of Amara's kidnapping results in the New Mutants sneaking off to rescue her whilst Emma Frost recruits allies in the Hellfire Club including Magneto.

The battle in the Purifiers' base is straightforward bar a moment when Mirage (Danielle) gets caught in the depowering machine. Before she can even realise she's lost her powers a dying Bulk and Glow Worm give their last breaths to reverse the effect. When Mirage comes round the images she creates are now solid and the New Mutants are able to rescue Amara and escape just before Magneto and the Hellfire Club arrive.

This is the best chapter of The Evolutionary War so far as it manages to use the overall event well in order to generate a small but significant change for the regular series. Mirage has long suffered from fairly weak powers and a limited opportunity to build up her leadership skills so it's understandable that multiple writers have sought to beef her up whether through making her a Valkyrie or now making her illusions solid. That she cannot get rid of them without making another also adds a constraint to their use. Otherwise this is a good showcase for all the characters in the series at this stage, showing how Magneto is trying to do his best to protect his students but alienating them in the process, how the New Mutants themselves are easily getting round the restrictions placed on them, how Illyana is becoming ever more ruthless in sending foes to Limbo and also how Amara is adapting to life back home. This is just the sort of showcase a crossover chapter should be.


2nd story: If Wishes Were Horses
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: June Brigman
Inker: Roy Richardson
Letterer: John E. Workman Jr
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

This is a surprisingly long tale at 15 pages considering the brevity of the story material. It could easily have become an issue of the regular series with plenty of space for subplots but instead it appears here as character and art showcase as we get a Mirage solo tale in which she discovers more about her newly changed powers and how best to handle them. There's plenty of comedy as her powers go wrong such as when they create a mate for Brightwind whilst she's flying on him and so gets thrown off or an encounter with a police officer who tries to make sense of all the weird things going on, first wondering if he's on a prankster television show and then assuming he's encountering aliens. This leads to an especially good moment when Brightwind reappears and firmly confronts the officer until he releases Mirage.

Otherwise this is primarily about Mirage steadily working out how to make use of her new powers that pull images out of people's heads and bring them to life as now solid objects and also how they won't disappear until she creates another. It's a good idea but it feels like it just takes up too many pages even though the story ends with Magneto returning home in a good mood and admitting to his students that he can be harsh at times. Overall this is okay but I wonder what else could have appeared had this been cut down to a more natural length.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: Blood Drawn, Blood Spilt
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Ron Lim
Inks: Jim Sinclair
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The saga continues as we start ploughing through the various characters whose backstories have been tied to Mount Wundagore. So in the space of one day we see how the Drew family fell apart when the future Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) collapsed whilst playing with clay with the future Puppet Master (Phillip Masters) and was subjected to an experimental spider-serum in the hope of saving her from radiation poisoning before arguments about further treatments caused her mother Merriem to go for a walk where she was killed with the prime suspect appearing to be the father of the Werewolf. It's a sudden rush but in just six pages it's a reminder of just how many different characters had been given ties to the mountain and/or Mount Wundagore. But it also establishes a devious side to Herbert Edgar Wyndham as he repeatedly places keeping the Moloids above other concerns, refusing to investigate them despite being a scientist and hiding the true cause of Merriem Drew's death from her husband out of fear that Jonathan will blame the Moloids and attack them. Wyndham swears to make the true murderer pay and in doing so his driven ruthless nature is further established. However the saga could really benefit from some footnotes as some of the character names are obscure and others reference relatives of heroes so the connections aren't always obvious.


There are no pin-ups or other features in the annual which is a pity as a further introduction could have helped to sell the series to readers passing through due to The Evolutionary War. But overall this is a solid book with excellent artwork and a clear solid plot that makes it important to the ongoing series narrative and not a mere side event.