Missing Links: Fantastic Four #304

Fantastic Four #304
“Pressure Drop”
Story: Steve Englehart
Pencil art: John Buscema
Finished art: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Phil Felix
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Don Daley
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
Released: April 14, 1987

I've been having a blast reading Ryan North's run on “Fantastic Four,” and I'm looking forward to the new movie – which both my kids are going to watch with me – but these are just my latest go-rounds with Marvel's first family.

I believe I first got to know them, like so many other Marvel mainstays, in “Marvel Saga” #8, which recounted a host of landmark stories, including Spider-Man's attempt to join the FF in “Amazing Spider-Man” #1 and the team's first battle with the Hulk in the 12^th issue of their own title. It's possible I snagged an issue or two from the flea market, but the first contemporary issue I picked up from the newsstand* was FF #305.

I had to have been drawn in by that fantastic Ron Frenz cover on the left, including the Thing's torn costume and the crumbling corner of the rooftop, plus the idea that two heroes – two members of the same team! – were tangling. Undaunted by a triple-digit number on the cover, I dropped right into a story in which half the quartet (Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman) was leaving, and the two combatants on the front were going to have to build a new team. This coming on the heels of having learned the Hulk was now gray – what a time to be a young comic book fan!

I can't say for certain whether this was my first real exposure to Quicksilver, who was imprisoned at the FF's HQ and got put in his place by his ex-wife Crystal. But Pietro Maximoff was even more unlikable there than usual, and of course we were a few years off from Peter David making him relatable. (You can hear me, Jesse and Chris talk about that issue, "X-Factor" #87, here on the Unspoken Issues podcast.)

But how did we get here? Well, that I only learned recently, thanks to purchasing a while back and finally reading the previous issue.

You may notice the corner box** still has She-Hulk providing the muscle for the team in place of the ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing. But Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew is back in the fold and right there on the cover. As the story opens, he's doing the heavy-lifting while Mr. Fantastic sciences and the Invisible Woman keeps young Franklin Richards occupied. The Thing is in a mood, and we're about to find out why.

While he is back on the team, a major dynamic has changed. Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch and Ben's best frenemy, has married Alicia Masters! For years, the blind sculptor was the Lois Lane to Ben's Superman, but while he was away, she and Johnny got close.

The next few pages give us a rich recap that today's text summaries simply can't replicate. I don't know the nuts and bolts, but I know the FF have an 8-year-old who thinks he's Doctor Doom locked up for his own safety, Franklin got into some intergalactic hijinks with Power Pack of which his folks don't know the full extent and the Thing joined the West Coast Avengers before he started to mutate further. One fracas with the Mole Man later and he's back at Four Freedom's Plaza but not too happy about Johnny and Alicia's marriage.

Reed says he and Sue are planning to spend more time with Franklin and he wants Ben to take over leading the team. Ben figures it's a pity offer and goes off to stew some more. As Johnny and Alicia head out to look at an apartment, she disappears in a gust of wind. The Torch gives chase but soon figures out*** he's dealing with the mutant speedster Quicksilver.

As Mr. Fantastic prepares to open up a can of science to track their quarry, we see Quicksilver explaining his plot to Alicia. His marriage to Crystal went south when he was a jerk and she cheated on him with an insurance salesman, and he blames the Torch for... not fighting hard enough to win her back when she fell for Quicksilver. So for revenge... he's going to leave Johnny's blind bride tied up in the South Bronx, where she will “lie exposed to a hundred horrors you can't see, from rats to roving street gangs” and die a slow death.

Look, Steve Englehart has forgotten more about writing comics than I'll ever know. And maybe I am just unaware of how dire the situation was in New York when I was a kid, but... as villainous plots go, this isn't exactly a classic.

To be fair, Quicksilver does appear to be suffering a level of insanity that can best be described as comparable to the excrement of Bruce Wayne's spirit animal. Before his plan can advance, he's confronted by the FF, who found him by measuring the air quality to track the “fatigue poisons” he exhales while running.

I question Quicksilver's plot, but I love comic book science.

Contrary to popular belief, Quicksilver's primary weapon is not his condescending attitude, and his speed puts the Fantastic Four on their heels. It's the Thing who finally solves the problem, ripping up a makeshift ramp to send the speedster airborne. As Quicksilver tries to break his fall, Johnny delivers a mid-air, flamed-off punch to put the kibosh on him. Then Johnny frees Alicia and thanks Ben, who tells Reed and Sue he's ready to take over as leader.

OK, now I know how we got to point B in the next issue, which actually wasn't quite my start into semi-regular FF collecting. That came a few issues later when Crystal and Ms. Marvel, aka Sharon Ventura, who looked like a lady version of the Thing, were already established as the new members and the Thing kind of looked like a pineapple. Crazy times.

Reading this issue was a fun bit of new nostalgia, and the banner marking this as “a dynamite new era” for the team confirms it as a great starting point for my goal to collect every FF issue from about when I started reading to the Onslaught finale. Knowing the Alicia Johnny married was actually a Skrull makes her dialogue in this issue unfairly suspicious, as that reveal was made four years later by Tom DeFalco. I'm assuming Englehart – or whoever had Johnny and Alicia tie the knot – was originally going for more soapy drama than sci-fi swithceroo.

I'm not someone who dislikes contemporary comics. There's a lot of good stuff being published these days, at the Big Two and beyond. But there's little that hits for me these days quite like the heyday of the '80s and '90s – even through the eyes of a somewhat jaded adult fan – and Buscema's art feels like coming home. I'm still able to put myself in the position of watching these classic characters breaking then-new ground, and I look forward to reading and rereading more, even as I eagerly await the team's new stories under the masterful guidance of Mr. North.

* – By which I mean, in the '80s and '90s at least, the Waldenbooks at Mercer Mall.

** – Man, do I love a good corner box.

*** – I assume by checking the cover.