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Fantastic Four (1961) #215-218, 220-221
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne, Vol. 0
Even before his phenomenal FF run, John Byrne was shaping the World Greatest Super-Team's destiny whenever he could get his hands on them! Tales from three titles, featuring the FF vs. the Frightful Four, the Human Torch vs. the Super-Skrull and the Thing vs. himself! Time travel, evolution and the fate of HERBIE! (Remember him?) Guest-starring Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel and Dazzler! Collecting MARVEL TEAM-UP #61-62, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #50, and FANTASTIC FOUR #215-218 and #220-221.
200 pages, Paperback
First published February 4, 2009
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About the author
John Byrne
2,954 books359 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 24, 2016
Before John Byrne started his classic run of Fantastic Four (in #232, collected in volume 1 of Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne), he had a first briefer run on the title as penciller. Now, the first six issues of that run (#209–214) are not included in this volume, which admittedly makes it a bit iffy as a Visionaries volume 0 goes, but those issues can be found in
Fantastic Four: In Search of Galactus
(together with the non-Byrne pencilled issued leading up to those issues), so perhaps that is all right, all the same.
This volume instead opens with Marvel Team-Up #61–62, written by Claremont (and pencilled by Byrne), in which Spider-Man battles the Super-Skrull, first assisted by the Human Torch and then by Ms. Marvel. This two-parter is interesting partly because of the fact that while Byrne has done at least a few Super-Skrull stories (Alpha Flight and Namor, the Sub-Mariner leaps to mind), he never used the character in his lengthy run on the FF (despite being an outspoken fan of the character).
The Super-Skrull story is followed by a time travel story, where the present day Thing battles a past incarnation of himself. This story first appeared Marvel Two-in-One #50 and is both written and pencilled by Byrne.
After this, the volume continues Byrne FF pencilling run, picking up where In Search of Galactus left off (i.e. starting with issue #215). This in turn opens with a two-parter written by Bill Mantlo (with story credit to Marv Wolfman on the first part) in which the FF has to fight Blastaar, the living bombburst, and also deal with a godlike being who calls himself the Futurist.
Mantlo has penned two more stories. First one in which the FF has to go up against the robot Herbie and the entire Baxter Building (#217), and then one in which the Frightful Four (consisting of the Wizard, the Trapster, the Sandman and Electro in this incarnation) attacks the Baxter Building, and in which Spider-Man also guest stars (#218).
The volume then skips issue #219, which introduced the new creative team of Doeg Moench (writer) and Bill Sienkiewicz (penciller), while including a brief recap of its publication history and content, and concludes by moving directly to issues #220–221 which feature Byrne's first FF story that he both wrote and pencilled. It is a nice little science fiction two-parter, original intended as a promotional comic, but which truly shows Byrne's great understanding of the team and its characters (something that his lengthy run that followed shows even more clearly).
As a bonus, there is an included cover gallery, featuring no less than five Byrne drawn covers which are all homages to that of Fantastic Four #1. These are FF #264, Marvel Age #14, Avengers West Coast #54, What If? # 36 and X-Men: The Hidden Years # 20.
All in all, this is a fun compilation and highly enjoyable. It should, however, not be mistaken for Byrne's later run as writer/artist.
This volume instead opens with Marvel Team-Up #61–62, written by Claremont (and pencilled by Byrne), in which Spider-Man battles the Super-Skrull, first assisted by the Human Torch and then by Ms. Marvel. This two-parter is interesting partly because of the fact that while Byrne has done at least a few Super-Skrull stories (Alpha Flight and Namor, the Sub-Mariner leaps to mind), he never used the character in his lengthy run on the FF (despite being an outspoken fan of the character).
The Super-Skrull story is followed by a time travel story, where the present day Thing battles a past incarnation of himself. This story first appeared Marvel Two-in-One #50 and is both written and pencilled by Byrne.
After this, the volume continues Byrne FF pencilling run, picking up where In Search of Galactus left off (i.e. starting with issue #215). This in turn opens with a two-parter written by Bill Mantlo (with story credit to Marv Wolfman on the first part) in which the FF has to fight Blastaar, the living bombburst, and also deal with a godlike being who calls himself the Futurist.
Mantlo has penned two more stories. First one in which the FF has to go up against the robot Herbie and the entire Baxter Building (#217), and then one in which the Frightful Four (consisting of the Wizard, the Trapster, the Sandman and Electro in this incarnation) attacks the Baxter Building, and in which Spider-Man also guest stars (#218).
The volume then skips issue #219, which introduced the new creative team of Doeg Moench (writer) and Bill Sienkiewicz (penciller), while including a brief recap of its publication history and content, and concludes by moving directly to issues #220–221 which feature Byrne's first FF story that he both wrote and pencilled. It is a nice little science fiction two-parter, original intended as a promotional comic, but which truly shows Byrne's great understanding of the team and its characters (something that his lengthy run that followed shows even more clearly).
As a bonus, there is an included cover gallery, featuring no less than five Byrne drawn covers which are all homages to that of Fantastic Four #1. These are FF #264, Marvel Age #14, Avengers West Coast #54, What If? # 36 and X-Men: The Hidden Years # 20.
All in all, this is a fun compilation and highly enjoyable. It should, however, not be mistaken for Byrne's later run as writer/artist.
June 14, 2025
And overall just okay collection of fantastic Four stories. Half of these aren't even written by John Byrne, so it's more for just his art. None of these stories are bad or anything, but none of them hit their stride. Other than the one story with Franklin Richards. That is pretty good, but not even written by Jon. I'm eager to actually get into his run and see what all the fuss is about, but this is more like a 2.5 out of 5.
December 13, 2016
This transitional phase of the FF never really rises above mediocre for even a full issue, but there are some highlights here. The Thing vs. Thing issue from Marvel Two-in-One is fantastic and the best issue here. Byrne's opening splash on 217 is a great departure from house style. The first half of 218 is told from the perspective of the Trapster, which is fun and a fresh take. And Byrne's two issue arc in 220 and 221 is a well executed Silver Age style concept despite being one issue's worth of ideas.
On the down side, Blastaar is dumb, the Futurist is really dumb and evil HERBIE is just stupid dumb.
On the down side, Blastaar is dumb, the Futurist is really dumb and evil HERBIE is just stupid dumb.
June 16, 2018
Maybe two stars is a little harsh. I mean, it's Volume 0. That screams "filler material" if anything ever did. And that's pretty much what this is. Collections of tales that Mr. Byrne mostly just drew, but there are a few he wrote as well, towards the end. They are fun enough, but not really the material that I was looking for. (I'm sure that is somewhere in Volume 1.)
I would only recommend this for hard core fans or if you have a general appreciation of comics. Not to someone I would want to introduce to his (John Byrne) material on this book.
I would only recommend this for hard core fans or if you have a general appreciation of comics. Not to someone I would want to introduce to his (John Byrne) material on this book.
January 19, 2021
Eu caí no golpe.
Essa edição zero reúne algumas histórias em que o Byrnezão da massa participou antes de começar a fazer a função toda no Quarteto. A grande maioria é medíocre, as outras nem para medíocre servem, tem aquela qualidade duvidosa do fim dos anos 70.
A única história que tem algum potencial é a em que o Coisa viaja para o passado para não ser mais o Coisa, mas fica por isso mesmo.
Só fiquei com uma dúvida: se quem tem de ficar com vergonha disso é a Marvel que vende ou se sou eu que compro?
Essa edição zero reúne algumas histórias em que o Byrnezão da massa participou antes de começar a fazer a função toda no Quarteto. A grande maioria é medíocre, as outras nem para medíocre servem, tem aquela qualidade duvidosa do fim dos anos 70.
A única história que tem algum potencial é a em que o Coisa viaja para o passado para não ser mais o Coisa, mas fica por isso mesmo.
Só fiquei com uma dúvida: se quem tem de ficar com vergonha disso é a Marvel que vende ou se sou eu que compro?
April 30, 2024
Classic Fantastic Four stories with a legendary artist
These are the reprinted stories of the Fantastic Four drawn by legendary penciler/ comic artist John Byrne. For me, these stories are nostalgic and remind me of elementary school. However, besides nostalgia, it's not John Byrne's best Fantastic Four work. That would be later. You do see his art style develop into what it would become the drawings in the X-men comic. He would later return to the Fantastic Four as the writer/artist .
These are the reprinted stories of the Fantastic Four drawn by legendary penciler/ comic artist John Byrne. For me, these stories are nostalgic and remind me of elementary school. However, besides nostalgia, it's not John Byrne's best Fantastic Four work. That would be later. You do see his art style develop into what it would become the drawings in the X-men comic. He would later return to the Fantastic Four as the writer/artist .
July 26, 2021
This is something of a mixed bag of issues - Marv Wolfman is changing out for a few issues of Bill Mantlo, then it was John Byrne's 'test run' before being given the book full time - but the stories are solid FF fare of the time period (though Bill Mantlo's handling of the back half of Marv Wolfman's last story was lackluster). I've always loved the Spider-Man crossover issue as well, just for the rare times when the FF faces costumed super villains.
December 18, 2017
Decent but slightly uneven collection. Byrne does the drawing, mostly. There are a few issues of his plotting and they stand above the others.
September 23, 2018
Fun but a little too much of the same sort thing.
April 1, 2019
These are solid stories for the most part, but there's nothing here that's very interesting and certainly nothing to suggest how good the book would be once Byrne took over completely.
December 8, 2019
A mixed bag of bronze age FF, but that “Dark HERBIE” issue by Bill Mantlo where Johnny dates Dazzler is a real hidden gem. (Sure do wish Joe Sinnott had inked Byrne’s whole FF run!)
June 27, 2023
A fun mix of FF stories. No surprise, but the Byrne scripted stuff tends to pop a little more. Loved the Kirby nods in the final story.
July 18, 2024
Superb! The Marvel Team-Up issues are Claremont/Byrne in their prime. Every single story is a winner, especially the Blastaar/ Futurist "arc" in the main title.
June 28, 2013
Much more cohesive than many of the artistic visionary volumes, though there were nonetheless a lot of hands working on this volume. The initial Chris Claremont story from Marvel Team-Up is a big fight with a deus ex machina at the end, e.g., not very interesting [3/10]. The Marvel Two-In-One issue which marks Byrne's writing debut is a big fight, but with a fun premise [6/10]. Marv Wolfman's two issues about Blaastar and the Futurist should share flaws with Claremont's work, since they're likewise slugfist with a deus ex machina. However, Wolfman's clever juggling of the plots combined with much better scripting and dialogue raise the story up [6/10]. The sequel by Bill Mantlo about HERBIE is even better, nicely mixing an enemy within with, nice continuity, and a great ending--some of that apparently supplied by Wolfman [7/10]. Unfortunately when Mantlo writes a story of the Frightful Four on his own, the results are more mediocre [5/10]. Byrne's story that ends the volume is unfortunately pretty mediocre--though it has a nice ending--probably due to its origins as a promo comic.
January 30, 2018
I enjoyed this look back at John Byrne's initial foray into the Fantastic Four. He came in just after the whole Skrull aging ray/Galactus storyline and moved them into their next phase. His run started with a battle against Blastaar and an evolved scientist, involved a pitched battle with the Frightful Four (with Electro as their current fourth) alongside Spiderman, an encounter with aliens bent on altering the planet's magnetic poles and a fight to the death against- - Herbie the Robot?!?
Well worth reading- this was the first family of superheroes during a simpler time (no Civil War, no Skrull invasion) and I remember these stories from when I collected comics as a boy.
Well worth reading- this was the first family of superheroes during a simpler time (no Civil War, no Skrull invasion) and I remember these stories from when I collected comics as a boy.
August 9, 2014
3.5 stars
Collection of early issues from the late 70s-early 80s that provide a test run for John Byrne's easy ability to play with Lee-Kirby's toys. The Marvel 2-in-1 story about the time traveling Thing is particularly fun and points towards his later exploration in the subject.
Collection of early issues from the late 70s-early 80s that provide a test run for John Byrne's easy ability to play with Lee-Kirby's toys. The Marvel 2-in-1 story about the time traveling Thing is particularly fun and points towards his later exploration in the subject.
August 26, 2015
Než se Byrne pustil do psaní FF ve velkém, střihnul si několik kraťasů (a některé jen kreslil).
Hodně se mi líbil Marvel Two-in-One #50, kde se Thing popere s Thingem z minulosti (rubačka), příběh s Frightful Four a samozřejmě to, co provedli s televizním Herbiem. Zbytek je zábavný průměr - 3,5*
Hodně se mi líbil Marvel Two-in-One #50, kde se Thing popere s Thingem z minulosti (rubačka), příběh s Frightful Four a samozřejmě to, co provedli s televizním Herbiem. Zbytek je zábavný průměr - 3,5*
September 23, 2016
Oh, the more simple times of clean and simple superhero fun.
I remember the first time I read these stories and they were best ever, but apparently I have grown up at least a bit, because now these stories were nothing more than a nice nostalgic trip.
Good art Byrne provides, that must be said.
I remember the first time I read these stories and they were best ever, but apparently I have grown up at least a bit, because now these stories were nothing more than a nice nostalgic trip.
Good art Byrne provides, that must be said.
December 30, 2015
Some ideas that would be fully fleshed out in Byrne's epic run but a little scrappy as they're basically fill ins. Spider-man and Torch/Ms Marvel remains a highlight.
February 14, 2020
A hodge-lodge collection of FF stuff from right before took Byrne over the title.
Nothing earth-shaking, just a mix of decent little time wasters.
Nothing earth-shaking, just a mix of decent little time wasters.
June 13, 2011
Fun and light hearted. The family feeling of the four shines through.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews