Fantastic Four Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 5 Paperback – January 1, 2005

This book contained some of the last issues i needed to complete me Byrne run on the Fantastic Four (issues #232-294)...I had read these books when they first came out back in th early 1980's but, had forgotten just how good a tale 'ol John B. spins. These are more of the She-Hulk issues, which are the breath of fresh air for the roster of the FF after years of the same old.My favorite issues reprinted here are #268 the lead story, featuring Doc Ock, Bruce Banner/the Hulk (when he had Banners brain in the early 80's), Morbius the living vampire, Walter Langkowski/ Sasquatch, the origin of he She Hulk, and some heart rending moments. Issues #269-270 the Terminus issues.I always disliked comic companies resorting to using the old universal monsters in their comics and I didn't dislike it any less when Byrne did it in FF #274 and Thing #19 books that, in my opinion, stunk up this graphic novel, one or both of these could have been omitted and I would not have cared. I just skip over these two issues when re-reading.

Prompt service, book as described, everything I hope for in a transaction.

While I still enjoyed volume 5 of John Byrne's Fantastic Four run, it just didn't blow me away like volumes 2-4. I think it may have been the issues of The Thing included here. They kinda felt like filler stories to me. In this volume you get:Issue #268: Picking up after last issue's tragic end, Johnny and She-Hulk do battle with Doom's mask in the Baxter building. Could Doom still be alive?Annual #18: The wedding of Black Bolt and Medusa, plus the conclusion of the Kree-Skrull war.Issues #269-270: Reed and She-Hulk travel out west to visit Wyatt Wingfoot, and encounter Terminus! Plus, the relationship between Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters starts to heat upIssue #271: Reed Richards' birthday. Reed has a flashback to an adventure that happened before the creation of the Fantastic Four.Issues #272-273: The Fantastic Four travel through time to find Reed's long-lost father!Thing #19: The Thing battles monsters while still on the Beyonder's planetIssue #274: The conclusion of the two-part Thing storyIssue #275: She-Hulk goes up against a sleazy magazine publisherLike I said before; while not as good as the previous volumes, there are still some great stories here. My favorites stories here were issues #271-273, and issue # 275.

John Byrne breathes new life into the Fantastic Four by replacing Thing with She-Hulk. With great, highly classic stories in the previous paperback, it's time to take the team in new directions.We begin with a story called "Masque of Doom", which proves that even though Dr. Doom has been killed like 86 times in Marvel comics (I'm exaggerating slightly), he never really, truly stays dead. Next is the wedding of Black Bolt & Medusa, which seems included because Byrne has done stories with the Inhumans in previous issues. Byrne takes the team into new directions beginning with issues 269 & 270- introducing the giant new menace called Terminus. It's a visually appealing (in my opinion) 2-issue conflict. This is followed by a deliberately Kirby-esque blast from the past in issue 271.The new direction continues with "Cowboys & Idioms" in issue 272. It's the first issue in yet another 2-part story, which Byrne has been using with great effect, that blends past, present & future, involving Reed's actual dad(!). Issues 274 & 275 are inked by Al Gordon, which officially indicates an artistic transition in this series, as Byrne had inked himself up to this point. It seems Byrne needed to lighten his workload a bit, since he had been penciling & inking both Fantastic Four & Alpha Flight every month for a little while now. Al Gordon's interesting inks are only seen on these two issues; the next paperback introduces Jerry Ordway as the regular inker on the series.My favorite issue here is 275, which pits She-Hulk vs. a very sleazy, skin-mag publisher. Yes, this issue is creative & famous: It's yet another reason why Byrne's run is often considered second only to Lee & Kirby. Interestingly, it also kind of serves as an unwitting preview to Byrne's quirky & fun run on She-Hulk in the late eigthies/early nineties. John Byrne & She-Hulk make an excellent team!Included in this volume:*Issue #268- John Byrne writes, pencils & inks*Annual #18- John Byrne plots; Mark Bright pencils; Mike Gustovich inks*Issue #269- John Byrne writes, pencils & inks*Issue #270- John Byrne writes, pencils & inks*Issue #271- John Byrne writes, pencils & inks*Issue #272- John Byrne writes, pencils & inks*Issue #273- John Byrne writes, pencils & inks*Thing #19- John Byrne writes; Ron Wilson breakdowns; Mike Gustovich finishes*Issue #274- John Byrne writes & pencils; Al Gordon inks*Issue #275- John Byrne writes & pencils; Al Gordon inks... my favorite here

John Byrne's run of Fantastic Four is probably the best next to the orignal Lee and Kirby run. This volume is not good as volumes 2-4 but has nice stuff like FF annual 18 with the wedding of Black Bolt and Medusa 269-270 our hreoes battle Terminus another cosmic juggernaut and 275 when She Hulk deals with a sleazy publisher. On the other hand the other stories werenot overwhelming especially the time travel cowboy stories in 272 and 273. Still worth owning especially if you like Byrne or the FF weakest volume so far

Great stories from a time when comic book storytelling was very different. My only complaint is the two stories that do not feature Byrne's art. There is such a strong and sudden shift that it is jarring but this is part of a complete run of FF and to leave it out would not tell the whole story. Kind of wish Marvel and Bryne would put aside their issues and we could see new Byrne art for the covers of these collections!

Great

en este cómic John Byrne empieza a hacer cambios profundos en Los 4 Fantásticos después de una etapa más clásica y más respetuosa con la tradición: primero sustituirá un miembro original, La Cosa, por otro que intentará adaptarse al grupo, Hulka, segundo Sue Storm empezará una evolución de cuestionarse su papel y finalmente y sobretodo John Storm encontrará la madurez relacionándose con Alicia Masters, la chica de La Cosatodas estas tramas que se incian en este volumen llegan a su desarrollo final en el volumen siguiente, en mi opinión la mejor etapa de John Byrne en Los 4 Fantásticos, donde las contradicciones entre los diferentes miembros del grupo se exteriorizan hasta el extremo: La Cosa pelea contra John Storm y Sue Storm contra Reed Richards