Books : Fantastic Four Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 8

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Rating:

- Better than I expected
This is actually one of my favorite editions in this series, right along with volumes 4 & 5. I'm a *huge* fan of anything Byrne did in '85-'86, which includes his 6+1 issue run on the Incredible Hulk, his covers for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition, his final issues of Alpha Flight & Fantastic Four, and of course his work on a certain Man of Steel.

My favorite issue here is #293- Byrne's last in his famous run. Iron Man, Wonderman & Tigra of the West Coast Avengers guest star- which I love since the first two also appear along with She-Hulk in Byrne's Incredible Hulk #316. The visual consistency between this final issue of Byrne's FF, and Byrne's great Hulk run is nice to see. I also like the issue's end, with a statue of the team in an iconic tribute. In issues 294 & 295, Jerry Ordway's pencils, Al Gordon's inks & the coloring also do a great job of maintaining visual consistency with issue 293, to finish this paperback in a fitting & seamless way.

There are other highlights here as well. The first few issues may be a little visually stiff, but issues 291-293 look quite a bit better. This edition begins with a 2-part story that touches on the great Terrax/ Dr. Doom/ Silver Surfer fight back in issue 260- volume 4 in this series. Nick Fury is then prominent, while Basilisk, Blastaar & Annihilus appear. The team travels back to New York in 1936, and manages to battle Hitler in issue 292(!). And I like some of the intricate perspective work Byrne draws in his backgrounds all throughout this edition. The Marvel Age #14 article has brief but great artwork as well.

All in all, Byrne's run on Fantastic Four was better than I expected. I was a fan of his Incredible Hulk issues long before I gave this series a chance. Now that I've bought all 8 volumes I can safely say: I'm actually glad I did!

Included in this volume:
*Issue #287- John Byrne writes & pencils; Joe Sinnot inks
*Issue #288- John Byrne writes & pencils; Joe Sinnot inks
*Issue #289- John Byrne writes & pencils; Al Gordon inks
*Issue #290- John Byrne writes & pencils; Al Gordon inks
*Issue #291- John Byrne writes & pencils; P. Craig Russel inks
*Issue #292- John Byrne writes & pencils; Al Gordon inks
*Issue #293- John Byrne writes & pencils; Al Gordon inks... my favorite here
*Issue #294- John Byrne plotter; Roger Stern writes; Jerry Ordway pencils; Al Gordon inks
*Issue #295- Roger Stern writes; Jerry Ordway pencils; Al Gordon inks
*Marvel Age #14 excerpt- an interview with John Byrne circa 1984

Rating:

- ...and that's that
Collecting Fantastic Four # 287-295, FANTASTIC FOUR VISIONARIES: JOHN BYRNE VOLUME 8 brings Byrne's run on the FF to an end... with a whimper. Byrne went from constructing mind-blowing works on par with Lee & Kirby's classic tales to scrambling for filler on this series, and in my opinion, the end didn't come soon enough. With the Thing off romping around in his own series, and his place filled by She-Hulk, the dynamic of the team was lost. Furthermore, the inclusion of an awkward Secret Wars II crossover with the Beyonder painfully shows that, for all the genius Byrne had exhibited on this title, he was ultimately just another cog in the mighty Marvel wheel. Unfortunately, other well-known creators came on board to assist with writing (Roger Stern) and penciling (Jerry Ordway), but worst of all is the run of fumbling inkers brought in to render Byrne's normally distinctive pencils almost unrecognizable.

Included here are a peril-fraught return to the Negative Zone with Nick Fury, the return (once again!) of Dr. Doom, and an encounter with Adolf Hitler, plus some related entries from the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. There are some cool story ideas here, and it's definitely an improvement over the content of Volume 7, but compared to the early work in this series, Volume 8 is unsatisfying. I have to give Marvel credit for reprinting all of John Byrne's FF work, but all this final collection serves to do is show how his run petered out.

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