Cover Dates: December 1990, January 1991, & February 1991
On Sale Dates: October 1990, November 1990, & December 1990
Writer: Walt Simonson
Artist: Arthur Adams w/ Gracine Tanaka
Inker: Art Thibert & Al Milgrom
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-In-Chief: Tom DeFalco
On Sale Dates: October 1990, November 1990, & December 1990
Writer: Walt Simonson
Artist: Arthur Adams w/ Gracine Tanaka
Inker: Art Thibert & Al Milgrom
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-In-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Cover Artist: Arthur Adams
Another spaceship filled with Skrull warriors arrives in Earth's orbit, in pursuit of the woman who had crashed, another Skrull named De'Lila, who the warriors have vowed to kill. De'Lila has made her way to Four Freedoms Plaza, where she uses her shape-changing ability and a handheld neural disrupter to incapacitate the members of the Fantastic Four one by one. Only Mr. Fantastic is able to see through her disguise as his wife, but he too is defeated by the alien. The Skrulls, meanwhile, have been searching for Skrull-like lifesigns on the planet and are led to Monster Island, home to a variety of massive creatures. Using "slave-darts", the Skrulls take control of a number of the monsters and send them out to search for and flush out De'Lila for the Skrulls to find. This attracts the attention of the Mole Man, who lives beneath Monster Island and acts as protector of the monstrous island inhabitants.
Back in New York, De'Lila (still in her guise as the Invisible Woman) is searching the Fantastic Four's database to find heroes that she could dupe into helping her. She sees a news broadcast about the giant monsters attacking cities around the world and realizes that her pursuers have arrived on the planet. Later, Spider-Man arrives at Four Freedoms Plaza, following a psychic signal that has triggered his Spider-Sense. He finds both Wolverine and the Hulk on the street outside the building, both of them having received a similar psychic call. Suddenly, Ghost Rider races by and drives up the side of the building to the penthouse level, followed quickly by the other three heroes. There they find a distraught Susan Richards, who tells them a group of attackers have killed all of the Fantastic Four except for her, proving it by showing them the bodies of her family. She tells them that the monsters are being directed by the people who killed the FF, and unless they are found and stopped millions of people will die. Using a sub-photronic spectro-analyzer, which Reed Richards was able to encode the attackers' energy signature into before he died, Susan directs the four heroes to find them and stop them. Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, and Ghost Rider all agree to help, with Wolverine jokingly calling them "the new Fantastic Four".
Ghost Rider has previously met Spider-Man in Spider-Man (1990) # 7 and Wolverine in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 64-71. This is his first encounter with the Hulk.
CHAIN REACTION
Fantastic Four becomes "The World's Most Commercial Magazine!" with this 3-issue arc, spawning a concept that writers love to revive over and over again, even today.
I've never been much of a reader of the Fantastic Four, but the one period where I did read the series was when Walter Simonson was the writer, following up on his Thor and (lackluster) Avengers runs. It was a solid series, though again I'm not much of an expert on the FF or even if this run is fondly remembered, but this arc with Art Adams was undoubtedly Simonson's lasting contribution to the title. It's a parody through and through, even though it's taking itself somewhat seriously on the surface, of the then-widespread use of popular characters to increase sales on other titles. Characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider popped up all over new titles in the early 1990s, helping to shore up sales for books like Darkhawk and Sleepwalker. I'm honestly surprised the Punisher didn't make the cut for this story, though he does make a cameo at the end of the third chapter, because the Hulk wasn't in the popularity league of his three teammates here. I suppose they had to take what they could get to fill the Thing's role in the team? This was also one of the very first titles to acknowledge Ghost Rider's massive popularity after the character's 1990 revamp, and his inclusion alongside Spider-Man and Wolverine is something we definitely wouldn't see today (he'd likely be replaced by someone like Iron Man).
Anyway, pulling together Spider-Man, the Hulk, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine as the "NEW Fantastic Four!" was a brilliant idea, providing some really great satire on the guest-appearance trend. The FF series was likely not needing the sales boost, at the time it was still traditionally one of Marvel's better selling "B-titles", but I remember demand for this arc being through the roof when it was published. So the strategy that the comic was making fun of wound up working for it after all, which is hilarious to me. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this is a comic by Walt Simonson and Arthur freaking Adams, who are master storytellers in the comic medium. So even though this is decidedly tongue-in-cheek with its use of the guest-stars, it still reads very much like a Fantastic Four story, complete with continuing subplots from the previous arc. This isn't just a joke story, it has a pretty dense plot with some great cliffhangers between issues.
Let's talk about the artwork, because Arthur Adams remains one of my all-time favorite artists and this story is the one time he's drawn Ghost Rider (outside of a Marvel trading card from 1992, that is!). I've always maintained that Adams was the true originator of the burgeoning "Image style" of artwork made popular by Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, because it's all kinetic motion and speed lines with hyper-detailed line-work. Adams, though, never fails to tell the story clearly and dynamically, and he's great at expression and body language. The action with the heroes fighting the monsters in the sky and below in the Mole Man's tunnels are all captivating to look at. The best shot in the story, though, has to be Ghost Rider's entrance, when he races past the other heroes to drive straight up the side of Four Feedoms Plaza in this great diagonal half-page spread. Adams draws one great looking Ghost Rider.
That's about the best way to sum up this arc, it's brilliant on just about every level. Yes, it's overly-complicated and busy as all hell, but that's one of the main points. It's pure adventure comic crossed with witty satire that still somehow manages to take itself as a serious superhero story.
A spaceship flown by a lone alien female crash lands on Earth, with her barely escaping the ship before it explodes. She swears vengeance on those who have betrayed her. Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Fantastic Four, the members of the hero team (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Ms. Marvel, and Ben Grimm) are readjusting to their lives following an extended trip through time and space.
Another spaceship filled with Skrull warriors arrives in Earth's orbit, in pursuit of the woman who had crashed, another Skrull named De'Lila, who the warriors have vowed to kill. De'Lila has made her way to Four Freedoms Plaza, where she uses her shape-changing ability and a handheld neural disrupter to incapacitate the members of the Fantastic Four one by one. Only Mr. Fantastic is able to see through her disguise as his wife, but he too is defeated by the alien. The Skrulls, meanwhile, have been searching for Skrull-like lifesigns on the planet and are led to Monster Island, home to a variety of massive creatures. Using "slave-darts", the Skrulls take control of a number of the monsters and send them out to search for and flush out De'Lila for the Skrulls to find. This attracts the attention of the Mole Man, who lives beneath Monster Island and acts as protector of the monstrous island inhabitants.
Back in New York, De'Lila (still in her guise as the Invisible Woman) is searching the Fantastic Four's database to find heroes that she could dupe into helping her. She sees a news broadcast about the giant monsters attacking cities around the world and realizes that her pursuers have arrived on the planet. Later, Spider-Man arrives at Four Freedoms Plaza, following a psychic signal that has triggered his Spider-Sense. He finds both Wolverine and the Hulk on the street outside the building, both of them having received a similar psychic call. Suddenly, Ghost Rider races by and drives up the side of the building to the penthouse level, followed quickly by the other three heroes. There they find a distraught Susan Richards, who tells them a group of attackers have killed all of the Fantastic Four except for her, proving it by showing them the bodies of her family. She tells them that the monsters are being directed by the people who killed the FF, and unless they are found and stopped millions of people will die. Using a sub-photronic spectro-analyzer, which Reed Richards was able to encode the attackers' energy signature into before he died, Susan directs the four heroes to find them and stop them. Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, and Ghost Rider all agree to help, with Wolverine jokingly calling them "the new Fantastic Four".
Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and the Hulk depart Four Freedoms Plaza in the Fantasti-Car to search out the source of the giant monsters that are now causing chaos around the world. Aided by the sensor given to them by Susan Richards, who is grieving the murder of the rest of the Fantastic Four, the "New Fantastic Four" pick up on an energy source in the south and head that way. Back inside Four Freedoms Plaza, "Susan Richards" gloats about her plan; she is actually a Skrull fugitive named De'Lila. She searches through the FF's computer systems but is unable to find what she is looking for and decides to use Reed Richards to help her find it by holding his family hostage.
On Monster Isle, a ship full of Skrulls wait for news about De'Lila's whereabouts, having sent out the monsters of the island to flush the fugitive out of hiding. They are discovered by the Mole Man, who is angered that the monsters he protects are being used as slaves, and orders one of his giant creatures to fetch the spaceship. De'Lila wakes up Reed Richards and tells him to help her find the Technotroid, in the dormant shape of an egg, that will give her ultimate power. Using her telepathy and still in the form of his wife, De'Lila begins to influence Richards, causing him to fall in love with her.
The New FF come across an airliner being attacked by a winged monster and take steps to stop the beast. Using teamwork they are able to drive the monster away and rescue the plane. They follow the creature as it goes south into the Bermuda Triangle and discover Monster Isle, then use their vehicle to go underground through the hole left by the Skrull ship when it was taken by the Mole Man. Back in New York, Reed Richards discovers that the egg was found by a large creature and taken into a tunnel in the Catskills Mountains, which was then covered by an avalanche. Reed and De'Lila travel to the Catskills and find the tunnel, which she clears with her wrist-blaster.
On Monster Isle, the Mole Man confronts the Skrulls in his cavern while the New FF slowly approach. They come across the giant monster, who is carrying the Skrull ship away, and after passing it they are discovered by the Mole Man and his army of Moloids. They explain why they are there and Mole Man leads them to the Skrulls, who refuse to talk. Ghost Rider gives the Penance Stare to the Skrull captain and he explains about De'Lila, who is a terrorist fugitive they have been tasked to capture. The Skrulls notice that Spider-Man's scanner is a Skrull device that only De'Lila could have given to them, causing the heroes to realize they have been duped. At that moment, Reed and De'Lila arrive and the Hulk steps forward to grab her. Richards jumps to protect her, but the Hulk doesn't care, he thinks Reed is a Skrull just like her.
On Monster Isle, a ship full of Skrulls wait for news about De'Lila's whereabouts, having sent out the monsters of the island to flush the fugitive out of hiding. They are discovered by the Mole Man, who is angered that the monsters he protects are being used as slaves, and orders one of his giant creatures to fetch the spaceship. De'Lila wakes up Reed Richards and tells him to help her find the Technotroid, in the dormant shape of an egg, that will give her ultimate power. Using her telepathy and still in the form of his wife, De'Lila begins to influence Richards, causing him to fall in love with her.
The New FF come across an airliner being attacked by a winged monster and take steps to stop the beast. Using teamwork they are able to drive the monster away and rescue the plane. They follow the creature as it goes south into the Bermuda Triangle and discover Monster Isle, then use their vehicle to go underground through the hole left by the Skrull ship when it was taken by the Mole Man. Back in New York, Reed Richards discovers that the egg was found by a large creature and taken into a tunnel in the Catskills Mountains, which was then covered by an avalanche. Reed and De'Lila travel to the Catskills and find the tunnel, which she clears with her wrist-blaster.
On Monster Isle, the Mole Man confronts the Skrulls in his cavern while the New FF slowly approach. They come across the giant monster, who is carrying the Skrull ship away, and after passing it they are discovered by the Mole Man and his army of Moloids. They explain why they are there and Mole Man leads them to the Skrulls, who refuse to talk. Ghost Rider gives the Penance Stare to the Skrull captain and he explains about De'Lila, who is a terrorist fugitive they have been tasked to capture. The Skrulls notice that Spider-Man's scanner is a Skrull device that only De'Lila could have given to them, causing the heroes to realize they have been duped. At that moment, Reed and De'Lila arrive and the Hulk steps forward to grab her. Richards jumps to protect her, but the Hulk doesn't care, he thinks Reed is a Skrull just like her.
De'Lila uses her telepathy to convince the Mole Man and his minions to kill the Skrulls, but they are stopped by Ghost Rider, who puts a wall of hellfire between them to break the spell. De'Lila and Reed escape and a series of explosions separate the heroes from the Mole Man. While the real Fantastic Four are freed by Franklin Richards, De'Lila and Mr. Fantastic discover the egg of the Inorganic Technotroid, a synthetic entity that is bound to the Skrull Empress at their hatching in order to protect them. The heroes arrive and are blackmailed by De'Lila's threats of killing Reed into using teamwork to open the egg's shell. The Mole Man arrives with his army, wanting the egg for himself, but his attack is interrupted by the Fantastic Four's entrance. The egg is picked up by a giant monster just as it is hatching, and the Technotroid imprints on the monster. Mr. Fantastic defeats De'Lila's psychic hold on him, and before she can escape the Ghost Rider gives her the Penance Stare. The Mole Man, fearing what the heroes could do to his kingdom, help them and the Skrulls back to the surface, where the Punisher is passing by in a helicopter with intentions to help until he sees that the situation is already under control.
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| Ghost Rider pulling his weight. |
THE ROADMAP
Ghost Rider last appeared as a cameo in Code of Honor # 4, which was published in 1997 as a flashback mini-series. He appears next in Spider-Man/Fantastic Four (2010) # 3, another flashback mini-series which picks up immediately after the end of this story.
Ghost Rider has previously met Spider-Man in Spider-Man (1990) # 7 and Wolverine in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 64-71. This is his first encounter with the Hulk.
Dr. Strange reforms this team in Fantastic Four (1961) # 374 to capture a fugitive Human Torch.
CHAIN REACTION
Fantastic Four becomes "The World's Most Commercial Magazine!" with this 3-issue arc, spawning a concept that writers love to revive over and over again, even today.
I've never been much of a reader of the Fantastic Four, but the one period where I did read the series was when Walter Simonson was the writer, following up on his Thor and (lackluster) Avengers runs. It was a solid series, though again I'm not much of an expert on the FF or even if this run is fondly remembered, but this arc with Art Adams was undoubtedly Simonson's lasting contribution to the title. It's a parody through and through, even though it's taking itself somewhat seriously on the surface, of the then-widespread use of popular characters to increase sales on other titles. Characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider popped up all over new titles in the early 1990s, helping to shore up sales for books like Darkhawk and Sleepwalker. I'm honestly surprised the Punisher didn't make the cut for this story, though he does make a cameo at the end of the third chapter, because the Hulk wasn't in the popularity league of his three teammates here. I suppose they had to take what they could get to fill the Thing's role in the team? This was also one of the very first titles to acknowledge Ghost Rider's massive popularity after the character's 1990 revamp, and his inclusion alongside Spider-Man and Wolverine is something we definitely wouldn't see today (he'd likely be replaced by someone like Iron Man).
Anyway, pulling together Spider-Man, the Hulk, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine as the "NEW Fantastic Four!" was a brilliant idea, providing some really great satire on the guest-appearance trend. The FF series was likely not needing the sales boost, at the time it was still traditionally one of Marvel's better selling "B-titles", but I remember demand for this arc being through the roof when it was published. So the strategy that the comic was making fun of wound up working for it after all, which is hilarious to me. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this is a comic by Walt Simonson and Arthur freaking Adams, who are master storytellers in the comic medium. So even though this is decidedly tongue-in-cheek with its use of the guest-stars, it still reads very much like a Fantastic Four story, complete with continuing subplots from the previous arc. This isn't just a joke story, it has a pretty dense plot with some great cliffhangers between issues.
Let's talk about the artwork, because Arthur Adams remains one of my all-time favorite artists and this story is the one time he's drawn Ghost Rider (outside of a Marvel trading card from 1992, that is!). I've always maintained that Adams was the true originator of the burgeoning "Image style" of artwork made popular by Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, because it's all kinetic motion and speed lines with hyper-detailed line-work. Adams, though, never fails to tell the story clearly and dynamically, and he's great at expression and body language. The action with the heroes fighting the monsters in the sky and below in the Mole Man's tunnels are all captivating to look at. The best shot in the story, though, has to be Ghost Rider's entrance, when he races past the other heroes to drive straight up the side of Four Feedoms Plaza in this great diagonal half-page spread. Adams draws one great looking Ghost Rider.
That's about the best way to sum up this arc, it's brilliant on just about every level. Yes, it's overly-complicated and busy as all hell, but that's one of the main points. It's pure adventure comic crossed with witty satire that still somehow manages to take itself as a serious superhero story.
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| Strut your stuff, GR! |
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