Listen, this is one humdinger of a cover. Drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith, it effectively depicts the state of the Thing as it had been at this time…alienated and alone, divided from the rest of the Fantastic Four.
You would think the moodiness of the piece might be slightly diminished by Marvel’s 25th anniversary framing border, which appeared on all the Marvel comics around this time, showing a parade of celebratory heroes. If anything, it enhances the Thing’s isolation, his somber demeanor separating him from the party that literally surrounds him. Yes, the Thing is also in the border:
…which maybe undermines my point a little, but that is the Heroic Part-of-the-Team Thing, not the put-upon, feeling-his-inhumanity Thing.
In short, what I’m saying is this is a good cover, one that even leans into the forced company-wide cover layout to give it additional meaning. Was that Windsor-Smith’s intent? Probably not, but that’s how it works.
Anyway, this is an extra-sized issue, 64 pages or thereabouts, marking not only the 25th anniversary of the modern Marvel superhero universe, but the 25th anniversary of the comic what kicked it all off. It’s hard to believe now that there was ever a time the FF was around only for 25 years. I mean, I’ve been in the comic book business for nearly 38 years now, and I’m just trying to imagine the FF starting 13 years ago and hitting its 25th anniversary now.
And frankly, it’s difficult to think of the series as having been around only 25 years, at that point, given just how much has gone on with its pages over that timeframe, and how many interpretations of the team. And, yes, how many repeated plot points (a problem the series still hasn’t shed, as we approach its 65th anniversary this year).
When this issue came out in 1986, I’d been reading the comic since about 1983, and had bought the back issues of the John Byrne run back to its beginning in 1981’s #232. The wrap-up of Byrne’s final storyline, which he departed partway throough, had actually been a relatively smooth transition, with sympathetic creators following in his footsteps and applying familiar story beats and styles of artwork. And, yes, working at least partially from Byrne’s plot points.
That all means we hadn’t yet seen a Fantastic Four issue free of Byrne’s influence post his departure. This issue, #296, would be the first in six years. But is it really free of that influence? The issue is literally about the Thing’s emotional and literal separation from the team that had been his family, a situation that Byrne himself instigated (assisted by creative teams over on The Thing solo series) and didn’t resolve before he left.
(On top of that, there’s the whole “Johnny Storm dating Alicia Masters” business that Byrne introduced, which also played into the Thing’s current situation. And I realize I said in a previous installment that I was going to address this particular twist on the title’s formula in a “future installment.” Don’t worry, it’s still coming, but it’s going to be a little bit down the line, when a certain something happens.)
All this means that this giant anniversary issue (released so close to the 300th issue, which is probably why that one is regular-sized) seemed as if it would be our first taste of where the FF would go. Ultimately (spoiler for the next installment of these posts) it isn’t really, beyond a reinstatement of the membership’s status quo, given its one-off nature and the gimmick of a Stan Lee script (over Jim Shooter’s plot). Plus, given some information that I just discovered, it may not be as free of Byrne’s influence as I thought! But more on that next time.
I imagine I was probably ready to drop the book once that final Byrne story wrapped up in #295. But, boy, I’d been a sucker for Oversized Anniversary Issues almost from the start of my comics collecting, and the timing of that 25th anniversary issue kept me on the title for at least one more issue. Which itself kept me reading until that #300, and then beyond…at least for a bit.
I’ll dip into the actual contents of the issue with the next part of these posts. That cover, though…that cover is the stuff. It wasn’t just that this was a big special issue that got me to pick it up, it was that great, evocative drawing of my favorite FF character, which said so much with so little effort. But don’t you worry…there’s a whole lot of effort expended within, to not nearly the same effect.
Always liked those 25th anniversary covers. Barry Windsor-Smith also covered The New Mutants that month… and meanwhile, under a cover which apparently was by John Romita, pencilled by Walt Simonson and inked by Bill Sienkiewicz, BWS drew the whole of the Daredevil issue and it feels like, given the subject matter of post-traumatic stress syndrome and how similar it is to his Monsters, had a hand in the writing as well. The first Ann Nocenti Daredevil issue that felt like, post-Born Again, she might actually be able to write this comic. Which the JRjr run would prove.
I love a lot of the Marvel 25th anniversary covers despite the (IMO) awful frame and the unfortunate gray background.
Otherwise, what an absolute murderers’ row of talent: JRJr, BWS, Art Adams, Walt Simonson (on Thor *and* X-Factor!). Such a high point in Marvel’s history.
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I think this is probably where I jumped off of Fantastic Four because I had to save my money for Byrne’s big Superman relaunch. Man of Steel was just around the corner!
In any case, I’m excited about the rest of this series. I want to see how we get from Byrne-lite to the entire team wearing pouches and toting giant guns.
I unabashedly love those 25th anniversary covers… except for this one and Web of Spider-Man. The latter is just boring and on this one you can’t see the character! The best ones IMO were Alpha Flight, Avengers, and Uncanny X-Men.
Well I’ve complained enough about post Byrne FF that it should come as no surprise that this issue was a real let down.
The cover IS nice and I appreciate it all the more with the added context Mike gave it.
In anticipation of spending a week at my grandparents I bought a slew of comics this month (August ’86) mostly these 25th anniversary books and all of the New Universe titles I could get my hands on. I also bought a beat to all hell and back FF #68 for a $1! I remember being bummed out because ALL of the New Universe titles were either ‘meh or awful.
I wanted to like the #286, but just couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for it. That beat up copy of #68 though, that thing was a blessing. It was one of my first real tastes of an actual physical comic from the 60’s and it blew my mind!
Personally, I think Simonson’s Thor cover is the best of the bunch. Yet another cover I eventually blew up on the opaque projector and made a poster of.
Although the BWS drawing of The Thing is cool in and of itself, I think that as a cover it is fairly boring; especially as a big anniversary issue cover. The magazine is called Fantastic Four, after all, so one would think that all four founding members of the FF should be prominently shown on the cover.
I agree with Thom H. that the frame and grey background aren’t helping matters. Most of the drawings of the characters in the frame look fairly generic, and a few of them seem to be clip art drawings of certain characters–Doctor Strange, Captain America, Namor, The Hulk, etc.–that look like they were derived from the ’70s. Also, the yellow stars look cheesy.
It is also interesting to note the start of the blandifying of the Marvel brand. Those X-Factor costumes were really lame. The Thing’s jazzercise outfit was lamer still. I wonder who should take the blame for those bad costume designs?
And I was never a fan of the black and white Spider-Man costume, or that overhaul on Iron Man’s armor. I get it that Marvel wanted to seem hip or change with the times, but it feels like when iconic Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby costume designs are being replaced with lame, generic looking costumes, Marvel loses credibility in celebrating what originally made it great in its glory years.
Add to that the fact that Jack Kirby wasn’t even a part of this FF anniversary issue (I suppose that the lawsuit for the return of his art, etc., was happening at that time), and it all seems like a bit of a letdown.
I’m curious to know if Steve Ditko, at least, had any of his art featured in any of the Marvel 25th anniversary comics. I seem to recall him drawing ROM comics around this time period, or shortly before it.
ROM was cancelled prior to the 25th anniversary month. I’m pretty sure Ditko did not participate in any of the 25th anniversary issues.
@Chris V
Thanks for the clarification.
Giving Jim Shooter some credit, I have read in interviews with him that he always gave Ditko work when Ditko wanted it, because he considered Ditko a “founding father” of Marvel. Although, I guess Ditko had a firm position of never drawing Spider-Man again once he walked away from it. I don’t know whether or not Ditko had the same position regarding Dr. Strange. But it would have been nice to have Steve Ditko draw something for the 25th anniversary of Marvel Comics.
Going further on a Ditko tangent for a moment, I found a copy of Action Comics no. 642 in a dollar bin recently, and was fascinated to find that Steve Ditko drew some really nice looking pages of a Hal Jordan Green Lantern story in that issue. It made me wish that Ditko had drawn a Satellite Era JLA story, but to the best of my knowledge he never did.
Also, were sales really that bad on Marvel Two-in-One that they decided to pivot to The Thing having a solo series? Personally, I really enjoyed Marvel Two-in-One.
“I’m pretty sure Ditko did not participate in any of the 25th anniversary issues.”
I doubt he would have been interested in that type of thing.
“Also, were sales really that bad on Marvel Two-in-One that they decided to pivot to The Thing having a solo series? Personally, I really enjoyed Marvel Two-in-One.”
I’m not sure if it was sales, or they were just tired of “let’s have two heroes meet every month for some reason” and they dropped Marvel Team-Up for Web of Spider-Man as well.