Transformers, Time Travel and Non-Linear Comics.

 ...And that's why I really didn't enjoy Transformers: Robots in Disguise #10.

Cover by Casey Coller

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Maybe we should start at the start.

Comics are, by their very nature, a non-linear experience. I know, this seems silly to say... don't you read them through in a completely linear fashion? Don't you start at panel A, read left to right, down to panel F, then start again on the next page? Maybe... but because comics are a physical object you interact with, the reader can turn back and forth in the comic... skip parts, move around at his leisure, and just generally read things out of order if the reader so chooses.

You've never done that? You've never read a comic for the second of third time and decided to read the good bits first then go back and fill in the other bits later? Well I certainly have. Comics and other interactive media offer that kind of reading experience (a movie shown in a cinema, a play, an opera, a concert, these sorts of things are completely unchangingly linear). So it's not surprising that a lot of writers over the years have experimented with creating comics that are meant to be read in a non-linear fashion.

Comics that take advantage of the fact that the reader can turn back and forth and move in and out of the page as he so chooses in comics.

Comics like Transformers: Robots in Disguise #10.

Project: Every Fantastic Four Appearance Ever.

Best Superhero team ever?
Yes.

So I have a little project going and I need your help. My goal is simple. I want to collect every single appearance of the Fantastic Four (616 version) ever printed, and read them all in order, and hopefully review every single one of them.

Big task, right? Well I love the Fantastic Four! So... I've started this project by assembling a list. You can look at the list document here:

It's a Docx file.

Here's the problem though... The list is probably incomplete! You might notice it only goes up to 2009, that's because that's when I actually started this project.

So I guess I need to tell you the rules for how I'm doing this.

80 Page Christmas: The Sandman.

I recently bought a horrible, horrible condition copy of Marvel Team-Up #1. This issue featured the Human Torch and Spider-Man and of course the villain was THE SANDMAN!

This issue (which was drawn by Ross Andru and written by Roy Thomas) is important because it was the first comic to show the Sandman's potential as a nice guy -- or at least not a completely evil guy. The issue is mostly a chase, with Human Torch and Spidey chasing through the city after the Sandman. But when they found him? Well, it turned out he was visiting his sickly mother for Christmas! Awww!!

How Not to Revamp a Villain: The Puppet Master.

So the Puppet Master is one of those villains. Y'know the kind, the one trick pony. Who only has one trick. When a character in the Fantastic Four suddenly starts acting out of character you can pretty much put money on the fact that it'll be the Puppet Master's doing. The only wrinkle that makes him interesting is that he's directly related to Benn Grimm's girlfriend Alicia Masters.

(Well not DIRECTLY related, since he's her step-father. But you get the point.)

So when you have a villain like this (for example The Mad Thinker, or Arcade) what do you do with them? You can only use them so many times because they get repetitive. The answer is simple -- you take the core of the character, and then you revamp it! So that's what they (that is Stan Lee and artist Bob Powell) did with the Pupper Master in Strange Tales #133.

What? WHAT THE FUCK

Four of the Best: Marvel Masterworks FF #1

So lately I've been reading Marvel Masterworks Fantastic Four. The first volume, handilly numbered #1, contains the first 10 issues of Fantastic Four, in glorious remastered colour. It's the first time I've ever read these stories in colour -- well, most of them (I own issue 8, and a repro issue 1). For a huge Fantastic Four fan like me it's a joy to have an excuse to enjoy these stories again.

So I thought I'd pick out four of the very best panels from the TPB -- one for each main character -- to share with you. I'm sure other 80 Page contributors will copy this brilliant idea with other books, but let's be honest, it makes the most sense with Fantastic Four. So let us begin, shall we?

Let's Review Fear Itself: FF

Cover by Gabrielle Dell'otto

I picked up this comic today, and since we have this blog here I thought I'd review it. Let's see, what can I say about Fear Itself: FF?

It's pointless.



Man, that was a short review. I should probably talk more about it, shouldn't I? The book is written by Cullen Bunn, I've never heard of him, but you can visit his blog here. It's drawn by Tom Grummett and inked by Cory Hamscher and Rick Magyar.

It's a one-shot that ties into the Fear Itself event. Basically Fear Itself goes like this: an ancient Norse god is giving out power hammers to a bunch of dudes and making them evil. One of the dudes happens to be The Thing. So he's evil.

That means he has to fight the FF.

Now that's a formula... for DRAMA!

More Unstable Molecules

So, scanner's busted.  That means no Nightwatch for a little while.  It also means that my content will have to be from Marvel's digital comics, which I can make screen captures of - and today, that means more Unstable Molecules!  Today's installment comes from 1975's Fantastic Four #164, written by Roy Thomas, with pencils by George Perez, inks by Joe Sinnott, and colours by Petra Goldberg.  Johnny Storm's off on a date, and he's wearing this, possibly because Annihilus punched him in the head too many times:

You can't talk about "winning combos" ever again, Johnny..

Ben Grimm: Jerk

Hey, Ben Grimm - what do you say to your friend when you find out that his wife's been replaced by a Skrull?

(Fantastic Four #357, written by Tom DeFalco, art by Paul Ryan and Danny Bulanadi)

Yeah, uh...not that.

Given that the guy standing next to Ben there is noted evil mind-controller the Puppet Master, Johnny takes this about as well as you'd expect.  They spend the next five pages beating the crap out of each other; at no point does Ben dispel the notion that he's being mind-controlled, nor does he tell Johnny what the hell is going on.  Honestly, I think he just wanted an excuse to smack the Torch around for stealing his woman.