TRUE BELIEVERS - FANTASTIC FOUR #357...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

I almost passed on this TRUE BELIEVERS reprint of The FANTASTIC FOUR #357.  After all, not only do I have the original issue I purchased back in 1991, but it's a fairly recent issue to boot.  Wait a second - 1991?  Wow, that's nearly 30 years ago, in a whole other century, yet it seems like only 9 or 10 years age that I first bought this ish, not the length of time that it actually is.  Doesn't matter how often I find myself thinking like that, I never get used to it, and no doubt there'll be another reprint comic along soon that catches me off-guard like it's the very first time it's ever happened to me.

The good thing about this particular tale is that it 'undoes' one of the few story ideas by JOHN BYRNE that I was never very keen on - JOHNNY STORM marrying ALICIA MASTERS, BEN GRIMM's former girlfriend.  For the most part, I'm a big fan of what the 'Byrnester' did on the FF, but this wasn't one of them.  TOM DeFALCO came up with a neat way of pressing the reset button and restoring the former status quo to MARVEL's first family.  And I should say that the late, lamented PAUL RYAN probably drew the sexiest version of SUSAN STORM RICHARDS in the history of the mag, though I don't much like the hairstyle he's given her here.

Never mind, even the mighty JACK KIRBY cocked-up on that score for part of his run on the title, so nobody's perfect.  Anyway, if you've never read this issue, it'll fill a wee gap in your collection without breaking the bank, so consider buying a copy as soon as you can!  (There's evidence of vertical seam-joins on some pages, but it shouldn't spoil your enjoyment too much, if at all.)  

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