Guest Review - Classic Comics - Marvel Fanfare #15

   My pal Jerry Smith is back with a guest review of a classic issue of Marvel Fanfare (it's one of my favorites)! Be sure to check out his blog, Humble Opinions - here's the link:  http://jerryshumbleopinions.blogspot.com

   Here's Jerry:

   This issue of Marvel’s upscale anthology title (it was a whole $1.50 when most 1984 comics averaged 60 cents) features one of my all-time favorite Fantastic Four stories. 

   Writer/artist Barry Windsor-Smith gives readers a window into the practical joke war between Ben (The Thing) and Johnny (The Human Torch). 

   When Ben wakes up with a certain condition, he eventually realizes it’s a practical joke, then quickly figures out the joker. 

   Then he sits down to a pile of pancakes for breakfast, only to find another meal-ruining joke! 

   When he chases after the Torch for some well-deserved come-uppance, he runs smack into some of the FF’s most terrifying foes! 

   Next, he lands face down in a mess of balloons, only to be taunted further by his flaming tormentor! 

   Later, thinking he has the final laugh, Ben sets up his own practical joke for revenge (which includes water hoses, a motion detector and a sleeping Johnny). 

   Satisfied, Ben finds his favorite easy chair to relax and smoke one of his new cigars in triumph. But Ben, didn’t Johnny buy you those cigars...? 

   The art, pacing and banter between Ben and Johnny in this story are perfect on every level. Seek this one out of the dollar box and prepare to be entertained. 

   The book also has a decent Daredevil story by Roger McKenzie and Jack Sparling. Daredevil chases an arsonist who was one of the children he grew up with. Extra credit to this story for using the word “skalawag.”

Grade: A

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Posted in: Reviews