Fantastic Four #234
Published and © by Marvel, September 1981
Title: “The Man With the Power!”
Synopsis: “Skip” Collins – an average Joe who might be “the most powerful man who ever lived” – causes havoc for the FF.
Writer: John Byrne
Artist: Byrne
Review: Following a pair of done-in-one stories (see reviews of Fantastic Four #232 and #233), writer/artist John Byrne offers up his first two-parter. Ironically, this first half of the tale – about an unassuming man with the power to reshape reality – would have been stronger as a done-in-one, as well. What could have been an impressive, simple fable is muddled by plot threads involving Ego the Living Planet. But Byrne isn’t without his strengths as a writer – his understanding of the FF characters is excellent – and his art continues to be first rate.
Grade: A-
Second opinion: “Byrne has shown us the’s FF private lives, but we haven’t seen a whole lot of them together at this point.” – Comics Coast to Coast #1, 1982 … Recommended by The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide (second edition), 2003.
Cool factor: The quiet moments. Byrne “gets” the FF, and his strong characterization makes the individual members come alive.
Collector’s note: According to MyComicShop.com, there is a Mark Jewelers variant of this issue.
Character quotable: “Say it ain’t so, Stretcho. Tell me I ain’t seein’ what I’m seein’!” – The Thing, who you’d think would be used to seein’ such things after years of running with Reed Richards
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on July 15, 2009.
