Collecting Fantastic Four #241-250 written and illustrated by John Byrne.

In Fantastic Four #241, SHIELD asks the Fantastic Four to investigate an unexplained energy source near the Wakandan border. The Black Panther joins the investigate as they find a lost Roman city.

There is a fun moment where the Thing gets dressed up as Indiana Jones on the trip to Wakanda. Unfortunately, Ben's outfit is ruined when the Wakandan tribesmen mistakenly attack him. Maybe they weren't aware that Ben had regressed to his original lumpy form. Thankfully, the Black Panther recognises him straight away and calls off his men. The man who calls himself the emperor was once a Roman soldier that was made immortal by alien technology that also gave him reality warping powers. I liked that Sue was the one that ended up defeating the villain. John Byrne seems to be moving her away from the damsel in distress that she usually was in older issues.

In Fantastic Four #242, Terrax the Tamer returns and raises the island of Manhattan into space. He has an ultimatum for the Fantastic Four, either destroy Galactus or he will destroy Manhattan.

This issue begins the famous story line where everybody (well, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and Doctor Strange) fight Galactus. Spider-Man and Daredevil are there as well, but they are stuck in the sidelines lamenting that their powers are useless in a cosmic level fight. John Byrne continues to have Sue use her powers in awesome ways as she creates a forcefield around Manhattan so it doesn't get sucked into space. Unfortunately, that does mean she is left behind when the rest of the Fantastic Four confront Galactus.

In Fantastic Four #243, the Avengers and Doctor Strange lend a hand as the Fantastic Four do battle with Galactus with the fate of the world in the balance.

It is always weird to see Galactus conversing with puny humans. Usually they are beneath his notice until they do something drastic. Galactus is able to defeat Terrax, but it means that he is dangerously low on energy and must consume the Earth if he is to live. Naturally, the Fantastic Four would prefer that their planet isn't devoured. The fight with Galactus was really cool. Doctor Strange used a spell to force Galactus to confront the ghosts of all those he had slain. Then there were the likes of Thor and Iron Man taking on Galactus in a more direct manner.

In Fantastic Four #244, the Fantastic Four are left with a major moral decision. Should they save Galactus or let him perish when his energy dwindles?

Reed's decision to save Galactus will come to bite him in the butt in later issues. Self-righteous Empress Lilandra of the Shi'Ar will put him on trial, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I will get to that story in all good time. More importantly, Johnny's girlfriend Frankie Raye chooses to become the new herald of Galactus. I guess that means we will be getting a load more angst from Johnny because of his girl troubles.

In Fantastic Four #245, Sue returns home from an interview to find the rest of the Fantastic Four unconscious. Sue must then stand alone to fight against the one responsible for the wreckage.

The issue starts with Sue being interviewed on TV and being criticised from a feminist perspective for always ending up as a hostage and serving a subservient role to her husband. This could be seen as a response to the complaints of readers, but the woman interviewing Sue is depicted as being a bit ignorant as well as only being driven by ratings, so it may not be a fair rebuttal. Moving on to the actual plot, Sue gets back home and finds out that a strange bearded man has defeated the rest of the Fantastic Four. The man is revealed to be Franklin Richards, Sue and Reed's son. His powers of reality manipulation have fully manifested and he has aged himself to adulthood. In the end, Franklin puts mental blocks on his powers and returns to his natural age, but not before returning the Thing to his classic rocky form.

In Fantastic Four #246, the Fantastic Four return the comatose body of Doctor Doom to the Latverian embassy only to be attacked by Doombots. It is only a matter of time before Doom's mind and body are reunited and Victor Von Doom returns once more.

The attack by the Doombots is revealed to be a distraction so Doom's comatose body could be could be retrieved and reunited with his mind. Doom's mind had become trapped in a puppet after an alliance with the Puppet Master ended in betrayal. Doctor Doom is my favourite comic book villains so I am always happy to see him appear. I feel that some of the older stories haven't used Doom very well, like he was defeated far too easily. Thankfully, this is one of the better Doctor Doom stories.

In Fantastic Four #247, Doctor Doom is determined to reclaim Latveria from the usurper Zorba and enlisted the Fantastic Four to help him reclaim the country. The Fantastic Four are reluctant to help until they see the sorry state Latveria has become since Zorba took power.

Doom isn't out to destroy the Fantastic Four this time, all he wants is to reclaim Latveria. Under Doom's rule none were without employment, food, or safety. That all changed when Zorba become ruler. A villager confirms Doom's version of events, but she is killed by one of Doom's robots that was reprogrammed by Zorba. Her son, Kristoff, will go on to become Doom's ward. I also like how the people of Latveria seem to genuinely believe in Doom. Whether Doom is genuinely a good ruler depends on the writer, but I like to believe that Doom does actually care for his people. All the better to prove that Doom is superior to that Blasted Richards!

In Fantastic Four #248, the Fantastic Four travel to the Attilan to attend the naming ceremony of Quicksilver and Crystal's daughter. Unfortunately, before the ceremony can begin, each member of the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans are forced to face their greatest nightmare.

I was genuinely surprised to find out that Maximus wasn't the one behind everybody facing their greatest fear. It seems like Maximus is always the bad guy in any story with the Inhumans. Surely the Inhumans have more memorable villains that just Maximus the Mad. Any way, it turns out that Triton awakened an alien underneath Attilan and that is what caused all the trouble.

In Fantastic Four #249, Gladiator of the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard arrives on Earth and gets into a fight with the Fantastic Four. Fortunately, the X-Men are on hand to help. Or are they?

I don't like Gladiator at the best of times, so I wasn't too happy to seem him beat the Fantastic Four so easily. It turns out that Gladiator is after a group of Skrulls. Like an idiot he allows himself to be manipulated into fighting the Fantastic Four. It makes a change from Firelord being manipulated like an idiot I suppose.

In Fantastic Four #250, Gladiator has defeated the Fantastic Four and turns his sights to the X-Men. The Fantastic Four tries to find out why Gladiator is so determined to eliminate the X-Men before he levels the city.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the phoney X-Men turn out to be the Skrulls Gladiator is after. They couldn't possibly be the real X-Men as they were off in space fighting the Brood at the time. Thankfully, Mr. Fantastic soon comes up with a way to beat Gladiator. Reed surmises that Gladiator's powers are a will-based telekinesis that manifests as super-strength. Reed whips up a gadget that makes Gladiator think that his powers aren't working, which causes enough doubt for him to be knocked out. I approve of the fact that Sue was the one to give the knock-out blow.

A lot of cool stories in this collection. The Galactus and Doctor Doom stories were my favourites. I especially liked the continued character growth for the Invisible Girl. She is rapidly becoming more than the token girl and damsel in distress like she usually was. There were lots of other cool character moments as well. It is obvious why fans consider John Byrne to be one of the best writers on the Fantastic Four. His art is excellent as well.

My rating: 4 stars.

Next time: New Teen Titans Vol. 3