Rrr. Fantastic Four Annual #25 has the classic FF, it's got the Avengers, it's got Mark Gruenwald and Herb Trimpe, it's even got Reed Richard's time sled Rosebud II. (Or Rosebud III, II having been introduced and later destroyed in Walt Simonson's classic run.)
And yet it's just awful. There's at least four solid pages of recap, the first two as Dr. Druid and Nebula (or Temptress, as Druid calls her, since she's not the Nebula that said she was the daughter of Thanos) convince the FF to investigate Timely, WI. Then the Black Widow sends the Avengers to search Timely for the missing Vision, Captain America, and Thor; Natasha doesn't go presumably so there's someone left to go after the Avengers when they don't come back. (That and the Avengers here are Sersi, Crystal, Hercules, and Black Knight; all of whom are far more likable in other stories than they were together.) Hey, maybe the Avengers will bust out their world famous battlecry!
No...maybe they won't. Both teams go to Timely, investigate a hologram-camouflaged entrance in the mysterious factory, and end up in a future New York complete with Punisher-themed street gangs. Realizing the Avengers could be used as a distraction, Temptress lets herself and Druid be seen, and Black Knight recognizes them from balling up his last stint on the team. And we get six pages of FF/Avengers combat. Notably, Crystal fights her old boyfriend Johnny, and totally has his number: she knows all his tricks, and Johnny is a bit of a whiner about how she left him for Pietro, about a bazillion years ago.
I realized a moment ago, I don't think Kang appeared in the Thor Annual at all, and his face only shows up the last page of this one: Kang's new crew, the Anachronauts, show up to round up the heroes. But we'll give them the once over next week, in Avengers Annual #21!
Scans from Fantastic Four Annual #25, "Twice Upon a Time" Written by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Brad Vancata. There's a halfway decent Thing backup from Tom DeFalco and Kirk Jarvinen; more not-great art from Herb Trimpe on a Mantis vs. Moondragon story; and then part three of the history of Kang. Hoo, boy. Did you know Kang lost his original body, after a failed attempt to change the course of World War II using the Hulk? Yeah...y'know, what I can't figure, since it's been threatened before, why Kang doesn't attack the Avengers thirty seconds after his last defeat? There may be a reason...that we'll see next week!
Nice post! i like it , so interesting...Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Kang's son brought up that bit about returning to their time, resting up, then attacking the Avengers 30 seconds after they left, at the end of the Busiek run. I think Kang basically said it wouldn't be sporting. He wants to win, but he wants to feel like he earned it.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, and that kinda comes up on the next chapter, where he seems less Kang "the Conqueror" and more Kang "the Sportsman." Which is as valid a characterization for him as any; except I've seen Kang try really, really hard to kill the Avengers an equal number of times.
ReplyDeleteWell, Kang has his good and bad days like everyone else. Good days, he's feeling sporting. bad days, he just wants these damn Avengers dead because he's sick of there being this one stupid little time period he can't conquer.
ReplyDeleteOr the Kang that wants to kill is younger and more brash than the older, more sporting Kang. Or vice versa. Or they're from alternate universes. I'm just throwing things out here.