Fantastic Dinosaur Island Homage

FANTASTIC FOUR #345, Marvel Comics, October 1990
THROOBOOOAUM!
SSKAKKRAKKKKKK!
FWOOAUSH! sssssssss-BHOORAOOM!

Only some of the sound effects in this comic. Can you tell? It's a Walt Simonson original. And with a tagline like "Prehistory's Favorite Comic Magazine" right on top, it was a classic before anyone ever read past the cover.

It's all part of a crazy time travel story that included communist steam mecha and Mjolnir-powered vehicles. The final(?) destination is a thinly veiled homage to Dinosaur Island, complete with stranded army men. And due to unknown circumstances, the entire FF is made powerless as soon as they land there in their "time sled". So what do the Fantastic Four do when they're out of powers and faced with an islandful of dinosaurs? Would you believe... shoot them?
Reed Richards - pragmatist. He's not the only one exhibiting surprising behavior either. As the former Thing and former She-Thing prepare to "retire for the night", Sue completely misses the point.
I guess she can't tell with those two without the usual accompanying sound of ice cubes rattling in a glass. A comparison so bad, it makes this triceratops gag:
Even though the FF are powerless, I love how they still use the same kind of tactics they would at full power. For Reed, that means running around in his underwear, drawing the 'tops away from the camp.
Reed Richards - chippendale. The Human Torch may not be able to "flame on", but that doesn't mean he can't... well, read it for yourself.
As for Sue, she's all about throwing stuff invisibly.
Thankfully, Ben Grimm has a Thing suit that's still in working order, so he can still bring the hurt.
Dinosaurs really are lizards, aren't they?

FIGHT OVER! REVIEW EQUALLY OVER!

Comments

FoldedSoup said…
I'd been meaning to get the entire Simonson FF time travel run (if not every one of his FF issues), but I had completely forgot that it ended with Simonsonian dinosaurs.

Yeah... gonna need this.
Bill D. said…
I've been thinking for a while that Marvel needs to get off its hinder and continue the FF Visionaries: Walter Simonson series already, and this review only strengthens that belief. It's been just about a year since volume one!
Anonymous said…
I can confirm that it's awesome.

Reed is badder-assed under Simonson than almost anywhere else.

Plus he has to fight off the alien women-folk with a stick.

I can see why Doom hates him.