FANTASTIC FOUR #229-231 (1981)

The family takes a trip to the zoo in a very odd three-issue arc that puts the plug in the jug for the Moench/Sienkiewicz run.  So, they shamelessly promote Moon Knight–the book that really suited their creative talents, and was really where this writer/artist team’s collective heart lay.

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Really Alicia?  Moon Knight is your favorite Marvel hero?

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Anyway, in this story, a big chunk of Manhattan is pulled into the Negative Zone, and idea which John Byrne would riff off of not once but twice; first, when Attilan went to the moon (F4#240) and then as part of an Avengers team up when Manhattan is pulled into a bubble (F4 #250).

I think this is the only NZ story not to include Annihilus.

Creators attached to these issues are wonderful, sometimes brilliant people, but this has never been Doug and Bill’s best work.  On these issues, their participation seems to be waning, as there are additional credits for writing given to “Gurland” and the art credits are confusing—it looks like Bill may have just been doing partial pages or layouts, with additional work by “Moore” and Joe Sinnot.  The results lend to the unevenness of this story overall.

Also, Alicia has sculpted Editor in Chief Jim Shooter…

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