Fantastic Four #252
Published and © by Marvel, March 1983
Title: “Cityscape”
Synopsis: Somewhere in the Negative Zone, the Fantastic Four encounter an oppressed people living in the shadow of a mighty city.
Writer: John Byrne
Artist: Byrne
Review: John Byrne’s restless experimenting turns out a winner here, with a horizontally oriented issue that’s a precursor to the widescreen comics of the late 1990s. What’s even more impressive is the fact that Byrne didn’t pencil this issue, instead skipping straight to ink. The technique would add energy to the artist’s work (though at the cost of precision and refinement). Story wise, this is a fun, done-in-one sci-fi tale, reminiscent of Byrne’s early work on Charlton’s Space: 1999 (see reviews). The twist ending is a good one, though it could have been played with more gravitas.
Grade: A
Cool factor: The horizontal format had huge “wow” factor at the time.
Not-so-cool factor: Murder. (Or at least cityslaughter?)
Collector’s note: Beware, this issue is supposed to contain a Lakeside Tattooz insert. … According to the Grand Comics Database, there is a 75¢ Canadian variant of this issue. … According to MyComicShop.com, there is also a Mark Jewelers variant.
Character quotable: “It … it’s almost obscene! Look at the way the colors flow, the way it … pulses!” – The Invisible Girl
A word from the writer/artist: “The first one that wasn’t done in breakdowns was the Sideways Issue, which most people don’t realize ’cause the people who heard that I stopped doing breakdowns and was going straight to ink and came at me would usually pick an issue about ten issues after it happened as the starting issue to complain. The Sideways Issue was the first.” – John Byrne, in Comics Interview #25, 1985
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on Nov. 24, 2009.
