Fantastic Four #245
Published and © by Marvel, August 1982
Title: “Childhood’s End”
Synopsis: The Invisible Girl returns home to find the FF defeated by a golden-haired man — a strangely familiar golden-haired man.
Writer: John Byrne
Artist: Byrne
Review: No creator did more to move the Invisible Girl from sidekick to A-lister than John Byrne. That evolution really begins here, with a solo tale that paints Sue Richards as both superheroine and modern superwoman, one capable of juggling the demands of being a wife, mother, teammate and media star. Elements of this story tread familiar ground for Byrne – Sue’s solo battle recalls Kitty Pryde’s encounter with the N’Garai demon in X-Men #143 (see review), and the whole infinite power/psychic dampers bit is shades of the Phoenix saga. But the sum of these familiar parts is another enjoyable whole.
Grade: A
Second opinion: “Byrne has done the impossible! A good Franklin Richard story!” – Matt Denn, Comics Coast to Coast #2, 1982 … “By having Sue defend her code name as well as the traditional role of wife and mother, it could be interpreted as more evidence of Byrne’s conservative leanings but as would be seen later issues it was far from being conclusive.” – Pierre Comtois, “Marvel Comics in the 1980s: An Issue By Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon,” 2014
Cool factor: The Invisible Girl begins her journey to become the Invisible Woman.
Collector’s note: According to MyComicShop.com, there is a Mark Jewelers variant of this issue.
Character quotable: “Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, we did not lose our human foibles when we gained our powers.” – Susan Richards, not-so-invisible mother
A word from the writer/artist: “I’m trying to give her a little more sense of herself without turning her into a libber. She’s not going to turn into the Invisible Woman. I’m trying to work within the established boundaries of the character.” – John Byrne (kind of funny how that turned out, no?), from Amazing Heroes, June 1981
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on Sept. 25, 2009.
