Dantastic Book Reviews

342: A kid kills himself with gasoline and a match, emulating his hero, the Human Torch. Torch vows never to use his powers again until the Seekers come after him.

Rusty Collins from X-Factor guest stars in the fill-in issue Walter Simonson has nothing to do with. It's not a bad story, though. Just the Torch dealing with some shit. Didn't they kill off Rusty Collins a few years after this?

343-344: The Fantastic Four find themselves on an alternate earth after the time bubble fiasco, a world where Dan Quayle is the president and Joseph Stalin still rules Russia, a world on the brink of nuclear destruction!

The Fantastic Four prevent the US and Russia from destroying one another with nuclear weapons AND fight Joseph Stalin in a giant robot battlesuit. It doesn't get much more 1980's than this story. Ben whips out the Thing armor that eventually Darla Deering uses in FF, which begs the question "Why didn't he wear it in the time bubble story they just finished?"

345-346: After leaving the alternate earth, the Fantastic Four wind powerless and running from their lives from dinosaurs on the island that time forgot!

The powerless Fantastic Four, plus some army guys, fight for their lives on an island full of dinosaurs. Simonson's signature looks like a dinosaur so you know he was dying to pit the FF against them. Overall, it was a pretty average tale in a pretty average volume.

Closing Thoughts: Simonson's second volume was passable but mostly dealt with fallout from the first. It was a bridging volume and read like one. 3 out of 5 stars.