Issue(s): Fantastic Four #307
Cover Date: Oct 87
Title: "Good-bye!"
Credits:
Steve Englehart - Writer
John Buscema - Breakdowns
Joe Sinnott - Finishes
Marc Siry - Assistant Editor
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
The old order officially changeth.

Franklin knows what's Steve Englehart has in mind!

As they leave, the Thing makes Mr. Fantastic promise that he won't come barging back in and taking charge at the first sign of trouble. And that's put to the test when Diablo heals himself and escapes from the hospital and goes on the attack again. When Reed, in Connecticut, hears about the attack, he has Franklin dream himself back to New York to see what's going on. Franklin learns that the hospital has been transformed into a castle, but, after some admonishment from Sue...

...Reed agrees to let Ben's new team handle it. And they do, while working out some issues along the way.

They eventually make it to Diablo himself.

And that's when Sharon stops Diablo from using his mustache for strength. And no, i'm not going to give you any context for that. It would only ruin it.

So the group really seems like a functional team, and despite Sharon being called high-strung, she's not yet exhibiting any real problems, even if she refuses to wear the FF's colors until she feels like she's earned it.

So go ahead and take a break, Mr. and Mrs. Richards. We'll see you back here in about 20 issues.

It could just be me, but it seems like Joe Sinnott is doing more and more of the art. It still has a very strong John Buscema feel, but the lines seem to be getting thicker.

Interesting decision to use Diablo twice, even if it is to make a point about the new team vs. the old team (especially since the new team participated in the last fight). But whatever; all told, this was a decent and fun issue.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman quit the Fantastic Four

Chronological Placement Considerations: Reed, Sue, and Franklin leave New York this issue. Franklin still appears in Power Pack #33 after this, but for the most part we should now be careful about any appearances by those characters.

References:

• At the beginning of this issue, the Thing thinks to himself that no one else on the FF knows what happened to Sharon in Captain America #331.
  
• A police investigator, inspecting the damage Ms. Marvel did to Diablo last issue, says that super-heroes never kill anybody - except maybe for Captain America, who killed a terrorist in Captain America #321.
  
• Escaping from the hospital, Diablo recounts and expands on his origin from Fantastic Four #30.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Franklin's dialogue was hinting at what Englehart had in mind- Franklin used his powers to mind control Johnny and Alicia into falling in love so that Ben would be free of the mental block that prevented him from turning human. Thankfully, the editors put a stop to this, so that we don't have to deal with Franklin being the world's youngest rapist.

Holy crap.

"Rapist" would be overly harsh. The idea was that Franklin did it unconsciously--his lack of control over his powers causing him to make his wish a reality. It wasn't deliberate, and it certainly wasn't ill-intentioned.

Sure, him affecting their emotions and causing them to fall in love IS icky and not exactly free-will consentual...but "rape" would be an overstatement.

Yeah. I would think the point is to show how a childish mind would deal with such a situation. They don't understand adult conceptions or love or about sex. A child would innocently try to do such a thing, not realizing the consequences or seriousness of such actions.
It certainly wouldn't be rape, regardless, because Franklin wasn't forcing himself on someone using his powers. Noe that would be even more messed up and disturbing.
Best it didn't go there..but I can see the intent.

It also would be a way of getting rid of Johnny's marriage without the continuity hassle of saying that 'Alicia' has been a spy for 100 or so issues. I'm not saying it would be the best solution, but I can see some benefits to that situation if it had been allowed to play out.

The counterargument is that (a) Johnny and Alicia would have to be treated like they were violated, (b) it would completely change the dynamic between the FF and Franklin and Franklin would be saddled with a lot of guilt for a four and a half year old and (c)Reed would have been right for being scared of Franklin, which has Unfortunate Implications.
I've heard it argued that Marvel had a "no-divorce" policy after the Pyms' divorce until the Black Panther-Storm divorce. Unfortunately, there are no good ways of undoing a marriage without killing off one of the characters except divorce.

Ah, Diablo and his moustache... now that is planning ahead!

Yeah. Marvel's no divorce ideation causes a lot of major problems.
In the normal world, people get divorced. In Marvel-land characters make deals with the devil so that they were never married. Pretty damn complicated!
Marvel either has to resort to divorce, or stop breaking up marriages, because these round-about ways to deal with failing marriages has lead to really problematic scenarios.

Every man's power is in his mustache. Why do you think Sharon was complaining about men having "mustaches and rough hands" last issue, after all?

And this is the issue where Steve gives Diablo's full name as "Steve Devil-heart", right? ("Esteban Corazon del Diablo", in Espanol.) So I guess he should know…