Issue(s): Fantastic Four #227
Cover Date: Feb 81
Title: "The brain parasites!"
Credits:
Doug Moench - Writer
Bill Sienkiewicz - Penciler
Bruce D. Patterson - Inker

Review/plot:
The Fantastic Four go on vacation at a lakeside resort.

The impetus is that Mr. Fantastic has been invited to study a meteor. It turns out the meteor contained a bunch of alien larvae...

...that possess a host body and "devolve" it (in ways that aren't quite biologically accurate) so that a hawk becomes a pterodactyl...

...a dog becomes a laser-beam wielding timber wolf...

...and the Invisible Girl becomes a cave-woman.

The coolest is this "sea serpent".

Franklin's mutant powers save the day, something that no one seems to be all that interested in.

In Master of Kung Fu, Moench wrote some strong and capable female characters. His treatment of Sue here isn't on the same level. There's a scene with Sue trying to sneak some extra luggage along that could have come straight from a Lockhorns strip (i.e., it's stereotypical and not funny).

Nice art by Sienkiewicz, though. The FF is an unusual book for him to be on.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A