One of my goals for Comic Con 2008 was to track down Fantastic Four issues 276-278 from the early 80's. I had read weird whispers that Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman had suffered a miscarriage in the pages of these funny books years ago but I was skeptical that this had indeed happened. For one, it seemed that this was too serious and adult a subject to have been in a comic book back in these relatively old days. Also this was the most famous family in the Marvel Universe and if they had a second child who died I'm sure I would have heard about it before.
Well after searching high and low across the floor of Comic Con I finally found the books that were rumored to contain these dramatic moments, and the rumors were true.
Possibly the reason this event is not often spoken about is that it isn't handled particularity well. The writing seems a bit childish given the circumstances. On one page Johny Storm is comforting his devastated family but then he promptly heads off to give She-Hulk a tour of the Baxter Building (seriously.) Still, the story is of curious interest simply because of the nature of its subject matter. The immature writing style seem to be exemplary of the unique period in comic writing. The stories were beginning to grow up, and deal with more sophisticated ideas but the market was still aimed very much at the attention of casual and very young readers.
One reason I was so skeptical that this event ever happened was that a couple of years earlier I had heard something similar and went to comic con to investigate. I asked some knowledgeable gentlemen there about the Richards family's other kid. They looked at me with incredulity and laughed me out of the con. Well I am back now with the proof (you bastards.) Here are some selected scanned pages from the original comics.
Here is a page from issue #267 where She-Hulk's thoughts give some back story to the difficulties with Sue's pregnancy (cosmic radiation is involved.)
And here is the final splash page from that same issue, where Reed Richards is given the devastating news. (Click to enlarge.)
The beginning of issue #268 starts with this single page image:
And finally here is the majority of the aftermath, right before Doctor Octopus goes nuts and other cliche comic book action ensues:
(Thanks to Sue Ghoulsby with research assistance.)
1 comment:
I think the reason that people may have laughed you off is that some other writer has done a horrible retcon and basically "undid" the miscarriage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeria_Richards
I remember as a kid reading these stories when they came out, and how it resonated with me. These were superheroes, and here they were dealing with a rather heavy, real-life issue.
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