Did Tommy Lee Jones ever find out amout Mike Deodato casting him as Norman Osborn?  I'm surprised Marvel still allows this kind of thing after Amy Grant sued them over Jackson Guice's use of her image for Marie Laveau, the witch queen of New Orleans, in Doctor Strange.  I think Deodato said he was paying homage to Paul Gulacy, who was always partial to referencing stills of movie stars.

Interesting. I should do some backreading on the Busiek Thunderbolts run. So this would be around issues #1 to #37 right?

Justice #1

2.99 USD/4.00 CAN @ October 2005

Writer: Alex Ross & Jim Krueger
Artist: Alex Ross & Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Joey Cavalieri & Rachel Gluckstern

Synopsis: We join the Justice League of America in action as there is a worldwide crisis happening all at the same time. Explosions and disasters are simultaneously occurring around the world, and even though the superheroes make it in time to try and disable the crisis, for some reason they are all a little too late in saving everyone. Some members perish. And then the world exploded, and Superman is the last man standing... in space. And one by one, each superhero/superheroine woke up from this nightmare.

In different parts of the world, Aquaman and Captain Cold are in the middle of doing something. Aquaman prepares to responds to an emergency and says goodbye to his wife and infant son as he departs Atlantis. Captain Cold in the desert zaps a mountain with his cold gun. We join Aquaman as he encountered a domed spaceship beneath the waters, and was attacked by Black Manta and his goons. They overpower Aquaman, and he is brought inside the domed spaceship and his unconscious body is placed in the halls of what looked like the halls of the Legion of Doom cartoon. Black Manta is met by Lex Luthor. And he tells Black Manta to have a seat as others will be arriving to take their seats in the Hall of Doom.

Comments: To those who have watched the Superfriends must have been jittery when they saw the dome, and then saw the Hall of Doom with the empty seats for each supervillain. It's a slow build up to something very ominous. It is a 12-issue limited series, and with the capture of Aquaman, you have a feeling, he's not the only superhero to fall. You just can't wait to read the upcoming issues and see what the Legion of Doom has in store for our heroes.

But this one, I can just open up the pages and not read any of the dialogues and just look at the art. I never came across comic book in a museum-like painting style like the way Alex Ross presents his work.

As for Infinite Crisis, all I seem to remember was Superboy Prime doing a heel turn and was the big baddie of that DC Event.

Once in a while on a limited series, no problem. I don't mind it, since I never encountered it before. 

However, I agree with you. I prefer comic book exagerrated art. Whether it's Michael Turner's style where everyone comes across as a supermodel, or Ed McGuniesses style of everyone as a bodybuilder on juice as examples, or Jae Lee's I don't know what to call that style.

Fantastic Four #232

0.50 USD @ July 1981

"Back to the Basics!"

Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: John Byrne
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Jim Salicrup

Synopsis: The Fantastic Four's enemy, Diablo is conjuring magic in an apartment he is rendering. He conjured up the images of the Four, and conjures up smoke and vows to crush the Fantastic Four.

In another part of Manhattan, Susan Storm is in a hair salon getting a new hairstyle. Outside the salon, a soil-like monster emerged from beneath the streets. The soil monster is after Susan Storm, and crashed through the salon. Using her invisible powers, Susan disappears, but the monster filled the room with flying clinging dirt, and it surrounded Susan and the dirt hardened, freezing her in her footsteps.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, Ben Grimm/The Thing is enjoying his date with his girlfriend, the blind, Alicia Masters. Suddenly, rain pours, but only on Ben Grimm. All the rain liquid then turned into a bubble filled with the liquid and engulfed Ben Grimm within the bubble. The Thing, drowning and trapped inside the bubbled water, tried a last ditch effort to crash into the pavement, but it's no good as his lungs ran out of air.

Above Central Park, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, is flying and about to land to meet up with ex-girlfriend, Frankie Raye. The former love birds are having an emo dialogue about their complicated relationship. Suddenly, a gust of wind hit them. It became a spinning tornado effect, dropping Frankie in the bushes and bringing an unconscious Johnny Storm, who couldn't flame-on due to the heavy winds, in another part of Central Park.

Reed Richards is the leader of the Fantastic Four. Inside the Baxter Building FF headquarters, in one of his laboratories, Reed Richards was working on one of his sensor devices when the room quite unexpectedly became red hot. He is then attacked by fireballs. He asked if it was Johnny Storm, but instead it was a fire monster. Shifting into a bouncing ball, Reed avoided further attacks and bounced out of the building escaping the fire monster. He changes to a sail and floats and sails down Manhattan. He ended up in Central Park, where he was hailed by Frankie Raye below. He asked about the whereabouts of Johnny Storm. She advised him over the rocks in the other part of Central Park. He found Johnny guarded by a tornado being, and subdued it by coiling around it. The fire monster that attacked Reed earlier arrived. Johnny Storm flames on, and the Human Torch battled the fire monster lighting up the Manhattan skyline as they battled above in the air. Reed devised a plan pretending to lose to the tornado being and pretending to flee.

Back at the salon, Susan Storm was able free herself from the dirt incarceration and escaped the soil monster and headed outside in the streets. She tried to remember where Ben Grimm was going that day and proceeded to look for The Thing. The Thing meanwhile, in another last ditch effort headed to a sporting good store and fell backwards once inside, about to lose consciousness. A customer took a scuba tank and shoves it inside the bubbled water. The Thing inhaled fresh air. The water being then attached the woman who saved Ben Grimm. Ben Grimm then gets another air tank and shoves it inside the bubbled water so the woman can breath through the tank. The water being then left the woman and was poised to attack The Thing but then was placed in a trap in the middle of the air. The Invisible Woman arrived trapping the water being. Outside, the soil monster that was chasing Susan Storm was confronted by Ben Grimm. One punch from the Thing and the soil monster scattered into many pieces. Put then it reformed into a gigantic fist and punched The Thing, lifting him off his feet. From away Reed Richards witnessed Ben from the soil creature. He saw Sue emerge from the salon. Seeing an abandoned portable generator, Reed saw it was the thing he needed to stop the water being with Susan. As he approached her, the tornado air-like being that attacked Johnny Storm earlier, arrived and attacked Reed. Susan entrapped the tornado air being in a bubble of invisible force field. She let go of the water being as per Reed's instructions and he zapped the water being with the wires from the portable generator. It disappeared. As the soil monster battled the Thing, Reed screamed to Ben that in order to defeat the monster, the key is making them change into another state of matter, basically, transmutation. Ben found an exposed water pipe and hosed the soil monster, defeating it. Now on to Susan Storm, advised by Reed Richards, Susan concentrated and made the bubble surrounding the air creature very small building up pressure until it was so small the air turned to water and popped.

Above the Manhattan skyline, the fire creature and the Human Torch continued their battle. Suddenly Johnny Storm came up with an idea to defeat the creature. He climbed up to a higher altitude and went Nova Flame, exploding the fire creature but Johnny flaming out and crashing into the Hudson River below. A tugboat below ferried to fetch a floating and drenched Human Torch.

Later on, after fielding a telephone call from Johnny Storm citing he is okay, Reed Richards conferred with Ben Grimm and Susan Storm, and figured out who their foe was. Diablo. Later that evening, Diable disguised in a trench coat and hat, and holding a box of four things in them, left his apartment, but was suddenly en-coiled by Mr. Fantastic. They engage in a brief dialogue. Diablo asked how he was found. Reed Richards found him with the help of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange. As the Fantastic Four rode the Fantasticar, they waved farewell to their friend, Doctor Strange.

Comments: This is John Byrne's first full helm duty as scribe and illustrator of The Fantastic Four. It's the beginning of his illustrious run in the title. It is a smart approach to the characters of the comic book, and entertaining as well. Before Byrne, the Fantastic Four comic book was just chugging along and getting rather dormant. Action sequences were handled nicely, and the approach to defeating the villains were done intelligently. Even Mr. Clobberin' Time utilized his intelligence to defeat his opponent instead of just relying on his brute strength. Aside from Stan and Jack's initial run, this will become one of the memorable runs in this title.