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James Johnson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 2396
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| Posted: 31 May 2026 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | 1
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Apologies if this has been answered before.....
During your run on the FANTASTIC FOUR, when did the idea of introducing Reed's father begin formulate?
As Always, Thanks!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136413
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| Posted: 31 May 2026 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | 2
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Can’t recall a specific time frame. Sorry!
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Ben Stamer
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 December 2023
Location: United States
Posts: 58
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| Posted: 24 June 2026 at 11:55am | IP Logged | 3
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Speaking of Nathaniel, I just saw that they recently introduced a half sister to Reed from him, who is black, with the implication that Nathaniel favored Reed because of his skin color. And then they both cursed him with swear words. Weird, because they pretty much did the same thing with Star-Lord when he had a new book around the release of the first Guardians movie. But apart from the similarity of those particular instances, it seems like Marvel and DC are really going crazy with the long lost secret relative trope. As they introduced Peter Parker's secret sister, then backtracked on it. Now, they just introduced a secret son of Ben and May Parker, who were told the kid was a stillbirth. There might be a twist, but I don't think anybody is excited about it being a major part of the 1,000th issue.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136413
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| Posted: 24 June 2026 at 12:10pm | IP Logged | 4
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The (relative) you/I didn’t know I had is one of the laziest plotlines out there!
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Petter Myhr Ness
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Joined: 02 July 2009
Location: Norway
Posts: 4249
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| Posted: 24 June 2026 at 6:27pm | IP Logged | 5
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Scott and Alex Summers also suddenly had an unknown (and much more powerful) younger brother ... yes, agree with JB, a lazy plotline. That usually goes nowhere.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136413
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| Posted: 24 June 2026 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | 6
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There we see something all to common at Marvel in the day: the joke that becomes “reality”. There was a running gag around the office about the third Summers brother—who exploded when he hit puberty. Eventually………
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Edward Aycock
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Joined: 13 July 2024
Location: United States
Posts: 222
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| Posted: 24 June 2026 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | 7
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Geez, it's become "As the World Turns" on these books.
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Vinny Valenti
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Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8615
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| Posted: 24 June 2026 at 9:11pm | IP Logged | 8
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"Scott and Alex Summers also suddenly had an unknown (and much more powerful) younger brother"
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Well.....lest we forget, Alex himself was an unknown (to us readers at least), much more powerful younger brother. But trying to plot new Summers Brothers and their power levels would look like a crazy exponential curve!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136413
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| Posted: 27 June 2026 at 4:34pm | IP Logged | 9
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A big problem is that too many fans and fans turned pro, know all the behind the scenes stories, and decide they want to DO the stories that were set aside.
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Rick Whiting
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Joined: 22 April 2004
Posts: 2302
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| Posted: 27 June 2026 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | 10
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Marvel really needs JB's death ray to wipe out all of the stupid story ideas by making them non cannon (with no in story explanation) and never mentioning those stories ever again. Of course that won't happen as long as the current inmates running the asylum remain in charge.
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Peter Martin
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Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 16485
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| Posted: 27 June 2026 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | 11
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The stories need to be rendered non-canon by the cannon.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136413
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| Posted: 28 June 2026 at 1:41pm | IP Logged | 12
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When I first started reading American comics, in the Fifties, “continuity” was nowhere near as sacred as it came to be. As one DC editor put it, when I was there, in the Golden Age, and for much of the Silver, “continuity” meant Superman was from Krypton and always would be. Given that most readers lasted about five years back then, that was all that was needed. It’s important to note that the whole Silver Age rebirth at DC probably could not have happened if the anal retentive fanboys had wdeilded then the kind of power that lay ahead for them. By the time I joined up in the Seventies, we were starting to see demands for clear definitions of the breaks between the characters of Earth One and Earth Two. Unlike the Flash and Green Lantern, to name two, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman had unbroken runs since the early Forties. Sadly, as the Old Guard dropped away, the growing umbers of fans-turned-pro set about answering some of those never-should-have-been-asked questions. That created a mess that led to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.
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