Marvel; December 1982
Cover by John Byrne

Title: “Man and Super-Man!”
Synopsis: Sh’iar guardsman Gladiator follows Skrulls to Earth, where he thinks they’ve gone into hiding as the Fantastic Four.

Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: Byrne
Inker: Byrne

Review: First, the story: This is a fine first half to a two-part slugfest including the Skrulls and Gladiator. For fans of John Byrne’s X-Men work, it was a huge thrill seeing the artist tackle the Sh’iar guardsman again – but not nearly as thrilling as the final page appearance of what seems to be the X-Men themselves. On the art front, this issue marks the beginning of Byrne’s gradual decline on this title: While still quite nice, there are several panels where the backgrounds are noticeably missing. Sadly, that would be a trend that would continue in issues ahead.

Grade: B+

Cool factor: Byrne drawing the X-Men again. (Or so it seems.)
Not-so-cool factor: Where did the backgrounds go?

Character quotable: “By all the devils of the nine circles, I swear if he has succeeded in pursuing us through hyper-space, you will know the torture of a thousand agonies!” – A Skrull commander, showing off the vaunted Skrull management style

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