Anyways, I'll never forget my assignment as an extra in the Fantastic Four comic book. This was long after Stan the Man had his day, and I guess it was a testimony to how good those connections of mine were that I was getting steady work with someone as tempermental as John Byrne runnin' things. Byrne had lots of high profile, y'know artsy, ideas and it wasn't always easy being an extra, much less being the Fantastic Four. And although the real Fantastic Four were pretty gracious about the comic book publicity and they were real swell about everything, it's not them that make this time burn so brightly in my mind.

It's Frankie Raye.

Although she appeared in the FF as early as issue #164, it wasn't until #238 that I actually saw her. It was while she was swooping through the skies on page 11. You can't see me there in the final print, 'cause Byrne cut out the crowds of gawking onlookers before the issue went to press 'cause we didn't go well with his "minimalistic concept" or somethin' of that nature. But I saw her in the sky all the same. Flying through the air with the Human Torch.

Art by George Perez

It wuz like destiny that Frankie and Johnny were supposed ta meet. Doc Horton got his dander up when he reads about the Fantastic Four 'cause Johnny took the name o' the Human Torch. Now, Horton created the original Torch way back in World War Two and he's jealous that he's been forgotten especially since he doesn't know the Fantastic Four from Adam. So he enlists Frankie as his lab assistant fer the creation of a new Torch. It wuz then that Frankie was doused with experimental chemicals in an accident. Ironically, Horton had created another Torch by accident. And she wuz much more graceful than anything he would ever make in the lab.

But Horton feels he did something horrible, 'cause he almost killed his only kid. So bein' a comic book scientist, he can do lots of things, like hypnotize people. And he hypnotizes Frankie inta forgettin' all about the accident and her powers and she goes on ta live a normal life in Manhattan, although she's got a bad fear of fire that Horton gave her. I gotta admit, I spent some time tryin' ta track Horton down after I heard about this. You see, I got this real problem with Hostess Fruit Pies. I love 'em. I can't stop eatin' them and they go straight ta my abdomen. That can be bad in my line o' work, and I would pay heaps if someone could hypnotize me inta givin' them up. I could never find Horton, though. I did find the Ringmaster once, but I just couldn't trust the guy enough to do the job, y'know? He woulda hypnotized me inta bein' his new clown or something. Clowns give me the willies.

Anyways, Frankie goes on ta have a few adventures with the Fantastic Four now that she's got flame power. The very next issue, #239, she travels with the FF and Ben Grimm's Aunt Petunia inta the desert ta investigate strange goings ons. In that issue, I get my biggest scene ever. I play an abusive father fer one whole page. They had ta do the take about four or five times, though, 'cause it wuz hard gettin' me ta be mean enough to swat the poor kid, Wendy, with a newspaper. And then Frankie flies in and saves the kid from me. I would gape and drop my line every time Frankie showed up. She wuz so beautiful and I felt so bad, even though I wuz only acting. Eventually, I get it good enough and the comic goes on with the shooting. Although she wuz pretty distant the whole time, I did get ta have a laugh with Frankie over the whole thing after the wrap party.

None of us knew that a real storyline wuz comin' though, 'cause Galactus didn't call ahead! I woke up one mornin' ta see the Big G over Manhattan and I know we're all dead. I wake Maggie, yellin', "Maggie, we gotta get off the planet somehow! Galactus is here again! He's goin' ta kill us all!" And Maggie's sayin', "Now, Sheldon, calm down. We gotta wait and see if Mr. Fantastic is going to take care of us again. Have faith in Mr. F." And she was right. But I wuz still bitin' my nails when the phone rang. It wuz Marvel Comics! They were goin' ahead with a shoot around Galactus, and they wanted me downtown ta do my thing a.s.a.p.! At first, I couldn't believe it. I mean, we could all buy the farm and Marvel wuz worried about makin' a buck. But then I figgered if we didn't buy the farm, I could sure use the money. So like the dependable joe I am, I grabbed my coat and went downtown.

I got downtown just in time fer Terrax to kick Manhattan Isle inta outer space! I lost my lunch a few times over that one. Salami and pickles on rye. Yuck. Don't ever eat pickles before gettin' launched inta outer space. You might not regret it so much, but the guy standin' next ta ya will. Take my word fer it. Then, the Fantastic Four fixed things and we were back on Earth. You can catch me in the background of one of the panels at the end of #243 'cause I'm one o' the guys running away from bein' squashed by Galactus. I gotta tell ya, Marvel got their money's worth that day. There's no pretendin' the kind of panic that comes from havin' Galactus almost step on ya. I'm real sympathetic ta the ants in my yard now and I usually try ta step around them, although Maggie thinks I'm nuts.

Art by John Byrne

So Galactus is going ta eat the Earth. But Frankie saves the day. She volunteers ta become his herald, like the Silver Surfer did before her, if Galactus will promise never ta bother Earth again. The Big G agrees and he turns her inta Nova, gold skin and all. Once transformed, she leaves fer outer space without lookin' back once. Broke my heart, that day did. But my grief wuz nothin' compared ta Johnny's. I heard the guy took it pretty hard. And no wonder. A dame like that flies outta yer life, well, you're never going ta forget it.

 Frankie wuz herald ta Galactus fer a while, doin' things like feedin' the Skrull homeworld ta him, I hear. Then, she up and got killed. Happened over in the Silver Surfer, where all the heralds got together fer a reunion or something. I didn't read it all. And what I did read, I don't much remember. I just remember that they did my Frankie in. Just like that. But this is comics, right? I hold onto the hope that nothing's ever final, even death. Not in comic books.

So I keep workin' although I know I'll never have a scene as big as my page in FF #239 again. That one moment in time where I shared the stage with Frankie, even though I was the bad guy, will always be the pride of my career. But I keep working as an extra in Marvel Comics 'cause the people aren't so bad and 'cause as long as I'm in comic books I can look up at the sky and see all the super-heroes flyin' overhead. There are a lotta them these days. And I keep hoping that one day I'm going ta look up and there'll be my Frankie Raye once again.