This is from "Fantastic Four" issue 362. Both Spider-Man and the Human Torch got married in the 1987. Johnny’s wife turned out to be a Skrull, so when Alicia Masters (who the Skrull had been posing as) was rescued, the FF decided to divorce Johnny and Alicia instead of seeking an annulment so the general population wouldn’t fear a Skrull invasion. Spider-Man pranking with the Torch was his way of helping him through the divorce.
What happens to people that are replaced by Skrulls?
Thank God Joe Q didn’t deploy the Skrull plan for destroying the Spider-Marriage. It was more complicated than it sounds.
After the marriage ended it was downplayed for years. Johnny rarely (if ever) thought about the real Alicia romantically even though he thought he was married for her for years and Lyja went from being referred to as “ex-wife” and started just being “ex-girlfriend”.
Again at the time the general Marvel U didn’t know Alicia was replaced but sometime afterwards the truth came out as we had a recent Secret Invasion tie-in where Alicia was leading a support group for people replaced by Skrulls.
@Bertone: I was about to say the same thing. I didn’t even KNOW Johnny was divorced!
MARVEL SPIN DOCTOR: HE WATCHED A RE-RUN
Lyja was Johnny’s MJ. They had almost a sitcom romance with how they met…naturally, Marvel hated that she brought maturity to the “young, reckless Human Torch”, and had her egg-baby revealed as a bomb, written out for a while, came back before Onslaught, then vanished again until Miller brought her out of moth balls for “Secret Invasion”. Admitedly, Mark treated her with some quiet dignity, reuniting the two, establishing Lyja still loves him and her extended family…now she’s hanging around, litterally, in a void in space trying to “find herself”.
Lyja, Alicia, and MJ…the three best females Marvel ever wrote…and all three of them are barely around anymore. This is a lad’s universe all right. Idiots.
Really? I was gonna say Johnny seems alot more mature sounding than he has in other appearances. Plus, he makes a reference to a TV show that was on in like what, the 50’s or something? 😉
Yup Tom D. wrote it.
By the way (I’ll get off my soapbox in a minute), Johnny Storm is a PERFECT example of how divorce doesn’t age a character.
I love how they use the “afterimage” thingie to show Spidey’s speed and agility… always looks cool.
I totally have this issue. I really liked it when I was a kid. Didn’t Tom D. write this issue?