Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. It’s been a while since we’ve ventured into underground kingdoms, and that’s where issue #574 takes us.

We begin with a grisly scene in NYC, where a bunch of Moloids (the Mole Man’s henchmen, also known as subterraneans) climb out of the sewer. One of them gets hit by a truck. The others remove his head (!) and they enter the lobby of the new Baxter Building. Their mere presence sets off the alarm and the FF rush downstairs to confront them. The head, still alive, tells them to clear the lobby of civilians. Then a monster emerges from under the floor, carrying the Mole Man in his mouth (!). His says his underground kingdom is in peril and the Fantastic Four are his only hope.

In Reed’s lab, he deduces that the peril is a mere geothermal vent. The head argues that it’s only disguised as such, and that it’s an “ascension engine” left behind by the High Evolutionary. The Mole Man says the High Evolutionary built a whole city underground to do his mad science away from prying eyes. The H.E. evacuated the city when his creations de-evolved rather than evolved. The Moloids later found the city. The Mole Man says if the H.E. had stayed, the engine would have increased his genius even further. That’s what happened to the head. He and other Moloids like him gained intelligence, making them outcasts among other Moloids. The crisis, Mole Man says, is that the outcasts are planning to raise the city.

The heroes travel deep under the Earth in a flying submarine-like craft of Reed’s invention. Reed refuses to drill, instead following the preexisting tunnels. They come across the spot where he buried the body of Galactus from the future. (Remember a few issues back, when the New Defenders arrived from the future, secretly using this Galactus as a power source.) Reed says this marks the border of the surface world and the subterranean world.

As they travel deeper underground, the Mole Man says he no longer plots revenge against the surface world, but is content to rule his own kingdom. He says the Moloids in the High Evolutionary’s city do not have children, and instead add to their numbers by recruiting the Mole Man’s Moloids away from him and granting them intelligence. The ship travels through a bunch of underground locales before arriving at the High Evolutionary’s abandoned city.

The city is already in the process of rising to the surface, so the FF jump into action. Ben’s appearance changes into an ape-like shape when he enters the city, but he manages to rescue three lost Moloid kids. Sue then shields the ship as the city’s cavern collapses. The ship bursts through the surface. The Mole Man runs off while the FF set up some sort of campsite at their landing point. Ben says the three Moloid kids are settling down, and Reed adds that they unnaturally high levels of intelligence.

Sue asks what will happen next, and Reed says “They’re here to stay.” He says a man-made city run by super-genius de-evolved creatures isn’t something you see every day. Turn the page, and we see that the city was not destroyed, but successfully risen to the surface.

Then there’s a text page explaining what happened next, that relations between the city inhabitants and the US government broke down, with the government blockading the city. It further states that the three rescued Moloid children showed no signs of losing their super-intelligence.

Unstable molecule: The Marvel Wiki states that Reed’s new underground craft is named the “Fantasti-ship.”

Fade out: Sue dons a cool spacesuit for venturing outside the ship. Not sure why there isn’t breathable air down there, but it’s a neat visual.

Clobberin’ time: The Marvel Wiki adds that Ben’s appearance returns to normal in time after this. I don’t know if the comic makes that clear. I also don’t know if it’s made clear why he transforms in the first place.

Flame on: Despite Reed’s claim that the FF won’t drill through the underground, Johnny nonetheless burns his way through some rock walls during their journey.

Four and a half/Our gal Val: Franklin and Valeria find a convenient jar for the Moloid head to live in. Franklin offers the head a place to stay at the new Baxter Building.

Foundational: Here’s the first appearance of not one, but four members of the Future Foundation. Although not named in this issue, the Moloid head and the three Moloid children will be around for a while. The head is Turg, and the three kids are Tong, Mik, and Korr.

Trivia time: The fate of the High Evolutionary’s city will be dealt with, but until several issues from now. Similarly, the Mole Man’s whereabout will remain unknown until he returns even more issues from now.

The subterranean cities the heroes pass through are Lechuguilla, described as a cavern city, and an Atlantis-like underwater city called Meramec. This issue are these cities’ only appearances. They’re both named after real-world places, the Meramec Caverns in Missouri and the Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico.

Five pages from this issue were reprinted in Anita Blake: The Laughing Corpse: Executioner #3, Marvel’s adaptation of the bestselling novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Is there a lot of crossover between Fantastic Four fans and vampire romance fans?  

Fantastic or frightful? This issue starts out promising, with a classic subterranean adventure in the classic Marvel style. But things get confusing as it goes along. Who are the three kids? Why does Ben single them out to rescue them? Why is the Mole Man even here when Turg does all the talking? And I’m aware that it can’t be easy to draw an ancient underground city rising to the surface, yet it’s still weird that we don’t actually see this happen, only its aftermath. Wrapping it all up in a text page has me wondering if this was meant to be several issues and it got cut to down to one. It feels like it.

Next: Meet the new Atlantis, same as the old Atlantis.

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