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Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer Jonathan Hickman starts tying story threads together (or does he?) in issue #583.

Gimmie a gimmick: This issue’s cover has a big “Three” logo at the top with a “Countdown to casualty” counting down from four to one. This issue gets the four.

We begin in “the neutral zone,” where the High Evolutionary’s lost city had risen from underground to the surface, and the FF are in battle against its primitive inhabitants. This only lasts for one page, though, as we cut to the new Baxter Building, where young Valeria is sneaking into her father’s lab. She finds the Bridge, Reed’s doorway into the multiverse he created in hopes of solving every problem in the world that needed to be solved. She watches a holographic recording of Reed telling her (and us) all about the Bridge. This includes the Council or Reeds, made up of Reeds from other universes, who wanted him to join them at the cost of his own family. He says he promised Sue he would not rebuild the Bridge, but now Valeria sees he has.

Cut to Latveria, where Dr. Doom is in bad shape. He’s recently lost part of his genius after an encounter with Intelligencia in a recent Incredible Hulk issue, but he’s not done yet. He announces to his servant Boris that he will temporarily abdicate his throne until he can reclaim what he lost. And he wants to abdicate to Kristoff, the child genius who believed he was Dr. Doom for many years. At that moment, Valeria teleports into Doom’s throne room and says, “What’s up?” Doom surmises that Valeria’s parents don’t know she’s there. She tells him that her father built a “very bad machine” and that she found it. Then she says, “What would Uncle Doom do?”

Then, in an entirely wordless sequence, we get a flashback to Valeria entering the Bridge and catching up to the Council or Reeds. Just like we saw them last time, they’re in battle against the Mad Celestials. Four of the Reeds rescued Valeria and brought her back to Earth, checking out a map of the planet while they were there.

Valeria tells Dr. Doom that her father made the wrong choice, choosing his “personal happiness” over the good of the world. Doom asks why she’s telling him this, and she says, “All hope lies in Doom.” (Remember that this was the message the adult Franklin from the future gave Valeria back in issue #574.)

At the High Evolutionary’s city, the fight continues. Ben is exposed to radiation which causes him to evolve, growing a huge cranium (!). The evolutionary engine at the center of the city is about to reach critical mass. Sue traps it inside a force field and has Johnny unleash his all-powerful nova flame inside the field to destroy the engine. With the fight over, Reed says he will have a talk with the city’s ruling council on how to be better neighbors with the surface world.

The FF return home and are greeted by their kids, and a few of the kids from the newly formed Future Foundation. Reed asks Valeria if anything interesting happened while they were gone. Then we flashback to the rest of the meeting between Doom and Valeria. She says she can tell he’s recently suffered some sort of brain damage, and he admits he has. She offers to turn him back to normal if he helps Reed. He agrees to the deal. Back in the present, Valeria answers Reed’s question with, “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

The issue ends in deep space, where the Silver Surfer has been drawn by instinct to a distant world. He finds the corpse of Galactus from the future, and he says “Unacceptable.” (Recall that this Galactus corpse was used by the New Defenders when they came to the present, starting in issue #559.)

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: This issue states that Reed rejected the Council of Reeds for his “personal happiness,” but I read it at the time more that he left them out of love for his family. Can they be considered the same thing, or is this something that will be explored more in the future?

Fade out: Sue struggles to maintain her force field against the evolutionary engine, even though we’ve seen her create city-sized force fields before. I guess this is because of all the radiation the engine gives off.

Clobberin’ time: Ben’s evolution will be a thing (heh) in upcoming issues.

Flame on: Johnny shows off his brains as he gets in on the science-talk by deducing that the evolutionary engine is about to blow.

Fantastic fifth wheel: We get a partial answer as where Kristoff has been since last seen at the end of the Onslaught crossover. We can surmise Dr. Doom found the kid after he returned from the Heroes Reborn universe, and sent him into exile until such time that he could be useful.

Our gal Val: For many Marvel readers, Valeria’s weird “relationship” with Dr. Doom is what defines her character. It really began when Doom helped Valeria be born, but their first real meaningful interaction is here.  

Trivia time: What happened in Incredible Hulk #606? Doom was attacked by the Cosmic Hulk, which is yet another Hulk robot lookalike. He tried to siphon the robot’s cosmic power, except that the Leader snuck a “poison pill” into the robot, dropping Doom’s intelligence from super-genius down to ordinary.  

Fantastic or frightful? The Dr. Doom/Valeria scenes are well written, and the High Evolutionary stuff continues the ongoing storyline about the four hidden cities the FF recently discovered, so that’s all good. I struggled my way through the last few Jonathan Hickman issues, so hopefully this is a turn back in the right direction.

Next: Human again, and mutant again.

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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. The time-traveling and dimension-hopping fun continues in issue #581, along with dire warnings about the future.

Recap: We’ve learned more about Reed’s time-traveling father Nathaniel Richards, who had been forced into a Hunger Games-style life-or-death competition against all his other selves from other timelines. With only him and one other combatant left, Nathaniel traveled back to Reed’s college years to recruit him, Ben, and young Victor Von Doom to join him in the fight. We’ve also been getting glimpses of Franklin and Valeria in the future, also working with Nathaniel.

As this issue begins, the time-traveling foursome (heh) explore the ruined city of Chronopolis, where they’re confronted by the enemy Nathaniel, known only as “the Beast.” After a brief fight, the Beast summons his backup team of warriors, the Anachronauts. There’s more fighting, and Nathaniel thinks they should retreat. Reed and Ben fight on, though, turning the tide. Doom finally manages to overpower the beast. Doom tells Nathaniel to deal the killing blow, but Nathaniel refuses. Doom then kills the beast himself. He tells Reed to always remember this day.

Back in Reed’s dorm room, Nathaniel says his goodbye. Reed says that now his father is back, they’ll see each other more often, right? Nathaniel says, “I hope so, Reed. There is always hope.” Then he disappears through a time portal, leaving Reed alone, again.

In the present, future Valeria speaks with Sue. She says that Franklin doesn’t like how things turned out, so he’s time-traveling to prepare his younger self for what’s to come. Sue asks Valeria what she wants, and we don’t see the answer. Cut to “Collapsing Space-time,” where Nathaniel reunites with future Franklin. He announces that the mission was a success, and that he’s the only Nathaniel Richards left. Franklin says, “Good,” and threatens to drop Nathaniel into a void. He says, “Something significant was gained today,” and he won’t waste it.

In the present, Valeria says that after the Last War (!) all timelines collapsed into a single one where the death of everything was imminent. But, post-collapse, Franklin is working on a new future. Back in Space-time, Franklin says Nathaniel will be able to save himself if he jumps into the void and promises never to return. Nathaniel says if he does that, then he’ll have no control and will become lost in time. Nathaniel says he’s now the only Nathaniel Richards in the multiverse, and that means he might survive the upcoming “revision wave.” Franklin says there’s of guarantee of that.

In the present, Valeria warns Sue of dark times ahead. Sue says Valeria is just like her father, trying to fix everything. Valeria says this was all Franklin’s plan. In Space-time, Franklin says that the killing of all other versions of Nathaniel Richards. He says, “Every boy deserves a father,” and he kicks Nathaniel into the void. In the present, Valeria leaves Sue with one final warning, that only Sue can hold things together in the dark times to come. She asks, “Can you be strong, mother?”

Then things fade away in a two-page spread that’s almost entirely white with only faded imagery in two corners. Turn the page and Valeria returns to Space-time. Franklin’s pocket universe is falling apart, and he says their new future is still 250 yards away. (We’re measuring time travel stuff in yards?) Valeria believes he can create a tunnel for them to go through, but he doesn’t believe they’ll make it. They both agree that they have to try. The last page is the two of them leaping forward, into the unknown.

Unstable molecule: The forlorn look on Reed’s face after Nathaniel disappears suggests that Reed somehow knows he won’t see his dad against for a very long time.

Fade out: Valeria’s final warning to Sue is that there will be a point when Sue will feel like giving up. At that moment, Valeria says, all Sue must do is look to the sky. Let’s see how this foreshadowing will play out.

Clobberin’ time: The Beast defeats Ben with a powerful blow to the chest, making it look like Ben dies. Reed later states that Ben only had a couple of cracked ribs, and that he’ll be fine.

Four and a half/Our gal Val: Rather than have a letters page with actual letters, the one in this issue is a Q&A between writer Jonathan Hickman and our own Franklin Richards. This includes a drawing Franklin made of his sister:  

Fantastic fifth wheel: In the opening flashbacks of all the different Nathaniels all killing each other, one of them is dressed just like Nathaniel during the time he lived with the FF and was an alternate member of the team, during the Tom DeFalco years. Do we dare toy with the idea of that version of Nathaniel not being the original?

I suppose we can count this issue as another instance of Dr. Doom acting as an alternate member of the FF, fighting alongside of them as one of the team.

Trivia time: And then there’s the Anachronauts. Originally henchmen of time-travelling villain Kang, the Anachronauts later struck out on their own. The gimmick is that different members of the team are from different time periods. They eventually get tied in with the Black Knight’s complicated continuity and were recurring characters in Force Works, but none of that matters. The Anachronauts seen in this issue are a whole other group of characters from a whole other timeline. This is their only appearance, and their names have never been revealed.

Despite young Dr. Doom’s admonition about remembering what happened, the Marvel Wiki states that he, Reed, and Ben don’t remember this happening at all, and that their memories of this event were erased through unknown means.

Fantastic or frightful? The fun of this issue is supposed to be the young versions of Reed, Ben, and Doom teaming up with Nathaniel as a sort of proto-FF. But that’s over as soon as it starts, so most of this issue can be characters standing around talking about alternate timelines and futures. It’s meant to be all dramatic and foreboding, but it’s just more multiverse mumbo-jumbo.

Next: Who are you, again?

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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Fantastic Friday! In issue #581, we’re time traveling back to college. No Triple Lindy, though.

To recap: Reed has recently formed the Future Foundation, a sort of combination school and think tank composed of genius kids and others. Some time earlier, Valeria was contacted by a time-traveling future version of Franklin, who warned her about an upcoming conflict between four cities. This is likely a reference to four seemingly unrelated hidden cities the FF recently discovered.

This issue begins with future Franklin on another time travel jaunt, seeing images of the FF and Dr. Doom, culminating in him telling young Valeria “All hope lies in doom.” He says the mission was a success, and we see an adult Valeria telling him he better be sure. Turn the page and we see they’re both working for Reed’s long-lost father Nathaniel, also a time traveler. He tells them that, success or failure, they’re committed to their path. Valeria travels through a portal, telling Nathaniel to let her worry about the past and focus instead on his own future. Nathaniel prepares for a mission of his own while Franklin uses his powers to create a pocket universe as a cosmic escape hatch. Nathaniel enters a portal and disappears.

Cut to “years ago,” when Reed is in college, taking an ethics class. He argues that actions in one’s best interest begins with the self, then with family and friends, then the community, and then all mankind. The teacher praises this answer, but young Victor Von Doom stands up and argues that the only right action is one that promotes survival, evolution, and ascendance. Later, Reed commiserates with young Ben about Doom, when the two of them walk into some cosmic energy, right into Nathaniel, just traveled there from the previous scene. Reed hugs him, proclaiming, “Dad!”

Reed is somehow not full of questions about how and why his father disappeared, and instead it’s all jovial as he introduces Ben to Nathaniel. Nathaniel tells a story about how, in the future, he fought a man with a powerful quantum machine inside him. He failed, and the resulting explosion unstuck Nathaniel through time, and pulled all other Nathaniels from all other alternate realities into one. That man became Immortus, who founded the Auditors, a time police force. A war broke out between all the Nathaniels and all the variants of Immortus. Immortus won, and insisted that all but one Nathaniel had to die in a big Hunger Games/Battle Royale type of death sport. Now there are only two Nathaniels left and they’re hunting each other throughout the timeline/multiverse.

Nathaniel says this visit is his last chance to say goodbye to Reed before the end, but Reed wants to save his father. He then does the unthinkable and goes to Victor for help. Victor has been developing weapons (!) including some big robots. Later, we see Ben outfitted with a high-tech mech suit. It enhances his physical strength, and he says, “I could get used to this.” Not to be outdone, Victor dons a suit of armor of his own, like the classic Dr. Doom armor. Nathaniel opens a portal and says, “Time to go.”

Cut to the present, where the new Baxter Building’s alarms go off, announcing a “timequake.” A portal opens in front of Sue, and adult Valeria steps out. She fills the room with some sort of glowing blue energy that she says is for privacy. There’s a brief fight, until Sue realizes who Valeria is.

Then we cut to the future, in the ruined city of Chronopolis. Nathaniel leads young Reed, Ben, and Victor through the ruins, with a giant fortress in the distance. They enter the fortress, and Nathaniel and Victor both sense Nathaniel’s enemy nearby. Turn the page to see the alternate Nathaniel floating in air above them, saying, “Let the great hunt come to a close.”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Again, it’s interesting that Reed is happy to see his father, but Reed doesn’t ask any questions about where Nathaniel has been or how he just teleported into Reed’s dorm room wearing a suit of future tech.

Fade out: I thought at first that Sue was hand-washing dishes when Valeria appears, but upon a closer look, we can see she’s simply making herself some tea.

Clobberin’ time: Back in college, young Reed wants to spend the weekend in the lab, but young Ben encourages him to come to a party and meet a girl. I wonder how this weekend would have happened without Nathaniel showing up.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Nathaniel Richards’ first appearance, the “Warlord” storyline from Fantastic Four #271-273, is one of my all-time favorite FF stories. So I’d gotten a little tired of Nathaniel’s following appearances never referencing it. Then this issue introduces the fortress at Chronopolis, which is the same design as the Warlord’s fortress from that original story. The Marvel Wiki states that Nathaniel’s time as the Warlord happened just after the great hunt depicted the past in these issues.

The alarm graphic on the FF’s computer screens is the face of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Four and a half: Future Franklin has controlled his mutant power to create pocket universes, while we the readers have seen those powers start to reemerge in the present.

Our gal Val: We get a future/alternate timeline version of Valeria, but no reference to the first version of Valeria we met, who was Marvel Girl from an alt. future.

Trivia time: In true time travel fashion, some of the images future Franklin sees at the start of the issue haven’t happened yet, but they will in upcoming issues.

Fantastic or frightful? It’s yet another issue of setup, promising big things to come. I’m reminded of Chris Claremont’s years on X-Men, where storylines would be introduced and then paid off years later. Is writer Jonathan Hickman attempting a similar long game with Fantastic Four? We’ll see.

Next: It’s time to pay the price.

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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Annual #32 offers killer cyborgs, shrinking into a microscopic world, and… fears of parenthood?

The great Bryan Hitch is back on pencils, with Andrew Currie on inks. But the really big deal is that it’s written by Joe Ahearne, creator of the cult-fave 1998 TV series Ultraviolet, and director of several episodes of Doctor Who.

We begin with a woman named Amy Brys walking in on the Fantastic Four conducting an anti-gravity mine training, where they’re floating around in a room filled with similarly floating mines. Johnny had given her an all-access pass to the new Baxter Building, and now she’s here wondering where he’s gone because he hasn’t answered any of her phone calls. Johnny shows up and says he didn’t call because he really likes her, and it’s dangerous to be in a committed relationship with a superhero. (What?)

An alarm goes off, and Reed says he’s picked up an energy pattern that’s a variation of the cosmic rays that gave the FF their powers. Sue says this is a concern, because it’s this same variant from the Negative Zone that almost killed her when she was pregnant. Johnny, just having returned from the Negative Zone, puts two and two together and believes he’s gotten Amy pregnant.

Later, Amy and Johnny try to talk things out on the sidewalk outside, where she insists she doesn’t need his help, when they’re attacked by alien creatures. The FF join the fight, deducing that these are cyborgs based on microscopic organisms. After fighting the creatures off, everyone returns to HQ, where Johnny says he didn’t even kiss Amy, let alone get her pregnant. (Why did he wait until now to say this?) Reed has Amy in his lab, saying the cyborgs were likely after her baby, because it might be born with vast powers.

Reed is going to use shrinking tech to make Sue microscopic and enter Amy’s body (ew) to conduct a paternity test. He tasks Johnny and Ben to go to the nightclub where Johnny met Amy to conduct a temporal scan and see what really happened that night. Using the scanner, they see a mystery woman following Johnny, followed by the microscopic versions of the cyborgs entering Johnny’s body (ew) while at the club. Similarly, Sue is attacked by more cyborgs while microscopic. She defeats them and she and Reed remove them from Amy’s body (so much ew).

The microscopic cyborgs (do these things have a name?) used Johnny’s DNA to impregnate Amy with a superhuman child. Now Sue and Ben shrink down microscopic to enter Johnny’s brain. In the lab, Reed says the cyborgs look familiar, and Johnny insists that Psycho Man is behind all this, with his history of both shrinking and cyborg/robot/android tech. (Remember that the original Psycho Man was a teeny-tiny guy in a huge robot suit.) Inside Johnny’s brain, Ben and Reed find the real culprit: Psycho Woman!

Psycho Woman uses a new version of Psycho Man’s original emotion modifier to overwhelm Sue’s mind, all while she makes a big speech about feeling trapped by parenthood. Reed hands Amy a syringe full of green liquid and tells her to prepare to make an injection. He then shrinks down to join the fight inside Johnny’s brain. All the cyborgs in the lab come back to life, so Johnny fights them. But he can’t flame on for fear of harming the others inside him.

It’s all Fantastic Voyage and/or Innerspace as Psycho Woman chases and fights Reed, Ben and Sue up and down Johnny’s veins. She overwhelms Ben with feelings of disgust, and she shuts down Sue by making her emotionless. With Johnny’s help, they contact Franklin and Valeria to restore Sue’s emotions. Psycho Woman lets out a blast so powerful it blasts Johnny through a window outside the building. He won’t flame on for fear of harming his teammates, so Reed tells Amy to jump after him. She catches up to him in midair, Point Break style. He flames on and flies her to away to save her life. The others survived thanks to Sue’s force fields. Johnny destroys the rest of the cyborgs along the way. Everyone reunites back in Reed’s lab, where Ben reports that Psycho Woman is “toast.”

Later, Reed fires up his personal time machine, saying Johnny can go back to that evening at the nightclub to prevent Psycho Woman’s plot from happening. Johnny doesn’t want to mess with the timeline, even though Reed says this will be a minor change only. Fearing that supervillains all over the world will want her super-powered baby, Amy swipes the time machine’s remote control and jumps into the portal, disappearing. With no knowledge of where or when she went, Johnny wonders if the child survived, and could be out there, anywhere, all grown up.

Unstable molecule: Is Reed’s time machine based on Dr. Doom’s original one? Or is it still the original one? It looks entirely different, but one still enters it by standing on a specific spot on the floor.

Fade out: At one point, Sue sends a message to Johnny by turning a spot on his chest invisible. Reed says that at this size, it’s as if Sue is turning the sun invisible. Can we assume that’s an exaggeration?

Clobberin’ time: Ben overcomes his feelings of disgust, simply because these are feelings he’s used to.

Flame on: Johnny appears overwhelmed by the thought of becoming a father, but Reed assures Amy he’ll be fine. Reed says Johnny is used to dealing with the unexpected.

Fantastic fifth wheel: There’s no mention of how Ant-Man is a former FF member, but we know he introduced a lot of shrinking tech to Reed and the others during that time. Before Ant-Man the FF could only shrink when inside their Reducto-craft. I can only conclude that his influence helped all the shrinking in this issue.

Four and a half/Our gal Val: All it takes to restore Sue’s emotions are the two kids saying, “Mom, are you there?”

Foundational: The Marvel Wiki insists this comic takes place between issues #580 and #581, yet there’s no mention of the newly-formed Future Foundation. I guess all the kids are off working on their special project to cure Ben.

Trivia time: This is the only appearance of Psycho Woman, so we’ll likely never know where she came from or what her relationship with Psycho Man may or may not be. The Marvel Wiki doesn’t even have an entry for her.

It’s also the only appearance of Amy Brys, although the wiki adds the detail of her baby surviving, having been kept safe from all the FF’s enemies.

Fantastic or frightful? Leave it to a guy who worked on Doctor Who to want Fantastic Four to get as weird as possible. This is a lot to take in, with the shrinking stuff, the emotion stuff, and the fears-of-parenting stuff. I don’t know if it all holds together, though. Like, why isn’t Psycho Woman’s emotion manipulation tied into the parenting stuff more? This would be better served as a seven-issue arc rather than an annual, but the necessities of comics publishing might have prevented that.  

Next: Spill the tea.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. But it’s been a hectic week, so instead let’s get to know one of our new Future Foundation members, Dragon Man!

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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Now that we’ve met the Future Foundation, issue #580 gives us our first look at what they’re up to.

To recap, Reed and the FF have assembled, either by design or by accident, a group of brilliant young people to live at the new Baxter Building. They are now a combined school and think tank (!) called the Future Foundation. As this issue begins, Reed is meeting with some of the kids who have presented their first project as an attempt to solve a scientific conundrum Reed has struggled with for years. Franklin, not technically a member of the Foundation like his sister is, keeps interrupting Reed. The Impossible Man is not only back on Earth, but he’s about to introduce his new toy line (!) at a public event that afternoon. Reed promised Franklin they would go together, but now Reed is too busy with the Foundation.

Instead, Johnny takes Franklin to the toy show, with Leech tagging along. There’s all sorts of Marvel merchandise on sale (art imitating life?). Johnny comes across supervillain Arcade and is ready for a fight, but Impossible Man appears and says the two of them are working together. Arcade has turned over a new leaf, going into legitimate business with toys, collectibles, and video games. He promises that he’s given up on his elaborate death traps, but Johnny doesn’t buy it.

Then there’s a big presentation, where Arcade and Impossible Man introduce the toys, with Impy saying that a little bit of his “impossibleness” is infused in each one. Impossible Man cuts the ribbon, letting a crowd of kids at the toys. Then we see Arcade going back on his promise when he whispered “Okay, maybe a tiny little death trap.” All the toys come to life and attack the kids, punching out Leech. Impossible Man tries to fight back, but he’s overwhelmed by his own toys.

Energy swirls around Franklin’s head, and a dinosaur display then also comes to life, controlled by Franklin. It snatches up Arcade in its teeth, and Franklin tells Johnny to burn all the toys. He does, and then there’s some jokey business about Impossible Man crying that he’s ruined, only for it to be an act. He says he’ll keep an eye on Arcade until the police arrive.

There’s another two pages of revisiting Nu-Earth, where we see what billionaire Ted Castle and the other Nu-Earth characters are doing 500 and then 600 years in the future. Back at the Baxter Building, the Future Foundation kids have invited Ben to join them. Turns out he is the scientific conundrum they’re working on, and they say they can cure him and make him human again. He doesn’t buy it, after all the times Reed has tried and failed, but then Reed admits that the kids have outsmarted him.

The kids explain that Ben can’t ever be fully cured, but his powers can be switched off for a time, about one week per year. Alex Power is the one who hands Ben a vial of glowing green liquid, saying to Ben, “You get to be human again.”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed says he doesn’t know if he should be proud or insulted (!) that the kids chose a more personal subject for their project rather than something that could help all mankind. Strange choice of words, there.

Clobberin’ time: Rather than a cure, Ben suggests the kids make him super-boots, a robot assistant, or a personal cooler.

Flame on: Franklin and Leech initially say their favorite superheroes are Spider-Man and Iron Man, but by the end of the issue, they admit that Johnny is now their favorite.

Fantastic fifth wheel: The issue remembers that Impossible Man was once a member of the FF, during the short-lived “Fantastic Seven” of the ‘70s. He greets Johnny with a hug when they’re reunited.

Four and a half: We get another look at Franklin’s mutant powers reemerging, but we don’t know what form they’ll take this time.

Our gal Val: Valeria seems to gloat when she gets to work on the project with Reed instead of Reed spending the day with Franklin. She’s much more empathetic with Ben, apologizing that he can’t be human for longer.

Foundational: Reed assumes that Dragon Man came up with the idea to cure Ben, but Mik, one of the Moloids, takes credit. Bently-23 gets his first-ever line of dialogue when he suggests they test the cure on a clone of Ben. This is of note because Bently himself is a clone.

Trivia time: Once again, Arcade is a villain-of-the-week type of character, so much so that this issue isn’t referenced at all on his Marvel Wiki entry. It was shortly after this that he upped his game in an attempt at making the supervillain big time as the main antagonist in Avengers Arena.

Fantastic or frightful? A comedic and kid-friendly issue, making me wonder if that’s what the Future Foundation era (era) will be like. My memory is that this was a fun and exciting time for the Fantastic Four, but my concern now is that this new direction for the series will be too “kiddie.” We’ll see.

Next: A hot dad!

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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.