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Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Time to get all inner child with the kid-friendly Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius.

Son of a Genius, from writer and cartoonist Chris Eliopoulos, started as some backup comics appearing in the 2000s non-canon revival of Power Pack. These were then reprinted as standalone comics, which proved successful enough for Marvel to produce even more standalones. The setup is simple. Franklin is a precocious kid and H.E.R.B.I.E. is his overprotective robot nanny and overall voice of reason. Franklin helps himself to an invention of his dad’s, leading to comedic mishaps. Everyone in the world compares this to the legendary Calvin and Hobbes newspaper strip. But aside from similarities in the art, they’re not that alike.

Son of a Genius

• – “Microscopic.” Franklin has a homework assignment to learn about the microscopic world. He and H.E.R.B.I.E. steal Reed’s micro-pod, shirnk down to microscopic size, and explore the inside of Reed’s nose!

– “Tons of Fun.” Ben tells Franklin that when he’s grown, he can have all the junk food he wants. Franklin uses a matter-expanding machine on himself. But instead of getting larger, he balloons to a spherical shape.

– “Veggin’ Out.” Franklin needs something for show and tell, so he swipes a device of Reed’s that turns inedible matter edible. It backfires by transforming all of Franklin’s classmates into vegetables. H.E.R.B.I.E. saves the day with a “revert-ilizer.”

– “Weather or not.” Wanting wintertime fun during summer, Franklin uses a weather generator inside his bedroom. First he creates a blizzard, and then a massive storm. Sue has him clean his room, saying it looks like a tornado blew through it.

– “Send in the Clones.” Now it’s Halloween, but Manhattan is too dangerous for trick or treating, so Franklin runs some Jell-O through a cloning machine and makes Jell-O clones of himself. The clones go trick-or-treating, only to keep the candy for themselves, and then trash Franklin’s room. H.E.R.B.I.E. dissolves the clones with water.

Happy Franksgiving

– “Hamster Havoc.” Franklin’s parents give him a pet hamster. He really wanted a dog, though, so he puts the hamster in a “transmutanator” to turn it into a dog. It backfires, growing the hamster to Godzilla size. H.E.R.B.I.E. replicates an equally giant hamster wheel for it, and then they shrink it back.

– “Telepathy Terror.” Franklin may or may not have a crush on a girl named Katie. He experiments with a telepathy helmet, only to get visions of someone in his life tying him up and launching him into space. The thoughts belong to H.E.R.B.I.E., who just wants to keep Franklin safe from harm. We never learn about Katie, but later entries will reveal this is Katie Power of Power Pack.

– “Speed Demon.” After losing a race in gym class, Franklin uses a speed enhancer to live life at super-speed. He loses control, running around the world in minutes. H.E.R.B.I.E. saves him by trapping him in a force field, and then Franklin is too exhausted to win the next race in gym.

– “Ocean-Ape Escape.” Franklin orders “Ocean-Apes” from the back of a comic book. (Like Sea Monkeys, get it?) Only to be disappointed when they arrive as seeds. He uses Reed’s accelerated growth powder on them, turning them into monsters. After fighting for a bit, the monsters fall in love (!) and fly off.

– “Turkey Trouble.” On the day before Thanksgiving, Franklin accidentally steps through a portal to an alternate universe where the FF are human-turkey hybrids.

March Madness

– “Evolution Revolution.” Franklin asks his dad for help on his homework on evolution. Reed shows him an invention that can de-evolve and then re-evolve biomatter. Franklin accidentally sets it off, turning Reed into a monkey. Franklin distracts Reed with a banana and then transforms him back.

– “Molecular Mayhem.” Franklin wants to ride a new roller coaster, but he’s stuck helping his dad in the lab. He activates a subatomic sled, and he and H.E.R.B.I.E. go on a whirlwind spin through the Microverse.

– “Hair Today.” Franklin tries giving himself a haircut, with disastrous results. He takes some experimental “sonic tonic,” that makes his hair grow out of control. H.E.R.B.I.E. reverses the tonic, and Franklin ends up bald for his school photo.

– “Rodent’s Revenge.” Franklin’s pet hamster is back! To teach it tricks, Franklin hooks it up to an intelligence enhancer. The hamster gets too smart, and begins plotting world domination. H.E.R.B.I.E. electrocutes it, which puts it back to normal… or not?

– “Basket Brawl.” Franklin swipes a psychic projector to give him an edge in a basketball game. He projects his fears onto the other players, transforming them into monster basketballs.  H.E.R.B.I.E. saves the day by getting Franklin to think of them as normal, which turns them back.

World Be Warned

– “Gravity Depravity.” Wanting to be like Spider-Man, Franklin uses a gravity machine to be able to walk on walls. It breaks the fourth wall by sucking the panel frames into a gravity well, only to reset to normal because the law of gravity can’t be broken.

– “Bully Breakdown.” Franklin is getting bullied at school. Rather than call the FF in for support, he uses a portable force field for protection. It goes haywire, causing him to lose friction and bounce all over the school. H.E.R.B.I.E. then shows the principal video of the bullying so he can take appropriate action.

– “Monkey Talk.” Franklin takes a universal translator to the zoo so he can communicate with the animals. They convince him to set them free.

– “Build a Better Bot.” Reed builds a new robot for Franklin, named H.U.M.P.H.R.I.E.S. The new bot is fun at first, but he doesn’t give Franklin the leeway that H.E.R.B.I.E. did. H.E.R.B.I.E. finds the new bot smashed, and Franklin tells H.E.R.B.I.E., “You’re perfect at what you do.”

– “Frank Smash.” While the Hulk is visiting the Baxter Building, Franklin helps himself to Hulk’s chocolate bar. This causes the Hulk to rampage, until Franklin uses his allowance to buy more chocolate for them to share.

Monster Mash

– “Ready, Steady, Yeti” Franklin teleports himself to the arctic in search of the Abominable Snowman. Although scary at first, he and Franklin become friends and enjoy a snowball fight.

– “Little Monster.” Franklin x-rays himself to figure why he’s been burping. The burp comes to life as a huge purple monster that runs rampant through the Baxter Building. H.E.R.B.I.E. stops it by de-radiating it.

– “Ghosts in the Machine.” Franklin wants to use an interdimensional phase shifter to turn himself into a ghost as a prank on his parents. He encounters a bunch of other ghosts who chase him around. H.E.R.B.I.E. brings him back, but Franklin can still see the ghosts at the end.

– “Under the Bed.” The monster under Franklin’s bed is real! Franklin and H.E.R.B.I.E. fight it for a bit, before using Reed’s dimensional rift device to banish it from Earth, even though Franklin’s parents still don’t believe the monster is real.

– “Power Trip.” Franklin wants super powers like the rest of family. The automated lab computer gives him recreations of the FF’s powers. He can’t control the powers, so he has the computer undo them.

Fall Football Fiasco

– “Fantasy Football.” Franklin uses the lab computer to turn all his toys into football players, so he can have someone to play with. They run amok until he grabs the ball and chases them back into the lab to reverse the process.

– “Lockjaw Unleashed.” Franklin is dog-sitting the Inhumans’ giant teleporting dog Lockjaw. He keeps trying and failing to get the dog to teleport himself somewhere.

– “Double Trouble.” Franklin encounters a new version of the Super-Adaptoid, which transforms itself into a second Franklin. The clone runs around causing chaos in Franklin’s life that he then has to catch up to. This story is the series at most Calvin and Hobbes style, referencing the story where Calvin cloned himself. It also confirms that Franklin’s crush Katie is in fact Katie Power of Power Pack.

– “Time and Time Again.” Franklin meets himself from the future, who shows up with a time machine. This causes some kind of time loop where their meeting keeps repeating itself.

– “Alien Encounter.” While on an outer space trip with Reed, Franklin beams a cute little alien aboard the ship. The alien multiplies into a bunch of aliens, and then they all run amok. H.E.R.B.I.E. puts them to sleep with allergy medicine (is this a drug metaphor?) and they beam the creatures off the ship.

Not-so-secret Invasion

– “Skrull Surprise.” Franklin is behaving too perfectly, and H.E.R.B.I.E. suspects something is up. Turns out Franklin was replaced by a Skrull. Franklin fights and defeats the Skrull, for some actual superhero action in this series for once.

– “Little Lizard No Longer.” Franklin is babysitting his class lizard, who drinks some radioactive goo and grows to Godzilla size. Franklin and H.E.R.B.I.E. fight him with a giant mech, and then they put him to sleep by rubbing his tummy.

– “The Other Football.” Franklin’s soccer ball gets switched for a soccer ball-like egg from Reed’s lab. It hatches to reveal a dinosaur. Franklin subdues the beast not with more tech, but with his awesome soccer skills.

– “Squid Squabble.” Franklin and H.E.R.B.I.E. travel to the bottom of the ocean to help Franklin’s friend Squid Kid. He thinks Squid Kid is under attack by the Ocean-Apes, but H.E.R.B.I.E. devises a fish translator to reveal that Squid Kid was really inviting Franklin to his wedding.

– “Wizard Wipeout.” The Wizard infiltrates the Baxter Building and hypnotizes Franklin and the FF. This leaves H.E.R.B.I.E. and robot receptionist Roberta (remember her?) to defeat the villain.

Summer Smackdown

– “Thunderous Throwdown.” Franklin attends a wrestling match where Ben is taking on a superhuman wrestler named Thunder. Franklin then gets in the ring with a force field device.

– “De-aged Dad.” Reed encourages Franklin to make friends with kids his own age, so Franklin uses a de-ager ray on his dad. They horse around for an afternoon. When Reed turns back to normal, he appears to have learned a lesson, and takes the rest of the day off to hang out with Franklin.

– “Night of the Living Pet.” Franklin’s hamster is dead (!). He uses mad science to revive it, creating a zombie hamster. It runs wild for a bit before he catches it and now has a new undead pet.

– “Unmistaken Identity.” Franklin uses a holographic image inducer to impersonate his teacher for a parent-teacher conference, leading to not one but multiple mistaken identities as things progress.

– “H.E.R.B.I.E.’s Love Bug.” H.E.R.B.I.E. has a date with Roberta, except she’s not programmed for romance. Can Franklin cheer up his heartbroken robot pal?

Sons of Geniuses

– “Mission Unstoppable.” Franklin spots Reed using a “cross-dimensional communicator” to conference with other Reeds in other universes.  Franklin pulls off a heist to reach the communicator.

– “Fantastic Frank.” An alternate universe where Franklin has super-powers, but everyone in his family does not.

– “Chimp Change.” In this alternate universe, everyone is a chimp. Chimp Franklin confronts a chimp version of the Mole Man.

– “H.E.R.B.I.E. Son of a Super-Computer.” And in this alternate universe, everyone is a H.E.R.B.I.E.-style robot except for Franklin. He’s the human nanny to a precocious and troublemaking young H.E.R.B.I.E.

– “Franklin Freakout.” Back in “our” universe, Franklin and H.E.R.B.I.E. must deal with a crowd of alt-universe Franklins coming through a portal.

Dark Reigning Cats and Dogs

– “Forty-year-old Franklin.” Franklin wants a dog his birthday, only to be told not until he’s older. Then he meets an older version of himself from the future. They go on a time travel adventure, and older Franklin leaves the teleporting Inhuman dog Puppy with Franklin as his new pet.

– “Frankenrichards’ Monster.” It’s Halloween, and Franklin wants to see a real monster. H.E.R.B.I.E. turns monstrous after getting struck by lightning.

– “Homework Hassle.” Franklin uses a hologram to make everyone believe he’s doing his homework when he’s really goofing off.

– “The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend.” There’s a new kid in Franklin’s class at school – Kristoff! There’s an instant rivalry between them, until Franklin steps in to save Kristoff from bullies.

– “Multiple Personalities.” Franklin uses a shape-changing device to come up with Halloween costume ideas.

– “Dark Reigning Cats and Dogs.” Puppy uses his teleporting powers to fill the Baxter Building full of other dogs.

April Fools

– “Picnic Panic.” During a fun day at the beach, Kristoff summons giant ants to attack Frankin’s picnic. Franklin forms a Fantastic Four of his own with himself, Katie Power, Squid Kid, and Puppy.

– “Nightmare.” Franklin has been having nightmares, so he uses a “nightmare extractor” to deal with it. Except that this brings the nightmare to life.

– “Cloud Craziness.” Franklin uses Puppy’s teleporting power and a weather-controlling device in hopes of having a perfect day at the park. It doesn’t go as planned, of course.

(These are all the one-shots I had access to this week, but I see there are three or four more out there. I’ll assume they’re more of the same.)

Trivia time: As you can guess, all this is considered an alternate universe and not canon to the Marvel Universe. The biggest difference is that Franklin is not a mutant in this timeline, but an ordinary human kid.

These comics were popular among critics as well as readers. Franklin Richards was nominated for the Special Award for Humor at the 2008 Harvey Awards.

Fantastic or frightful? There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this series, it’s all very light and funny, and the art is colorful and lively. It’s just that they feel so repetitive after reading them in one sitting like this. It’s the same plot over and over, with slight variations each time. I suppose you can say that about a lot of our favorite serialized fictions, but it especially stands out with this one. Or maybe I’m being too harsh, because it’s a fun-to-read comic for younger readers, and that’s all it has to be.

Next: Sky booms.

* * * *

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. Remember Marvel’s Annihilation crossover? No? Well, issue #578 sure does.  

Johnny, in voiceover captions (is that the right term?) describes meeting a woman at a bar called The Other Side of Zero, where a performance artist called the Anti-Priest is on stage making weird speeches. Johnny takes the woman back to the new Baxter Building. He wants to take her to his bedroom (wa-hey!) but she’s more interested in the controls to the Negative Zone portal. He tells her to get away from it, and she punches him out. Her eyes and mouth start bleeding (!) and she gives a big speech about wanting to die, and how everything is reversed in the Negative Zone, so death means life there.

Then the woman’s skin tears open, and a bunch of alien bugs come out of her. I guess this was a “kids standing on each other’s shoulders inside a trench coat” thing. Carrying a metal device, the bugs leap through the portal into the Negative Zone. Johnny deduces that the device was a bomb, and he decides to enter the Negative Zone to stop the bugs. He recruits the newest version of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot to monitor the portal from Earth’s side. (Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.) Johnny doesn’t call his teammates for help, saying “My mess… I’m gonna fix it.”

Johnny emerges on the other side of the portal right into a city under attack. Two aliens state that the attackers are the army of Annihilus, but the city has the power of the Cosmic Control Rod for their defenses. Johnny tries to warn the alien general that the bugs are attacking with a bomb. He’s too late, as the bomb explodes. The general is attacked by more bugs, who are apparently in the employ of Annihilus. Johnny then attacks the bugs with his flame.

Then we get another one of these text pages summarizing what’s going on. The nightclub is a recruitment center for something called the Cult of the Negative Zone. Inside the Negative Zone, Annihilus has been reborn and has gone to war with Blastaar the Living Bomb-Burst. Those were his people in the city. There’s also a bunch of details about this newest version of the Negative Zone portal, and some business about how this fits into the whole Annihilation crossover by stating that the attacking bug army has been reset to “pre-crunch” levels.

Then we cut to the present, where Johnny has been voice-overing from. He’s telling all this to Valeria, who’s also reading the text page on her iPad-like device. Johnny states that Blastaar’s city is in fact the Negative Zone prison from Civil War, now rebuilt into a city. Johnny explains that the bomb kicked off another Annihilation Wave, so he fled back to Earth. Johnny asks why Valeria is interested in this, and she says she must keep learning. He asks her if this incident is something the FF should be worried about, and she responds, “How would I know something like that?”

Then we catch up with continuity from the last few issues. Sue, acting in her capacity as envoy of humanity for the recently discovered Old Atlantis, arranges a meeting between the Old Atlantis king, Ul-Uhar, and the regular Atlantis’ current monarch, Andromeda. Speaking on behalf of Namor, who is with the X-Men at this time, she asks Ul-Uhar how he they can negotiate when he knows nothing of the outside world, not even having seen the sun. He responds by raising Old Atlantis up to the surface, breaking through the icy exterior of Antarctica. At the Baxter Building, Reed scolds Johnny for jumping into the Negative one without calling on his teammates. Johnny apologizes, and Reed tells him “You have to start paying attention to what’s going on.”

Cut to the moon, where the new Universal Inhumans are living in the Blue Area on board their city-ship. The six rulers have summons their top six warriors, naming them the Light Brigade. To prove their worth, the Light Brigade must take on a battle they know they can’t win. All six warriors jump through a portal into the Negative Zone city, where they fight the Annihilus bugs. The caption tells us, “The war of four cities begins.”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: The text page says that Reed rebuilt the Negative Zone portal with a faster boot cycle and a decompression buffer. I suppose this explains why Johnny doesn’t pass through the trippy distortion area before arriving at the prison/city.

Fade out: Sue doesn’t say anything during the meeting between Atlantis and Old Atlantis, but the caption emphasizes her importance there as “the herald of man.”

Flame on: Reed’s talking-down of Johnny is even-handed. He says he appreciates that Johnny dives head-first into action, but reminds Johnny that he can’t do so in a way that endangers others.

Fantastic fifth wheel: This new version of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot is bigger and bulkier than previous ones, and he only speaks in electronic bleeps and bloops. He chest opens up with a minibar that Johnny uses to make a cocktail for his date. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot

Our gal Val: The Marvel Wiki confirms that Valeria is researching these four cities, and spoils a little bit about why.

Trivia time: Turns out the Negative Zone prison from Civil War was abandoned after the Secret Invasion crossover and before the War of Kings crossover, specifically in Guardians of the Galaxy #9-10.

What’s the Annihilation Wave again? While often described as a weapon, it’s Annihilus’ invading army, consisting of a seemingly endless number of insectoid soldiers that can swarm and consume entire planets. Therefore, the bomb in this issue is not the Wave, but just one weapon used by the Wave.

Fantastic or frightful? Writer Jonathan Hickman starts tying together threads that were set up in previous issues. That’s exciting to see, but this issue still comes off like a jumble of disconnected scenes. The fans love Hickman’s writing on FF, but I’m wondering when we get to the really good stuff.

Next: That’s no stuffed tiger.

* * * *

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. Issue #577 gives us some classic mayhem on the moon. Except by “mayhem” I mean “lots of standing around and talking.”

We begin with the Inhuman royal family arriving at the Blue Area of the moon. Medusa says, “It’s time,” and she explains that “the gathering” draws near, and a wizard-looking Inhuman has been chosen as a wayfinder. Medusa says, “This is a summoning,” and then the Inhumans’ city seems to lift off like a giant ship. The wayfinder waits on that spot for six months. Then the Watcher appears, and another giant ship appears flying over the moon.

At the new Baxter Building, Reed and the FF watch this happen, saying that the ship has landed and that they should get there before anyone else does. The FF take off in their rocket, with references to the original spaceflight that gave them their powers. Cut to the moon, where the FF search for an entrance to the ship. They meet the wayfinder, who introduces himself as Dal Damoc, acting as proxy leader of the Inhumans while Black Bolt is away from the solar system. He tells the FF, “Welcome to the Universal City.”

Sue goes into science mode, deducing that the city is a “perpetual motion planar construct that doesn’t require constant thought.” Sure, if you say so. Dal Damoc leads everyone inside. The place appears abandoned, and Damoc explains that the city was created by four races who became one, a new monoculture, or universal collective. Apparently, all the people of this civilization just became part of the city, as Damoc points out a doorway that used to be a politician.

Then there’s a lot of confusing talk about the origin of the Inhumans, with them being experimented on by the Kree aliens. Then Damoc says five other species were experimented on as well. He says the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence had secret plans involving the long view of the Kree. Then there’s talk of a catalyst, like the Terrigen mists that later gave the Inhumans their powers. Whereas the Inhumans had terrigensis, the other species had isogenesis, amphogenesis, antigenesis, and exogenesis. Damoc says this is a “genetic harvesting ground,” which will reignite the Kree’s evolution.

A bunch of aliens appear surrounding the FF, but Damoc keeps talking. He says Black Bolt and the rest of the Inhumans traveled to Hala, the Kree homeworld, not to save the Kree but to crush them. Damoc takes the FF into a chamber full of aliens he calls “the Universal Inhumans.” The aliens are the Centurians, the Moord Badoon, the Kymellians, and the Dire Wraiths. Damoc says Black Bolt and Earth’s humans will rejoin them soon.

The aliens have gathered to establish a holy land, New Hala. Reed asks if this New Hala will be located on the blue area of the moon. Damoc says, “Someplace better,” and all the aliens point upward at the Earth.

Then the issue ends with another of these text pages, filling in more information. It lists how many thousands of each alien are in the Universal City, including 726 prisoners. Then there’s a bunch of business about the Light Brigade, a group of six elite Inhuman warriors. The Light Brigade must survive a series of trials to prove their worthiness, and none have survived.

Unstable molecule: Reed’s rocket takes off from the corner of the new Baxter Building, just like it did in the original. Reed also has cool-looking new spacesuits designed for the team.

 

Fade out: Damoc gets a little flirty with Sue, asking why a woman such as her would ever let her feet touch the ground. She responds by making herself hover in the air with her force fields.

Clobberin’ time: While the FF have their mission briefing, Ben amuses himself by reading a TV Guide.

Flame on: When Reed deduces tens of thousands of heat signatures within the alien city, Johnny uses his powers to sense that there are even more.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Medusa is back among the Inhumans, in her usual role of speaking on Black Bolt’s behalf.

Sue-per spy: The 2019 Invisible Woman miniseries revealed that Sue had a double life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent all along. Is Sue’s instant analysis of the alien city a result of her being married to Reed, or is this her spy training at work?

Trivia time: The four alien species are revved-up versions of previously existing Marvel alien species. The Centaurians are originally from Centauri-IV, the home of Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy. The Dire Wraiths were the main villains from Rom: Spaceknight. The Krymellians are the kindly horse-like aliens from Power Pack. The Badoon, whose home planet is Moord, are often allies and/or henchmen for Thanos.

Fantastic or frightful? The FF travel to space, only to stand around for a lot of techno-gobbledygook dialogue. Looks like writer Jonathan Hickman is going to start tying things from this and previous issues together starting next issue, so I’m interested in seeing what he’s up to. Heaven help anyone who reads this as their first-ever Fantastic Four comic, though.

Next: Connecting the dots.

* * * *

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. We’re going underwater for a soaking wet slugfest in issue #575.  

We begin with Sue giving a slideshow (Powerpoint?) presentation about an isolated Antarctic base which is located over a massive body of water that may have undiscovered life forms within it. Recently, new scanning tech found a structure inside the water. We see Ben and Johnny bored with this conversation, when Reed enters and says, “Something’s come up.” After noticing a data leak from the site, Reed discovered A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) had hacked the place. A.I.M. had been slant drilling into the water from five miles away, and are preparing to launch probes into it. Reed says the FF must get there first, and they don’t have the luxury of sending probes.

At the arctic base, the FF meet with Dr. Cal Cooley, who runs the place with help from the tech that the FF provided. Cal has prepared a sea pod for the FF, but he says it will difficult to break through the ice shield into the underground water. Turn the page and we see the pod smashing through the ice and the FF swimming out of it in deep sea gear. They swim around some exotic sea life, and then find the structure, looking like a bunch of crystals. A bunch of A.I.M. submarines arrive, and they battle the humanoid sea creatures who come from inside the structure. The FF fight back, smashing their way through the subs. This fight scene takes up almost the entire issue, told only through the art with no dialogue.

The sea creatures escort the FF into the structure, which is their city. Reed spots telepathic communication devices throughout the city. The creatures attach these devices to the FF’s dive helmets. They meet the city’s ruler, Ul-Uhar, who says he is regent of the king. Then he tells them, “Welcome to the kingdom of Atlantis.”

Reed says Atlantis was destroyed at the bottom of the sea, and Ul-Uhar says the entire sea is Atlantis. Ul-Uhar asks Reed what the difference is between him and the A.I.M. villains. Reed tries to explain that humanity is a collective and no one person speaks on behalf of the entire surface world. But then Sue volunteers to be that voice. Ul-Uhar names Sue the envoy and emissary of mankind. He tasks her with returning to the surface world with a message, “The old kings of Atlantis have returned.”

Then, just like last issue, it wraps up in a single text page, telling and not showing what happened next. We’re meant to call this city the Old Kingdom. Sue was given an apparatus allowing her to speak to the Old Kingdom whenever she needs to. Sue contacted Namor to set up a peaceful negotiation between him and the Old Kingdom, and that Namor has yet to respond. There’s also a bunch of world-building stuff about the different species and classes of the Old Kingdom, if anyone’s interested.

Unstable molecule: Reed is only partially aware of the situation in the Antarctic, never having met Cal or the specifics of what they’re doing in the base. Reed’s own Antarctic base, seen in vol. 3 #1, goes unmentioned.

Fade out/Clobberin’ time: Sue surrounds Ben with a force field and then throws him at one of the submarines. It yet another variation of the X-Men’s famous “fastball special” in which Colossus would throw Wolverine at an enemy.

Flame on: Johnny arrives in freezing cold Antarctica wearing only swim trunks adorned the flame pattern. Because the cold doesn’t bother him. He also wears this during the undersea fight, while everyone else is in their diving suits.

Foundational: We’ll see the Old Kingdom again, because that’s where the FF will recruit two more members of the Future Foundation. Additionally, this issue has two references to the super-intelligent Moloid kids living at the new Baxter Building now.

SUE-per spy: The 2019 Invisible Woman miniseries revealed that Sue had a double life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent all along. In this issue, we learn Sue has been working on this Antarctic project for the last four years, with the rest of the FF knowing little to nothing about it. Could she have been doing her spy missions during this time?

Trivia time: What’s this talk about Atlantis being in ruins at the bottom of the ocean? Atlantis was destroyed in Sub-Mariner #6, the final issue of that run. Following that issue, Namor joined the X-Men, finally living up to his title as “Marvel’s first mutant,” and he was living at the X-Men’s Utopia headquarters.

Fantastic or frightful? Having a mostly wordless issue recalls Marvel’s weird “Nuff Said” experiment from a few years earlier, and doing it only during the fighting and action was the smart way to go. I’m still baffled at this practice of wrapping up the plot with these text pages, which is awkward. So, this is a fun issue, but not remarkable. 

Next: Universal remote.

* * * *

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. 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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