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Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. The original FF are back together in issue #551, but the shadow of Civil War still hangs over them. Also, time travel!

The issue begins with the caption, “Meanwhile, 75 years later…” at a high-tech future prison called Platform 42. It’s connected to the main prison facility at the bottom of the ocean, and staffed by powerful, incorruptible cyborgs. But wait – one prisoner has escaped, leaving the cyborgs trashed in his wake. One surviving cyborg contacts Reed Richards and says Dr. Doom has escaped. An older, grey-haired Reed answers, saying he knew this would happen, he just didn’t know when.

Cut to the present where the FF are returning from a successful battle against Diablo. There’s a few pages of classic FF banter to remind us that they’re one big happy family again. But then the intruder alarm goes off inside the new Baxter Building, and everyone jumps into action. Ben smashes through a door to find Black Panther, Alicia, and a much older Namor sitting around waiting for them. (I’m assuming they rigged the intruder alarm not to go off until the FF got home.) Namor says the FF look just like he remembers them. T’Challa unmasks, also revealing himself to be much older. Reed figures out what the reader already knows, that they’ve come there from the future. Oh, and Dr. Doom is also there, wearing spiky new armor.

Ben tries attacking Doom, but Doom has a new type of force field that Reed says is only theorized. Then Reed deduces that this is his own theory come to life. Before more fighting breaks out, T’Challa says he and Namor convinced Doom to come into the past with them. Sue doesn’t trust Namor, but Reed is willing to hear him out (!) because Doom was once honest with him on the Latverian Day of Reproachment. Namor does the talking, saying the three of them stole a time machine and came to the present on a mission to save the world.

Then another twist, when Reed asks who they’re saving the world from, T’Challa says, “From you.” Doom adds that they are there not because of something Doom did, but because of something Reed is going to do. Reed then shows everyone his private thinking room, with all his equations written all over the walls, which was introduced during Civil War. Doom says Reed’s writings are well-known in the future, as these are the 100 ideas he dreamed up with Tony Stark to improve the world. Sue still feels stung, reminding everyone that Reed’s calculations predicted (or perhaps led to) all the ugliness of the superhero civil war.

Doom chides Reed for telling his teammates about the 100 ideas. Then he says the ideas have led to massive global societal upheavals. Even if Reed predicted that, Doom says, that’s not the sole reason he didn’t tell his family. Instead, Doom says, there is a 101st plan that Reed currently has in the works. Doom says he, Namor, and T’Challa are there to prevent 101 from happening.  

Ben is ready for a fight again, but Doom says they’re not there to kill Reed. T’Challa says their mission is convince Reed to make the right decision. Ben presses Reed on what plan 101 is, and he says that it’s “fix everything.” It’s a single equation that could result in a worldwide utopia. Reed insists that it’s possible, but then he looks at his three visitors and asks, “Or is it?”

Doom says that in the future, Reed’s equation worked, and the Earth did indeed become a utopia, without crime or disease, and with all people living in abundance. But then the populace started worshipping Reed, the praise went to his head, and Sue left him for Namor.

As the others react to this, Namor shares his side of the story. As Reed’s future good works increased, he became more and more distant, driving his family and friends out of his life. Namor is apologetic, but he insists that they’ve come to the present because the stakes are so high, and that something must be done. Reed agrees, saying he’s worked out the answer. He pulls out a high-tech gun (!) and he shoots Namor in the face (!!). On the last page, a shadow falls over Reed’s face as he stands over Namor’s bloody corpse, saying “See? Problem solved.”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: I doubt the scribblings on the walls in Reed’s thinking room are meant to add up to anything in the real world. Some of the words on the walls are, “possibilities,” “never assume,” “infinite,” behavior,” and “added with previous results.”

Fade out: While Sue admits that Reed’s actions during Civil War were to prevent an even greater Armageddon, the tone and the look on her face suggests that there’s still some hurt feelings there.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is in a celebratory mood with the team being back together and fighting villains again. This is likely why he’s so eager for a fight throughout the issue when everyone wants to talk.

Flame on: Upon seeing writing all over the walls of the thinking room, Johnny is the one who asks Reed why he doesn’t just use a notebook instead. (The answer: Reed likes to see the equations all at once.)

Fantastic fifth wheel: Black Panther is on hand to act as the voice of reason. With Namor on one side and Doom on the other, he’s someone the FF can trust in this situation. (Or is he?)

Four and a half/Our gal Val: Why is Alicia at the meeting? She’s there to babysit Franklin and Valeria while the FF were away, and she escorts the kids out of the room before the conversation gets too heated.

Trivia time: If the FF’s fight against Diablo has ever been told in another comic, I don’t know when that was. From what I can tell, his next appearance after this will be a supernatural-ish fight against Night Thrasher and a brand-new New Warriors team in New Warriors #10.

The story about the Latverian Day of Reproachment was told in the “My Dinner with Doom” story from 2005’s Fantastic Four Special #1.

No point is made of it, but the FF are back in their original light blue uniforms as of this issue.

Fantastic or frightful? This issue is pretty much all exposition, setting up big things to come in upcoming issues. (Feels like I’ve said that about the last couple of story arcs.) But the character work is spot-on, especially with Reed taking some responsibility and letting his family in on his secrets. Doom’s spiky armor is a pretty great design, too.

Next: Future shock.

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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 and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. The World War Hulk event put the Fantastic Four in the Hulk’s angry crosshairs.

I was debating whether to include World War Hulk on this blog, since the FF are supporting characters and the event doesn’t crossover much with the main Fantastic Four series. Upon rereading, though, I see how important World War Hulk is to this time in Marvel history.

Recap: During the buildup to Civil War, the Illuminati felt that the Hulk had gotten too dangerous, and something had to be done. Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, and our own Reed Richards voted to send him to space and exiling him on a planet of his own. Professor X abstained from the vote, and Namor voted against it. While the Civil War exploded on Earth, Hulk was on planet Sakaar, a.k.a. Planet Hulk. After a lot of ups and downs, he eventually became king and found love with warrior woman Caiera. But then the Illuminati’s original ship exploded, taking all of Sakaar with it, including a pregnant Caiera. Now the Hulk and his new friends the Warbound are on the way back to Earth for revenge.

World War Hulk #1 kicks off with the Hulk arriving on the moon to confront Black Bolt. Black Bolt uses his powerful voice against the Hulk, but Hulk is stronger than ever after absorbing alien radiation on Sakaar, and he fights back. Hulk’s ship then arrives in the sky over New York, broadcasting the Illuminati’s message to him throughout the entire world. Now everyone knows about the Illuminati and what they’ve done. He says he’s giving New Yorkers 24 hours to evacuate the city, and to bring him Reed, Iron Man, and Strange. He then holds up a beaten and bloody Black Bolt for the world to see.

The New Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. begin the evacuation. Iron Man tries to hack satellites to control all the Earth’s nuclear weapons and unleash them on the Hulk, but the Warbound outhack him. Iron Man and Reed ask the Sentry for help. Sentry agrees, but only after asking Tony for, “a word.” Iron Man then shows up in NYC with a new Hulkbuster armor, and he and the Hulk fight. During the battle, Tony broadcasts a message to the whole world, taking responsibility for sending the Hulk to space. He insists he did it for the good of humanity. The fight reaches Avengers Tower, destroying the entire building. Hulk emerges from the wreckage with Iron Man unconscious.

Most of issue #2 has the New Avengers fighting the Warbound while Dr. Strange searches for someone who can help. Then we check in properly with the Fantastic Four. Except this is the “Fantastic Six” of recent issues, with Black Panther and Storm alongside the original four. Reed is working on a huge superweapon. He tells Black Panther to evacuate because B.P. wasn’t involved in sending the Hulk to space. Black Panther stays, to fight on behalf of all humanity. Hulk and the Warbound show up before the weapon is done. It’s another big fight, where Hulk withstands Johnny’s powerful nova flame, as well as the full force of Storm’s lightning. And of course we must have a Thing/Hulk slugfest. Even with the Hulk stronger than ever, Ben puts up a good fight, with them going at it for several pages. Just as the Hulk is about to finish off Ben, the Sentry interrupts them.

But wait, it’s not the Sentry. This is Reed posing as the Sentry to distract the Hulk. Now it’s Reed and Sue’s turn to fight him. Sue begs Hulk to stop, saying he’s not a monster. Hulk points to Reed and says, “No. He is.” Reed knocks Sue out by punching hard against her force fields, and then he beats Reed senseless. Hulk leaves with the unconscious Reed, while Sue contacts Sentry to say they failed. Reed’s weapon was powered by Sentry’s energy, and it failed. Out in the streets of NYC, Hulk’s old friend Rick Jones appeals to him to stop the violence, and then Dr. Strange attacks, teleporting the Hulk to just outside the city. There, it’s the next big battle against Hulk’s old rival, General Thunderbolt Ross, and the armed forces.

Issue #3 has the Hulk fighting Ross’s forces physically, while Dr. Strange confronts him mentally in some sort of astral plane. Strange reaches beyond the Hulk to Bruce Banner, but then Hulk’s anger reemerges, driving Strange out. Hulk then defeats Ross and all the army goons. The Sentry continues to watch from a distance, while the US President pleads with him to be a hero. It looks like Hulk has won, with the Warbound taking over the remains of New York. Then Dr. Strange attacks again, looking more like Dormammu than Dr. Strange.

Issue #4 explains that Dr. Strange merged with an evil entity named Zon to fight the Hulk. Their fight goes on for several pages, stopping only so Hulk can rescue some civilians from the crossfire. Rick Jones catches up to them, reminding Hulk that he’s a hero, and that he’s human. The phrase “Hulk is Banner” is repeated between them. Hulk finally breaks through the Zon spell and punches Strange right in the face (!).

Hulk and the Warbound turn Madison Square Garden into their new headquarters. They’ve taken most of the superheroes hostage, including the FF, and affixed them with “obedience disks” to keep them from fighting back. Reed insists that Illuminati did not destroy Sakaar, but Hulk won’t listen. He makes Reed, Tony, Strange, and Black Bolt fight a bunch of monsters in his own gladiatorial pit, just like the ones he survived on Sakaar. Then he makes them fight each other.

Then we get a flashback to Sentry’s private conversation with Iron Man at the start of the story. Sentry admits he has agoraphobia, making it difficult to join the fight. Also, with the Hulk’s increased power levels, it could be disastrous if Senty were to lose control, even for a second. Tony insists that Sentry’s power is needed, saying, “It’s time to play god.” When the Hulk orders the deaths of the Illuminati, Senty sees it on TV. It’s at that point that he finally leaves his house and flies to New York, repeating, “It’s time to play god.”

Issue #5 begins with Hulk dialing back on the death penalty, not killing the four Illuminati after all. He says he will make sure the world knows the Illuminati are traitors and killers, and he threatens to raze NYC to the ground. Then the Sentry finally shows up, destroying the Warbound’s ship, and fighting the Hulk. Sentry unleashes the fullness of his power against the Hulk, leveling multiple city blocks. With the Warbound ship destroyed, Reed and Tony get back to work on hacking Earth’s satellites.

As they exchange blows, Hulk and Sentry debate whether they are saviors or destroyers. They eventually pummel each other so hard that Hulk transforms back to Bruce Banner and Sentry transforms back into Bob Reynolds. One of the Warbound tries to kill Banner, but Rick Jones jumps between them, taking the blow. This enrages Banner. He transforms back into the Hulk and this time he attacks the Warbound.

Then one of the Warbound, Miek, reveals the bomb that destroyed Sakaar was planted by him, in hopes that Hulk would not be king of Sakaar, but the prophesied “world breaker.” Even though the Illuminati did not destroy the planet, the Hulk still blames them. He argues that none of this would have happened if they hadn’t launched him into space. Then Iron Man succeeds in hacking the satellites, unleashing an unidentified red energy onto the Hulk. This succeeds in turning him back into Banner and knocking him unconscious. S.H.I.E.L.D. takes Banner into custody while the rest of the superheroes are left to reconcile with what’s happened. Far out in space, a musclebound green figure arises from among the remains of Sakaar…

Unstable molecule: Reed’s weapon might look like a big cannon, but it’s to make the Hulk think that Reed is the Sentry, so Hulk can talk some sense into the Hulk. It almost works, as Hulk is mesmerized at that moment.

Fade out: We’ve seen super-strong characters break through Sue’s force fields in the past, so it makes sense that a stronger-than-usual Hulk can do so. But it says a lot about how strong Sue is that she’s able to recover and call Sentry in the next scene.

Clobberin’ time: I’m so happy that this story took time to give Ben and Hulk a proper slugfest. We all knew Ben wouldn’t be the one to save the day, but the comic reminds us all how these two are great rivals.

Flame on: Johnny attacks the Hulk not just with his ultra-powerful nova flame, but his nova flame combined with the full might of Storm’s lightning. The Marvel Wiki alleges that Storm has been given “omega-level mutant” status, meaning her power is nearly limitless, so she and Johnny must have really hit the Hulk good.

Fantastic fifth wheel: It’s a continuity question as to how Black Panther and Storm are still with the FF at this point, when they left the team in issue #550. It looks to me like they announced they were leaving in #550, and then hung around for a bit to fight the Hulk, and then left for real.  

She-Hulk is seen throughout, helping with the NYC evacuation and then fighting alongside the New Avengers. She’s quick to remind panicking New Yorkers that she’s a hulk, but not the Hulk. Luke Cage is also seen among the New Avengers, fighting the Warbound.

Medusa is alongside Black Bolt when the Hulk arrives on the moon. She survives, of course, and will be a major player in the Silent War miniseries.

Trivia time: The green mystery man at the end of the series is Skaar, son of Hulk and Caiera. He’ll soon arrive on Earth for much drama. Until then, though, Marvel sort of closed the book on the Hulk for a while. His series was renamed The Incredible Herc as Hercules took over.

How do Tony Stark’s satellites work, exactly? It’ll soon be revealed that they syphoned gamma radiation out of the Hulk’s body. This radiation will be used in the origin of the Red Hulk.

Rick Jones survived his injuries. He was sent to the original gamma base from way back in Incredible Hulk #1 to recover, and that’s where he too crossed paths with the Red Hulk.

Fantastic or frightful? It’s nice to see the Fantastic Four playing such a large role in World War Hulk. It forces Reed to face up to what he’s done as part of the Illuminati, a character thread that we’ll pick up in issue #551. But he’s also right in that the Illuminati didn’t destroy Sakaar, showing that he’s striving to be a good person and do what’s right. It’s odd to see Miek revealed as the villain, considering he’s comic relief in the Marvel movies. It feels like this might be the bigger conflict Civil War was building toward, except that the Initiative is barely referenced. Beyond that, World War Hulk is a great read, full of classic Marvel action and drama.

Next: Headshot.

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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 and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #550 is the wrap-up (of sorts) of everything the series has been building up to over the last few issues. Can it stick the landing?

Recap: After Black Panther and Storm joined the team, Reed and Sue have now re-joined, making a Fantastic Six. All this is to respond to a distress call from aliens called Oditopians, under attack by murderous aliens called the Contrasepsis. The heroes take their new Fold Ship into Oditopian space, only to learn that the Oditopians fought back with a powerful weapon that destroys space-time, threatening to subsequently destroy all existence. With dozens of Watchers on hand to watch, the Contrasepsis then attacked the Fold Ship.

The Contrasepsis, who are big, bulky, purple guys, breach the ship’s hull as ben fights them off. Reed and Black Panther work on rebuilding the Oditopians’ weapon, while knowing that it may destroy them as well as their enemies. Sue seals the hull breach with a force field, and Black Panther has Ben prepare to fly the ship out of there as soon as they fire the weapon. The plan works, and the Contrasepsis are killed (!) as the ship enters hyperspace. But now spacetime is being destroyed.

As one of the Watchers falls into the void, seemingly to his death, Reed and Black Panther are more interested in figuring out where the Contrasepsis came from. Black Panther says not even he can track them through collapsing spacetime, so he whips up a device capable of summoning the Silver Surfer. The Surfer arrives, still furious at Black Panther over their fight a few issues back. Black Panther and Reed appeal to the Surfer’s innate desire to preserve life. He agrees, and he leads the heroes into the void, which he says leads to planes of physical reality not yet explored. They find the Contrasepsis, who are attacking someone the Surfer calls “a friend.”

The “friend” is… Dr. Strange! He’s locked in battle against the aliens, and the FF join the fight. Strange says the Contrasepsis are not evil, but honorable creatures who normally protect the universe from harm. He says they are more like a weapon, destroying whatever they’re aimed at. Strange uses the all-seeing Eye of Agamoto to show the FF that Eternity, the living embodiment of all things, is dying.

As everyone keeps fighting the aliens, Reed goes on a big speech about how overuse of antibacterial soap causes harmless bacteria to live on the skin, immune to normal treatment. He explains that Eternity’s “substance” was irritated by the Oditopians’ spacetime-destabilizing weapon, so he sent the Contrasepsis to kill them, like killing an infection. But, Strange adds, the Oditopians evolved into a strain they couldn’t kill. The conflict escalated to where they became the equivalent of a flesh-eating disease upon Eternity.  

Then there’s a bunch of talk about conducting surgery on Eternity. The other heroes’ powers can help Strange perform the operation, but he says he still needs a “monomanifestation of fundamental power.”  Then Uatu, Earth’s Watcher, appears and says he’ll help. Of course this breaks his oath only to watch, but he jokes that without Eternity, he’d have fewer “viewing choices.” Uatu teleports back to Earth to recruit Gravity, who’d returned to his parents’ house in Wisconsin. Uatu teleports Gravity back into the void, and he agrees to act as Strange’s energy-based scalpel and suture for the operation.

The surgery is shown in a page of dreamlike imagery, and afterward it’s declared a complete success. Still in the void, the Watcher explains that the Contrasepsis have left to seal the infection off in a pocket universe, he then says he will submit himself to the other Watchers for punishment in breaking his oath once again. Ben ends it all with, “Who wants to eat?”

Back on Earth, it’s a big family dinner with the original four and Black Panther and Storm. (They didn’t invite Gravity too? That was rude of them.) T’Challa says it’s time for him and Storm to take their leave, and the functions of the Wakandan Embassy will be transferred from the new Baxter Building to a Manhattan hotel presidential suite. He says living at the Baxter Building was never about them needing a place to live, but about helping the FF when they needed it.

T’Challa and Storm leave (in the middle of dinner?) and Johnny says that now that the original team is back together, he has a big idea. The caption adds that the world would never be the same.

Unstable molecule: There was some controversy online at the time over how Reed is stretching his neck on the cover, with fans thinking he looks undignified. While it’s true that he most often stretches his midsection while keeping the shapes of his shoulders intact, a quick trip through comics history shows lots of time he stretched his neck like this, so it’s not out of character.

Fade out/Clobberin’ time/Flame on: Sue, Ben, and Johnny are merely backup throughout the issue, fighting off the aliens so the other heroes can do the surgery bit.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Storm’s role during the surgery is to act as life support. I assumed this would involve her lightning power in some way, but instead it’s her temporarily absorbing Eternity’s consciousness into her own throughout the operation, making her join Reed and Sue in the list of FF members who have communed with godlike beings.

After this, Black Panther fights Kilmonger, then gets involved in Wolverine’s Evolution crossover. After that, it’s right into Secret Invasion. Also, to be fair, this isn’t quite the end for him and Storm with the FF, because that’s how they’re depicted during World War Hulk. Where does that fall in continuity, again?

Four and a half/our gal Val: Franklin and Valeria are at the dinner scene, reunited with their parents for the first time since Civil War. They seem in good spirits, not traumatized at all by Civil War.

Trivia time: It’s unknown what, if any, punishment the Watcher received for his actions during this issue. The Marvel Wiki doesn’t mention this incident at all in his entry, skipping from Civil War straight to Secret Invasion.

Neither the Contrasepesis nor the Oditopians have entries in the Marvel Wiki, so it’s unlikely we’ll ever see them again. The fact that Eternity has this army of creatures to use as his personal bio-weapon could be great story fodder for future comics, but oh well. I’m assuming the name “Contrasepsis” is a reference to something, but much Googling has yielded no answer.

Fantastic or frightful? After only seven issues, the Black Panther and Storm era (era) comes to an end. And because Reed and Sue continued to be part of the story the whole time, we only got fleeting glimpses of how this new team worked. Honestly, the best version of this FF wasn’t in Fantastic Four, but in the dimension-hopping epic going on in the solo Black Panther series. As far as this issue goes, writer Dwayne McDuffie seems committed to far-out cosmic stories as his take on Fantastic Four, while powering up Storm and Gravity to superstar levels. It’s a good issue, even if we’ve seen this type of thing before.

Next: We’re friends from work.

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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 and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re still in space in issue #549, as our heroes take on the Frightful Four and… the destruction of the universe?

Recap: While Reed and Sue take a leave of absence from the team after Civil War, Black Panther and Storm took their place. But now Reed and Sue are back after receiving a message from aliens, and then being attacked by the Frightful Four. Now acting as a makeshift Fantastic Six, the heroes fight the Frightful Four on Jupiter’s moon Titan, only for the Wizard to unleash his secret weapon. It’s Black Panther’s old nemesis Klaw, the master of sound!

Klaw zaps Black Panther, thinking he has an advantage, only to discover that he’s one of the FF now. Klaw knocks the heroes back with a soundwave so he and the Wizard can chat. Wizard says that Klaw is dead, and this is a clone of Klaw recreated from a sound sample. Wizard also gave this new Klaw a way around the Vibranium weave in Black Panther’s armor. Then Ben punches out Klaw, revealing that Black Panther slipped him some Vibranium earplugs while they appeared weakened.

The Frightful Four regroup and are ready for round two, but then Storm reveals she’s rescued Sue, and removed the power-dampening device the Wizard put on her. Sue shows the villains what she’s made of by smashing Titania into the ceiling and tossing Hyrdo-Man out into space, where he freezes in absolute zero. She then destroys the Wizard’s anti-grav tech and tells him off, saying that he’s wasted his genius on trying to outsmart Reed, someone who would’ve never harmed him. Still not done, she turns his chest invisible so everyone can see his beating heart, and she threatens to use her force fields to give him a heart attack. He faints with fear, and Sue admits she was bluffing.

The heroes take the Frightful Four hostage, and take off on the FF’s new Fold Ship. Then Reed fills everyone in on the main plot, how he received a message from aliens called Oditopians, who may be hunted to extinction by a second alien species called Contrasepsis. The ship takes off to the Oditopians’ world, only to drop out of hyperspace unexpectedly. Reed says that when they left hyperspace, they didn’t reenter the universe. Instead, the ship is in an all-white void.

Reed surmises that something’s gone horribly wrong with the space-time continuum. Although they’re no longer in the universe, the ship is still able to contact Hank Pym (secretly a Skrull in disguise) on Earth. Hank says Tony Stark’s people analyzed the object containing the Oditopian message, revealing it to be a quantum destabilizing weapon, which can destroy spacetime. The FF fears they’ve already used it.

Ben flies the Fold Ship in and out of real space, and long-range scans show no signs of life. It appears that the Oditopians succeeded in destroying their enemies, and themselves in the process. But then, as the ship flies closer. We see multiple Watchers standing on nearby floating rubble, observing it all.

Reed and Black Panther agree that the Watchers’ presence means all life in the universe is in danger. They don’t have time to think of a solution, however, because the not-dead Contrasepsis appears and attacks the ship.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed and Black Panther are definitely science bros in this issue, with them finishing each other’s sentences during the exposition, so that one does not comes across as smarter than the other.  

Fade out: Sue states “the honeymoon’s over” as all six heroes regroup, suggesting that this new era (era) of Fantastic Four will be even more short-lived than expected.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is almost always drawn without ears, but this issue confirms he does have them. We can assume his ears are tiny, within the cracks on his rocky hide.

Flame on: Johnny encourages Sue not to be overwhelmed with thoughts of revenge when she confronts the Wizard, but then he’s all about seeking revenge when it appears the Oditopians were killed by the Contrasepsis.

Fantastic fifth wheel: It appears as if Black Panther’s uniform is not made from unstable molecules, but from a fabric containing Vibranium.

In her new status as queen of Wakanda, it’s likely that Storm’s uniform is also Vibranium, even though Reed has provided the X-Men with unstable molecules through their history.

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. When she puts so much fear into the Wizard that he faints, that’s got to be her spy training at work, right?

Trivia time: This issue says Klaw died, and the Marvel Wiki adds that his death was in New Avengers #15. But upon re-reading that issue, it’s clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents take him into custody after Ms. Marvel defeats him. Klaw shows up in so many places that his continuity is very hard to track. He’ll later play a major role in the ongoing Intelligencia storyline.

Speaking of which, the fight in this issue ends with the FF putting the Frightful Four in suspended animation and launching them in a slow-moving shuttlepod back to Earth, where it’ll take them years to arrive. (More of Civil War’s “Negative Zone prison” mentality here, I suppose.) We never see how that’s resolved because, also during the Intelligencia plot, they’re back to being the Frightful Four again.

Fantastic or frightful? A lot of fans look down on the Frightful Four as lesser villains, but in reading about them for this week’s blog, it occurs to me just how huge of a thorn they’ve been in the FF’s side over the years. Maybe it’s time to start taking them seriously as one of the big players in the FF’s rogue’s gallery. Either way, this issue is a fun resolution to the big fight, followed by some classic Fantastic Four cosmic weirdness.

Next: Beyond the infinite.

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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 and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. What to do when you’ve got a new team lineup? Put them up against some classic villains. The Frightful Four are back in issue #548.

Recap: After the ever-tumultuous superhero Civil War, Reed and Sue left the team to reconcile their marriage, with Black Panther and Storm taking their place in the FF. Reed and Sue’s “second honeymoon” on Titan was interrupted by a message from aliens called Odopodians, whose society is (was?) under attack by rival aliens the Contrasepsis. Reed returned to Earth to work with the FF and Hank Pym on this. Back on Titan, Sue was attacked by the Frightful Four. Their leader the Wizard planted a bomb on Reed’s ship, blowing it up.

This issue begins with Sue bound by a device that cancels her powers, while the Wizard boasts about killing Reed. He insists that she admit he is Reed’s superior. She refuses. Wizard continues to boast that Black Panther and Storm are “c-listers” who pose no threat. Sue refuses to concede, even when the Wizard threatens to kill her.

Back on Earth, we see that the FF and Hank Pym survived the explosion, of course. Black Panther suspected that the ship had been sabotaged so he remote-piloted it away. The FF’s new Fold Ship, built for space travel, is being prepared, and Black Panther says there’s something they can do in the meantime. They broadcast a hologram of Reed to Titan, where he offers the Wizard a chance to beat him one-on-one. The other Frightfuls – Titania, Hydro-Man, and Paste-Pot Pete, um, I mean the Trapster – want to retreat, but the Wizard believes this is their chance to take down the FF once and for all.

In space, the FF fill Black Panther in on the Wizard’s background. On Titan, Wizard again boasts about how no one can sneak up on them, when Black Panther does just that. The Wizard promises his teammates $1 million for killing any of the FF, as long as they leave Reed to him. There’s a big fight, where Johnny buries Titania in melting metal, and then he burns part of Hydro-Man into steam. Black Panther knocks out the Trapster while admitting his traps are clever tech.

Reed confronts the Wizard, only for the Wizard to hit him with a neural disrupter. Wizard has a camera on them both, to broadcast Reed’s death back to everyone on Earth. Storm turns the rest of Hyrdo-Man into steam, and now the FF have the Wizard surrounded.

The Wizard says he has prepared for an eventual confrontation with Black Panther, and he pulls out a weapon. It crackles to life, revealing itself to be the sonic weapon used by supervillain Klaw. And then Klaw himself returns to life.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed is initially resistant to the Wizard’s electric blasts. But then Wizard has a second weapon that affects Reed’s central nervous system, and that does the trick.

Fade out: We’re not told what this device is that can neutralize Sue’s powers. Remember that in the previous issue, Wizard had tech that allowed him to walk through Sue’s force fields. I think we can assume this is that same device.

Clobberin’ time: Ben can’t punch Hyrdo-Man, and the villain nearly drowns him. It’s only after Johnny burns part of him that Hyrdo-Man goes from liquid back to solid, allowing Ben to knock him out.

Flame on: There’s an additional bit where Storm uses her wind power to toss the Trapster’s traps into the air, lining them up so Johnny can easily burn them. It’s a fun example of characters using their powers together in clever ways.

Fantastic fifth wheel: In the conversation about the Wizard, Reed says he did nothing to warrant the Wizard’s anger toward him, and that the villain’s jealously is unfounded. It’s hinted that Black Panther has had similar encounters. What’s not said is he’s thinking about his longstanding rivalry with Klaw, foreshadowing the end of the issue.

Storm’s defeat of Hydro-Man shows Marvel’s effort at this time to power her up, in that she doesn’t just control the weather, but can control the very atmosphere on a molecular level.

Titania says she joined the Frightful Four because the Wizard promised her the means to defeat She-Hulk. So there’s a third example of unwarranted jealously in this issue.

Trivia time: Klaw was the villain in Black Panther’s first appearance, first as a big game hunter, and then as a sonic-powered madman. Black Panther has developed quite the interesting rogue’s gallery over the years, but somehow Klaw usually tops the list.

The Wizard says that Jupiter is 1 billion miles from Earth. Google tells me that it’s approximately 376 million miles. We’ll chalk that up to “Wizard isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.”

It’s not said why Hank Pym stays behind on Earth. We’re just a short time away from Secret Invasion, which will reveal that he’s been a Skrull this whole time, so maybe that has something to do with it.  

Fantastic or frightful? As comics lean more toward modernized, cinematic storytelling, the classic hero vs. villain slugfests have gone out of style. But this issue is a good old-fashioned brawl, and it’s a lot of fun. This is especially because of smart uses of the characters’ powers, and all the personality bits they show throughout. It feels like classic Marvel.

Next:  The sound of… sound.

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