{"id":27202,"date":"2022-12-14T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27202"},"modified":"2022-12-13T12:23:03","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T12:23:03","slug":"fantastic-four-epic-collection-volume-8-annihilus-revealed-1974-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/12\/14\/fantastic-four-epic-collection-volume-8-annihilus-revealed-1974-1974\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantastic Four Epic Collection volume 8: Annihilus Revealed 1974-1974"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Gerry Conway<\/strong>, John Buscema<\/strong>, Ross Andru<\/strong>, Ramona Fradon<\/strong>, Rich Buckler<\/strong>, Joe Sinnott<\/strong>, Frank Giacoia <\/strong>& various (MARVEL)
\nISBN 978-1-3029-3359-3 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fantastic Festive Fun\u2026 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cautiously bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961, Fantastic Four<\/strong> #1 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, George Klein & Christopher Rule) was raw and crude even by the ailing company\u2019s standards: but it seethed with rough, passionate and uncontrolled excitement. Thrill-hungry kids pounced on its dynamic storytelling and caught a wave of change starting to build in America. It and succeeding issues changed comics forever.<\/p>\n

As seen in the groundbreaking premier issue, maverick scientist Reed Richards<\/em>, his fianc\u00e9e Sue Storm<\/em>, their close friend Ben Grimm<\/em> and Sue\u2019s bratty teenaged brother survived an ill-starred private space-shot after Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship\u2019s inadequate shielding.<\/p>\n

All permanently mutated: Richards\u2019 body became elastic, Sue became (even more) invisible, and Johnny Storm<\/em> burst into living flame whilst tragic Ben shockingly devolved into a shambling, rocky freak. After the initial revulsion and trauma passed, they solemnly agreed to use their abilities to benefit mankind. Thus was born The Fantastic Four<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Throughout the 1960s it was indisputably the key title and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel\u2019s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters. Kirby was in his creative prime: continually unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot, whilst Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas ever seen.<\/p>\n

Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their powers and full of the confidence only success brings, with The King particularly eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed\u2026 which is rather ironic since it was the company\u2019s reticence to give the artist creative freedom which led to Kirby\u2019s jumping ship to National\/DC in the first place\u2026<\/p>\n

And then, he was gone\u2026<\/p>\n

With this collection of \u201cThe World\u2019s Greatest Comics Magazine\u201d a new style was confirmed. Without Kirby\u2019s soaring imagination the rollercoaster of mind-bending High Concepts had given way to more traditional tales of characters in conflict, with soap-opera leanings and super-villain-dominated Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights dramas.<\/p>\n

This cunning compilation re-presents Fantastic Four <\/strong>#126-146 and Giant-Size Super-Stars <\/strong>#1: collectively covering September 1972 to May 1974, which saw Roy Thomas assume the role of writer\/editor. He began by revisiting the classic origin and first clash with The Mole Man<\/em> from FF<\/strong> #1. Illustrated by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott, \u2018The Way it Began!\u2019 <\/em>was all mere prelude for what was to follow\u2026<\/p>\n

The reverie prompts the Thing to invade the sub-surface despot\u2019s realm in search of a cure for the blindness which afflicts his girlfriend Alicia Masters<\/em> in \u2018Where the Sun Dares Not Shine!\u2019 <\/em>and all too soon the embattled brute is embroiled in a three-way war between Mole Man, Kala<\/em> – Empress of the Netherworld<\/em> and immortal dictator Tyrannus<\/em>. When his comrades go after Ben, they are duped into attacking him in \u2018Death in a Dark and Lonely Place!\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Having barely survived the three-way war, the exhausted team return to their Baxter Building HQ just in time for lovesick, heartsore Johnny to leave for the hidden kingdom of Attilan and explosively confront lost love – and Inhuman Princess – Crystal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Tragically as he leaves, \u2018The Frightful Four\u2026 Plus One!\u2019 <\/em>sees the Thing ambushed by The Sandman<\/em>, Wizard<\/em> and Trapster<\/em>, beside their newest and almost uncontrollable ally\u2026 super-strong amazon Thundra<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Happily, Crystal\u2019s sister Medusa<\/em> is there to pitch in as the clash escalates, spreading to \u2018Battleground: The Baxter Building!\u2019 <\/em>wherein infant Franklin Richards<\/em> begins exhibiting terrifying abilities. Always and literally left holding the baby and fed up with her husband\u2019s neglect, Susan finally leaves Reed, whilst in the Himalayas, Johnny has forced his way to Crystal\u2019s side only to find his worst nightmares realised\u2026<\/p>\n

Fantastic Four<\/strong> #131 describes a \u2018Revolt in Paradise!\u2019 <\/em>(illustrated by Ross Andru & Sinnott) as Crystal, her new fianc\u00e9 Quicksilver<\/em>, and the rest of the Inhumans are attacked by their genetically-bred and programmed slave-race the Alpha Primitives<\/em>. At first it seems that insane usurper Maximus<\/em> is again responsible for the strife, but a deeper secret lurks behind the deadly danger of \u2018Omega! The Ultimate Enemy!\u2019<\/em>, and only when the rest of the FF arrive does Reed ferret it out\u2026<\/p>\n

FF<\/strong> #133 celebrated the holiday season with plenty of fireworks in \u2018Thundra at Dawn!\u2019 <\/em>as the mysterious \u201cFemizon<\/em>\u201d returns to battle Ben once more, courtesy of incoming scripter Gerry Conway, guest penciller Ramona Fradon & Sinnott, after which \u2018A Dragon Stalks the Sky!\u2019 <\/em>in #134 (Conway, Buscema & Sinnott) finds Reed, Johnny, Ben and Medusa fighting forgotten super-rich foe Gregory Gideon<\/em> and his latest acquisition Dragon Man<\/em>: a bombastic battle which concludes in a struggle to possess \u2018The Eternity Machine\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

The secret of that reality-warping device is revealed in a two-part thriller as cosmic entity Shaper of Worlds<\/em> creates a horrific paranoid pastiche of 1950s America: re-running the conflicts between rebellious youth and doctrinaire, paternalistic authority in \u2018Rock Around the Cosmos!\u2019 <\/em>and the surreal conclusion \u2018Rumble on Planet 3\u2019 <\/em>which also tapped into the then-ongoing struggles of the Civil Rights movement\u2026<\/p>\n

In amongst the sub-plots, the never-ending stress had forced Sue Richards away from her husband but their son\u2019s rapidly-growing, undiagnosed cosmic powers and problems were pulling them reluctantly back together\u2026<\/p>\n

Mr. Fantastic<\/em> was not taking the separation well and #138 finds him left in an increasingly depressive state when old comrade Wyatt Wingfoot<\/em> comes looking for assistance against impossible, unimaginable disasters. \u2018Madness is\u2026 The Miracle Man!\u2019 <\/em>began a period when rocky everyman Ben Grimm became de facto star of the Fantastic Four and here he, the Torch and Medusa travel to Wingfoot\u2019s tribal lands in Oklahoma to battle a cheesy hypnotist first encountered in their third adventure\u2026<\/p>\n

Now, however, thanks to the charlatan\u2019s subsequent studies under mystic Cheemuzwa<\/em> medicine men, the maniac actually can reshape reality with a thought\u2026<\/p>\n

The battle concluded in \u2018Target: Tomorrow!\u2019 <\/em>with the villain able to control matter but not himself spiralling frantically out of control, with our heroes struggling indomitably on until the Miracle Man makes a fatal, world-threatening error\u2026<\/p>\n

Reed\u2019s travails take a darker turn in Fantastic Four<\/strong> # 140 as \u2018Annihilus Revealed!\u2019 <\/em>finds the insectoid tyrant king of dying antimatter universe the Negative Zone<\/em> kidnapping the ever-more powerful Franklin as a prelude to invading the Baxter Building in search of new worlds to ravage.<\/p>\n

In triumph, the bug horror discloses his incredible origin to the helpless Wingfoot before dragging all his enemies back to his subspace hell to engineer \u2018The End of the Fantastic Four!\u2019 <\/em>However, even though the beaten heroes counterattack and gain an unlikely victory, Annihilus\u2019 prior tampering with Franklin triggers a cosmic catastrophe. As his limitless power spikes out of control, his tormented father is compelled to blast the boy, shutting down his mutant brain \u2026and everything else.<\/p>\n

Appalled at the callous cold calculations needed to put his own son into a coma, Johnny and Ben join Sue in deserting the grief-stricken Mr. Fantastic and declaring their heroic partnership defunct.<\/p>\n

With only ruthlessly pragmatic Medusa remaining, FF<\/strong> #142 sees shell-shocked Richards with \u2018No Friend Beside Him!\u2019 <\/em>(as Conway and inker Sinnott were joined by new artist Rich Buckler, whose faithful pastiche of Jack Kirby produced a wave of favourable nostalgia in fans then and now) whilst the Thing follows long-time girlfriend Alicia Masters<\/em> to central Europe.<\/p>\n

She has been lured to the Balkans with promises of a medical breakthrough that can cure her blindness, but once Ben arrives, they are promptly attacked by a sinister supernatural horror named Darkoth the Death-Demon<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Back in the USA, Johnny and Wyatt Wingfoot<\/em> head for Metro College to see their old sports coach Sam Thorne<\/em> on his way to an Alumni reunion. Reed is another attendee, despondently dragged there by Medusa, but nobody expects that weird foreign kid who had been expelled so long ago to turn up, leading to \u2018The Terrible Triumph of Doctor Doom!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Frank Giacoia)\u2026<\/p>\n

The Iron Dictator was never one to forgive a slight, real or imagined, and as he gloatingly reveals himself to be the creator of Darkoth and jailer of the Thing, Victor von Doom<\/em> further boasts to his captives of his latest scheme\u2026 to utterly eradicate human free will.<\/p>\n

Typically, though, the tyrant hasn\u2019t considered how his death-demon might react to the news that he is sham. Outraged the puppet rebels and the monster\u2019s \u2018Attack!\u2019 <\/em>(#144 by Buckler & Sinnott) results in a cataclysmic clash and Doom\u2019s defeat\u2026<\/p>\n

Back together but still disunited, the FF part company again in #145, with Johnny accompanying Medusa to the Himalayan citadel of Attilan<\/em> – hidden city of the Inhumans – only to be brought down by a lost race of ice people and forced to endure a \u2018Nightmare in the Snow!\u2019<\/em> (illustrated by Andru & Sinnott). Here, snow troglodytes\u2019 plans to make Earth into an ice-ball only they can inhabit go bizarrely awry as the Thing joins the frozen heroes. When a dissident faction trained by a Buddhist monk also pitch in, the conclusion is a happy ending all round in \u2018Doomsday: 200 Below!\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

This was period of great experimentation and expansion at Marvel, with new formats and lines launching seemingly continuously. Giant-Size Super-Stars<\/strong> #1 (May 1974) was a forerunner in a line of supplementary, double-length titles starring the company\u2019s most popular stars.<\/p>\n

In this initial exploratory outing – the title became Giant-Size Fantastic Four<\/strong> with the second quarterly release – Conway, Buckler & Sinnott crafted \u2018The Mind of the Monster!\u2019<\/em>: a shattering reprise of earlier titanic team-up triumphs beginning when Bruce Banner <\/em>came calling upon the FF, still seeking a cure for his mean green alter ego. Unfortunately, the Thing is overly sympathetic, and in his self-loathing foolishly allows the fugitive physicist to modify one of Reed\u2019s devices\u2026<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, meddling with the Psi-Amplifier<\/em> switches their minds, leaving the Rampaging Hulk <\/strong>trapped and furiously running amok in the Thing\u2019s body whilst Ben\/Hulk struggles to stop him.<\/p>\n

The situation plummets into more chaos when trans-dimensional Femizon Thundra <\/em>pitches in, mistakenly believing she is helping her intended main squeeze Ben battle a big green monster, with violence intensifying to the max when Reed, Johnny and Medusa get involved in second chapter \u2018Someone\u2019s Been Sleeping in My Head\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Ultimately it takes everybody and a cunning plan to set the world to rights in the spectacular, full-throated conclusion \u2018\u2026And in This Corner: The Incredible Hulk!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Following a bunch of editorial extras from the special, a few last treats complement the covers throughout (by Buscema, Gil Kane, Giacoia, Buckler, Jim Steranko and John Romita). These include a selection of contemporary house ads, the cover of all-reprint Fantastic Four<\/strong> Annual <\/strong>#10 and extracts from F.O.O.M.<\/strong> #1 (Spring 1973): the Steranko cover, intro article \u2018Once Upon a FOOM!\u2019<\/em>, contemporary bios of the Marvel Bullpen, a reproduction of the cover to FF<\/strong>#1 plus attendant article \u2018When Titans Clash!\u2019<\/em>; a checklist of FF<\/strong> issues; a pin-up of FF<\/strong> #73; a Doctor Doom game, Thomas, Len Brown, Gil Kane & Wally Wood\u2019s Fantastic Fear<\/em> pastiche from Not Brand Echh<\/strong>; Kirby\u2019s Doctor Doom cover from F.O.O.M.<\/strong> #4; \u2018Quotations from Chairman Doom\u2019<\/em>; Charley Parker\u2019s \u2018Dr Foom\u2019<\/em>, and board game \u2018Heavy Conflict!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Also recovered are Buckler & Sinnott\u2019s Thing cover from F.O.O.M.<\/strong> #5, more \u2018Marvel Bullpen Profiles\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Marvel\u2019s Greatest Hero: The Thing\u2019<\/em> plus uncorrected cover art for FF<\/strong> #130 & 131 and original art pages by Buscema, Buckler & Sinnott.<\/p>\n

Although Kirby had taken the unmatched imagination and questing sense of wonder with him on his departure, the sheer range of beloved characters and concepts he had created with Stan Lee carried the series for years afterwards. So once writers who shared the originators\u2019 sensibilities were crafting the stories a mini-renaissance began\u2026<\/p>\n

This period offers fans a tantalising taste of the glory days and these solid, honest and intriguing efforts will be welcomed by dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks alike. They will also thrill and enthral the casual browser looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement, so what\u2019s stopping you?
\n\u00a9 2022 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Ross Andru, Ramona Fradon, Rich Buckler, Joe Sinnott, Frank Giacoia & various (MARVEL) ISBN 978-1-3029-3359-3 (TPB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fantastic Festive Fun\u2026 8\/10 Cautiously bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961, Fantastic Four #1 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, George Klein & Christopher Rule) was raw and crude … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Fantastic Four Epic Collection volume 8: Annihilus Revealed 1974-1974”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54,189,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantastic-four","category-inhumans","category-marvel-superheroes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-74K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27205,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27202\/revisions\/27205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}