Fantastic Four #48

The Coming of Galactus!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 12, 1965
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Stan Lee, writer without peer!
Jack Kirby, penciller of the year!
Joe Sinnott, inker most sincere!
Artie Simek, how’d he get in here!
20 pages

Previous#515Next
Tales of Suspense #78, Story BReading orderFantastic Four #49
Fantastic Four #47Fantastic FourFantastic Four #49

My journey is ended! This planet shall sustain me until it has been drained of all elemental life! So speaks Galactus!

There’s a lot going on in this issue, and a lot to say. So we’ll break it into sections.

The end of the Inhumans saga

We were reading the Inhumans saga in Fantastic Four #4447. And it wasn’t done. Maximus, the mad would-be king of the Inhumans, was just about to wipe out all humanity with his weapon.

Despite this cliffhanger, we left the saga behind to check in on the rest of the Marvel Universe. We’ve read 70 other stories over the 9 months since we left ourselves hanging. The story concludes this issue. Prior to issue 44, the longest FF saga was 3 parts in the previous 3 issues, #4143, clocking in at 60 pages. Before that, the longest FF saga was the 2-part #3940, clocking in at 40 pages.

We’ve already ready 4 issues and 80 pages of the Inhumans arc, and we’re not done! Here we are on the 5th issue. Since this issue is another 20 pages, does that mean it’s a 100-page long saga?

I would say no. I would put it at about 86.7 pages.

That’s right. There are less than 7 pages left.

The Fantastic Four have found the Great Refuge within the Andes. Black Bolt wants them to leave immediately. Reed wants Black Bolt to stop hiding from humanity. Crystal and Johnny want each other.

And Maximus… he fires his “atmo-gun”, which will send vibrations that only affect humans into the air, leaving the Inhumans the rulers of the world.

And the resolution of this apocalyptic moment?

Continue reading “Fantastic Four #48”

Fantastic Four #18

A Skrull Walks Among Us!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: June 11, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
21 pages

It’s perhaps cheating that I’ve seen so many later renderings of Super-Skrull, but hindsight being the new year, that’s not a great image of Super-Skrull on the cover. It suggests only that he has Human Torch powers. No hint that he has the powers of the entire Fantastic Four (well, no visual hint. I guess the text tells you). He should be rocky and flaming and stretching and invisible. My two cents. Though he’s also never rocky in the issue, just strong. But he should be rocky.

At this point, the earth has been invaded by about a dozen alien races this year. All of whom have given up and withdrawn entire fleets at the slightest hint of possible resistance. The Skrulls are the first to return, to try again after their ignoble defeat.

Their plan is to make an agent powerful enough to stop the Fantastic Four, reasoning it was the FF who defeated them before. But the Fantastic Four did not defeat the Skrulls, at least not with their powers. The Skrulls were scared off by pictures of monsters in comic books. So really, they should make an agent powerful enough to fight all the monsters that scared them away.

Continue reading “Fantastic Four #18”