FF #7-11 + Fantastic Four #600

FF #7-11 and Fantastic Four #600

Originally released in 2011

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Greg Tocchini (#7), Steve Epting (#8-9, 600), Barry Kitson (#10-11) et al.

I continued with FF, and as it ended on a cliffhanger that led directly into Fantastic Four issue 600 (the numbering includes the previous 588 Fantastic Four issues, plus the eleven issues of FF leading up to this, plus this one makes 600), I read that issue as well.  Issue 7 focuses on Black Bolt, who's a man of few words - mostly because a whisper from him could kill whoever's in front of him, while a shout could destroy a good portion of a city. (the cover of FF #7, pictured above, is misleading - Ronan the Accuser and Black Bolt never come to blows, and in fact, Black Bolt appoints Ronan as the leader of the Kree Empire)

The Inhumans wage war on the once-subterranean city that is populated by the Moloids, drawing them into conflict with Mole Man and the members of the Council of Reeds who allied with him.  This brings the Fantastic Four and the villains who work with them into the conflict, though the alliance lasts about thirty seconds before the High Evolutionary wanders off to do his own thing and Diablo and the Mad Thinker betray the team.

Of the four members of the Council of Reeds that escaped the Celestials, three of them are dealt with surprisingly quickly - one had already been killed by the new group of Inhumans when talk of an alliance broke down, while Ronan the Accuser sacrifices the other two as part of a plan three hundred thousand years in the making, leaving one left.  Meanwhile, Spider-Man continues to be Marvel's most relatable superhero:

Black Bolt basically forces the Future Foundation out of the conflict, leaving the end results up in the air.  However, the team has bigger problems - Ronan's plan brought about the revival of the Supreme Intelligence, the leader of the Kree who tried to exterminate all of the Inhumans across the universe in a fit of paranoia. (the Inhumans were the result of Kree genetic experiments on various races, and the Supreme Intelligence fears that they'll kill it in what seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy)  As any human could potentially be an Inhuman, the Supreme Intelligence starts the extermination with Earth, causing many of Earth's heroes to band together in order to stop it.

An armada of alien spaceships preparing to end all life on Earth is bad enough, but somehow, it manages to get worse - at the same time that all of this happens, Annihilus opens up a portal into the Negative Zone in order to send his forces through it, using some of his servants in the main universe who have disguised as humans.  This sort of thing already proved to be an event that almost destroyed a good portion of the universe, so needless to say, it's not good.

Needless to say, these issues of FF are filled to the brim with fighting and chaos; there's some downtime after Reed and Peter are sent home to have some character building moments, but when the action starts up, there's a lot going on. (and that's not even getting into Nathaniel Richards and Doctor Doom, who are effectively kidnapped by the sole surviving member of the Council of Reeds)  All of this leads to Fantastic Four issue 600, which brings back the original title, so it's possible to guess what happens next.

This issue is advertised as being a hundred pages long, though only the first thirty or so deal with the main plot, ending in the reveal that Johnny Storm survived.  Well, maybe "survived" is the wrong word - by all appearances, nothing can stay dead in the Negative Zone (which I'm sure has explained Annihilus's survival over the years), so even though Johnny died, he was brought back from the dead to serve as amusement for Annihilus.  However, moments before Annihilus's forces opened the portal, Johnny teamed up with a group of Inhuman prisoners in order to get the Cosmic Control Rod that Annihilus uses to control his forces.

Johnny's survival is a well-done reveal, and the second story in the issue goes into detail about his experiences in the Negative Zone.  Other stories build up future events, such as Franklin developing his powers, Galactus giving Reed a device that will summon Galactus to wherever Reed is (Earth has a "Galactus seed" on it, and since Galactus is worried about the danger that something like that will cause once it grows, he wants to protect Earth since if Earth is destroyed, he'll have no idea where the seed will end up), and Black Bolt and Medusa speak mentally about Black Bolt's four other wives, who automatically became his queens once he met the other Inhuman tribes, with him having no say in the matter.

The series continues its musical chairs of artists, though after some exposure to the three artists that the series rotates between, I found it easier to get used to.  The extra stories in Fantastic Four 600 have more varied art-styles, as seen above, which fit the characters that they're used for.  When Black Bolt and Medusa speak mentally, both get redesigns better fitting their codenames, with Medusa being covered in snake scales while Black Bolt is almost a silhouette with white outlines running over his body.

Fantastic Four issue 600 didn't wind up being as momentous of a story as I was expecting - the rename was justified, but I thought that it being roughly five times the size of a regular issue would mean that it would wrap up the War of the Four Cities plot, whereas it ended on a cliffhanger and had a bunch of stories added afterwards that had varying degrees of connectivity to the main plot. (explaining what had happened to Johnny after he was trapped in the Negative Zone was important, whereas the drama between Black Bolt and his five wives didn't really add anything, and what's going on with Franklin was set-up for future events)