Customer Reviews

Fantastic Four: In Search of Galactus

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This was one of my favorite story arcs from the eighties. Complete Spoiler Alert.

The fantastic four journey to New Xandar on a rescue mission, only to end of getting shot by an aging ray by the Skrulls and then the Sphinx sucks the Worldmind from the Xandarian supercomputer. Mr Fantastic gets help from the mighty Galactus but...there's always a but, he has to get him a new herald and let the Earth become an open feeding ground again if the big G gets hungry afterwards. We get to meet Terrax the Tamer for the first time. He was always one of my favorite heralds. Very angry. And we meet Herbie the robot, who replaced the Human Torch on the revamped saturday morning cartoon in the eighties because the producers were worried that kids might get the wrong idea about a man being on fire.
Has a great ending and lots of non stop conflicts and complications.

This fantastic volume collects fantastic four volume one, #204 to #214, and trust me if you crave classic storytelling by MARV WOLFMAN and spectacular art by KIETH POLLARD,JOHN BYRNE and SAL BUSEMA this is the one for you!!. The cast of characters is dense.
Here the FANTASTIC FOUR faces the wrath of the SKRULLS. NOVA and the champions of ZANDAR guest stars. The near omnipotent GALACTUS battles the SPHINX. the creation of TERRAX the tamer. H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot, S.H.I.E.L.D.,SPIDER MAN,and MEDUSA OF the INHUMANS are here too.
With twists and turns, this collection is hard to put down even when you are through with it!!. Go get it and see for yourself!!.

Now I'll admit it, I wasn't even alive when this book was written. I started reading comics in the early 90's and was heavily into the Silver Surfer and pretty much blind purchased this volume since it was said to contain the origin of Terrax the Tamer. What I got was some very interesting cosmic drama using many characters that have recently been brought back by Marvel. Nova, The Sphinx, even Diamondhead (made a guest appearance in the newer nova iteration when Nova went back to Earth)

Spoiler alert.

The problem with this volume, to someone not initiated to 1970s comics, is the atrocious dialogue and sideplots. The Thing has always had corny battle cries, but it seems he calls himself the 'ever-loving Thing' on every page of this book, which quickly starts to grate on the nerves. There are typos, out of order dialogue, and verbal exchanges that simply make no sense. Characters draw conclusions seemingly from out of nowhere. The entire first third of the book the FF instantly decide to fight the Skrulls to save Xandar (getting hit with a ray that will age them to death in 3 days in the process), and then a new baddie (Sphinx) shows up and suddenly the FF decide to leave the ongoing war with the only people that have the technology to save them (Skrulls).

Then, for no particular reason Reed decides that Galactus is the only being that can stop the Sphinx even though Galactus wants to do the same thing (destroy the Earth). Turns out the 'ace' in Reed's pocket is to bluff Galactus with a fake Ultimate Nullifier. And Galactus falls for it. The mind boggles.

Also of particular awfulness is the Human Torch sideplot on Earth where he goes back to school (seriously) and is hypnotized by a villain called 'The Monocle' (seriously). Not to mention about 3 pages of breaking the 4th wall to plug the Fantastic Four TV show and giving fake reasons for the TV origin of HERBIE the robot in what could only be described as a self-effacing apology to the fans of the book.

BUT, if and only if you can get through all this, there is a good story here and there. The origin and plight of the Sphinx is spectacular. The origin of Terrax as the first herald Galactus specifically chosen because he was ruthless was well realized (and brings more focus on how and why Galactus would later create Morg).

The latter half of the book is MUCH better than the first half. You just have to GET to it.

In summary: Very poor dialogue, flimsy reasoning for going after Galactus, horrible side story. Great history of the Sphinx and Terrax, a neat look into early Nova and Xandar. Buy only if you like vintage FF or are a cosmic buff looking for history.