Hey everybody, welcome to another week of comic book greatness right here in Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll continue with the star-spanning story of the Fantastic Four called “In Search of Galactus“! Last week we saw Marvel’s first family chilling out when they were interrupted by a visit from a female stranger that begged for their help. Soon after her arrival, they were attacked by a Skrull that had tremendous powers. Specifically speaking, it had the powers of all four members of the team! It was only through a new weapon that Reed was developing that they managed to subdue the powerful enemy. The team then decided to travel to the outer rim of space to help this queen’s race that has been under siege from the Skrull empire. Just before they departed, Johnny Storm decided to stay behind to sort out his life. This choice showed that it may have dire consequences for the youth, as he was being suckered into attending a local college with a sinister motive. Now, let us dive back into this classic from yesterday!
As the three members of the team head out into deep space with the Queen, we watch as the new villain, the Monocle, is using his hypnotic powers on the students at the school Johnny has just joined. He seems to be the hired gun for an organization that wants to use the Human Torch for its own purposes, but that’s something for later. Back in space, Reed, Sue, Ben, and the Queen arrive and find the planet being ravaged by the unrelenting forces of the Skrull empire. The team assesses the situation, then starts to attack the Skrull forces. The commander starts to realize that this new anomaly might actually tip the scales in the favor of his enemies. Some of the Skrull forces are then called away to deal with another problem. A young man named Richard Rider, A.K.A. Nova, is causing them some problems, so he must be dealt with also! We then return to the throne room of the Queen, and learn that her beloved is in serious trouble because he was shot by the Skrull that followed her to Earth. She vows to get revenge by any means possible, and Reed tries to rationalize why the Skrulls are insistent on attacking this planet called Xandar. The leaders then show Reed and the others why the Skrulls want their world so badly. The Skrulls have been losing ground against the Kree, and are in need of a huge power source. The people of Xandar have a super-computer that houses all the world’s power, and also the essence of all its dead citizens. This “Worldmind” is something that would be an unfathomable resource for any civilization, hence why the Skrulls want it.
As the discussion is going on about what to do, one of Xandar’s soldiers appears to tell everyone that the Skrulls are attacking again. This time, the Skrulls are on an all out invasion with everything they have coming at the planet. Reed tries to use his big brain to figure something out, but Ben tells him to forget it, because it’s “clobberin’ time”! The leader outfits the Fantastic Four with anti-gravity belts to enable them to fly. The team wastes no time in getting right into the action. They go right after their long time enemies and appear to be making a difference. Ben is leading the charge, and Reed and Sue aren’t far behind. Ben flies out to the upper atmosphere to confront a ship full of Skrulls, but then is zapped with some sort of ray that immobilizes him. The rest of the team soon finds out his fate as they also succumb to the same beam. The people of Xandar watch helplessly as their only hope is pulled away and jettisoned to the Skrull ship, and it appears that the team is headed for the dreaded Skrull homeworld.
As they arrive at the Skrull world, Ben starts to spout off and Reed tells him to quiet down because the Skrulls have the upper hand. After a quick and unfair trial, the Skrulls tell the Fantastic Four that they are guilty of treason against the Skrull empire. All three of them get zapped with some weapon that appears to kill them at first, but then after they wake up in a cell, they are told that they were blasted with an aging ray and they will die in a few hours. As the guard explains this, Sue uses her powers of invisibility to sneak out and blast the guard. They make their way to the docking bay and steal a Skrull ship, and then head for Xandar. On the way there, they encounter another vessel, and at first they think it’s a Skrull ship, so they try to trick them into thinking they are Skrulls as well. They soon realize that this ship is not a Skrull ship, but one that carries a sinister group that is going to cause the universe more trouble than it can handle.
Well, that’s it for now, but tune in next week for more on this exciting adventure. We’ll see more of the sinister Monocle and his efforts to enslave the kids at the university. Then the Fantastic Four will come face to face with the new threat of the Sphinx, and then we’ll also see Spider-Man and Medusa of the Inhumans, too! See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
blly@comicattack.net
