Hey everybody, welcome back to another fantastic week in Ye Olde School Café! In this week’s edition, we’ll be closing out our look into the great story Fantastic Four: In Search of Galactus! This tale has been so epic, star-spanning, and just down right fun to read! Marvel’s first family has fought their long time enemy, the Skrulls, and Johnny, with the help of Spider-Man, has defeated the sinister Monocle. Then, the team traveled a great distance to help the inhabitants of a world named Xandar fight against the Skrulls. As if that wasn’t enough, they were captured by the Skrulls, and zapped with an aging ray that is slowly turning them into senior citizens! After that fiasco, they were attacked by a ship that revealed itself to be full of super-powered beings attacking Skrulls. Once they all realized they’re friends (sort of), one of them, the Sphinx, showed his true colors, and betrayed his companions. His real mission was to overtake the Xandarian supercomputer, Worldmind. Once he merged with it, he became more powerful than anyone could ever imagine. He’s whipped the Fantastic Four, Nova, and all the other heroes that have opposed him. He is now making his way to Earth. The team has gone to try and contact the only being they know that can stop him…Galactus!
As the team arrives on the planet below, to face Galactus’s new herald, they now realize that the fate of the world is in their hands yet again. They barely have time to get their bearings, when a few of the natives come running and screaming towards them. They tell them that Tyros the Terrible is on the rampage again, and if they don’t run, nobody will survive. After a bit of a scuffle, the Fantastic Four use their combined efforts to defeat Tyros, and earn the help of Galactus. At this moment, Galactus shows up and delivers the power cosmic to Tyros, and renames him Terrax the Tamer! He will be the new herald for Galactus, and his first mission is to go to Earth and warn them of the coming of his master. As this is transpiring, Galactus and the Fantastic Four are also making their way to Earth to face the Sphinx! With this going on, Uatu the Watcher is keeping a keen eye on things, just to make sure all is well.
As Terrax is wreaking havoc on Earth, the team shows up to try and stop him. They are getting older by the minute, though, and Terrax begins to defeat them, until Galactus shows up and puts him in his place. Terrax is then commanded to go and tell the Sphinx he’s about to get a whoopin’. We then get a lesson in the history of the Sphinx. We see that back in biblical times, he was around when Ramses ruled. He was the “magician” that was basically Ramses’s right hand man, but was later banished. During his banishment, he found a temple that housed a gem, the Ka Stone, that gave him immense power and eternal life. The history lesson shows how he conquered many people over the years, but eventually heard rumors of a presence with power to rival his own. He traveled to the Himalayas to confront this being, Sayge, but found more than he bargained for. Looking into the face of Sayge, he saw that he was doomed to fail. After going berserk, he decided that if he could find another power source, he could alter the future. And that brings us to where we are now.
Terrax arrives to warn the Sphinx of his master’s imminent presence, but the Sphinx doesn’t care. This angers Terrax, so he attacks him. The Sphinx easily swats him away, but then a giant shadow engulfs him. Galactus has come, and the Sphinx at first acts like he’s not afraid, but Galactus means to put the fear in him. The two giants have a battle of words at first, but then it quickly escalates to full on combat. Initially, it appears that the Sphinx can handle the power of Galactus, but it doesn’t take long for Galactus to show him why he’s one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Galactus was around before the “big bang,” and is the only survivor. Needless to say, he’s got a set the size of grapefruits. After planning around for a few minutes, Galactus shows the Sphinx that his power is nothing compared to his own! He then crushes the Ka Stone and sends the Sphinx into a never ending loop of reliving his failures. Terrax then takes it upon himself to attack the aging Fantastic Four. The Human Torch is the only member of the team that wasn’t affected by the aging ray, so he must stop Terrax. Even though he’s over matched, he manages to outwit the new herald, and save his family.
In the end, an aging Reed manages to outwit Galactus, as well. He has HERBIE bring him some spare parts that he quickly throws together to make a replica of the Ultimate Nullifier. This is enough to scare off the mighty Galactus, and then Johnny must fight off the Skrulls to get the cure for his teammates. He does so, and then after all is said and done, the team reunites to celebrate their great victory this day! Well, that’s it for now, and I hope you enjoyed this galactic adventure as much as I did! Stay tuned, as next week will bring another great story!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net