Hey everybody, welcome to another great week, right here in Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll be taking one step closer to the end game in the great story Fantastic Four: In Search of Galactus! So far, we’ve seen the team (minus Johnny at first) jet into outer space to try and help a princess from a world called Xandar. She came seeking their help against the ever growing threat of the Skrull empire! And we know how Marvel’s first family feels about them, now don’t we! In the meantime, Johnny had his own little adventure with a mad scientist , “The Monocle.” He and Spider-Man stopped that threat, though, and then Johnny joined his family in space. The reunion lasted only a short time, as they were all defeated by the Skrulls, and then after escaping them, were attacked by another vessel in space. This one turned out to be a team that was trying to fight the Skrulls, as well, but in truth, the Sphinx was just using them to get his hands on the Worldmind of Xandar! Now, let us not waste any more time, and get back to the action….
After a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Sphinx, the Fantastic Four and what’s left of the forces on Xandar are trying to formulate a plan to locate Galactus. In about thirty seconds, Reed builds a robot with just such capabilities. It even shows off its strength, as well, by flipping Ben over his head! As the team heads out on its mission, we watch as the Skrulls are having some dissension among the ranks. The Emperor declares that he may be in danger, so he orders a retreat. Empress R’Kill takes matters into her own hands and slays the Emperor. She then orders a full assault on Xandar while her former husband lies dead only a couple of feet away. As the ship rockets towards its destination, Johnny confesses to his sister that he’d feel worthless without his powers. She consoles him, but then, out of nowhere, the ship is thrust into the middle of a junkyard of ships. Herbie tells them that one of the vessels has life readings, and so they investigate. Once aboard the strange ship, they encounter a creature that resembles an Earth insect, but wearing some type of armor. The creature tells them that he was transporting criminals, but they escaped. He tells them that they are in grave danger, and that the criminals must be stopped. He dies right in front of them from his wounds.
After a brief scuffle with more of the insect creatures aboard the ship, the team continues on their mission to find Galactus. As they proceed deeper into space, they are bombarded by a meteor shower, but that doesn’t stop them from their quest. They make a good portion of their trip in hyper-space, and then arrive to see the largest ship they have ever seen. Reed doesn’t act surprised, even though the rest of the team thought Galactus was dead (after consuming Poppup). Reed tells them that he knew Galactus would not die so easily, therefore he knew they’d find him. They roam around the ship for a while, and Sue needs to take a break, so they leave her behind. The others quickly stumble upon a room where Galactus is working on some kind of device. First, Johnny tries to blast him with a fireball to get his attention, but that doesn’t work. Then Ben picks up some huge piece of mechanical equipment and throws it at him, but his force-field blocks it. Reed then gets an idea, but before he can enact it they notice that Sue has been grabbed by some giant vacuum cleaner and is about to be killed. Ben jumps into action and saves her, but then it grabs him instead. He easily tears his way out of it, and then Reed tells them that his plan is to release the creatures in Galactus’s zoo, and that will get his attention. It does, then Galactus basically treats them like fleas, and swats them right back into their cages.
Galactus is quite upset with the team, but allows them to explain themselves. After listening to Reed’s explanation for the intrusion, Galactus tells them he’s not interested in helping Earth, since he made a bargain with Reed to never attack them again. Reed then tells Galactus that he’ll rescind that offer if Galactus will help. This intrigues the behemoth, and he agrees to help, under one condition. He tells them of how he needs a new herald, and so he needs them to go on a mission for him to find this new servant. He tells them that he has already chosen the herald, but they need to bring him to Galactus. If they do it, he’ll defeat the Sphinx, but if they fail, they will die! Reed and the others have no choice but to accept his offer and travel yet again farther into space!
Well, that’s it for now, but be back next week for the conclusion to this great story. Galactus vs. The Sphinx, Terrax battles the Fantastic Four, plus the enigmatic Watcher arrives! See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net