Still in the Negative Zone

 

cover art by John Romita

Fantastic Four #141 (December 1973) amps up the Sue/Reed marriage problems they've been having for far too long at this point, but--to be fair--the ending of this issue does give them an understanble reason for their marriage difficulties. 

And, aside from that particular arc having gone on for far too long, the Annihilus story that began in the previous issue is quite good. The FF and Wyatt Wingfoot had been captured by the villain and taken to the Negative Zone.

This issue, by the way, is written by Gerry Conway and drawn with power and imagination by John Buscema.

We also find out that Sue, Franklin and Agatha Harkness are prisoners as well. Agatha had been captured earlier by Annihilus, who had then forced the witch to help capture Sue and the little guy. THAT explains something from the previous issue that had seemed like a plot hole to me when I read it as a kid--why there was anti-matter residue at the site where Agatha teleported away Sue and Franklin. She was taking them to the Negative Zone, so that now makes sense.

The FF try to fight Annihilus again, but once more get curb stomped. Annihilus also drains them of much of their powers. Tossed in a tower prison, they at first seem to be helpless. But Medusa comes up with a Rapunzel-inspired trick for escaping, letting them climb down from their cell. Their powers also slowly start to return and they fight their way past some of the planet's primitive tribesmen.

In the meantime, we learn exactly what Annihilus' end game is. He wants to drain the enormous among of cosmic energy that is growing in Franklin. Then he'll be able to easily conquer the universe.

The FF show up and, using surprise and subterfuge, then manage to defeat the villain. Agatha, though weak, is able to magic them all back to the Baxter Building. But Franklin is on Cosmic Power Overload and is now a danger to the universe in his own right. Reed, in deperation, zaps him with an experimental anti-matter weapon. The cosmic energy is drained out of the child, but he's left in a coma. Reed clearly had no choice. But Sue is angry anyway--an understandable immediate reaction for a mother--and now seems more done with Reed than she was before.

All of this is good storytelling, with the heroes using their brains as well as their powers to get the drop on Annihilus and save the universe. Bucsema's art is excellent and carries the story along powerfully. In restrospect, if Conway wanted to do a brief arc about Sue and Reed having problems, then perhaps he should have started it here. That would have made the arc much shorter before coming to a (sadly awkward) conclusion eight issues later. 

Also, this is the point at which Franklin begins to shift back and forth between being a normal kid and being an all-powerful plot device--something that lasted for years to come depending on the whims of the various writers and was eventually over-used. 

Still, if we look at these two issues by themselves, we have a good, solid FF story that effectively brings back a classic villain and gives that villain a strong origin story. A- for the story, D+ for the soap opera elements.

Next week, we return again to Travelin' Toughy.