Fantastic Four #600-604 + FF #12-15 Annotations

[Forever]

Fantastic Four #600 - Forever, Part I - "Fire In The Sky" [11/23/11]

• Kree armada wreaks havoc across New York.
• A dreadnaught goes down in Soho. Sentries everywhere.
• Sue and Tony create a forcefield around Manhattan.
• Nathanial, Alpha-Reed, and captured Doom arrive before Kristoff Vernard, but Nathanial pleads that they must help Alpha-Reed or risk Doom's life.
• Supremor gives Ronan and Crystal the info dump on him and Black Bolt's rivalry.
• FF kids are attacked by Annihilation Wave. Val transports them away.
• The portal is left on Earth; Pete tries to stop them from opening it but fails.
• It opens to reveal... Johnny Storm with a chained Annihilus!
• "Whatever Happened to Johnny Storm?"
• Flashback to #587, Johnny fends off the Annihilation Wave, but is killed by Annihilus. He's resurrected since nothing can die in the Negative Zone and meets the Light Brigade we saw back in #577-578. Since he can get them out of there, they agree to help him rebel against Annihilus.
• Alpha-Reed is the one who gave the Negative Priest the tech for the obelisks.
• Once more we reference Everything Lives, and Johnny nabs the cosmic control rod from bug-bro.
• "Black Queen"
• Before Attilan arrived over the Forever City but after the Royal Family came back to the moon, Black Bolt and Medusa have some alone time in the psychic plane. They get through some of her skepticism and make up.
• "The Arc"
• A couple days ago, Sue and Reed meet Galactus on the moon, where he gives them a device called the 'Arc'. The arc will summon Galactus. He tells them that shit is about to go down on Earth, and to call him if need be.
• Reed is confused since Earth's destruction would prevent his death in the OML future, but Galactus explains that Asgardians have placed a Galactus seed within Yggdrasil, and Earth's destruction would free it to make a new Galactus. The infant world eater would cause cosmic instability, and result in the end of all things much sooner than planned.
• Galactus wants to be the last one who watches the universe die, so he's all for Earth surviving.
• "Remember"
• The baby universe created by Franklin back in #574 is a playground for Hyperstorm and Kid Incredible! Jump!
• Silhouette Dude offers to train Franklin's reality warping mutant abilities, and he's definitely Future Franklin.

FF #12 - "Too Many Kids"

• The three floors of the Baxter Building are translocated to the mountains of Latveria. The kids meet up with Nathanial, Doom, Alpha-Reed, and Kristoff.
• It's revealed that Nathanial is the one who told Valeria to send the floors to Latveria, and he tells her he sent Future Franklin back in #574.
• The gang goes back to the fragmented Baxter Building to access the Bridge. Val grabs the Ultimate Nullifier...
• Alpha-Reed says he'll unlock Doom's collar once they cross the threshold...
• It's time to go home...

Fantastic Four #601 - Forever, Part II - "We Follow The Storm"

• Kree blow a hole in the force field with an anti-matter bomb.
• Johnny is back and makes a flaming 4 in the sky. Hope is not lost!
• Supremor gets beamed to the flagship, Fist of Hala. Ronan and Crystal stay behind as rebels.
• Attilan merges with the city-ship New Hala.
• Johnny uses the cosmic control rod to command the Annihilation wave against the Kree.
• New Hala attacks from behind.
• But the debris from the space battle falls on New York and Earth...

FF #13 - "The Bridge"

• The gang goes through the bridge, finding the Mad Celestials gathered at the remains of the Council.
• Weeks ago, Nathanial and Val talk about Tipping Points and Catastrophe Theory. All the various crises are occurring at the same time and will cascade to destroy the system that is humanity. Their only hope is to spread out the crises and find more time.
• Doom gets his collar released. Franklin tries to hold off the Celestials, but they beat him in the mind scape. A celestial uses detachable fingers to hold the bridge open.
• Alpha-Reed gives Nathanial the trigger to Sol's Anvil, while Val gives him the Ultimate Nullifier in return.
• Everyone tries to escape, but Alpha-Reed and Doom stay behind to destroy the bridge from the inside.

Fantastic Four #602 - Forever, Part III - "A Season of Dying"

• As the ground team destroys the incoming debris, Johnny's Annihilation Wave begins to lose the advantage.
• As the flagship Pestilence is boarded, Reed and Sue use the Arc from #600 to summon Galactus.
• He arrives but tells Reed and Sue that this is not the threat he's been prepping for. As he takes out a good chunk of the Kree armada, the real threat reveals itself...
• The Mad Celestials have arrived!

FF #14 - "27 Minutes"

• Alpha-Reed and Doom must hold off the Mad Celestials for 27 minutes!
• The kids try to close the gate and pry off the finger drones. Franklin gets them off, but one of them activates the severed celestial hand and it turns into a hand of God para-drone! So cool!
• Flashback: Val and Nate go to the Immortal City and plan how they can find more time by spreading out the universal constants.
• They key to this... All Hope Lies In Doom!
• Alpha-Reed uses the Nullifier to zap some of the Mad Celestials, but eventually succumbs to the pressure and is atomized.
• We get more of the convo between Val and Doom in FF #13; she reveals that she tricked him into sacrificing himself, but he's okay with it. He buys them enough time. But what secret does she tell him...
• Jus before the kids close the Bridge, the Mad Celestials rip their way through to Earth-616. They teleport to #602 during the finale. But Doom bought them 28 minutes. There is still hope...

Fantastic Four #603 - Forever, Part IV - "Can You Be Strong?"

• Galactus faces off against the Mad Celestials.
• Supremor and the Kree Armada flee back to Hala with the Inhumans in pursuit.
• Reed gets a message from Val and the FF kids; they have the trigger for Sol's Anvil.
• They go back while Galactus fends off the gods. He kills one of them, but they turn into a kaiju megazord celestial, and fry his ass. They mentioned this ability way back in FF #3.
• The Anvil is activated and breaks them up, but they only have time for one shot.
• Mad Celestials wreak havoc, and the Anvil gets fried. They're here to kill Reed, the last renegade from the Council.
• Sue protects Reed, but she's not powerful enough. Right before annihilation, she remembers future-Val's words from #582: Remember the price was paid.
• In the sky... Future Frank and Future Val return! They survived the revision wave! Jump!

FF #15 - "The One Where Power Pack shows up"

• So we pretty much get last issue from Franklin's perspective, filling in some gaps.
• The Power Pack gives the FF kids a ride to the Anvil from the Latverian mountains.
• They dispatch the evolved Moloids that built the structure, cracking their helmets reverts them back to normal Moloids.
• Quite a few sequences with the imaginary friend, who tells Frank to save his powers for what comes next.
• The issue ends at the same point as #603, with Future Frank and Future Val appearing, and Frank revealing he was the imaginary friend.

Fantastic Four #604 - Forever, Part V - "And If Tomorrow..." [3/14/12]

• Future Frank & Val arrive.
• Future Frank takes young Frank's power he's been saving up, and faces off against the Mad Celestials.
• Some great parental analogies for the relationship between Nathanial, Reed, Val, and Frank.
• Frank uses the power to revitalize Galactus into his own herald and mess up the Mad Celestials.
• Val asks why she wasn't privy to this part of the plan, and future Val reveals her younger self could not be trusted. This is because young Val believed that Reed made the right choice joining the council, and still should have stayed on the council for the greater good of the multiverse.
• However, Nathanial explains that staying on the council is the wrong choice, because our Reed choosing his family results in the life of Franklin and Valeria, something the council never could have made.
• Future Frank deus ex beams the final Celestial, and the two suns anoint the dawn of the superheroes.
• Great freaking cape comics.
• For if we live, there is hope. If we is hope, then there is tomorrow. And if tomorrow, then forever.

FF #1-11 Annotations

[All Hope Lies in Doom]

FF #1 - "The Club" [3/23/11]

• The Future Foundation!
• Reed watches a video Johnny pre-recorded before his death where he tells them to make the world a better place... and give his spot to Spider-Man!
• Peter joins the team and everyone has sexy cool white outfits.
• Rogue AIM scientists besiege the PAVLOV facility where they free the Wizard from his cell.
• The FF arrive just in time to witness Bentley's escape, where he tells Reed he's coming for his son/clone very soon...
• The FF have dinner made by Nathanial, and they talk about possible ways to deal with the Inhumans on the moon, maybe terra-forming?
• Valeria and Nathanial reveal that they've gotten Doom to join the Future Foundation! This is probably a result of the deal Val made with Doom back in #583.
• Has she restored his intelligence?

FF #2 - "Doom Nation"

• Doom is reborn!
• Ben spars with Doom but Sue breaks it up.
• Ben, Sue, and Dragon Man go to a bar so he cools off.
• The FF brainstorm how to get Doom's intelligence back while diagnosing him. They discover that nothing is inherently missing form his brain besides the connection between two areas that allows him to access information and magick.
• They go to Latveria to use Kristoff as a backup for Doom's brain. When Kristoff Vernard was adopted, his inheritance would be a portion of Doom's memories and intellect in the event that Doom was killed. They will now use the backup within Kristoff's mind to heal the damage to Doom's brain, copying over the aspects that need fixing.
• Just before they activate the machine, Reed contemplates erasing Doom's mind, but doesn't follow through.
• Doom is cured, and resolves to repay his bargain with Valeria they made back in FF #583: he will help her defeat Reed...

FF #3 - "Whatever Happened To All Those Reeds?"

• Invitations are sent out by envoys of the FF to various members of their rogues gallery:
• Ben and the moloid kids visit High Evolutionary...
• Dragon Man and Alex Power visit El Diablo...
• Spider-Man, Franklin, Artie, and Leech visit the Mad Thinker and his android...
• Sue and Bentley visit his dad, The Wizard, and his two AIM lackeys...
• Just as Valeria is about to reveal why she and Doom have convened everyone to brainstorm ways to defeat Reed, the freaking Watcher shows up!
• Val gives everybody the recap of #583 but with some added dialogue:
• Alpha-Reed says Celestials can combine????
• The group strategizes on how they can continue their crusades to solve everything, determining that the four cities each have elements they need to construct a device known as Sol's Anvil (which they've used before to kill a freaking Beyonder!). A geothermal vent (new Atlantis/Peak), Ascension Engine (Forever City), dormant dynamo on the moon (Inhuman City-Ship), and these all are on an axis that matches a frequency with the Negative Zone. 
• They dip and tell Val that her dad still has a place among them...
• Iron-Man-Reed meets with some envoys of the Old Kings, revealing to the Mala and Chordai that the Uhari are planning on taking advantage and asserting control over the other tribes once they conquer the world. He agrees to help the two tribes beat the Uhari if they give him something...
• Armor-Reed meets with the Mole Man who is pissed that more Moloids are joining the Forever People. But what will he bargain with Armor-Reed to make them stop?
• Prof X Reed goes to the Universal Inhumans on the Moon and agrees to help them in exchange for an area of the moon to operate, but their telepaths reveal he's lying and planning something that will threaten the Inhumans. They kill him and resolve to match the Reed's plans.
• Alpha-Reed meets with Annihilus and claims he wants to go back to his universe by opening a portal to the Negative Zone. Annihilus agrees to help him in exchange for him keeping it open so they can invade...
• In the present day, the anvil hub (the trigger for Sol's Anvil) is nearing completion. It doesn't matter that Prof X Reed died since they can trigger the dynamo remotely. Now they will sacrifice this world for the greater good. Now they will orchestrate a war...

FF #4 - "The Beating of Drums..."

• The Council of Doom brainstorms weaknesses of the Reeds. Reed explains that these alter-versions of him don't have families and are heartless.
• He also reveals that every time they encounter a Doom, they lobotomize him (a callback to the Hole we saw back in #571)
• Ben leaves the Baxter Building to do some soul searching. He's not happy about working with the villains.
• The Spiral device Sue got back in #576 comes back: a distress signal from the Uhari of Old Atlantis, the other two tribes have turned on them.
• Sue takes Peter and Alex with her to the North Pole.
• Valeria already knows what the reeds are building and tells everyone how they will use the Four Cities to construct Sol's Anvil.
• Sue and the boys interrupt the siege of the Peak, but not before reinforcements arrive, composed of the Mole Man's creatures accompanied by Armor-Reed!
• He orders Mole Man to bring the city of Old Atlantis down!

FF #5 - "...The Sound of War" [6/29/11]

• Reed finds a way to activate the Spiral to get a glimpse of what's going on at the North Pole, but finds a crater exposing the geothermal vent where the peak is supposed to be.
• 15 minutes earlier: Sue finds out that isn't her Reed and gets blasted. Peter catches her while Alex shows off his gravity powers by getting creative. A mala soldier fractures his arm, and the Peak's shielding is destroyed.
• Mole Men's soldiers activate their machine, amplifying the vent and destroying the city of old Atlantis.
• Sue, Peter, and Alex retreat to confront Reed about what just happened.
• Ben visits Alicia Masters, and she helps him get through the lingering trauma of not being able to save Johnny.
• Sue confronts Reed, and he admits he's messed up, he admits he's done something terrible...
• In the Forever City, the Reeds and Mole Man convene with the evolved moloids, agreeing to help fix the Ascension Engine to allow them to reproduce in exchange for not accepting refugee moloids who try to join the city.
• Just then, the city of Attilan appears above in the sky: Black Bolt and the Inhuman royal family has returned from their pilgrimage to Hala!

[War of Four Cities]

FF #6 - "Two Kings" [7/13/11]

• Inhuman/Kree lore-dump!
• War of Kings recap: Black Bolt fights Vulcan, beats him, but a bomb tears a hole in space called the fault, and Black Bolt gets sucked in.
• Weeks later, Medusa deals with space politics as a result of the Inhumans taking over the Kree empire.
• Maximus schemes, he has plan...
• Some Kree dude pressures Ronan, claiming Ronan has some kind of seed...
• Lockjaw has some kind of vision:
• Hundreds of thousands of years ago, on the Kree home world of Hala, scientists present the success of the metagenesis plan to the Supreme Intelligence; they've seeded over 100 worlds with Inhuman genetic manipulation.
• As the Supreme Intelligence assimilates the data, he searches for unanimous agreement within the thousand minds he is made up of. He comes upon dissent; a priest foresees a rebel arise out of the metagenesis, who will spell doom for the supreme intelligence.
• The symbol of divergent path looks like the thing sticking out of lockjaw and Black bolt's head!
• Supreme Intelligence orders the Accuser to kill the two scientists, but not before one of them destroys the data crystal uploading info to the Supreme Intelligence. He is only able to absorb 94%, but sees it as enough.
• The Accuser destroys hundreds of worlds seeded with the metagenesis, but five survive as a result of the incomplete data. Those five are the worlds of the brides, and Earth.
• Black Bolt awakens within the void of the Fault...

FF #7 - "The Supremor Seed"

• Black Bolt is attacked by a space squid in the Fault (which kind of looks like the Supreme Intelligence to me...)
• He kills it with his voice, somehow opening a wormhole that puts him back into normal space. Lockjaw is there, who teleports him back to Hala.
• Just as the Kree are about to maybe start a coup, Black Bolt returns to restore order. The Kree emissary explains that the Inhuman royal family's plan of providing relief to the outer worlds after the war with the Shi'ar goes completely against their warrior way: rebuild the core worlds and let the outer rim fend for themselves, only the strongest will survive and earn their place in the empire.
• Black Bolt leaves the decision in the hands of Ronan the Accuser, who will stand regent as the Inhumans depart back to earth to reconvene with the lunar city-ship for the Summoning.
• The emissary is pissed, so Black Bolt vaporizes him. He says he is awake...
• Crystal stays behind with her boo Ronan.
• 300,000 years ago, wittle Supweme Intewigence is having some nightmares of Black Bolt, so he summons the current Accuser to follow his contingency plan. In the event that Supreme Intelligence dies, the Accuser will hold this Supremor Seed in his hammer to rebirth the SI.
• We get a repeat of the scene where the Universal Inhumans mind-bang Prof-X Reed and kill him, but then see that Black Bolt and the royal family return with Attilan.
• He gets acquainted with his new brides, but everyone knows what comes next... WAR!
• And a great segway into Attilan appearing over the Forever City in #5!

FF #8 - "Ascension"

• Attilan descends above the Forever City as they command their armies to invade. It's all-out war between the Universal Inhumans and the evolved men.
• Sue confronts Nathanial after having spoken to Reed. She questions his imperative of "what needs to be done".
• He explains that she should be content based on the revelations Reed has given her. He has seen the future where they lose, and the fact that the Reeds will crack the planet in half will be the least of their worries in the face of what comes next. This is the future Valeria tells Sue back in #582, the cataclysmic end of days that forced Future Frank and Val to come back and make the changes.
• Nathanial and Reed suit up, Spider-Man gathers the villains to depart, and they all got FF costumes!
• Sue and everybody else stay behind.
• The FF arrives amidst the war between the Inhumans and the Forever City. Doom casts a spell to protect them from the Ascension Engine. Everybody agrees to only kill two of the Reeds, keeping one alive for info haha.
• High Evolutionary tells Reed he can disable the Ascension Engine due to the Reed's meddling.
• The Inhumans are immune to the engine as a result of their controlled evolution and selective breeding.
• Sue and Reed have put Val in time out within her room, but Bentley breaks her out.
• Wizard gets taken down.
• Reed sees that one of the Reeds happens to be the Armor-Reed. This changes things...
• Could it be because of his connection to the Mad Celestials? Could they track him to this universe?
• Just before he reveals his concerns to his dad, Reed and the others are transported to Attilan to convene with Black Bolt.
• Doom takes down Iron-Man Reed and questions him about the nature of their machine, but before the alter-Reed responds, Doom is set ablaze by Diablo!
• Are Mad Thinker and Diablo traitors??? This confirms the statistic Reed mentions to Peter earlier of how likely one of the villains while go turncoat.

FF #9 - "Burn it Down"

• Doom is unfazed by Diablo's flames and fries the crap out of him!
• The gang meets with Black Bolt and the Inhumans. Nathanial tells Medusa that he's been to Attilan 1000 years in the future, and it's much bigger.
• Black Bolt has Reed step aside while they deal with the Reeds, as their plans are dangerous for the Inhuman agenda.
• Back at the Baxter Buidling, Bentley and Val have some snacks in the room with the Bridge. We even see the severed Celestial hand from #572!
• The Inhumans annihilate the Forever City.
• High Evolutionary arrives at the Ascension Engine.
• As more Inhumans descend, the Reeds prepare to shut down the engine and retreat (all that truly matters is the engine remaining intact)
• But it's too late, as Maximus uses a giant mech to blow all the evolved men to hell. Not entirely sure if he destroys the engine or not.
• The Inhumans take out Armor Reed and Iron-Man Reed, sending the two and the traitors Diablo and Thinker up to their gulag "Alpha Hell".
• Alpha-Reed lures Doom into a trap, engaging a collar like the ones used on the Dooms in The Hole (#571). Doom is now his slave, and if he does not do his bidding, the collar will lobotomize Doom. They embark for Latveria.
• Black Bolt tells the remaining FF to leave, but since their ships were destroyed, they must depart through Eldrac! Remember Eldrac from #577, the door that takes you to where you need to be.
• Peter wonders if the door can take you back in time, to erase your sins from ever being committed. Reed says there's only one way to find out...

FF #10 - "What I Need"

• Eldrac sends the three to separate locations where they need to be:
• Reed arrives at home in the Baxter Building to give Sue the recap. Sue wonders if Reed's attempt to delay the dark days ahead is futile, and they should instead prepare to embrace the inevitable. They agree to no more villains in the house, and to try to get Ben to come back. Sue asks about Victor...
• Nathanial arrives in Latveria just as Alpha-Reed and an imprisoned Doom touch down. Alpha-Reed reveals that his version of Nathanial was The Beast we encountered way back in #582, which is hilarious because a young Doom actually ended up killing him. Nathanial says he's not here to help Doom, but to help Alpha-Reed.
• Peter arrives in Avengers Mansion to convince Ben to come back home to the FF.
• Ronan activates the Kree fleet as he is given control of the empire. Although it goes against the Inhuman Royal Family, Crystal stands beside her beloved. They arrive below the aerial Attilan over the Forever City undetected.
• Peter and Ben return aboard a Quinjet, bringing along Iron Man, Cap, and Hawkeye as help.
• Apparently the FF kids are out on a super-secret class project.

FF #11 - "Intelligence" [10/26/11]

• Franklin and Leech watch the FF kids work on the super-secret class project.
• Reed walks in to confront Val, and we learn that the machine they're building will transport three floors of the Baxter Building away in case of an emergency. However, Val implies there is another reason for building this device...
• The Kree invade the Alpha-Hell gulag of Attlian, taking the two Reeds for themselves.
• At the Other Side of Zero, the Negative Priest breeds Negative Zone hordes and prepares them for human hosts. He talks to Annihilus, explaining that their plan to unleash the Annihilation Wave upon this reality is almost complete: they've built obelisks which will amplify and extend the bridge portal to the Negative Zone, with the catalyst door being the portal within the Baxter Building.
• Reed and Cap prepare a multitude of heroes to besiege the city of Attilan.
• Before the reignited Ascension Engine, Ronan reveals he's gathered the two Reeds as a new host for the Supremor Seed within his hammer! It attaches itself to them as he kicks the two into the engine, rebirthing...
• The Supreme Intelligence! This version of the Supremor has multiversal knowledge, and appears to be more powerful...
• Just as the heroes board quinjets towards Attilan, they witness the Kree fleet descend over New York!
• Supremor saw his death in the future and burned hundreds of worlds to prevent it, and now he will do the same to Earth!

Fantastic Four #583-588 Annotations

[Three]

Fantastic Four #583 - "In Latveria, the Flowers Bloom in Winter" [9/22/10]

• If they think I'm going to read Fall of the Hulks, they are mistaken!
• So Doom appears to have gotten brain-blasted. He summons Kristoff Vernard (his heir?) to take the throne until he regains his intellect.
• Valeria goes awol and does a little bit too much! She activates the Bridge and lets the remaining Reeds escape into universe 616. These include the Alpha-Reed, Iron-Man reed, Prof-X Reed, and Armor-Reed (who IIRC lost his intelligence and was the one who summoned the Mad Celestials in the first place).
• I guess all of them split up according to the infographic word bubble map. Could those locations correspond to the Four Cities? I don't think so since the Negative Zone and Inhuman City-Ship are not on Earth, but maybe we'll get an answer in the future.
• So Val disagrees with her father's decision to choose his family! That's crazy!
• Val makes a deal with Doom; she'll restore his intelligence if he promises to help Reed. Why will Reed need Doom's help?
• Silver Surfer discovers the corpse of OML-future Galactus!

Fantastic Four #584 - "Congratulations, Mister Grimm. You're Handsome Again!"

• Nu-Ben and Johnny take the city by storm! (Get it?)
• The revamped Yancy Street gang is hilarious.
• Sue goes to Mutopia to rendezvous with Namor as they set forth for the Peak of Old Atlantis to arrange a peace treaty between both kingdoms.
• Reed observes strange spatial energy bleeds dubbed the Fault and the Crunch.
• He is confronted by Silver Surfer and Galactus himself regarding the corpse of the alter-Galactus from OML-timeline. 

Fantastic Four #585 - "The Kings of Atlantis!"

• God damn it, Namor! Still badass though, and don't think it didn't notice the reuse of his line in HOX/POX!
• Reed joins Galactus and Surfer on their way to Nu-World. It's in a different dimension IIRC, but Surfer found a bleed that will let them access it.
• While Surfer goes to collect some other individuals with similar energy signatures as the dead Galactus, he reveals to Reed that Franklin's powers have been reactivated, and that he feared a confrontation.
• The Other Side of Zero/Anti-Priests prepare to invade the Baxter Building, activate the Negative Zone portal, and unleash a second Annihilation Wave upon the universe.

Fantastic Four #586 - "World-Eater!"

• From bad to worse!
• The peeps Surfer got were Ted and Alyssa!
• The reason for the apocalypse of the OML-Timeline besides the superhero-genocide is a result of the Sun dying after too much of its energy is consumed.
• Reed plans on using the Farm planets + star-surgery to prevent the death of Galactus and the decay of the sun from occurring.
• Galactus wants to eat Nu-World, and they try to ferry the remaining population off the planet through the last remaining gate.
• Namor reveals that the Old Kings are actually malevolent in nature and want to pillage the world like they did in the old days. They use Sue as bait and plan to kill her.
• Negative Priests and bug dudes invade the Baxter Building and blow a hole in Reed's portal, unleashing the Annihilation Wave from the Negative Zone.

Fantastic Four #587 - "The Last Stand!"

• Whaaat! So Leech has been rooming with Franklin so he can hold back his reality warping powers! So smart, I never would have guessed!
• RIP Johnny! But if nothing can die in the Negative Zone...
• The Old Kings reject Namor's prejudice and name Susan as their new queen.
• Reed opens the gate back to Earth, bringing Alyssa, Ted, Lightwave, Maestro Bruce Jr, and the collective conscious of humanity in Natalie X. Galactus destroys Nu-World.

Fantastic Four #588 - "Month of Mourning" [2/23/11]

• Nathanial Richards is back! Every boy needs his father!
• That sequence of Reed staring at the priority threat list was perfect.
• Loved the Peter/Franklin back-up!

Fantastic Four #575-582 Annotations

[The Prime Elements]

Fantastic Four #575 - "The Abandoned City of the High-Evolutionary" [1/27/10]

• There is chaos in the underworld!
• Mole Man! Moloids!
• High Evolutionary! Abandoned City! Darwin Bubble!
• Prose is kind of confusing: Mole Man says that when HE activated the Ascension Engine, it started de-evolving everyone, so they had to escape. But since they didn't turn it off, the city kept going up. Some Moloids ended up arriving in the city and getting de-evolved into humans. But shouldn't that mean they were evolved? He even says that if HE had stayed in the city, he would have had extreme intelligence. That should mean that the city evolves instead of de-evolving!
• Oh dang! The Galactus from 2509/Old Man Logan Universe!
• So the Moloids devolving enhances their intelligence and reverts them to human-like beings, but everybody else gets de-evolved.
• So the FF adopts those evolved Moloids, while the risen Forever/Future City attempts to establish it's own sovereignty.

Fantastic Four #576 - "The Old Kings of Atlantis"

• The Peak: secret off-shoot Atlantis in the South Pole, Antarctica.
• Three Old Kings: Crab (Mala), fish (Uhari), shark/eel (Chordai).
• Susan is elected as the representative of humanity.
• King Ul-Uhar.
• OHHHHHHH! The reason why it has to be her is because her connection with Namor!
• The Spiral device to communicate.

Fantastic Four #577 - "Universal Inhumans"

• What! Crazy crazy dumps!
• So TLDR, the Kree didn't just experiment on Earth, they went to four other planets!
• The Kree's plan is to use the Inhumans as a harvesting ground to prevent the Kree from genetic stagnation.
• Horse people Kymellians, fin headed Centurions, lizard-like Badoon, and the crab Dire-Wraiths.
• These four Inhuman cultures live on the Inhuman City-Ship and have arrived on the blue area of the Moon. They are each led by a respective queen, and all of the queens are wives of Black Bolt, the Midnight King of all Universal Inhumans.
• Black Bolt and the earth-Inhumans have departed from the moon with Attilan and gone to Hala, the Kree hom-world, to jump the Supreme Intelligence.
• And when he comes back, he wants to make Earth a haven for Inhumans, a new Hala!
• Eldrac the Doorway!
• Dal Damoc, the Summoner, The Wayfinder!
• The Light Brigade: six of the greatest Inhuman warriors formed to take part in the Offering, a ritual where they face an endless number of trials to prove the worth of the Inhumans. The Offering ends when the last member of the Brigade dies.

Fantastic Four #578 - "The Cult of the Negative Zone" [4/28/10]

• Annihilation Aftermath: Annihilus was killed by Nova but left behind eggs to hatch a new body.
• Blastaar takes over the Negative Zone, and has expanded his territory, including annexing the prison known as 42.
• YOOOOOOOO!
• Cool spin on the Negative Zone being an inverted universe: reverse Big Bang, cold to hot, the universe is living instead of dying. It's not expanding, it's shrinking. It's getting hotter!
• Other-Side of Zero club, Cult of the Negative Zone, Anti-Priests.
• New & improved Negative Zone portal in the Baxter Building.
• Prison 42 has been transformed into a city by the reborn forces of Annihilus.
• Give us a battle we cannot win! Epic! The Light Brigade enters the Negative Zone to war against the Annihilation Wave!
• The War of Four Cities has Begun!

[To Do The Impossible...]

Fantastic Four #579 - "The Future Foundation" [5/26/10]

• "The future of man is not here... it is out there."
• Oh my god. That might have been one of the greatest speeches I've ever read in comic book prose. Reed has been cemented as Hickman's avatar; I could feel him coming through the pages and speaking to me. Easily one of the best moments of the run so far.
• What did Sue ask the old kings for? = revealed at the end of this issue to be two Atlantean foreign exchange students who join the newfound Future Foundation!
• Moloid role call! Turg (floating head), Korr (baby), Mik (blue shirt), Tong (sweatshirt).
• They discover that there is a curved axis connecting three of the cities, and a radius that reflects onto the location of the Negative Zone portal.
• Ted is still on Nu-World, but makes a bubble to protect him and his stuff from the time dilation. He creates a new synthetic Alyssa Moy.
• Alex Ultron and his robo-peeps colonize an uninhabited moon and begin terraforming.
• Natalie X is still on Nu-World, and she evolves her power to become a hive-mind for the remnants of humanity still left on Nu-World.
• Lightwave dreams of serving Galactus.
• Banner Jr continues to grow older.
• So Artie, using the helmet the kids gave him, can project the internal blueprints for any object.
• Loved the interaction between Reed and the Wizard. His biblical metaphors are wonderful!
• What could he be hinting at? How will the world burn if Reed doesn't solve everything? What did he see in his visions!?!
• The Future Foundation is born!

Fantastic Four #580 - "The Frank-Tastic Four"

• "I promise... I've given up games of murder."
• What is the problem the FF have found a solution to that Reed never could = SO the kids found out how to cure ben! One week a year sounds like a great deal to me.
• Nu-World Update! Ted finally perfects the synthetic Alyssa Moy-2515 who can access the original long-lost memories of the original Alyssa! He and Nu-Alyssa leave a Moypilot to man the World-Ship's orbit around the singularity as they depart back to Earth. He also dumps 640+ years of info into his brain (which I'm assuming he collected while in the time bubble).
• Planet Ultron is complete after Alex Ultron finishes terraforming the moon.
• Natalie X becomes the collective conscious of humanity, a World-Mind.
• Lightwave is still dreaming of serving Galactus while Banner Jr becomes a version of the Maestro Hulk.
• The brawl in the arcade toy store was so much fun. I love Impossible Man, and pairing Franklin and Johnny is perfect. Can't forget about my boy Leech as well!
• Eager to see more dynamics between Franklin Valeria and Reed; that conflict of Franklin feeling put to the side needs to be explored!

Fantastic Four #581 - "When Everything's Lost, the Battle is Won"

• Val: "So we have a deal?"
• Johnny: "I don't wish it any more than you do."
• Doom: "Here I can build."
• SHIIIIIII
• Future-Franklin and Future-Val are working with Nathaniel Richards!
• So did Franklin remove something from his past self's mind to restore his powers? Some kind of mental block?
• Where are they? Franklin says he's going to use this weird void to build a pocket reality as an escape hatch. It's a new Eden at the end of time!
• How will Val fix the past?
• How will Nathanial fix the future?
• Nathanial Richards history lesson: He dipped on Reed to go and work for the SHIELD. When trying to stop Night Machine from detonating (See SHIELD #2), he became immortal and was given the ability to travel through time. However, every single incarnation of Nathanial Richards from across the multiverse was pulled into reality 616. They landed 600,000 years in the future, and were confronted by Immortus, a being empowered by the TVA to police time. Seeing all these Nathanials with temporal abilities as an obvious threat to the timestream, he devised a compromise where they would have to choose only one Nathanial to live while the others die. All of the variants turn on each other, and 616 Nathanial refuses to take part in this great hunt, opting instead to run and hide across the timestream/multiverse.
• We meet the last Nathanial, and he's built a Frankenstein-playground made up of artifacts from human history called Chronopolis. 

Fantastic Four #582 - "...Because of All These Things I've Done" [8/25/10]

• So the last Nathanial is called The Beast.
• The Chrononauts are a task force put together by Kang according to the Marvel wiki. More connections between Nathanial Richards and Kang-thanial!
• So if Nathanial has never killed anyone, does that mean it was Howard who killed Night Machine in the pages of SHIELD?
• Loved proto-Doom! Him smashing in the Beast's face in was hilarious!
• OH MY GOD THE LONG GAME! VALERIA IS LITERALLY TALKING ABOUT SECRET WARS 5 YEARS BEFORE IT HAPPENED!
• Could the bad future they've been mentioning since the beginning of this run be the Old Man Logan future that they're trying to prevent from Millar's run? = Nope!
• Val and Franklin and Nathanial have made changes to the timeline to prevent some cataclysmic future, but they won't survive to see it.
• I love it! Franklin kicks Nathanial out of the White-Space because he wants Reed to be with his dad! Every boy needs his father!
• Val says only Sue can hold the F4 together! There will be a moment when she wants to give up, but she must look to the sky and remember that the price was paid.
• Val gets back to the pocket-Eden in the white-space, but they won't make it to the new future before the revision wave hits. They decide to hit what we Brazilians call a "Jacare" beneath the wave and tunnel their way through. They jump into the void!

Fantastic Four Dark Reign + #570-574 Annotations

[Dark Reign: Fantastic Four]

"The Bridge, Part I - Building Bridges" [3/4/09]

• I could have sworn Alicia Masters was blind? Did they restore her sight?
• What happened when HAMMER cut the power? Did it cause the machine to go wild and send the other three across reality/multiverse?
• But it's just an observation device! Why did they get teleported? Most likely because of the power outage? That's probably the spillover Reed was talking about.
• Where did it shoot out Ben Sue and Johnny? Seems like the Savage Land, but who are the others there besides the dinosaurs and the Celestials?

"The Bridge, Part II - Civil Discourse"

• So the recap blurb says that the Bridge is a reality bending super-computer, and that HAMMER's interference sends the three back to prehistoric Marvel.
• All of the peaceful realities that avoid the 'Civil War' stem from Reed taking individual action.
• As much as medieval revamps of characters tend to uninterest me, "Milady, tis the clobbering hour" was absolutely perfect.
• Why are there two Bens in the final warp at the end?

"The Bridge, Part III - Illuminate"

• So every reality the three warps through, they pick up an analogue: Medieval Ben, Swashbuckler Johnny, Gunslinger Sue.
• Reed discovers that every reality where the Illuminati is formed results in zero chance for an optimal world peace, instead either subjecting humanity to the will of another power or dooming them to annihilation.
• Franklin and Valeria hold down the fort as Normy boy and Venom pull up for an eviction!
• Is Beyonder a multiversal being? I thought he was bigger (given the revelations we get in New Avengers/Secret Wars).

"The Bridge, Part IV - There Is Always A Way"

• Awesome! I love essay-comics!
• Great speech by the Sup[Reed]-Intelligence, pretty tragic overall.
• Main Reed has a wonderful IM where he comes to the conclusion that he must put the responsibility of the world/reality's problems on his back and attempt to solve everything.
• Norman vs the kids was hilarious as well.

"The Bridge, Part V - The World I Created" [7/22/09]

• Fantastic!
• Council of Reeds hinting and unforeseen implications of Reed lying to Sue about rebuilding the Bridge.
• Osborn stuff was still great. Would have loved to see the Iron Patriot armor!
• Franklin reality-warping powers hinting?

[Solve Everything]

Fantastic Four #570 - "Unsolvable" [8/26/09]

• What is the true cost of a man's mistakes?
• Reed's daddy, Nathanial Richards gives some great advice! You can fail, but you must try!
• They give the Wizard a smack down, he predicts some crazy stuff coming up on the horizon.
• What happened to the small clone child of the Wizard?
• When Wizard mentions the world tearing apart and humanity being judged, is he referencing the Millar stuff or is he hinting at the Incursions!?!?!
• Reed built an interdimensional panic room...
• Johnny and Ben are going to Nu-World!
• Paranoia brings Reed to the Bridge, and we meet the Council!
• Fascinating concept! And Infinity Gauntlets!! Holy crap!
• We see so many multiversal reeds, but Armor-Reed, Suit-Reed, Beard-Reed, and Alpha-Reed are the ones with dialogue.

Fantastic Four #571 - "Initiation"

• Crazy convo between Reed and Sue. I'm honestly on Sue's side, but I understand Reed's POV. There is a higher purpose, and sometimes that gets in the way of grounded reality.
• Universe-8901 = "The Farm"
• Interesting that the Infinity Gauntlet only works in the universe that it's from.
• The Hole = a room that keeps all of the lobotomized Dooms.
• So Beard-Reed has spliced DNA with Doom!
• Daddy-Richards advice: there is nothing you can't do!
• Three trials of virtue, vice, and impossibility!
• Well fuck. Mad Celestials from Armor-Reed's universe forced him to reveal the location of the Council! Apparently they want to take over the multiverse?

Fantastic Four #572 - "Burning Bridges"

• The cost of solving everything, is everything!
• Suit-Reed and Beard-Reed are dead!
• A Reed who is a portal to the multiverse!
• Sue's convo with Reed was fantastic, and much more tolerant and mature than most individuals would react. She really does understand her husband.
• YESSSSSSS. KINO STORY!
• Armor-Reed is a bum who reveals the secret of the council: they all dipped on their families to solve everything.
• It's crazy how much Rick and Morty aped off of this.
• Where did Nathaniel Richards disappear off to?
• The "A Better Man" is one of the best sequences so far!
• So Franky and Val catch a lift on the fantasti-car to crash Ben and Johnny's vacation to Nu-World!

Fantastic Four #573 - "Adventures on Nu-World!"

• Wow Wow wtf?
• Who is this mysterious man; Is it Ted Castle = yep.
• How did Alyssa end up as a brain in a robo-spider body?
• How did things get to this = apparently it's been 8 years because of the space time distortion from the black hole.
• How did the sun collapse?
• How is Nu-World undergoing abnormal evolutionary acceleration; What is the cause; = the black hole created by the sun's collapse; it's event horizon is the cause.
• Why does Alex Ultron have his own territory?
• What is the treaty/pact?
• How was the portal damaged?
• What caused the revolution and war?
• Natalie X controls the population with telepathy.
• Ted and Alyssa are based in the center of the earth, a place called The Wheel.
• Lightwave and psionics are based in the capital of Nu-World, called the Fortress.
• Who has kept them alive = Ted!
• So Banner Jr is kept in prison, but he claims it's only as long as he wants...
• Alex Ultron and Lightwave are now enemies and leaving Nu-World.
• Psionics merc's Alyssa, Banner merc's Psionics, Ted stays behind to pilot the ship.
• Will we see them again? = #578 + #579!

Fantastic Four #574 - "Days of Future Franklin" [12/23/09]

• The future must be avoided at all costs!
• Happy birthday Franklin!
• Power Pack (of whom I know literally nothing about).
• Katie: light/fire powers.
• Jack: blue fire or water powers.
• Alex (19): super-intelligence.
• Leech: Bro gets a key!
• Artie: Uses the new helmet to project his thoughts and communicate.
• The clone! They're calling him Bentley, but he refers to himself as Thirty-Two.
• The Dragon-Man was from an old issue of FF by Kirby but I can't recall who he was built by = Diablo!
• Who is random dude who warps into the Baxter building? = Future Franklin
• What does he do to Franklin + What does he say? = check the last bullet.
• Why must the future be avoided?
• What is the War of Four Cities? = Four Cities are the Forever City of the High Evolutionary, New Atlantis in Lake Vostok, Universal Inhuman City-Ship, and the prison 42 in the negative zone.
• The Dead must not be forgotten...
• The Future Man must return to save the past...
• All Hope Lies In Doom...
• We get a bunch of little kid drawings: the Four Cities must correspond to the elements, earth water fire and air. Namor is depicted, so Atlantis must be water.
• We see a bunch of drawings of the multiversal reeds.
• So Future-Val sent Future Franklin to send her this message as a kid!
• Rest, and remember what you are = So Future-Frank restores present-Franklin's reality warping powers, and he makes a baby universe!