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.