Changes: Fantastic Four Vol 1 179

Reed Richards has been cast into the Negative Zone after being beaten in combat against his Counter-Earth doppelganger, the Brute, who switched their costumes in an bid to usurp his position as leader of the Fantastic Four. With his powers gone Reed fears for his survival, even as he is being attacked by creatures native to the Negative Zone. Reed uses his military-honed fighting skills to fight them off and takes a pause to rest on an asteroid in order to determine how to get out of his current predicament.

Back on Earth, the Brute tries to pose as Reed Richards when he's intruded upon when the other Fantastic Four members, Tigra, Thundra and Impossible Man arrive for a meeting. Between Thundra's unappreciated advances on Ben, Johnny ineffectual advances on Tigra, and Impossible Man's immature bantering causes the Brute to lose his temper. However, he passes it off as fatigue and his "loss of powers" and dismisses the rest of the team, deciding to take advantage of the fact that he is on a world where Susan Storm is not only not in a coma like her Counter-Earth counterpart, but also married to Reed Richards as well.

The other Fantastic Four members try to relax by watching TV. Ben gets annoyed by Thundra's continued advances and decides to skip out and go for a walk and think on his own, though his solitude is interrupted by Tigra who decides to zip in and include herself wherever Ben is going. While the two go out for a bite to eat, Reed Richards manages to start a fire in the Negative Zone, attracting a batlike creature that makes a tough meal to eat. Back on Earth, Tigra and Thing's dinner is interrupted when they spot a robot rampaging on the streets with an apparently stolen bank vault. The two battle it across the city smashing it into New York Harbor when their fight takes them to a garbage scow.

While back at the Baxter Building, Susan Richards wakes up from her bed with troubled thoughts: She isn't sure that the man she is sharing her bed with is really her husband and begins to suspect that he might be the evil Reed Richards from Counter-Earth. While in the Negative Zone, Reed Richards' thoughts are similar, wondering how long it will take for his wife to realize something is wrong. His thoughts are interrupted when he is suddenly approached by the Negative Zone's ruler, Annihilus.

This story is continued in Fantastic Four Vol 1 181...

Notes

Continuity Notes

Reed refers to himself as a World War II veteran. In Fantastic Four #11 it was first stated that Reed fought in World War II. This has been retconned out of Reed Richards' history per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, as Reed fighting in World War II would drastically age the character. Any reference to Reed being in the military should be generalized.
Reed lost his powers last issue, a natural progression since he first discovered it in Fantastic Four #157. His powers are eventually restored in Fantastic Four #197.
The Counter-Earth Reed Richards refers to his version of Sue is in a coma. This happened in Warlock #6 during a similar space flight that created the Fantastic Four on Earth.
The Metalloid is revealed to be a creation of the Mad Thinker in Fantastic Four #181.
Annihilus was last seen in Captain Marvel #37 where he was easily defeated by Rick Jones in the Negative Zone.

Links and References

References

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Marvel Database:Comic Template
-| Title               = Fantastic Four
+| Image1              = Fantastic Four Vol 1 179.jpg
-| Image               = Fantasticfour 179.JPG
-| Volume              = 1
-| Issue               = 179
 | Month               = February
 | Year                = 1977
+| ReleaseDate             = November 23, 1976
-| Editor-in-Chief     =
+| Editor-in-Chief     = Archie Goodwin
-| CoverArtist1        = Al Milgrom
+| Image1_Artist1       = Al Milgrom
-| CoverArtist2        = Joe Sinnott
+| Image1_Artist2       = Joe Sinnott
 | Quotation           =
@@ Line 15: / Line 13: @@
 | StoryTitle1         = "A Robinson Crusoe in the Negative Zone"
-| Synopsis1           = Reed Richards, cast adrift in the Negative Zone, slowly regains consciousness and remembers how the Brute defeated him, stripped the costume from his back, and pitched him headlong through the sub-space portal in the Baxter Building. But no sooner does he come to than he is attacked by a pack of hungry Negative Zone creatures. Although his stretching power is gone, he manages to defeat them by kicking a chunk of space debris into their midst at just the right angle—calculated from years of fighting experience—to send them hurtling away. Then, holding onto another piece of debris, Reed falls into an exhausted sleep. Back at the Baxter Building, Reed Richards of Counter•Earth, who has surreptitiously taken Reed's place as leader of the Fantastic Four, presides over a meeting of the team, to which Thundra, Tigra, and the Impossible Man have been invited. The meeting has been convened not because the Counter-Earth Reed has anything to say, but because the real Reed had called the meeting before he was thrown into the Negative Zone, and the new Reed has to follow through to avoid giving himself away. Thus, little is accomplished besides Johnny making an unsuccessful pass at Tigra and Thundra making an equally unsuccessful pass at the Thing. Thundra insists that Ben was 'meant" to be hers, and Ben just as vehemently asserts that he is in love with Alicia. Fortunately, Tigra breaks up the argument before violence can ensue. (Alicia, incidentally, is at her apartment baby•sitting Franklin.) The false Reed finally halts the horseplay and says that the recent battles have made him too tired to continue with the meeting. Sue consoles him and dismisses the others, who depart, grumbling about the waste of time. As he and she embrace, he is delighted beyond words, for she is so much like the comatose Sue Storm he left on Counter-Earth. Perhaps, he muses, he will let this Sue live after he destroys the others. Sue detects subtle differences in Reed that she cannot ascribe to the trauma of battle or the loss of his stretching power, but she is unwilling to believe her intuition and shrugs her feelings off. Ben, Johnny, the Impossible Man, Thundra, and Tigra relax in the living room and watch the Bionic Woman on television. Thundra continues to try Ben's patience, so he heads out the door toward the elevator, trying to make up his mind whether to propose to Alicia or to get out of her life so she can wed someone more "worthy" of her. (Thundra, of course, wants Ben to do the latter.) As Ben enters the elevator, Tigra joins him. At first he is exasperated with all this feminine attention, but she calms him down by explaining that she is not interested in him and only wants to talk. Mainly, she says, she has been wondering why the usually altruistic Reed has not tried to bring back his double from the Negative Zone. That is a good question, replies Ben as he invites her to dinner. Steak—cooked rare—not pizza, says Tigra. Shivering from the cold, the nearly naked Reed Richards wonders why no one has tried to rescue him from the Negative Zone. He snatches two rocks floating nearby and finds that they closely resemble flint, so he uses them to generate sparks for a fire. Shortly alter the fire lights, a batlike animal flies by that Reed captures with his bare hands and roasts. As he consumes the barely edible meal, he does not know that some distance away he is being watched by a shadowy figure. After the Thing and Tigra finish their own meal, Ben lights a cigar from the candle of a neighboring table at the restaurant, causing a woman patron to faint from fear. Flirting with him—much to his chagrin—Tigra tries to resume their discussion of Reed's odd behavior, but they are suddenly distracted by a loud disturbance outside. When they look out the window, they see a huge robot making off with an entire vault that it ripped out of the wall of the bank next door. The gunfire of pursuing police is completely ineffective, so Ben and Tigra rush outside to help. The robot is radiating heat—Ben estimates its temperature as 300°F—and when they approach, it heaves the vault at them. Ben catches it and hurls it back, and this time the robot turns up its heat and melts the vault into slag, money and all. Then Ben battles it himself, punching his way out of its superheated embrace. When it momentarily stuns him with a double-handed blow to the ribs, Tigra knocks it off balance long enough for Ben to recover and resume pummeling it. By this time, the Army has joined the police, and as Ben and Tigra slowly force the robot toward the East River, the Coast Guard is called in as well. One of Ben's blows causes the robot's heating system to malfunction, and when it cools down, he slams it onto a garbage scow tied to a dock. A final blow slams the robot through the bottom of the barge into the river just as a Coast Guard boat arrives. Sue Richards leaves her bedroom at the Baxter Building suepecting that the man asleep in the bed is not her true husband. She passes by the living room, where Thundra and the Impossible Man are watching The Maltese Falcon on television, but she cannot bring herself to tell them her suspicions. Meanwhile, back in the Negative Zone, Reed Richards realizes that his evil counterpart has by now probably convinced his teammates that he is the real Reed Richards, which is why they have not tried to locate him. His only hope, he muses, is that Sue, who knows him better than anyone else, will see through the deception. But as he contemplates what plans the evil Reed might have for them, a familiar figure suddenly flies up to him—the frightening form of Annihilus.
-| Editor1_1           = Roy Thomas
 | Writer1_1           = Roy Thomas
 | Writer1_2           = Gerry Conway
 | Penciler1_1         = Ron Wilson
 | Inker1_1            = Joe Sinnott
-| Colourist1_1        = George Roussos
+| Colorist1_1         = George Roussos
 | Letterer1_1         = Joe Rosen
 | Letterer1_2         = Jim Novak
 | Letterer1_3         = Irving Watanabe
+| Editor1_1           = Roy Thomas
-| Appearing1 =
+| Appearing1          =
-'''Featured Characters:'''<br/>
+'''Featured Characters:'''
-* [[Fantastic Four (Earth-616)|Fantastic Four]]
+* {{a|[[Fantastic Four (Earth-616)|Fantastic Four]]}}
-**[[Reed Richards (Earth-616)|Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)]]
+** {{apn|[[Reed Richards (Earth-616)|Mister Fantastic]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
-**[[Benjamin Grimm (Earth-616)|Thing (Ben Grimm)]]
+** {{apn|[[Benjamin Grimm (Earth-616)|Thing]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
-**[[Susan Storm (Earth-616)| Invisible Girl (Susan Richards)]]
+** {{apn|[[Susan Storm (Earth-616)| Invisible Girl]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
-**[[Jonathan Storm (Earth-616)|Human Torch (Johnny Storm)]]
+** {{apn|[[Jonathan Storm (Earth-616)|Human Torch]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
+'''Supporting Characters:'''
+* {{apn|[[Impossible Man (Earth-616)|Impossible Man]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
+* {{apn|[[Thundra (Earth-715)|Thundra]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
+* {{apn|[[Greer Nelson (Earth-616)|Tigra]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
+'''Antagonists:'''
+* {{apn|[[Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)|Brute]]||Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
+* {{apn|[[Metalloid (Earth-616)|Metalloid]]|-|Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}} {{1st}}
+* {{apn|[[Annihilus (Earth-616)|Annihilus]]|Captain Marvel Vol 1 37|Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}
+'''Other Characters:'''
+* {{a|[[Negative Zone]]}} Monsters
+'''Locations:'''
+* {{a|[[Earth]]}}
+** {{a|[[United States of America|United States]]}}
+*** {{a|[[New York (State)|New York]]}}
+**** {{a|[[New York City]]}}
+***** {{a|[[Manhattan]]}}
+****** [[Manhattan#Midtown Manhattan|Midtown]]
+******* {{a|[[42nd Street]]}} and {{a|[[Madison Avenue]]}}
+******** {{a|[[Baxter Building]]}}
+***** {{a|[[East River]]}}
+* {{a|[[Negative Zone]]}}
+'''Items:'''
+* {{a|[[Fantastic Four Uniforms]]}}
+* {{a|[[Cat's Head Amulet]]}}
+<!--'''Vehicles:'''
+* <br/> -->
+| Synopsis1           = Reed Richards has been cast into the Negative Zone after being beaten in combat against his Counter-Earth doppelganger, the Brute, who switched their costumes in an bid to usurp his position as leader of the Fantastic Four. With his powers gone Reed fears for his survival, even as he is being attacked by creatures native to the Negative Zone. Reed uses his military-honed fighting skills to fight them off and takes a pause to rest on an asteroid in order to determine how to get out of his current predicament.
-'''Supporting Characters:'''<br/>
-* [[Alicia Masters (Earth-616)|Alicia Masters]] {{BTS}}
-* [[Franklin Richards (Earth-616)|Franklin Richards]] {{BTS}}
+Back on Earth, the Brute tries to pose as Reed Richards when he's intruded upon when the other Fantastic Four members, Tigra, Thundra and Impossible Man arrive for a meeting. Between Thundra's unappreciated advances on Ben, Johnny ineffectual advances on Tigra, and Impossible Man's immature bantering causes the Brute to lose his temper. However, he passes it off as fatigue and his "loss of powers" and dismisses the rest of the team, deciding to take advantage of the fact that he is on a world where Susan Storm is not only not in a coma like her Counter-Earth counterpart, but also married to Reed Richards as well.
-'''Villains:'''<br/>
-* [[Reed Richards (Earth-1123)|Brute (Reed Richards of Counter-Earth)]]
-* [[Metalloid (Earth-616)|Metalloid]] {{1st}}
-* [[Annihilus (Earth-616)|Annihilus]]
-* [[Mad Thinker (Earth-616)|Mad Thinker (Jose Santini)]] {{BTS}}
-* [[Negative Zone]] Monsters
+The other Fantastic Four members try to relax by watching TV. Ben gets annoyed by Thundra's continued advances and decides to skip out and go for a walk and think on his own, though his solitude is interrupted by Tigra who decides to zip in and include herself wherever Ben is going. While the two go out for a bite to eat, Reed Richards manages to start a fire in the Negative Zone, attracting a batlike creature that makes a tough meal to eat. Back on Earth, Tigra and Thing's dinner is interrupted when they spot a robot rampaging on the streets with an apparently stolen bank vault. The two battle it across the city smashing it into New York Harbor when their fight takes them to a garbage scow.
-'''Other Characters:'''<br/>
-* [[Impossible Man (Earth-616)|Impossible Man]]
-* [[Thundra (Earth-715)|Thundra]]
-* [[Greer Nelson (Earth-616)|Tigra (Greer Nelson)]]
+While back at the Baxter Building, Susan Richards wakes up from her bed with troubled thoughts: She isn't sure that the man she is sharing her bed with is really her husband and begins to suspect that he might be the evil Reed Richards from Counter-Earth. While in the Negative Zone, Reed Richards' thoughts are similar, wondering how long it will take for his wife to realize something is wrong. His thoughts are interrupted when he is suddenly approached by the Negative Zone's ruler, Annihilus.
-'''Locations:'''
-* <br/>
-'''Items:'''
-* <br/>
-'''Vehicles:'''
-* <br/>
+This story is continued in [[Fantastic Four Vol 1 181|Fantastic Four Vol 1 181]]...
-| Notes               =
+| Notes               = ===Continuity Notes===
+* Reed refers to himself as a [[World War II]] veteran. In {{cl|Fantastic Four Vol 1 11}} it was first stated that Reed fought in World War II. This has been retconned out of Reed Richards' history per the [[Glossary:Sliding Timescale|Sliding Timescale]] of [[Earth-616]], as Reed fighting in World War II would drastically age the character. Any reference to Reed being in the military should be generalized.
+* Reed lost his powers {{cl|Fantastic Four Vol 1 178|last issue}}, a natural progression since he first discovered it in {{cl|Fantastic Four Vol 1 157}}. His powers are eventually restored in {{cl|Fantastic Four Vol 1 197}}.
+* The Counter-Earth Reed Richards refers to his version of [[Susan Storm (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)|Sue]] is in a coma. This happened in {{cl|Warlock Vol 1 6}} during a similar space flight that created the Fantastic Four on Earth.
+* The Metalloid is revealed to be a creation of the [[Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616)|Mad Thinker]] in {{cl|Fantastic Four Vol 1 181}}.
+* Annihilus was last seen in {{cl|Captain Marvel Vol 1 37}} where he was easily defeated by [[Richard Jones (Earth-616)|Rick Jones]] in the Negative Zone.
 | Trivia              =
 | Recommended         =

Changes: Fantastic Four Vol 1 179

Latest revision as of 17:04, 1 April 2024

Appearing in ""A Robinson Crusoe in the Negative Zone""

Synopsis for ""A Robinson Crusoe in the Negative Zone""

Notes

Continuity Notes

See Also

Links and References

References