JUSTICE PEACE versus FANTASTIC FOUR
The Cross-Time Express! (Marvel)
Where: Fantastic Four #354 When: July 1991
Why: Walter Simonson How: Walter Simonson

The Story So Far...
Few men have experienced the ebb and flow of time as much as Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom. Their many strange adventures have taken them through time and space, but even as their latest confrontation results in a battle between minutes, their actions are observed and recorded by those policing the timestream.

For their many indescretions, Doom and Richards garner the attentions of the Time Variance Authority: An intergalactic organization dedicated to monitoring and policing the multi-verse and it's many refractions as a result of time travel and manipulation. Though immensly powerful, the bureaucratic organization is anything but thorough, further emphasising the severity of Richards' actions.

The TVA send Justice Peace, a mercenary member of the TVA Police Department with full powers to detain and destroy time criminals. Though Doom escapes his clutches, Justice Peace is able to detain the Fantastic Four to be tried by Mr. Mobius, a member of the TVA bureaucracy intent on eliminating the FF's reality. The race is on to escape the TVA's clutches and protect existence, but with Justice Peace on their tail, can even the world's greatest heroes succeed?...

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Human Torch 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Thing 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Invisible Woman 4 (Trained)
Energy Power: Human Torch 7 (Cosmic)


- Justice Peace is a member of the Time Variance Authority Police Department. The law enforcement branch for the bureaucratic TVA grants Justice Peace powers to hunt and destroy those that would commit infractions against timelaw.
Justice Peace carries with him an extensive arsenal housed largely in a single projectile weapon. The weapon is capable of adapting it's ammunition to a range of practical uses, the most prominent being lethal energy blasts.

- The Fantastic Four are: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and Thing.

The original Fantastic Four were exposed to cosmic rays when Reed Richards led the team in a race to beat the Russians to space. Without sufficient preperation time, the shuttle lacked the shielding needed to filter the cosmic radiation, resulting in unique transformations in each member.

The team's adventures take them through time and space, where they regularly do combat with entities and individuals capable of cosmic manipulation. Their amassed allies and enemies exist throughout different galaxies and dimensions.

The team's line-up is typified by Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and Thing, but has been expanded to include the likes of; Crystal, Sub-Mariner, She-Hulk, Medusa, Black Panther, and Storm; among others.

The Math: Fantastic Four Ranking: Mr. Fantastic (#8)

What Went Down...
Mobius M. Mobius, a bureaucrat with the TVA, focuses his attention on seeing the arrest of Thing (and Human Torch) after an outburst that reduced the TVA Halls of Chronometry to rubble. Autonomous agent of the TVAPD, Justice Peace, leaves the pursuit to clone soldiers, recognising the greater threat of an unaccounted for Reed Richards, and his wife Susan Storm; better known as Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, respectively.

JP's suspicions prove valid when, in the destroyed Hall, he is able to discover an invisible forcefield obscuring Sue and Reed Richards as the latter hacks into the hi-tech TVA computer network in an effort to build a makeshift virus!

Justice Peace gives it both barrels, prompting Invisible Woman to refocus her energies into defense, rather than concealment. Mr. Fantastic begs his wife for precious seconds as he races to produce a solution while she suffers the physical strain of maintaining her field under such intense pressure.

Results come in the nick of time as Richards' virus distrupts the linear flow of time within the TVA establishment, resulting in bubbling pockets of reality! The bubbles prove distraction enough to allow the Fantastic twosome to make an escape for the exit: The Cross-Time Central Railroad!

The Torch and Thing converge with the rest of the team, having escaped their own perils with the aid of the viral time bubbles. Richards is able to barter for the group a driver willing to take he and his team back to their appropriate timeline and reality.

Just as escape seems all but assured, Justice Peace arrives at the station with a small army of clone soldiers! The TVAPD soldiers make pursuit as the train bursts from the station into the cold vaccum of space.

The Human Torch steps up to scorch the team's pursuers, but not wanting to harm them, Invisible Woman instead uses a barrage of invisible forcefields to stem their flow. The attack successfully knocks back the clone soldiers, but Justice Peace proves a more compelling adversary.

JP returns fire, buying him the time to attach himself to the Cross-Time Express. The Human Torch proves impossible to pacify when he leaps out of the train, launching himself onto the train with a spray of warning shots from his flaming fist. Justice Peace indulges the compromise of the Torch's attack, using his hi-tech gun to fire back a smothering foam that douses the youngster's flame!

Thing leaps to his teammate's aid, scoring an impressive blow on an unsuspecting Justice Peace! The punch, however, fails to sufficiently flaw the TVA lawman, who again retaliates with the use of his oh-so versatile gun, which easily sabotages the coach roof beneath the burly Thing's footing, in substitute for any futile assault on the rocky hero's own hide.

With Thing momentarily demolished it looks like all hope is loss for the FF, until Justice Peace again finds himself airborne as a result of a surprise assault...

Like a stellar apparition, Susan Richards appears from nothingness to form atop the raging express. She tosses Justice Peace around like a ragdoll, disarming him with a barrage of spherical invisible forcefields.

The lawman's assessment of the woman proves correct as she dangles his helpless form over the edge of the train, where the gulf of nothingness threatens to destroy him forever. Mr. Fantastic lets loose warnings of mercy, for the protective older sister of the Human Torch is blissfully unaware that the express is now under threat of a wave created by Reed Richards' virus!

With Justice Peace captive, the Fantastic Four learn that Mr. Fantastic's ploy to overwrite their reality with a new one devoid of reference to their presence means TVA jurisdiction must adjust accordingly. No loner intent on hunting the Fantastic Four, the lawman opts to return to his own timeline, just as the team manage to outrun the threat of the wave by extreme combustion courtesy of the Human Torch. With that, the FF return similarly to their own time - victorious!

The Hammer...
Well, after defeating and capturing Justice Peace, and clearing their names with a little quantum editing, I think it's pretty safe to say this is another victory for the Fantastic Four!
[NOTE: Thing and Human Torch only get the assist for their contributions, although, we might revisit their solo adventures in a future timeline. Train conductor Casey also gets the assist.]

You might also describe it as a minor victory for the Infinite Wars after a busy weak of other distractions and complacency! After all those team entries, it might have been a fool's errand to get involved with a timetravel caper... Still, I chose this entry because it lept out at me as not only an interesting review, but a great opportunity to talk a little bit about recent developments for the fantastic foursome in Secret Invasion.

Unless you're so deep under cover you don't even know you're a Skrull -- you'll no doubt have heard that among the many characters revealed to be impostors, the most prominent was probably Invisible Woman!

The pages of Secret Invasion #1 saw the phony Susan Richards reveal herself in a staggering plot that involved the cosmic implosion of the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four! The multi-pronged assault also came with the reveal of Hank Pym as a Skrull, who in turn turned a weapon on Mr. Fantastic that reduced the bitter enemy of the Skrull to a formless tangle of rubbery-humanity!

It's impossible to deny that the implications of this series are going to be incredibly fun to watch, but there are still a lot of questions looming over the event. Implications of duty are a big part of a book like this, and while many readers deserve credit for predicting an invasion off the back of multiple Skrull-related events over the past few years, the exact history remains murky.

Exactly how and when characters were replaced is going to be a major point of intrigue for this paranoia fuelled series. Though not always the most reliable source in the woods, writer Brian Bendis has promised clarification for issues such as these, as well as much more, in future issues of the series. Not to be a cynic, but I think it's safe to assume some answers are likely to be found in the inevitable slew of tie-ins, including the three-issue, Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four!

Bendis is notorious for being lazy with his history and external references, so it will be interesting to see how he manages a series so intrinsically dependent on the baggage of details. The when and where are sure to become a hot talking point amongst the fanbase, even moreso now that we know the identities of more impostor heroes, including largely inconspicuous contributors like Jarvis!
A looming concern will be the relationship between Secret Invasion and recent series such as Civil War, which went to dramatic lengths to shake up the fabric of the Marvel Universe with seemingly lasting results. Malformed series; like One More Day; have already seen the systematic dismantling of repercussons for Spider-man that were widely critiqued by fans who were subdued by promise of dedication to moves such as the reveal of Peter Parker's identity.

Something that really attracted me to the opportunity to talk about the FF here was the involvement of Reed and Sue Richards during Civil War.
At the time, series-writer Mark Millar came under heavy criticism for mischaracterizing, among others, Reed Richards, who became a staunch supporter of the pro-registration side of the event. Personally I didn't have quabbles quite to the same extent, and with much of what's done being done, I tend to think the greater concern would be widespread opportunity for cop-outs and sloppy revisionist retcons.

To Marvel's credit, they've put their best foot forward in promising integrity where the actions of the Civil War heroes are concerned. Spokespeople for the company have given strong indications that characters like Iron Man are fairly safe, despite their radical involvement in the universe-changing events. Bendis describes the Civil War more as a matter of convenience for the invading Skrull, rather than a symptom of their sinister designs. That said, the two events are sure to have a lot of overlap as we learn more about the secret past of recent history.

Bendis also describes the series as something foreshadowed in much of his early writing on New Avengers, as well as other avenues, perhaps even the already mentioned slew of titles featuring Skrull-related events, such as; Young Avengers, Runaways, Annihilation, Marvel Team-Up, and other.

Keen observers have already noted that a somewhat suspicious Jarvis returned to service after a 'holiday' in the pages of New Avengers, a series that also featured a slew of cagey and vague influences that harken back to long forgotten conspiracy plotlines from Ultimate Spider-man. Of course, on that side of things, Bendis also looks to finally make good with events in Ultimate Origin, but I digress.

Having just been bitten by a radioactive retcon [Brand New Day], concerns of continuity are fresh in mind. I don't really think there's any cause for concern just yet, but I'm very weary of the prospect of revisions that drift back several decades, if for no other reason than the necessity to retag previous entries!

But seriously, I want to take a little bit of comfort in recent history.
I agree with, and expect Marvel to live up to, the theory that it would be weak to try to completely recast the defining storytelling of Civil War. That said, I think there are plenty of very welcome gaps that help contain Secret Invasion to that recent history.

During and after the event, Reed and Sue Richards confronted marital issues as a result of their eventual split over the Superhero Registration Act. It's here that we see perhaps the most obvious opportunity for the Invisible Woman to have been replaced, during a period where Black Panther and Storm become involved in the team, and adventures for all six members included division, space, and yes, even the presence of super-powered Skrulls!

Plenty of opportunities no doubt arose for a switch, and a moment of separation perhaps even on Reed and Sue's interplanetary second honeymoon could be the perfect transition free from contradiction or confuddlement. Because, yes. With continuity, mystery, and Bendis, one has come to expect disappointment and disaster. The fact that this is a universe event only encourages further reticence...

So, how does Secret Invasion relate to Fantastic Four #354?
Well, I guess if worse comes to worse, someone can eventually get around to another TVA time virus... And if you want more on the 1990 time travelling antics of Reed Richards and Dr. Doom, you don't want to miss Bully's brilliant recap of Fantastic Four #351, and for completions sake, you might like to check out our brief look at relating events from Fantastic Four #350. Mmm, fun!

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 4.5

It's worth mentioning that Justice Peace bares a none-too-subtle resemblance to popular law enforcement zealot, Judge Dread! To the best of my knowledge these issues haven't yet been collected, but you'll find work just as good in the Infinite Wars Amazonian Gift Shoppe! By using purchase links provided you help fund future entries in the Infinite Wars, and saved a buck on purchases you were probably already going to make. Online retaliers; got a way for Infinite Wars readers to order their weekly books through you? Get in touch about sponsorship!

WOLVERINE versus FANTASTIC FOUR
Enemy of the State: Part 3 (Marvel)
Where: Wolverine #22 When: January 2005
Why: Mark Millar How: John Romita Jr

The Story so far...
When Wolverine makes the trek to Japan to investigate the disappearance of a child, he finds himself at the mercy of Hyrda and the Hand, working in tandem under the direction of a young mutant killer calling himself - The Gorgon.

Defeated under ambush, Wolverine is momentarily dead, allowing the Hand to turn their mystic powers to resurrecting him under the control of the terrorist empire of Hydra. In doing so, they instigate plans to make Wolverine their ultimate weapon, designed to perform recon missions, as well as infiltrate and forcefully recruit powers within the American superhero community.

Having already dismantled a SHIELD collective and fought his way through former Hand assassin, Elektra; Wolverine is sent into the lion's den when Hydra seek possession of the world's greatest inventive intellect in Reed Richards.
Having infiltrated the Fantastic Four's headquarters before, Wolverine is even better serviced by technological upgrades from Hydra, but against the combined might of Marvel's first family, does a lone mutant stand a chance?...

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Wolverine 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Cosmic)


- Born a mutant late in the 19th century, James Howlett's life would be a long and arduous one. Baptised by death, he would discover his latent mutant abilities during the traumatic murder of his parents during his adolescence.

As a subject of Weapon X, Howlett's mutant healing factor made him the perfect subject for a delicate procedure to brace his skeleton with the unbreakable metal called adamantium. The metal was even added to Howlett's retractable mutant claws located in his wrists, making them far more effective offensive weapons than their previous bone state.

Code-named Wolverine, James "Logan" Howlett would eventually find more permanent station with an invitation into the paramilitary group, the X-Men.
Wolverine's keen tracking abilities, healing powers, fighting skills, and dedicated grit would make him one of the most active heroes in the superhero community, seen in his more recent admission into the Avengers.

- The Fantastic Four are: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and Thing.

The original Fantastic Four were exposed to cosmic rays when Reed Richards led the team in a race to beat the Russians to space. Without sufficient preperation time, the shuttle lacked the shielding needed to filter the cosmic radiation, resulting in unique transformations in each member.

The team's adventures take them through time and space, where they regularly do combat with entities and individuals capable of cosmic manipulation. Their amassed allies and enemies exist throughout different galaxies and dimensions.

The team's line-up is typified by Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and Thing, but has been expanded to include the likes of; Crystal, Sub-Mariner, She-Hulk, Medusa, Black Panther, and Storm; among others.

The Math: Wolverine (Avg) Fantastic Four (Ttl) Ranking: Wolverine (#3)

What Went Down...
Having penetrated the unrivalled security of the Fantastic Four HQ, Wolverine ventures into the inner sanctum of the team's hi-tech facility, using air vents to gain a vantage point for reconnaissance. The Hydra puppet observes Thing and Human Torch engaging in domestic activity, but intel takes a backseat when DNA scanning detects Wolverine's presence.

With permission to inflict lethal force, Thing takes the opportunity to launch Johnny Storm's prized hotrod in the vague direction of Wolverine's hiding place.
The space made by the launched vehicle gives Human Torch opportunity to fly ahead of his rocky companion, flamed on. The Torch pins Wolverine to the wall, searing nerves as he scorches the mutant's wrists with the knowledge of his nigh-infallible healing factor.

Unfortunately for the Torch, Hydra's upgrades include a series of hacks in the FF security systems. Utilizing the hacks, Wolverine activates the fire extinguishers with a verbal override, soaking the flaming hero in thick retardant foam.

Recovering from the searing effects of the heat, Wolverine pops his adamantium claws, which still glow with an emenating heat. Before he can inflict any harm on the youngest FFer, the Thing marches through the foam, putting a stop to the assault with a blow that destroys the flooring.

The trio tumble through the shattered level to the area below where multiple observation screens monitor time points, intergalactic junctions, and points around the Earth. The tech-filled zone reminds Wolverine of the odds the Fantastic Four are used to facing, but the Hydra voice in his head keeps him in the game as Thing swings wildly with a massive conduit of cables.

Wolverine slices and evades his way through the maze of piping and cables, navigating toward the Thing. His superior agility gives him the opportunity to get close where he is able to plunge his invincible adamantium claws deep into the rocky bicep of the FF powerhouse. Thing drops to his knees.

Invisible Woman sees to the safety of the Richards children by sending them twenty minutes into the future, in communcard with Mr. Fantastic while he heads toward the battle. Attack robots pick up the slack in the mean time, distracting Wolverine from the badly wounded Thing.

The robots soon begin to retreat, but before Wolverine can recognise the smell of, "Blood and plastic. Meat and gum.", a circular 4 on the ground stretches upward to reveal Reed Richards! He quickly wraps Wolverine inside a sphere of his own elastic flesh, but Hydra is able to compensate with a limited teleport jump, placing the mutant approximately sixty feet away.

While slashing his way through attack droids elsewhere in the compound, Wolverine finds himself suddenly unable to breath. With the scent of Dior in the air, Wolverines witches to infra-red vision which allows him to witness the translucent visage of the Invisible Woman, who delivers a stern warning, before using her powers of invisibility to render Wolvie blind.

Hydra come to Wolverine's rescue with an aerial attack on the Fantastic Four headquarters. The explosion rattles Invisible Woman enough to free Wolverine from her invisible grip, giving him an opportunity to run for the broken window, where a hovering Hydra vehicle waits outside.

The Human Torch returns to the fray, leaping into the night sky to pursue his attacker. Wolverine leaps from the rescue vehicle, catching the Torch mid-air.

With his skin and flesh roasting away under the extreme heat of the Torch's flame, the Hydra-possessed Wolverine wrestles the youth with sinister intent.
Careening out of control, he steers their descent toward "something pretty", landing in the streets below with a devestating explosion.

EMTs soon arrive to pull a gravely wounded and burned Human Torch from the wreckage, unable to find remains for the assumed disintegrated Wolverine.
As you might imagine, the Torch emerges from the rubble under his own steam later in the piece, revealing a healing Wolverine who slashes his way free of the ambulance, and back into the public domain where he can wreak mayhem.

The Hammer...
Okay. A lot of you are probably used to scrolling to this point and drawing your conclusion from image-recognition, before you read the sentence. You might be wondering how I could possibly reason a draw given the destruction and carnage handed out by both parties.

I agonized over this one, because there are three very distinct arguments here. Wolverine (with Hydra) successfully incapacitates all but Mr. Fantastic, getting the better of the Human Torch on two divided opportunities. On the other hand, the Fantastic Four manage to contain the threat of Wolverine, and keep him under their influence the entire time until he resorts to fighting to escape.

Everyone, Johnny Storm included, walks away in relatively good shape, with no definitive final stroke blown by any character. Thus, we call this one, a draw!

We're running a little behind schedule again.
Right now it's the creaky end of Saturday night better known to many as early Sunday. My brain is sending signals through nerve networks to order my fingers to tap away at the keys, but at this point, I'm not sure how much cognitive thought process is going on here.

Though we aren't reviewing the releases of the week, the Infinite Wars endeavours to continue to reflect the zeitgeist and characters of the surrounding moments. This week if you headed to the comic store there's a good chance you were looking for what will no doubt be one of the highest selling books of the month: Fantastic Four.

Mark Millar, the man behind sizable chunks of Ultimate Fantastic Four, returns to the brand under the pressures of the core franchise, for the first time. Despite any conceptual increase in expectation and responsibility, Millar's FF is eagerly anticipated by a wide variety of fans that made up his 200k-plus sales figures on Wolverine, which brings us full circle.

Millar is also set to return to Wolverine with a post-apocalyptic story set in a desolate alternate future. Each project boasts familiar names accompanying the Millar writer's credit; Bryan Hitch and Steve McNiven following up respectively on the two titles likely to share the shelves. While I don't personally regard these pairings with particular emotion, it's undeniable that they have each been catalysts for a formula of success.

We've spoken ad nauseum about Millar's penchant for bombastic action pieces, and it's with pleasure that we add another instalment from his initial run on the Wolverine book to our list. Infinite Wars historians will note that our very first entry was indeed an issue of Enemy of the State [Wolverine #25], not at all by accident.

If you've been following the our X-centric Cover to Cover features [on Sunday], you'll also be familiarized with our awkward relationship with the X-Men books.
Notorious for sub-par storytelling, Wolverine has epitomized the style over substance claims that have crippled the X-franchise's credibility. It's here that Millar enters the fray, putting forward a Wolverine book that makes no attempt to apologise or exceed the character's roots as a tri-colour action superhero. In fact, for the first time in decades, Millar is able to ramp the character up to a point where, under the control of Hydra, he can mercilessly plunge his claws through flesh, and inflict wound upon even the sacred cows of the heroes!

This isn't a book for the intelligencia, but I think sometimes acknowledging your weaknesses and adjusting accordingly can be the greatest sign of practical and tactical intelligence. Millar does that in spades, giving us a tour de force of dream battles pencilled with clunky violence by JRjr, and a host of guest stars.

Having just seen Resident Evil: Extinction, I was talking a bit about zombies, which inevitably got me talking about some of my disappointments in the Marvel Zombies franchise [noted; Marvel Zombies #5]. The glaring omission there, for me, is the reality of the spread of the zombie plague, and more important to the Marvel take on the genre is the way the powers and personalities react.

I love that Millar is able to throw Wolverine into this world with some sense of reality. Direction is scattered, but then, as a terrorist sect that's just come into posession of an exciting new toy, you probably can't blame them for acting on their ambitions, and avoiding potential undermining of intelligence gathering.

Wolverine's incursion on the Fantastic Four HQ is reminiscent of favourite moments in inconsequential history like his unlikely infiltration of Four Freedom's Plaza during the Infinity War [Fantastic Four #366]. Though unreferenced, the longterm reader might also sense an inflected impending tension on the basis of the now classic showdown between Thing and Wolverine, that left the rocky hero disfigured by an adamantium claw slash across his face. For the trivia buffs, this was what provoked the early-nineties fashion faux pas of Thing's metallic helmet.

There's also an underlying savvy beneath the fanboy fantasia.
Wolverine makes his escape at the end of the issue utilizing very overt terrorist tactics. He ensures massive damage in a populated and public area, before returning to terrorist activities with Hydra motivated by an atom-smash combo of science super-fiction, and post-9/11 super-fact.

I don't know if anyone could call this story important, but I think these remain a high point in Wolverine's recent mediocre history, and as always, are a welcome addition to our superhero fight club, cum sports club.

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 5

Wolverine: Enemy of the State is collected in the trade, and is required reading for any fan of the character keen to see what he can do when cut loose in the Marvel Universe! You can check out the full story at a reasonable price by heading over to Amazon, where by purchasing using links provided, you can help sponsor future entries in the Infinite Wars! Outstanding!

MOLEMAN versus FANTASTIC FOUR
Repercussions (Marvel)
Where: Fantastic Four #2 When: December 1996
Why: Jim Lee & Brandon Choi How: Jim Lee

The story so far...
When battle with the psionic villain Onslaught leaves Earth's mightiest heroes trapped in a pocket dimension; the Fantastic Four and Avengers become destined to relive their past, oblivious to their former lives as heroes.

When a team of phony SHIELD agents commandeer control of the space operation "Excelsior", led by Dr. Reed Richards, he and his team escape imprisonment to launch their space shuttle, designed for interstellar investigation. Their target is a bizarre space anomaly which has garnered the attentions of hidden rival and sponsor of Dr. Richards' plight - Victor Von Doom!

Ill prepared, the team of Richards, Ben Grimm, Susan Storm, and Johnny Storm find themselves overwhelmed by the cosmic energies emitted by the space phenomena, which appears to be a wormhole in space. With insufficient shielding in their prototype ship, the team are bombarded, and crash land on a remote island, where they climb from the wreckage to discover their ship's powersource - the quantum core - about to go nuclear.

Not only that, but as each space explorer discovers the effects of the cosmic radiation, they quickly come to rely upon they find themselves at the mercy of a madman calling himself master of the subterranean realm -- Mole Man!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Human Torch 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Thing 5 (Marathon Man)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Invisible Woman 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Cosmic Power)


- Ridiculed for his scientific theory that the Earth was hollow; eccentric and homely scientist-cum-explorer, Harvey Rupert Elder, would embark on his own expiditions to prove the validity of his claims to his dismissive peers.
One such outing would lead him to discover the fabled Monster Island, where he would be partially blinded by an underground deposit of diamonds in a subterranean maze that confirmed his theories.

Rejecting life on the surface, Elder renames himself Moleman, and takes leadership over hordes of creatures dubbed Moloids. Utilizing strange alien technologies, Mole Man uses his armies and machines to lorde over the subterranean realm, and terrorize the surface world. His influence beneath the Earth comes to extend to a great many other underground lifeforms, including the many monstrous creatures that earned Monster Island it's name.

- The Fantastic Four are: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing.

The original Fantastic Four were exposed to cosmic rays when Reed Richards led the team in a race to beat the Russians to space. Without sufficient preperation time, the shuttle lacked the shielding needed to filter the cosmic radiation, resulting in unique transformations in each member.

Reed Richards, already a potent force given his genius for invention, exploration and theory, gained the ability to stretch and contort his body with limited restriction.

Sue Storm is able to manipulate invisible forcefields to create a variety of objects, typically bubbles, platforms and shields. She is also able to cast a veil of invisibility over herself, others, or objects, and do so in a variety of creative ways.

Johnny Storm is the Human Torch, literally capable of englufing his body in flame. This fire can be projected, reach extreme temperatures, result in blinding light, and produce a wave of heat sufficient to propel his body through the air.

Ben Grimm, better known to the world as the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing is a rocky bruiser of incredible size, strength and durability. The power of his fists is dwarfed only by the power of his heart, which refuses to quit, even in the face of the greatest adversary.

The Math: Fantastic Four Ranking: Mr. Fantastic (#8)

What Went Down...
Having regrouped after being seperated, the Fantastic Four find themselves face-to-face with the Moleman! Despite the threat it poses to them all, the Mole Man lordes the ruptured Quantum Core as a trinket, mentioned in babblings as a potential offering to "the great one."

The hot headed Johnny Storm is the first to reinitiate conflict, leaping into the air to use his new powers of ignition as the Human Torch. He charges the Moleman, but finds himself victim of a blast from the underground monarch's staff!


Moleman exhibits surprising agility for one of his runtish stature, combining i with well with guile and technology. He laments on the foursome's powers, recognising them not as children of the great one, prompting the consideration of their potential as offerings to the hypothetical pseudo-deity with which he hopes to gain favour.

Moleman again utilizes his staff, tapping it to the ground to excite a mutated lichen fungus capable of both grappling with the youngster, and dousing his flames. With the Torch incapacitated, Moleman leaves his rampaging monsters to continue the fight with the other three.

Two hulking dinosaur-like creatures descend, one of them able to snatch the Thing up in it's jaws before he is able to fight back. Reed Richards comes to his aid, leaping into action with his elastine capabilities, using it to wrap himself multiple times around the legs of each creature.

Sufficiently bound by the bands of Richards' stretch body, the two monsters are meagre victims for the super strength of the rocky Ben Grimm!

With the monsters levelled, Richards begins to hatch a plan of escape for his he and his fellows. He orders Thing to wrench free one of the giant diamonds, used by the underground civilization to perpetuate the ambient glow of filtered light from above.

Richards directs his financer (and fiance) Susan toward the underground cieling, where she is called upon to use her powers of invisibility to project a field that will allow a clear shaft of light from above. Richards is able to deduce this capability from her first encounter with the power, which included projecting transparency to her clothes, as well as her person.

As Susan struggles to maintain focus, the light beams into the cavernous underground, allowing the soon-to-be Mr. Fantastic to reflect it into the diamond held by Thing. the orchestration of teamwork is capped off by the bound Torch, who is at close enough proximity to snatch away the Moleman's protective visor, exposing his sensitive eyes to the explosion of luminosity!

With Moleman and his minions sufficiently distracted, the foursome are able to make their escape thanks to the thing's earth-moving muscles! Their escape tunnel allows even more light into the underground, assuring their getaway.
That is, until another obstacle reveals itself to be waiting outside with a synaptic-scrambler, and a helicarrier to take them into custody...

The Hammer...
Ladies and gentlemen, your Friday night winners, successful as a result of teamwork: the Fantastic Four!

If you're just joining us, you might like to know that we're kicking off a new year of Infinite Wars by giving the 2007 year end top ten characters first bite at the rankings cherry. Since all four of the FF factored into the 2007 top ten, we're going to sum them up with this single entry, allowing us to move onward.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the internet, Bahlactus made his triumphant return to Fridays with the first of a brand new round of FNF's. We spaced last week, but we're well ready to represent, throwing out the FF for cosmic representation!

Speaking of the FF, I finally got to see Rise of the Silver Surfer last weekend, and I've got to be honest: I was pretty darn disappointed. It should be noted that I was not at all impressed with the first film, but felt some of the backlash and the benefit of experience and budget might have allowed for a better outing. Trailers which used the Silver Surfer/Human Torch chase from the film only helped build promise of what had every opportunity to be a fantastic do-over.

Alas, in it's own ways, Rise manages to disappoint all over again.
I actually contemplated the notion of using the film as the basis for this entry, but time and circumstances conspired to reserve my ire for another day, or as is the case, a less direct post. A post that shouldn't afford me opportunity to go into great specifics, but honestly, I find it hard not to.

If for some reason Barbershop and the Taxi remake fooled you into thinking Tim Story was going to be the perfect man for the job, you might have gotten a rude awakening. Then again, somehow I think if you had arrived by that assumption, there's every chance you loved Fantastic Four and it's sequel... Yeeeah...

Not surprisingly the simmering undertones of an agenda to incorporate African-American characters into the WASP world of the FF persists, but I am actually pleased to report that it seems to inadvertently benefit the film. Part of me still isn't entirely convinced by Fishburne's casting as the Silver Surfer, but really, the Matrix star's stoic delivery of lines in that velvety voice are key-perfect for the warm, but distanced portrayal familiar to the Silver Surfer.
Likewise, Andre Braugher seems under developed as the military hardman who plays antagonist to Gruffudd's Reed Richards, but brings a suitable stature to a role that could've easily turned into a clash of brawn versus brain.

Ironically, the criticisms start to rear their head around the more important facets of the movie, like the core cast and plot.

Defying all belief, Dr. Doom is bungled further still, narrowly avoiding what could've been a turn around reminiscent of the Ultimate fixing of the character, instead opting to disregard the negatives of the first film to continue to distance Doom from much of what made him the greatest villain in comics. Any good will earned by solid performances like Evans and Chiklis as the comedically feuding Human Torch and Thing, is completely nullified by the sheer miss of Doom.

Julian McMahon remains thoroughly unlikable, without the balance of intrigue, again leaving that cinematic performance to Darth Vader, who was inspired by the 1960's FF villain. The negatives spiral outward from this point, facilitating the familiar power-stealing plot by downgrading the Silver Surfer's vulnerabilities to be little more than a well placed shove.

Confused fans googling for answers managed to find their way to an Infinite Wars feature [Silver Surfer #107] that sees the Silver Surfer explicitly set the record straight in his own words. The issue reviewed there is ultimately quite insigifnicant in the scheme of comics, only highlighting the many sources available to inspire a device superior to placing all of the Surfer's powers in the board which he controls and manipulates freely.

From there you can get into further minutia, like Susan Storm's arc, which reduces the already hard-to-take-serious Jessica Alba to little more than a whining, selfish, tabloid wife. This is, to my recollection, contrary to the performance that was strong and reflective of the comics character; if a little slanted toward promoting the banner actress over traditional team leader, and far less bankable UK counterpart, Ioan Gruffudd.

If I had one final complaint I simply had to squeeze into a post that isn't even about the film, it would be a double red X for the visual effects.
One of the long recognised constraints on feature versions of the FF and Iron Man was the speculated special effects budget, due mostly to the nature of the characters, and CG-heavy filmmaking, pre-intergration reneissances seen over the past few years.

Given the money presumably saved on practical effects like the Thing suit (which remains less than convincing), and the one hundred and thirty million dollar budget, basic effects shots like Reed Richards stretching, or various green screen backgrounds, should've been far better than they were.

Attacking the CG department is also a convenient way to round out criticisms of design and concept of Galactus. Story defends the decision as considerate to plans for a Silver Surfer spin-off feature that he would not be directly involved with. [Story] explains the vague depiction of Galactus as opportunity for another director to put his stamp on what's required. Ultimately, the intrusion of weakening the Silver Surfer, and defining Galactus as much as they do, places enough intrusion on any following creative team that, I think the point is moot.

Frankly, the more I hear anything from Tim Story, the less impressed I am.
For a comic that has been such a success in the past, and remains a gem in the Marvel crown, it's so disappointing to see these films under perform the way they do. Sure, they make a lot of cash, but then, so does Britney Spears...

Bringing it back to the comics, we take a look at Heroes Reborn, which reinvents the heroes in a way the Ultimate versions would repeat a few years later.
This version of the FF manages to outdo it's Ultimate counterpart with an inter-connected series of associations that services the outlandish qualities of the superhero sci-fi, but lends a grounding by domino effect.

The anomaly explored in the Heroes Reborn universe is ultimately the Silver Surfer arriving in our galaxy through a wormhole. The entire line builds to a conclusion revolving around the arrival of Galactus, but before that, Fantastic Four manages to explore many of the classic heroes and villains with quite logical connection to "the great one", or, world devourer.

Personally I've always regarded connecting the FF's creation to Galactus as a reasonably logical one. Not only does it preemptively lend credence to their opposition of the space deity, but also lends a credibility to the sequence of events of the cosmic rays (which have never, to my knowledge, been elaborated upon in the central canon), and the arrival of Silver Surfer/Galactus some forty-plus issues later.

My perspective as a writer has always been to look at Galactus' need for planets that sustain sentient life, and his ability to embue sentient life with cosmic energy, as a potential means to an end. If an unexplained wave of cosmic radiation is what gives birth to the FF, why not connect the dots to assume Galactus sends out a wave of his energy with the intention of it travelling through space until it reaches a populated planet and dissipates over an entire populous, granting them all minute traces of the power cosmic.

The theory there would be that the power cosmic provides a signature beacon easily traced, making the search for planets a little more sophisticated than the groping orienteering heralds supposedly go on. The FF's intervention of the wave would provide a comparison to other worlds where denizens are not powered, and maybe even start to contribute explanations to the mutant population, and other unlikely super powers in the Marvel universe.

I consider myself a reasonably competent writer [and future Marvel hopeful], but I tend to imagine any well versed FF fan could probably come up with any number of two-hour alternatives that would surpass what was ultimately a very dull and boring sequel to an equally average summer blockbuster.

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 4.5

Agree, disagree? Though our discussions have been fairly critical over the past week or so, we hope to remind fans that there's no shame in having confident opinions, or critical analysis. Secret Wars on Infinite Earths is not a website built to "bash" certain products, but discuss them with familiarity, reference, and recognition of materials, good or bad. It just so happens the bad is often where more discussion can be found.

We encourage all who support either of the products discussed to head over to Amazon to pick them up at the most affordable price, where we will gladly collect Amazon kick-backs. Hooah!

FANTASTIC FOUR versus GOMDULLA
Electrical Problems! (Marvel comics)
Where: Spider-man Family #3 When: August 2007
Why: Paul Tobin How: Pierre Alary

The story so far...
Bombarded by cosmic rays, the quartet of Reed Richards, Susan Storm, her brother Johnny, and test-pilot Ben Grimm are transformed in bizarre ways to become Marvel's first family -- the Fantastic Four!

The idols of millions, the FF would expand their membership over the years to include many allies, but alas, it never quite worked out for Spider-man, who early in his career attempted to join the team -- a point of lasting ridicule for the Johnny Storm, the Human Torch.

Co-existing on the same turf, Spidey just happens to be swinging through downtown as the team struggle to combat the giant-sized menace of Gomdulla, the living mummy monolith! Can Spidey provide the valuable assist, or are things destined to take yet another sour turn for the well meaning wall-crawler?

Previous Form:
Fantastic Four [#2]: Team wins over Frightful Four, Paibok, & Dr. Doom.
Spider-man (#1): Successful team-ups against Trapster, Wizard, Carnage, & the Sinister Twelve.
Gomdulla: Making his lumbering debut in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Human Torch 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Gomdulla 5 (Marathon Man)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Invisible Woman 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar Power)


- The Fantastic Four are: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing.

The original Fantastic Four were exposed to cosmic rays when Reed Richards led the team in a race to beat the Russians to space. Without sufficient preperation time, the shuttle lacked the shielding needed to filter the cosmic radiation, resulting in unique transformations in each member.

Reed Richards, already a potent force given his genius for invention, exploration and theory, gained the ability to stretch and contort his body with limited restriction.

Sue Storm is able to manipulate invisible forcefields to create a variety of objects, typically bubbles, platforms and shields. She is also able to cast a veil of invisibility over herself, others, or objects, and do so in a variety of creative ways.

Johnny Storm is the Human Torch, literally capable of englufing his body in flame. This fire can be projected, reach extreme temperatures, result in blinding light, and produce a wave of heat sufficient to propel his body through the air.

Ben Grimm, better known to the world as the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing is a rocky bruiser of incredible size, strength and durability. The power of his fists is dwarfed only by the power of his heart, which refuses to quit, even in the face of the greatest adversary.

- Gomdulla is a rampaging giant alien mummy from space, whose origins are largely a mystery. Though the means are unknown, Gomdulla is capable of limited telekinesis, levitation, and possesses super human strength largely due to his gargantuan size.

The Math: Fantastic Four The Pick: Fantastic Four

What went down...
We join the Fantastic Four in the steets of Manhattan, combatting the ancient rampaging mummy-monolith: Gomdulla! Mr. Fantastic wraps around the monster's body, while Human Torch and Invisible Woman (in the Fantasticar) hover around the building-climbing giant.

While Mr. Fantastic coils further around Gomdulla's head, the impulsive Human Torch floats in with the intentions of setting Gomdulla alight. Invisible Woman directs him away from "... a rampaging sixty-foot-tall mummy on fire." to instead use his flame powers to blind him with a flare.

Reed Richards unravels as Invisible Woman orders him to Gomdulla's feet, to use his stretching powers to bind the giant's movement.

So busy orchestrating is Invisible Woman that she leaves herself exposed to Gomdulla's lumbering attack. He swats at the Fantasticar with a giant bandaged hand, pushing an impromptu forcefield to it's limit. Foregoing the concern of igniting the beast, Human Torch comes to his sister's aid with a vengeance!

At street level the Thing struggles to do any damage, pounding at the sixty-foot mummy's ankles with super human strength. Doing little good, the Thing looks for a way to get a better vantage point, when suddenly he finds himself hoisted into the air by the stretchy adhesion of spider-webs!

Arriving on Gomdulla's shoulder, Thing taps the monster's cheek to get his attention, before unloading with a haymaker so powerful, the mummy snaps backward, getting knocked off his feet!

Thing tumbles earthbound in a free fall, while Mr. Fantastic limits collateral damage and civilian casualty by stretching himself out like a giant rubber canopy, to direct the monster's landing.

Thing isn't so fortunate, coming to a stop in an unceremonious meeting of ashphalt and cosmically enhanced rock.

Seasoned in weird; Human Torch heckles Spider-man for being afraid, while Invisible Woman offers sincere thanks for his match-winning assistance.

The hammer...
With the assist from Spidey, it's the Fantastic Four with the win.
Though Thing hit the knock-out blow, we're going to give the rest of the team the benefit of the doubt for their involvement both on and off the page, so this is a full stat for everyone.

I'm typing this entry on Sunday, so you've probably noticed by now that we've caught up to Thursday, only to completely drop the ball again through the weekend. What can I say? I guess that busy exciting life o' mine has finally managed to interfere so much, I can't even do the usual phone-in at the end of the night.

I'll be doing my best to avoid a repeat of last week's worth of posts, providing more entries from 2007, rather than another string of cover to cover recaps, but I won't make any promises. Suffice to say obligations of [today's] original holy day of fights, and tomorrow's Saturday Street Fight, shall be met!

If you've been following the on-going saga, you'll know it's been slim pickings for 2007. Of the few fights available to me from this year, this probably isn't the most battle-worthy, but I really love the spirit behind this story. Actually, it's quite a bit longer, and chances are you'll be seeing why it's called Electrical Problems in a future entry [hint-hint].

Spider-man Family really has been one of the break-out new series in my eyes. There have been few titles that have had me this excited, and certainly very few Spider-man books that have been this good in the past few years.
In a lot of ways Family brings the Unlimited model back, showcasing talent not typically seen on characters like Spidey, with stories that aren't necessarily placed in any particular time or situation. Of course, Family pushes the addition of classic reprints and first-time translations of Japan's Spider-man J, better justifying the purchase than the days of old.

I've enjoyed material both new and old, and will no doubt be following up with more original-story entries from this issue, and the previous. Entries that are particularly suitable given our desire to represent in some form a distilled capsulation of the year's hot characters, events, and overall zeitgeist.
Spider-man Family in it's first three issues, presumably by design, cast a spotlight on characters destined for the big screen. The first issue featured Sandman and Green Goblin, while the second took a look at Venom, and this issue correlated roughly with the big-screen FF sequel; making it the ultimate complimentary series to our intentions.

The series managed to depart from the film centric model, but also showcases it's nature as a pseudo successor to the departed Team-Up title, with characters like the Agents of Atlas, Dr. Strange, and soon, Thor.

To backtrack to the creative talents featured in the book, I should probably make some clarification. A guy like Sean McKeever, even before his move to DC (and Countdown), isn't exactly a total unknown. Neither are a variety of other writers and artists who've contributed, but the point remains that with Marvel plugging quietly away at a title like this, and the recently resurrected MCP, it's my hope that we see a new fostering of new talent.

Sure, it's a slightly selfish conceit. As a hopeful young writer dedicated to the comics medium, it's with some chagrin that I observe the influx of writers from other mediums. It's a frivilous debate to argue that one type of writer should be segregated from another, but with so many "big name" talents being poached from other mediums (with varying success), it's hard not to observe some level of concern given the methods by which writers enter today's 'big two' industry.

Even as a fan, I like the idea of a comics writer writing comics.
So, even if division is a silly pursuit, I think it's a wonderful sight to see Marvel pushing projects that potentially provide platforms for experimentation with new ideas, and new talents who may be ripe for the picking, but otherwise overlooked. Realistically, this excites me as a fan more than anything else, but the notion that as a writer I may one day be given the opportunity to enter the field with short stories? There's a classic charm to that, and a self-perpetuating quality that's kinda nice.

The Fight: 4.5 The Story: 6.5

Spider-man Family hasn't yet been collected, but at over one hundred pages, these serve as collections unto themselves. If you haven't yet picked up this book, do yourself a favour a give it a quick flick through at the comics store. I honestly think this is the best Spider-man book of the decade! I love it!

FANTASTIC FOUR versus DR. DOOM
Doom: Part 6 (Marvel comics)
Where: Ultimate Fantastic Four #12 When: December 2005 Why: Warren Ellis How: Stuart Immonen

The story so far...
Selected for a government funded think-tank, child prodigy Reed Richards is united with some of the most brilliant young minds in the United States. Forming a friendship with project director Storm's children, Susan and Johnny, the underpinnings of the Fantastic Four are born.

Experimenting with his theories of teleportation, the young Reed Richards prepares an attempt to teleport an apple, not knowing of the unsolicited intervention of his stubborn Latverian rival, Victor Van Damme, who is under the belief Richards' calculations require slight correction.

The change results in an unexpected trip through the mysterious sub-dimension of the N-Zone, which leaves the quintet, including Richards' high-school buddy Ben Grimm, mutated in five individual ways.
Spiteful, Van Damme uses his new found powers to pursue a hidden agenda of world domination, purveyed by a secret European organization, and begins by leading his tiny home nation to prosperity as the villainous Dr. Doom.

Previous Form:
Fantastic Four [#2]: Nearly unbeatable as a team, their only recorded loss coming from a future without Mr. Fantastic, against a transformed Death's Head II.
Dr. Doom (#118): The subject of Mondays in October, he suffered a quick fix defeat in the Monthly Punch-Up, facing up against Thor, norse god of thunder.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Human Torch 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Dr. Doom 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Invisible Woman 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar Power)


- The Fantastic Four possess much the same abilities in the Ultimate series as their standardized predecessors. Mr. Fantastic becomes an elasticated super-morph; Susan Storm gains the ability of pseudo-kinesis and invisibility; Johnny Storm becomes a man on fire as the Human Torch; and Ben Grimm's bulk is turned to stone, making him the man-mountain called the Thing.

- Their think-tank origins redefine the members of the Fantastic Four as all having particularly keen intellects, with the exception of Ben Grimm, who loses his career as a test pilot and completed college education.

- Dr. Doom undergoes the most dramatic transformation, his armored visage now organic in nature, and part of his body. Likewise, his physiology is initially altered to give him hooves instead of feet, spiney projectiles at his fists, and toxic organs, giving him the ability to breath noxious gas.

- As with the traditional Doom, Victor Van Damme eventually comes into possession of various magics through exploration into Atlantis, and also plunders advanced technologies, adding to his own considerable arsenal of invention.

The Math: Dr. Doom (Average) Fantastic Four (Total)
The Pick: Fantastic Four

What went down...
Having crash landed in Latveria and already faced Van Damme's wrath, Reed Richards stands alone amidst the rubble of Latverian squabble. Doom, arrogantly assuming Richards to be powerless, lordes his mutation as a gift from the cosmos that recognised his destiny for greatness.

Richards heckles Van Damme's notions of a warrior's upbringing, referring to his monarch father's distain. The quip finds a soft spot on the armored Doom, who charges at the young Richards with a berzerker snarl.

Mr. Fantastic reveals himself to his deranged rival, entangling him in the elastine contortion of his rubber body. Wrapped around Doom like a viper, Richards snags one of his goat-like legs and hurls him across the battlefield.

Doom screeches to a halt as his metallic body leaves a path of sparks along the stone of the Latverian cobble street. He lets loose a familiar growl of his rival's surname, bitterly denying demands for the faulty input that changed them each.

Continuing to flaunt his inflated ego, Doom verbally spits in Mr. Fantastic's face, declaring himself something magnificent, while Richards is but a rubber-bodied freak.

A focused burst of flame rains down upon the defiant Doom, heading his metallic body to smouldering.
Richards orders his fellow, the Human Torch, to keep his super-heated assault to a minimum.

The Invisible Woman looks to get a little bit for herself aswell, encasing Doom's head in an invisible force field as reprieve for his previous death-breath indescretions.

Doom brings his taloned fingers to the field, clawing desperately enough to send a reverberation back to Invisible Woman herself. Struggling under the strain, she calls upon the aid of the strongman of the Fantastic Four -- the Thing!

A hapless victim in the transformation process, it is Thing who perhaps has the most malice to bare against Doom, trapped in an unfeeling body of stone and rock.

Coming to Susan's aid, Thing snatches Doom in the palm of his giant rocky hand, and brings him crashing down with force, smooshed into the ground.

"I only met you like twice. And I hate you already."

Just then an alarm triggered by electromagnetic activity sounds on Mr. Fantastic's wrist gauntlet.
Set-up to detect wireless control of robots, Richards quickly realises the threat is much less disposable.

Rising from his crater in the street, Doom again professes his power as a king, revealing his 'loyal' subjects, each equipped with a nano-tech tattoo of a dragon on their necks, that bites deep to take control of them.

Doom rises to an endless echo of approval. Like a herd of zombies, the Latverian people all gladly pledge their love for Victor Van Damme, willing to kill the Fantastic Four for defying him.

Surrounded by innocent pawns in Doom's game, the Fantastic Four struggle to combat the rampaging hordes without causing them harm. Richards, knowledgable in Van Damme's techniques, asks his team to buy time to negate the mind-controlling influences of Doctor Doom's technology.

The Thing barrels his way through the crowd, while Human Torch offers threats of flame. New to his powers, and perhaps underestimating of the crowd's mindless bloodlust, the Torch ignites some of the citizens by accident.

The Invisible Woman throws up a forcefield to protect the beseiged team, while Richards works on a solution to the problem. The strain eventually proves too great for the youngster and her new powers, the attacking mob pushing her to unconsciousness.

With Dr. Doom violently reciting the chain of Latverian royalty, the Fantastic Four find themselves overcome by the controlled mobs until -- shots fire from the sky and the sound of choppers washes over the small Latverian square.

The US military fires without the concern of the heroic FF, killing the controlled, much to Doom's distain. Troops emerge from the copters revealing orders to bring Van Damme into custody, but before the situation can escalate, Danish tanks roll into the square, ordering the US to pull out of their witch hunt.

Believing he has had the last laugh, Doom is shocked when he belt explodes, signifying the success of Richards' intentions to end his radio control over the human shield of Latverian peasants. Finding solace in the control of the data that could reverse the FF's mutations, Doom provokes a final assault.

Spotting one of Doom's own spikey projectiles in the sand, Richards snatches it up and whips his elastic arm to Doom. The metal of Doom's own make-up proves capable of slicing his face in a way that prevents it immediately healing.

Doom is left alone with his curse, defeated but free to fight another day.

The hammer...
With a little help from the murderous US military, the Fantastic Four walk away with the win on points, if not decisive result!

As with any capialist business venture, you're always going to have much better odds of introducing new elements of change to a system if you've got some previous success. The contemporary comics industry couldn't be truer, with submissions at the major two comics companies all but shut off. In that respect, the Image concept closed one door while opening another.

Those not familiar with the second Ultimate Fantastic Four storyarc might recognise the team of Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen from their geek-chic revamp maxi-series that followed; Nextwave: Agents of HATE.

Even big name writers and artists have roadblocks like editorial and marketing to contend with, and given the departure of Nextwave, I'd like to hazard a guess that UFF comes out of Ellis and Immonen earning a little bit of credibility (and cash) at Marvel Comics, because it certainly reads like that.

When you talk about the contemporary sci-fi setting of UFF and put Warren Ellis' name next to it, the imagination can go wild. One starts to imagine all manner of tech-savvy science fiction, and far-out distortions of what's become expected in a Fantastic Four comic. Alas; this portion of Ellis' Ultimate work tends to read much more like a mean-spirited Adventures title, putting very little into the single issue in favour of a very light superhero read. Immonen's pencils, fantastic as they are, add to this quality that far better serves a stylistic, tongue-in-cheek superhero romp like Nextwave, than what you'd expect from FF.

Not that Ellis and Immonen didn't have some obstacles working against them.
The Ultimate revamp saw to distance itself admirably from the original Four, but at the cost of many of the things considered great about the Fantastic Four.

Included in the origin to the point of being responsible for their creation, the goat-legged transformed Dr. Doom bares only superficial resemblance to what many regard as the greatest villain in comics history. His visage aside, this Doom possesses much less of the redeeming qualities of the familiar character, making him a much simpler, overtly evil opponent.

Likewise, as Dr. Doom loses a degree of pathos, so too do the Fantastic Four.
Doom's intervention in the experiment that resulted in their creation strips Reed Richards of the responsibility that made him the target of Ben Grimm's aggressions many times through history. Depression over his condition remains in the Grimm character, but without the justified internal conflict of both he, and his dear friend Richards, who constantly fails to turn his super science to reversing the effects of the cosmic radiation.

Likely due to the chagrin of many fans, Doom has since taken on a much more familiar appearance, and Mark Millar's return to the title included a story dedicated to preventing the accident to save Ben Grimm mental anguish, delivered without concern for the stripped weight of the story's drama in this world.

Which brings us to a much needed positive. It certainly isn't all bad!
Though not quite as mature and considered as Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates, UFF found a solid run with Millar's solo return. A steady contrast to his creating collaboration with Brian "Convert for the gags*" Bendis, who wrote trademark meandering scripts based on Millar's conceptuals.

Millar not only redefined the UFF on terms more familiar to what made the original so legendary, but he also managed to expand on the mythos of the Ultimate Skrulls, and left an undying legacy of the Marvel Zombies.
Granted, that last part might actually be a negative, given the nauseating over exposure of the Marvel Zombies brand since expanding out of the UFF storyarc.
Look for a slew of irrelevant zombie variant covers on major Marvel titles through October. Oh, to turn against hallowe'en.

That's probably all the hating we have time for today, but join us next week as we continue a full month of DOOM in the name of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance Mondays initiative. We promise not to excede the agreed designation of this theme, which will last only for the duration of October.

The Fight: 5 The Issue: 4.5

[Adding to the absurdly named Victor Van Damme's backstory, Ellis includes direct lineage from Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian king known for his love of impaling. Tepes is widely regarded as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's famous literary account of the vampire, Count Dracula.]

FANTASTIC FOUR/X-MEN/X-FACTOR/NEW MUTANTS versus AHAB & THE HOUNDS
Days of Future Present Part 4: You Must Remember This (Marvel comics)
Where: X-Men Annual #14 When: 1990
Why: Chris Claremont How: Art Adams

The story so far...
For humanity there exists a dark potential future.
A time where mutants have been hunted to near extinction, and humanity lives enslaved by the robotic Sentinel armies that police the streets so vigilantly.

Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, refugees from this dark time, escape back to seek protection in a more placid time where their parents stood triumphant and hopeful against these evils. Unfortunately for them, their time travelling escape is not the only shift made from this future.

Dr. Roderick Campbell, the man-Sentinel known as Ahab, follows the two mutant rebels back through the timestream, hoping to use the environment to manipulate a final showdown with his longtime targets. Unfortunately for him, the mutants are far from extinct in this time, and despite his advanced technology and many powers, he may find himself overwhelmed...

Previous Form:
X-Men [#1]: The X-Men have defeated the future's super-Sentinel, Nimrod; among others.
Fantastic Four [#2]: Killed in a future where Death's Head II became AIM super-weapon, Charnal.
Invisible Woman (#12): Prominent victories over Iconoclast, Frightful Four and others.
Cyclops (#45): Invaluable in the X-Men's defeat of Xorn, and Executioner.
Ahab: Making his debut in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Ms. Marvel 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Cannonball 5 (Super Speed)
Stamina: Ahab 6 (Generator)
Agility: Warlock 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Cable 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar Power)


Okay, so if you're a regular reader you might be scratching your head, trying to figure out what Ahab has to do with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Rightly so, too, since this is a late post for Monday's on-going celebration of the villains from the video game.

Well, we're closing evil clone month off with a positively epic entry! Pictured to the right, an assembly of the Fantastic Four and X-Teams of the time -- but wait! Can you spy two notable exceptions?

Yes, in his timespanning mission to capture and destroy Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, Ahab has transformed one of each of their parents into dark versions of themselves -- turning them into sadistic, sinister versions of themselves.

The missing parents in question are of course Invisible Woman and Cyclops, and they're going to be front and centre amongst the nameless Hounds, representing Ahab with mad respect, yo. Days of Future Past style, can you dig?

It might not surprise you to know I'm thinking about folding this section up to include only the statistical information, because I think we're reaching a point where I'm just killing time in this section. There are sixteen heroes assembled in the attack on Ahab, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, and scenarios or predictions are only going to be more b