“This Man, This Monster” comes after a run of high-concept galactic stories in FF (which we’ll talk about more in a minute), and it does feature some of Kirby’s most dazzling and experimental art. But it’s fundamentally a character-driven story, which gives Lee the chance to show off his skill at writing melancholic grouches. The tale follows an evil scientist who steals the Thing’s powers to infiltrate the FF, allowing Ben to revert to his human form. While it ends with the return of Ben’s rocky exterior and the team saved, it doesn’t fall back on a simple happy ending, instead embracing the melancholia that makes Marvel Comics so compelling.
4. The Trial of Reed Richards (Fantastic Four #262, 1984)
In 1980, John Byrne co-wrote and penciled X-Men #127, the infamous story in which the Phoenix goes on trial for its intergalactic destruction. Four years later, Byrne would return to the idea with “The Trial of Reed Richards” in Fantastic Four #262, upping the stakes by putting himself in the story as one of the figures the Watcher took from Earth to witness Reed’s trial. Reed’s crime, according to Majestrix Lilandra of the Shi’ar Empire? Allowing Galactus to live.
Unlike X-Men #127, in which Chris Claremont and Byrne featured trial by combat, allowing for pages packed with action, Fantastic Four #262 is mostly a trial, with Reed arguing that Galactus is a cosmic force of nature above concepts of morality. Make no mistake, the lack of action does not mean a lack of drama, as Byrne uses the opportunity to include some mind-bending images, nor does it lack humanity, as the issue crystalizes Galactus’s origin as a scientist who went too far in pursuit of knowledge. As such, Galactus’s story serves as a warning to Reed and his family, that their thirst for exploration may lead to a tragic fate.
3. Inside Out (Fantastic Four #60, 2002)
The Fantastic Four are corny. There’s no getting around it, nor should we get around it. They have goofy names, have matching costumes, and spend more time exploring and taking care of kids than they do punching baddies in the face. But that doesn’t make them one-dimensional or lacking drama, as Waid and Wieringo prove in “Inside Out,” the standalone issue that inaugurated their heralded run.
To build excitement for the run, Marvel published Fantastic Four #60 with a cover price of nine cents, and thus Waid and Wieringo present the story as an easy jumping-on point for new readers. Thus, much of the issue consists of Reed describing the characters and going through a typical day. However, the issue takes a much more moving tone in the final pages, in which Reed re-tells the team’s origin as a bedtime story for his toddler daughter Valeria. In those moments, he confesses that all the shiny costumes and public personas and silly names are all ways he tries to apologize to the others, especially Ben, for the mistake that gave them their powers. It’s a simple confession, but one that puts the entire history of the team into a new light, making their upbeat adventures all the more compelling.
2. Solve Everything (Fantastic Four #570–572, 2009)
Like Fantastic Four #60, Fantastic Four #570 introduces a new creative team—Hickman and penciler Dale Eaglesham—and provides a jumping on point for new readers. Furthermore, it provides a clear ethos, one best encapsulated by the words Reed writes at the end of the story, words that give the first arc its title: “Solve Everything.”