Marvel 1971 Week--Fantastic Four #109!!

Welcome to day 2 of Marvel 1971 Week, kiddies, as we continue to highlight the differences betwixt Marvel of 2011 and Marvel of 40 years ago.

For example, in current Marvel, the Fantastic Four recently lost a member during a battle in the Negative Zone. Whereas 40 years ago...

Oh.

Anyway, 2 notes about the cover. First, it's not very good, really, is it? I love John Buscema, but the composition really doesn't work there, at all.

Secondly, as much as I love Stan's hyperbole, "Annihilus, The Living Death Who Walks!" is maybe a little thick, eh? It's not enough for him to be the Living Death, we have to emphasize that he also walks? It's the walking that makes him really dangerous??

Ah, but I kid because I love! Let's hop into the story, in media res! And again, we're reminded that this issue will feature--

As the handy re-cap caption (re-caption? Have I coined a term?) tells us, demented scientist Janus has discovered how to harness "negative power," and has gone into the Negative Zone to mainline the stuff, only to encounter Annihilus!

Oh, and our creators?

Reed gives us a little recap about how Janus sucker-punched him to gain access to the Negative Zone...

And we learn that Nega-Man is only part of the threat:

You see, back in those days, Reed hadn't developed unbreakable security seals to keep Annihilus and other beasties from coming to Earth. Literally the only security was that they didn't know where the entrance to Reed's portal was!! Seriously!!

Of course, the consequences of Annihilus reaching Earth are to grim to contemplate, unless you're John Buscema!


Actually, those are just scenes of what New York will look like after the gala premiere of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark! Just kidding, even Buscema couldn't come up with scenes that horrific!

So, we've got a double mission: stop Janus, and don't let Annihilus find Earth!

Meanwhile, in the Negative Zone, Nega-Man is finding out that maybe he's really not so tough after all:


And, of course, while Reed and the boys have to go into the Zone, Sue has to remain behind to watch the monitors (for reasons that are never explained, really):

Meanwhile, having had his butt pretty thoroughly kicked, Janus decides to make a deal with Bug-Face:


We get psychedelic, if not quite on a Kirbyesque scale, as our boys enter the Negative Zone:

Annihilus sends Janus off to power up, but BEFORE getting the secret to the entrance:

Because, I guess, Janus will be so trustworthy after he powers up? Annihilus might be The Living Death That Walks, but smart, he's not.

So Ben and Johnny engage Annihilus, while Reed pursues Nega-Man. And right away, we see a member of the FF perish:



Phew...that was close. False alarm, guys. Sorry about that!

Meanwhile, back on Earth, we find out that maybe, just maybe, there was a pretty good reason Sue was left behind:



Oh, Stan, you chauvinist, you. If Sue can't even handle monitor duty without getting semi-hysterical, she sure doesn't belong on missions. That's definitely something to look forward to post-1971: Roy Thomas and other writers having Sue man up (so to speak).

Annihilus uses his "cosmic control rod" to summon a huge monster to fight Ben and Johnny.

However will they get away? Well, you see, in something that could never happen in 2011:



That's right, The Thing had the power to transform himself back to Benjamin J. Grimm. Something like that could never happen in 2011...Oh, wait, I guess that did sort of happen in 2011. Damn you, Hickman!!

Elsewhere, as Janus gets near to the center of the Negative Zone, he starts to feel the benefits:

But, when Annihilus' goons try to warn him to turn back, he gets all megalomaniacal and stupid, so:


Which, unfortunately for him, results in:



Heh, heh. Hoist on his own petard.

Oh, don't worry, kiddies. In 2001, Carlos Pacheco and Jeph Loeb "revealed" that Janus had only faked his death here (how? Don't ask!!), and then use him as the least-threatening threat ever, only to turn around and immediately kill him again. Lame.

Anyway, that's one threat taken care of. Which leaves getting away from Annihilus without revealing the whereabouts of the secret passage to Earth.

No problem. Reed will just lay down some cover fire with his "ionic stun-bolt blaster":


Of course, what Reed didn't reveal was that his flight harness was out of fuel, and he lost his homing device, and there wasn't enough juice in the stun-gun to keep Annihilus at bay for long.

So, in 1971, a member of the FF would have to stay behind in the Negative Zone and sacrifice himself to protect Earth from the hordes:


Completely unlike 2011...

Oh. Never mind.

ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:

Speaking of impending tragedies in the extended FF family:

Well, it is the wedding of the Sub-Mariner--only he gets married to the wrong lady. In the confusion of an attack by Attuma's hordes, evil Lemurian Llyra took Dorma's place. She underwent the marriage ceremony, and then revealed her true identity, declaring herself Queen of Atlantis!

Oh, don't worry, next issue the sea god Proteus declared the marriage to Llyra invalid, and in fact said Atlantean law said Namor really was married to Dorma now!! Everybody wins!!

Except, of course, Llyra then killed Dorma. So...no happy ending there. Sorry.