Negging in the Negative Zone (FANTASTIC FOUR #399-#400)

[tcampbell1000]

At iamrman’s request, I’m doing a few posts this week picking up where he left off in the DeFalco era of the Fantastic Four.

I will not be doing this issue by issue because I value my sanity. But #399 included an exceptional scene that brought a long-running sub-theme to a close, so I will throw a spotlight on that, and its follow-up the issue afterward.







Reed Richards was disintegrated to death in issue #381. Unless you’ve asked Sue, that is. Sue’s believed he was CLEARLY teleported away through space, maybe also through TIME or to another DIMENSION or CONCEPTUAL PLANE OF REALITY or just into IKEA. What? Can you conclusively say none of the Ikea stores in the world contain Reed Richards? Have you SEARCHED them? What are you giving her that dubious look for? She’ll FIGHT you! REED’S ALIVE, YOU QUITTERS!!!

One point in favor of Sue’s argument is that she herself gets apparently disintegrated this issue and wakes up in one piece…




You done messed up, A-ron.




We cut away to other fights, then back to this one…





The remaining Fantastic Four and allies can observe Sue in the Negative Zone, but they can’t get her out, because…



I love how the final caption thinks it has to calm us down or else we’ll assume Sue’s gonna die, too.

She doesn’t, Freedom Force gets involved, the story hurtles into Fantastic Four #400, Uatu the Watcher kills Aron the Rogue Watcher, Uatu gets stripped of his Watcherness but not his power, and assistant editor Mike Marts expends three pages of single-spaced type on a self-congratulatory retrospective that even Stan Lee would’ve described as “a bit much.”




“…No.”

Sue’s serenity as the Watcher wanders off has more to do with her than with him. Witnessing yet another Reed die despite her efforts seems to have broken something in her. Maybe something that needed breaking. She’s ready to move on, ready to move from denial to acceptance.




Okay, 90% acceptance. Maybe 93%. “Secret flames” aside, the team hits its 400th issue ready to live with the likely reality that Reed Richards is never, ever, ever coming back.

Tuesday?: Reed comes back.

Comments

[iamrman]

I understand why you didn't include the Fantastic Force issue. They easily rescued Sue in two pages. Everything else was filler.

[scorntx]

Sue beating up Dark Raider is actually pretty impressive.
DeFalco-iness of the writing aside.


Well, sure, regular Reed was supposedly disintegrated but he might possibly still be alive somewhere.
Dark Raider, meanwhile, plummeted to his death and burned up, and must absolutely definitely be dead and gone forever.

Bit odd him saying 90s Sue is more opinionated than his Sue.
Stan-n-Jack era Sue was plenty opinionated.

[julian]

Ah yes. Tom DeFalco. And his writing.

That aside, I do appreciate Sue a lot.

[mastermahan]

SUE: I still don't think Reed is dead. In this business, people are still alive until you see a corpse, and frequently not even then. But then I asked myself: 'If I think I'm a widow, does that make it okay to bang Namor?'

[super_fly]

I read that as Death Snuggle.