An edited reprint of FANTASTIC FOUR #98 [1970] in this issue, wherein Reed intercepts a message from the Kree that indicates they have another Sentry on Earth, determined to foil the Apollo moon landing and humanity’s outreach into space. Nice of Reed not to rub it in that he beat them by almost half a decade. As the moon shot launches, Reed tracks the Sentry to a simulated moonscape island in the Pacific, where it’s started some mysterious device which links to something under the Sea of Tranquillity. The boys have to race against time to defeat the Sentry and disable the device before the lunar module lands. Fortunately they make it, and Neil Armstrong becomes the fifth first man on the Moon.

A nice simple done-in-one story with some spectacular visuals. I especially like that panel of Ben carrying Reed and Johnny away from the exploding Kree device.

Two pages are edited out, one showing the Torch coming back from sulking over Crystal, and explaining why he’s brushing his teeth when we first see him here, and another showing the reactions around the world to the Apollo launch. Joe Sinnott inks the now 18-page story and cover, with the cover being flipped from the original.

As Galactus readies the Earth for his latest meal, the boys of the FF head into Sub-Atomica, home of the Psycho-Man, to convince the Silver Surfer to return. Not knowing their reasons, the Surfer is reluctant since he’s grooving to the cosmic waves of the microscopic universe, and then the FF get attacked by a minion of the Psycho-Man. Eventually the Surfer realizes what’s going on up on Earth and returns to meet his destiny, while the FF stay behind to deal with the Psycho-Man.

There’s some great stuff in this issue, especially the weird molecular model backdrops that make up Sub-Atomica. And of course Galactus is always cool. I was bugged by the token scene of Sue, pregnant and being kept in the dark by Crystal about the whole Galactus attack and mission. It’s always kind of frustrating in the whole run of the series how Sue goes back and forth from being an equal member of the team to being an outdated stereotype.

Joe Sinnott inks the cover and 20-page story.

Published 1968

This book was the first Kirby wrote and drew on his 1970 return to DC, although it wasn’t published until after a few JIMMY OLSEN issues. The four boys of the Forever People arrive on Earth through a Boom Tube in their Super-Cycle in search of the kidnapped Beautiful Dreamer, almost running some of Jimmy Olsen’s friends off the road in the process. Serifan makes contact with Dreamer as Intergang keeps an eye on the group under the directions of Darkseid.

Superman finds out about the kids and their point of origin, Supertown, just as he’s feeling introspective about Superman’s place in the world and how humanity relates to him. Finding them, he gets involved in a battle with Darkseid’s Gravi-Guards, which prompts the boys to summon the Infinity Man. After the battle Darkseid shows up in person, releasing Dreamer since she’s proves not to hold the key to the Anti-Life Equation, but leaving a bomb as a parting gift. Superman then asks the kids about Supertown, though they urge him to stay and help in the battle against Darkseid. Superman starts to go down the Boom Tube to find out about Supertown to see if that’s a place where he’d fit in, but turns back at the last minute, feeling he’s turning his back on the threat to Earth.

Lots of interesting things in here, but kind of an odd launch to the line. You don’t find out too much about the main characters (Beautiful Dreamer doesn’t even have any dialogue), but there are a lot of intriguing hints. The Superman stuff is also odd, kind of putting focus on the differences between Marvel and DC ways of doing things in that era (magnified by what was done to the art).

Vince Colletta inks the 24-page story, with Al Plastino paste-ups on the Superman and Jimmy Olsen figures, and Frank Giacoia inks the cover. This issue also includes the “Visit With Jack Kirby” page by Marv Wolfman that ran across the Fourth World debut issues, mentioning how Wolfman and Len Wein had seen versions of some of the concepts just now showing up four years earlier.

Published 1971

Okay, the Whizzer is kind of lame, and that’s a really awful Wonder Man costume, but just look at that image of Doom, especially that arm (too bad the UPC symbol gets in the way there). Great little image of the classic Kirby villain. And while a bit wordy, I do always like the nod to the classic Marvel trope of villains betraying each other.

Inks by Al Milgrom.

Published 1977