A Tale of Humanity: Fantastic Four Antithesis
I’ve been a sucker for the Fantastic Four for as long as I can remember. The first family of Marvel Comics is about one thing: Family.
In Antithesis, they face a challenge that may be too great for all of them. A threat that defeated Galactus the Devourer of Worlds and reverted him back to his mortal form, Galan of Taa.
Who could this threat be? Who could defeat Antithesis?
Fantastic Four: Antithesis sees a strange meteor hurtling toward Earth. The Fantastic Four come together to stop it. Using Sue Richards’ force shields, they amplify it with Reed Richards’ technology and knock it away from Manhattan.
This mysterious object was no mere meteor. The mysterious object was a badly damaged Silver Surfer.
After taking a short period to recover, the Silver Surfer tells the Fantastic Four the news. Galactus is dead. His antithesis has killed him. Now the cosmos is in danger.
A Strong Start
Mark Waid and Neil Adams’ Fantastic Four: Antithesis had a great start. The art and story were engaging. They drew you into the Fantastic Four world.
You knew there was danger. Something had killed the biggest bad guy around. It was going to be an uphill battle to defeat this new being.
After the 1st issue, things began to decline. The strong start began to falter.
The Weakening Story
Issues #2 and #3 of Antithesis take a harder hit than Galactus took when his antithesis knocked him into mortal form. The story deteriorated and made me wonder if I should pick up the final issue.
The story goes into some crazy plot of restoring the power cosmic to Galan. It’s hard to believe the Fantastic Four would voluntarily give the power cosmic back to Galan after his history of destroying entire planets.
This meant that the universe would inevitably be in danger again. They would have to fight off the threat of Galactus repeatedly for as long as they lived.
Who in their right mind would revive Galactus and give Galan power untold?
Apparently, the smartest man in the world, Reed Richards would.
To accomplish this incredible feat, the team gets some help from Galan. He uses his ship to enhance them with the power cosmic so they can stand a chance against his antithesis.
The Strong Finish
Issue #4 of the Fantastic Four: Antithesis shines. After defeating the antithesis of Galactus, Reed Richards did not give Galan his power back. Instead, Mr. Fantastic took the power for himself.
He used the power cosmic to help repair his mind. It had been scattered and deteriorating for a time after the birth of Sue and Reed’s daughter Valeria.
In the end, Richard does not choose to sacrifice himself to end the hunger of Galactus. He chose to return the power to Galan…
With one small tweak.
He gave Galactus a small part of his consciousness.
His hope is that his consciousness will help Galactus to stem his hunger. To choose which planets he consumes wisely.
Themes Covered In Fantastic Four: Antithesis
What helped bring Fantastic Four: Antithesis back around for me was the themes I saw covered in the 4 issue mini-series.
Two of those stand out for me. They’re what life is all about.
The first theme was the resolve of humanity.
This is the reason the Silver Surfer pulled Galactus away from Earth in the 1st place. He saw them as more than a warring world.
Earth housed humanity. A place where people many war and rage but they go beyond this. People were helping one another. They chose to put aside their hate and anger and help their fellow man.
The second theme was family. Reed and Sue Richards had two children. These children would be left fatherless if Reed would have gone through with his plan to allow Galactus’ hunger to consume him. He also believed he was of no value to his family or the world without his vast knowledge.
Sue reminded him that his children needed their father. More than that, he had been in this place before with the birth of Franklin.
His mind wandered and became scattershot. He struggled to focus when Franklin was born. The same was happening now.
It would be okay. He would regain his focus. It would only take time as he wrapped his mind around the new possibilities created by the birth of their daughter.
It was great to see the themes of humanity and family intertwined in this story. It reminded me there is hope for humanity.
Fantastic Four: Antithesis went from good, to bad, to great in 4 issues.
