Last Planet Standing #3

Background

Last ish, Galactus continued his path of destruction with the fall of Asgard, leaving Thor imprisoned and Thunderstrike de-powered. The issue closed as Nova and Earth Sentry's ship, out in space, was hit by wave of energy by Dominas...

Story 'Last Planet Standing'

From his home on the moon, Uatu the Watcher tells us of his centuries spent observing the universe. Turning his gaze towards the Earth, he tells us that he will witness one final act. Suddenly, Dominas the Wavemaster appears and announces that Uatu must be punished for defying Galactus in the past, and with that, he destroys Uatu's moon base.

Debris from the blast just happens to smack into the Fantastic Five's starship, and Franklin Richards states that it originated from the moon. Reed expresses concern that Galactus may be headed for Earth, and hopes the device he's been building since the Fantastic Four's first encounter with Galactus will be able to stop him. Lyja finally reopens communications with the White House and inform them on the situation.

At the Avengers Compound, the Vision informs everyone that the Fantastic Five has contacted the president, and that they have been appointed to handle the situation, leaving the Avengers on standby. Upset by being told to stay on the sidelines, Stinger storms out and runs into American Dream.

Arriving on Earth, Dominas orders the people to evacuate before Galactus arrives. His words are transmitted telepathically across the planet and panic erupts. Meanwhile, at the Fantastic Five's headquarters, Reed Richards picks up Galactus's ship on his sensors and powers up his transdimensional cannon. He explains that the cannon was designed to use a cosmic being's own energy against them to "blast them into next week and beyond," as he explains it to the Thing. He then tells the Human Torch to take the rest of the team against Dominas.

As the Fantastic Five battle Dominas, the Vision again informs the Avengers that the President has ordered them to stay behind as backup while they devise a new plan. However, Mainframe defies the President's orders, as the Avengers are unused to inaction. The rest follow suit and go out into the city, where there is panic on the streets in the form of looting and rioting.

On Galactus's ship, the Great Powers of the Universe try to convince Galactus to halt his plans, but to no avail. Galactus argues that since the dawn of time he has been a slave to his hunger, and that he is entitled to evolve to his next stage of existence, prompting the Great Powers to make the decision to stop Galactus the only way they can--and in the process, sacrifice the Earth for the safety of the rest of the universe.

Simultaneously, Mr. Fantastic powers up his transdimensional cannon, only to warned by his wife Sue of the tremendous power readings coming from the wormhole opened by the Great Powers. Realizing the incredible threat to the Earth presented by the Great Powers, Reed diverts his aim at the last second to target the wormhole, stopping the Great Powers from destroying Galactus and the Earth along with it. The cannon overloads and explodes, sending Reed and Sue Richards flying.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the Fantastic Five fight Dominas, the Wavemaster grows bored of battle. He flies to shore and summons an enormous tidal wave over the city. Joining the fray, Stinger and American Dream try to convince the people in the streets to get to high ground, but the citizens see only futility in trying to escape a tidal wave of this size.

As the Invisible Woman prepares the biggest force field of her life, Mainframe hooks his repulsor rays to a power plant for more power and Spider-Girl creates an enormous web wall. As the wave smashes into the force field and rains onto the streets below, the Human Torch evaporates what he can and Mainframe blasts the water away. Unfortunately, tons of water still spills past, flooding the streets, and as Spider-Girl and American Dream rescue who they can, Spider-Girl pontificates the fact that if they had been real super-heroes, they would have prevented a disaster such as this one.

High above the chaos in the streets, the Revengers wonder if they should help the heroes in their rescue efforts. However, the Red Queen sees this as the perfect opportunity to catch the Avengers off-guard.

The heroes gather around Susan Richards, who has collapsed under the strain of creating a force field that large, and Reed announces that civilian casualties are the least of their concerns and directs their attention to the arrival of Galactus.

General Comments

Ho hum. At the end of last issue, Galactus announced that his next destination was Earth, and we finally see his arrival on the last page of this issue. This issue is entirely filler, I'm assuming because a three-issue limited series makes for a very thin trade paperback. Why, Reed Richard's cannon, that he's been hoping may stop Galactus failed? Shocking. Dominas uses the power cosmic to shrug off every attack made on him and kill off untold numbers of story-expendable civilians? You're kidding! Spider-Girl doubts herself again? No way. And what really gets me about this issue only occurs in two panels: the Red Queen's plan to use the DESTRUCTION OF THE PLANET as a distraction to get revenge on the Avengers. Very "I'll get you, Superman, if it's the last thing I do!"-esque.

Overall Rating

One and a half webs, and I don't see it getting any better, because I just remembered that next issue's not even the end. How could they possibly drag this out any more, I wonder?