Rampage (UK) #5 (Story 2)

Background

The second story in this issue stars the Fantastic Four. As usual, it's 6-pages long, which makes it the "short story form" of comic books – just long enough to convey one idea (at most).

Story 'End of the World'

Mister Fantastic's "cosmos-monitoring instruments" provide a 2-second warning of...

Here's GALACTUS! Eater of planets! He's got the munchies, and Earth is a snack.

Mr. F is unable to escape from the rubble of the FF building (he recently lost his stretching abilities). But Invisible Woman and the Human Torch manage to hold off Galactus for another couple of pages.

That's long enough for the fourth member of the Fantastic Four to arrive... Bruce Banner as the Incredible Hulk! Hulk lasts about half a page, and it's all over. Mr. Fantastic is forced to watch as the Earth is drained of its life-force and becomes an empty husk.

We return back to the original dimension where Mister Fantastic sees the energy wave disappear from his sensors. The destruction of Earth took place in another universe, another probability wave. Our regular Marvel Universe 616 is safe, for now...!

General Comments

This is a surprisingly dark little tale for a kids magazine.

It's a clever reminder that "the good guys" don't always win, and that we shouldn't take victories for granted.

Overall Rating

Kudos to writer Jim Alexander – this is more creative than the regular fodder of Rampage.

One idea, four webs.