Fantastic Four 211

Fantastic Four 211

Oct 1979

If this Be Terrax

by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Joe Rosen, Ben Sean

Galactus transports the Fantastic Four, plus HERBIE, down to the planet Terran. Reed, Sue, and Ben look noticeably older than they did in the previous issue. They try to help some people fight off some robotic knights but they are captured. 

The Fantastic Four are taken to Tyros the Terrible, the local bigwig. He toys with them a bit and then decides to execute them, himself. They break free and humble him, as Galactus told them to do. The big planet eater transports all six of them back to his ship.

Galactus transforms Tyros the Terrible into Terrax the Tamer, changing his appearance and imbuing him with cosmic powers in the process. Terrax tries to turn his new powers on Galactus but his new boss shows Terrax that he is not to be taken lightly. Galactus’ new herald sings a different tune after the Big G takes him down a notch. 

Galactus and the Fantastic Four depart for Earth in his spheroid space ship. 

The issue ends with the Watcher observing Earth from the Moon, aware that Galactus is coming and that a battle with the Sphinx will soon occur.

Thoughts

I am surprised that the title of this issue did not end with an exclamation point. 

Terran seems like a strange name to choose for a planet. It makes me think of Terra, which makes me think of Earth. The people look mostly human but then there are plenty of humanoid alien races in the Marvel Universe. 

HERBIE does nothing to assist the Fantastic Four. He is just along for the ride. He only speaks one time and that is in the first panel on the second page. 

Only Galactus and the Fantastic Four are shown boarding his space ship near the end of this issue. Terrax and HERBIE are also presumably aboard the ship that is now headed for Earth. 

The Watcher’s words towards the end of the issue seem to indicate that he expects the Earth will soon be destroyed. 

This issue is, like many of the ones before it, very surface level. There are no character moments. The story is depicted with very broad brush strokes. I want to read these stories but I am not getting a lot out of them.