Fantastic Four Annual #32 - Marvel

The Fantastic Four have faced many threats over the years. They've shown their faces as both idle threats and, many, the grandest of nature. They've saved the Earth, the Universe, the Multiverse, the Negative Zone, and . . well, pretty much every other dimension or plane of existence that they've encountered. And the villains that they've faced have been many, and varied. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time that they've had to face this type of threat. And I say that because . . knowing Johnny, and his 'man-whore' ways, I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't been an issue before. And if you haven't guessed already, this issue the Fantastic Four family, and Johnny in particular, face an issue that Johnny somehow has avoided for a very long time . . a pregnancy scare. But of course, in typical FF fashion, it doesn't stem from the typical 'one nite stand'. It appears that Psycho-man . . or actually his daughter, Psycho-woman, is behind this threat. One night, while at the club, she uses her powers on Johnny and Amy. Basically, while in miniaturized mode, she shrinks down and jumps back and forth between bodies to impregnate Amy. Not the most romantic of encounters. Anyways, she says she's trying to build an army of cosmic warriors and for that she needs Johnny's tissue. Which is why she's gone through this great ruse. And of course, all of this happens inside Johnny's brain, where she's taken up residency. With the combined skills of the FF they end up beating her. But the end of the story is left kind of open-ended. They decide that the pregnancy would leave Amy, and the child, to open to attack by any one of their rogues. So Reed is going to go back to stop it, but . . he starts to second-guess the the whole operation. In his moment of indecision, Amy grabs the time-remote, and jumps into the time pool herself. They don't know where she went, or what she did. The way she was talking, it looked like she might abort the Jr Johnny, wherever she ended up. But . . they don't know. She might of changed her mind. And at the end, Johnny says what everyone else is thinking . . 'She could've gone anywhere, at any time. My child could be alive, right now, walking the streets. All grown up' I guess we'll have to wait for future issues of the FF to see if this is going to come back to bite them. And, having said that, it's most assured that now . . eventually, it will. I thought it was a good story by Joe Ahearne. There were a couple of spots that seemed a little confusing, or muddled to me. But overall, I thought it was an interesting story, and a neat take on a realistic occurrence. Well . . as far as 'realism' goes with the FF. I liked it. Of course it helped that Bryan Hitch did the art. The whole issue looked . . well, Fantastic!