Marvel Comics · Fantastic Four Annual #6 · November 1968 · 25¢ · 72 pages · Annual
Grade: VG 4.0
Cover by Jack Kirby.
“The Way It Began...” — the lead story, written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby, drives straight into crisis: Sue Storm is in labor, and complications force Reed Richards into the Negative Zone to retrieve a life-saving element. What he finds there is Annihilus — an insectoid warlord clinging to the Cosmic Control Rod as the source of his near-immortality. The whole issue turns on whether Reed can take what he needs and get out alive while his wife and unborn son hang in the balance. It's high-stakes Silver Age plotting with Kirby doing what Kirby does: inventing entire cosmologies in the margins while the main plot burns.
The Annual format gives Kirby room to stretch — the Negative Zone sequences in particular are dense with alien architecture and cosmic weirdness that wouldn't fit in a standard 20-page monthly. The issue closes with the birth of Franklin Richards, son of Reed and Sue, a character whose reality-warping powers would eventually make him one of the most consequential figures in the Marvel universe. Both introductions land in the same issue. That doesn't happen often.
Annihilus would spend decades as a mid-tier Negative Zone antagonist before Keith Giffen's 2006 Annihilation event repositioned him as a genuine cosmic-level threat and sent demand for this issue sharply upward. Franklin Richards' trajectory is longer and stranger — Onslaught, Counter-Earth, the Hickman run — but it all traces back to this delivery room. Two first appearances, one annual, one creative team at full velocity.
Condition VG 4.0 — Professional grade for the savvy collector. Shows honest wear, but no major distractions. A great shelf copy..
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
Marvel Comics · Fantastic Four Annual #6 · November 1968 · 25¢ · 72 pages · Annual
Grade: VG 4.0
Cover by Jack Kirby.
“The Way It Began...” — the lead story, written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby, drives straight into crisis: Sue Storm is in labor, and complications force Reed Richards into the Negative Zone to retrieve a life-saving element. What he finds there is Annihilus — an insectoid warlord clinging to the Cosmic Control Rod as the source of his near-immortality. The whole issue turns on whether Reed can take what he needs and get out alive while his wife and unborn son hang in the balance. It's high-stakes Silver Age plotting with Kirby doing what Kirby does: inventing entire cosmologies in the margins while the main plot burns.
The Annual format gives Kirby room to stretch — the Negative Zone sequences in particular are dense with alien architecture and cosmic weirdness that wouldn't fit in a standard 20-page monthly. The issue closes with the birth of Franklin Richards, son of Reed and Sue, a character whose reality-warping powers would eventually make him one of the most consequential figures in the Marvel universe. Both introductions land in the same issue. That doesn't happen often.
Annihilus would spend decades as a mid-tier Negative Zone antagonist before Keith Giffen's 2006 Annihilation event repositioned him as a genuine cosmic-level threat and sent demand for this issue sharply upward. Franklin Richards' trajectory is longer and stranger — Onslaught, Counter-Earth, the Hickman run — but it all traces back to this delivery room. Two first appearances, one annual, one creative team at full velocity.
Condition VG 4.0 — Professional grade for the savvy collector. Shows honest wear, but no major distractions. A great shelf copy..
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
