Fantastic Four Annual #6
Let There Be... Life!
Susan Richards is about to give birth at any moment, her life is at risk unless Reed can secure Element X, an element only found from a single source in the Negative Zone, that will save her and the baby's life from the risk posed by the very cosmic rays in Sue's body.
Travelling into the Negative Zone, Reed, Ben, and Johnny are captured by Annihilus, whose Cosmic Control Rod has the element that Reed needs; however Annihilus, obsessed with the immortality the rod provides refuses to part with it. Stealing the rod, Reed, Johnny and Ben are chased all over the Negative Zone dodging the various threats and opponents set against them by Annihilus.
Trapped on a floating rock drifting towards the barrier between positive and negative matter (and a very explosive death), Reed is forced to give up the Rod to Annihilus, but not without siphoning out some of the Element X needed to save Sue and the baby's life. Escaping Annihilus and returning to the positive matter universe, Reed and the others rush to the hospital with the element. Some time later, Sue gives birth to a healthy baby boy with no further complications.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Crystal, Annihilus, Scavenger, Doctor Molinari, Franklin Richards (unnamed)
Continuity Notes
As seen in this issue, Fantastic Four #267 and Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #54, any time Sue has been pregnant going into labor has potentially fatal consequences for both her and her child as a result of the cosmic radiation that entered her system back in Fantastic Four #1.
The Scavanger creature that attacks the Fantastic Four is later revealed to be the Mad Thinker's android that was dumped into the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #70. It was revealed in Fantastic Four #183 that Annihilus found the android and reformed it to suits his needs. The android is seen again in yet another form in Fantastic Four #180.
Reed and Sue's child is later named Franklin Benjamin Richards in Fantastic Four #94, and is named in honor of Sue's father Franklin Storm who sacrificed his life saving the Fantastic Four from a Skrull bomb in Fantastic Four #32 and Benjamin J. Grimm aka the Thing.
