Where Bursts the Bomb!

Following the dissolution of the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch is spending some time visiting his old college friend Wyatt Wingfoot. While they travel along the Catskills, they spot a fuel truck that has crashed. While Wyatt sweeps the drivers to safety, the Torch uses his powers to envelope the burning tanker in a flame barrier to lessen the force of the resulting explosion. Afterward, Johnny admits how things don't feel right without Ben or Reed around. Suddenly, a device on Wyatt's skycycle starts going off alerting Johnny that one of the Fantastic Four's most powerful foes is active once again.

Meanwhile, at an old cottage home, Doctor Paxton Pentecost is laboring to resurrect a powerful being that has been in his possession for some time. After blasting a massive cylinder with energy, the being inside suddenly breaks free. It is Blastaar, a warlord from the Negative Zone. When Blastaar threatens to destroy Pentecost, he discovers that the scientist has implanted an obedience device in his brain that causes him pain until Blastaar surrenders. Paxton explains that he learned about Blastaar from his first battle with the Fantastic Four and recovered his seeming demise at the hands of the X-Men. Blastaar demands to know why he was revived. Paxton explains that he invented an autonomous factory called FAUST that was stolen from him by his financial backer Ferguson Blaine. He now wants Blastaar to destroy his creation before Blaine can profit from it. Blastaar accepts the challenge, using his blasts to destroy a scale model of the factory. Elsewhere, the Hulk lands on a nearby construction site. Panicked by his arrival, one of the construction workers attempts to strike him with a wrecking ball. This barely phases the Hulk and he begins going on a rampage, trashing the construction equipment along the way. Suddenly, the Hulk feels a stabbing pain in his head. Furious, he leaps off trying to find the source, intending to smash it once he has the chance.

At that moment, Blastaar is attacking the FAUST facility, when he is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the Human Torch and Wyatt Wingfoot. The Torch ingulfs Blastaar with a flame blast, but the creature shrugs it off and strikes the Torch with a blast that sends him flying. As fate would have it, Johnny lands into the open hands of the Hulk. He tries to convince the gamma-spawned monster to help, but the Hulk is uninterested until the painful buzzing in his head begins again. Meanwhile, Ferguson Blaine arrives on the scene with the authorities. He tries to talk sense into Paxton, but this falls on deaf ears. Instead, Pentecost has Blastaar attack the officers who have arrived on the scene. However, before he can cause any serious harm, the Hulk and the Human Torch arrive. While the Hulk battles Blastaar, Paxton is prevented from shooting his former colleague by the Human Torch. Unable to stop Blastaar, they stand by and watch in awe as the Hulk crumples the Adamantium walls of FAUST around Blastaar, encasing him in a shell of the nearly indestructible metal and then tosses him out to sea.

With the battle over, the Hulk finds the pain in his mind is gone and leaps away. When Blaine thanks the Human Torch for his help. The Torch points out that his greed cost a good scientist his mind.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Hulk, Wyatt Wingfoot, Blastaar, Paxton Pentecost, FAUST, Ferguson Blaine

Continuity Notes

• The Human Torch has just recently left the Fantastic Four after Mister Fantastic shut down the mind of his son Franklin. That happened in Fantastic Four #142, although the group gets back together in Fantastic Four #144.

• Paxton Penticoast mentions some of Blastaar's recent exploits:

  • His first battle with the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #63.

  • He states that he recovered Blastaar following his battle with the X-Men in X-Men #53. However, Blastaar had escaped to the Negative Zone as seen in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comic Magazine #9-10. However, all these events were erased from memory by Reed Richards in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comic Magazine #12.