Rocky Grimm Space Ranger Part IV (of XII): Wild Blue Yonder

Ben Grimm and Tarianna wander through the landscape until they come upon the remains of a downed space vessel. Ben relies on his former piloting skills to bring the ship to life and make it air-worthy again. As soon as they do so, however, they find themselves besieged by dozens of war ships. Ben swoops his craft through the air and takes down as many of the opposing ships as he can.

After getting through the brief battle unscathed, Ben sets the craft down at a nearby colony. The inhabitants of this colony are the alien Turek. They have been at war with the Silbens for many centuries but the Turek are meek cowards, and have no real means or drive to repel the Silben invaders. Ben volunteers to become the leader of an ad-hoc air force.

After training the Turek pilots for several weeks, they are now ready to repel the next Silben raid. The raiders come and Ben leads them into battle. They are quickly overwhelmed however by the superior firepower of the Silben. The Turek give up almost immediately. Frustrated, Ben gets back into his new spacecraft and single-handedly takes care of the remaining Silben ships.

Ben realizes that he is simply not cut out to lead the Turek. Tarianna and he leave their colony.

Recurring Characters

Thing, Tarianna

Continuity Notes

• This story takes place after the events of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12. In the second issue of that series Ben discovered that he could change back to human form. By the end of the series he believed it was something to do with Battleworld and decided to stay behind. In reality, as Mister Fantastic deduced in Fantastic Four #245, a mental block in Ben's mind associated with his relationship with Alicia Masters has prevented Ben from willingly being able to change back and forth. A fact that Reed keeps secret from Ben until Thing #23.

• Ben's believes that his surroundings were the product of the Beyonder creating Battleworld in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1. However his surroundings are actually being shaped by his subconscious mind, as revealed in Thing #22.

• Also discovered in Thing #22, Tarianna is the image of Ben's ideal woman. It's later revealed in Thing #27 that Tarianna's appearance is based off of a female adventurer named Sharon Ventura.