For Beauty Passed Away

The Thing is cleaning up the wreckage in the Baxter Building left over from the recent battle with Annihilus. He finds Annihilus’ helmet and crushes it in his hand. After depositing the waste, he goes downstairs where Willie Lumpkin gives him a letter. The letter is from an old love, Alynn Cambers.

Back in Ben’s college days, he met Alynn while he was the star quarterback on the ESU team. The two grew really close together, and Ben even offered a proposal of marriage. But Alynn had dreams of moving out west and becoming a movie star. She didn’t want her fame to cause her to neglect Ben, so she chose instead to break up with him.

Now, Ben goes to Mercy General hospital to check up on Alicia Masters and Franklin Richards (who were both injured during Annihilus’ attack). He tells Alicia about his old girlfriend and how she has recently come to town wishing to see him. Ben is scared, because the last time they saw each other, he was still human.

Ben later meets Alynn at the Baxter Building. She has recently suffered a stroke and lost a great deal of motor control. She needs to reach out to someone.

Later, Ben returns to the hospital. In lieu of recent events, Reed Richards has decided that he no longer wishes to operate in an environment that will put Franklin at further risk. He is disbanding the Fantastic Four and relocating his family.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Thing, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl), Alicia Masters, Willie Lumpkin, Jacob Grimm

Continuity Notes

• This story takes place after the events of Fantastic Four #251-257 and Avengers #233. Wherein the Fantastic Four traveled into the Negative Zone to explore, unintentionally loosing Annihilus on Earth. During that period of time he tortured both Alicia and Franklin, resulting in both needing medical attention when the Fantastic Four returned and defeated Annihilus.

• The Thing finds a mask that Annihilus was wearing at the time of this story. As explained in Fantastic Four #255, when Blastaar stole the Cosmic Control Rod in Marvel Two-In-One #75 it caused Annihilus to begin rapidly aging. Annihilus remains in this state until he is able to recover the Cosmic Control Rod in Fantastic Four #289-290.