Fantastic Four #1
Fantastic Four vol. 3 #1 (January 1998) is the opening chapter of the 'Heroes Return' era — Marvel's formal restoration of its flagship family to the main Earth-616 continuity after the polarizing one-year Heroes Reborn experiment had exiled them to a pocket universe produced by Jim Lee's WildStorm studio. The issue re-establishes Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben as active players in the mainstream Marvel Universe and introduces the Ruined, a pan-dimensional antagonist race who recur across the volume, making this the narrative zero-point for an entire editorial chapter that ran through issue #59 and featured the likes of Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca, and Carlos Pacheco. It also marks the first appearance of the team's new Pier Four headquarters, a deliberate break from Four Freedoms Plaza — which had been occupied by the Thunderbolts during the team's absence — grounding the post-Onslaught FF in a grittier, more transient setting that reflected how much the Marvel landscape had shifted around them.
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The issue was born directly out of the editorial fallout of Heroes Reborn: after one year in which Fantastic Four vol. 2 was produced under Jim Lee and Brandon Choi's WildStorm Productions, Marvel's editor-in-chief Bob Harras oversaw the title's return to in-house production as part of the coordinated 'Heroes Return' rollout. Writer Scott Lobdell — pulled from his X-Men schedule — and British artist Alan Davis (inked by long-time collaborator Mark Farmer) were handed the launch; Davis also drew both the standard and the 'sunburst' mail-in variant covers. Lobdell only remained for the first three issues before Chris Claremont stepped in, co-writing issues #4–5 with Lobdell and then taking the title fully through issue #32 alongside penciller Salvador Larroca.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Volume designation: Fantastic Four vol. 3 #1, cover-dated January 1998, on sale November 5, 1997; published by Marvel Comics under editor Mark Powers and editor-in-chief Bob Harras.
- Creative team for #1: writer Scott Lobdell, penciller Alan Davis, inker Mark Farmer, colorist Liquid!, letterers Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne.
- Story title 'Vive la Fantastique!' — a 44-page opening chapter set in Paris, featuring the first appearance of the Ruined, described as a pan-dimensional race attempting to transform reality.
- Mole Man appears in cameo, acknowledging the FF's return after their reported deaths during the Onslaught event.
- Debut of Pier Four as the Fantastic Four's new headquarters: the team had lost Four Freedoms Plaza to the Thunderbolts during their year-long absence from Earth-616.
- Issue shipped with at least two cover editions distributed at a 1:1 ratio (a standard direct-edition wrap-around cover and a 'sunburst' mail-in variant), plus a Dynamic Forces edition signed by Lobdell.
- The series ran as Fantastic Four (1998) through issue #508 before dual/legacy numbering was introduced beginning at issue #42/#471 (June 2001), with the volume ultimately concluding at #588.
- The Heroes Return era (issues #1–15, #1/2, and Annual '98) was collected decades later in Fantastic Four: Heroes Return — The Complete Collection Vol. 1, which also includes Iron Man (1998) #14.
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Reprinted in 100% Marvel : Fantastic Four #1 (1999)
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