Fantastic Four #134
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #134 (May 1973) marks the first full solo issue written by Gerry Conway on the title — the previous issue had still carried a Roy Thomas plot — making it a genuine creative handover at the helm of Marvel's flagship family book. The issue is a meaningful chapter in the sustained, Bronze Age examination of Reed and Sue Richards's marital estrangement that Conway pursued across his run, doing so with more emotional frankness than the book had typically mustered: Sue and Franklin appear here for the first time since she quit the team and separated from Reed in issue #130, and the story never lets their reunion feel tidy or resolved. The issue also introduces Bob and Carol Landers, supporting characters who serve as the human anchor for Sue's storyline across multiple subsequent issues, and it uses Gregory Gideon — a villain last seen roughly 100 issues earlier in issue #34 — as a vehicle for the kind of deep-continuity callback that defined Roy Thomas's editorial era.
In "A Dragon Stalks the Skies!", the Fantastic Four rush to answer a frantic distress call, only to discover Agatha Harkness’s home in ruins. As Sue grows uneasy over Franklin’s strange behavior, a monstrous threat emerges from the sky—Dragon Man, a new and terrifying foe, unleashing chaos on the city. Written by Gerry Conway and brought to life by John Buscema’s dynamic art and Joe Sinnott’s sharp inks, this 1973 classic features a cover by Buscema and Sinnott that captures the full scale of the impending danger.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was written by Gerry Conway — who was approximately 20 years old at the time of composition — from his own full script, though a letters page in the preceding issue acknowledged he was working from a Roy Thomas plot on that transitional installment; from #134 forward Conway steered the story entirely on his own. Roy Thomas served as editor throughout, with pencils by John Buscema, inks by Joe Sinnott, lettering by Artie Simek, and colors by Dave Hunt — a production team that had supplied the book's visual identity since the Stan Lee era. The story's title, 'A Dragon Stalks the Skies!', appeared on sale in early 1973 (per The Comic Reader #93, January 1973) with a May 1973 cover date.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearances of Bob Landers and Carol Landers, Sue Richards's childhood friend and her husband, who host Sue and Franklin on their Pennsylvania horse ranch during the marital separation storyline and recur across the Conway run through at least Fantastic Four #147.
- First time Sue Storm-Richards and Franklin Richards appear together since Sue quit the Fantastic Four and separated from Reed in Fantastic Four #130, carrying that domestic drama into new territory.
- Written, penciled, and edited by Gerry Conway (writer), John Buscema (pencils/cover), Joe Sinnott (inks), Artie Simek (letters), Dave Hunt (colors), and Roy Thomas (editor) — Conway's first fully solo-scripted issue on the title after a transitional shared issue #133.
- Villain Gregory Gideon returns after an absence of roughly 100 issues (last seen in Fantastic Four #34), now terminally ill from radiation poisoning and deploying Dragon Man — fitted with a sonic control implant — to abduct the Richards family in order to power his 'Eternity Machine.'
- Features a short but notable subplot in which Johnny Storm visits his former girlfriend Dorrie Evans (first introduced in Strange Tales #113) only to discover she has married and has two children, providing quiet character closure on a Silver Age relationship.
- Ben Grimm is shown reading Worlds Unknown #1, a then-current 1973 Marvel anthology series, in a continuity-conscious background detail noted by the Marvel Database.
- The issue is part of a two-part story concluded in Fantastic Four #135, and has been reprinted in Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 6 (2007, black and white), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Vol. 13 (2011), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #8 — Annihilus Revealed (2022), and Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 5 (2024), among multiple international editions.
- A British edition variant of the issue exists, as documented by the Grand Comics Database.
Cast · 12 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Fantastic Four #23 (1973), De Vier Verdedigers Classics #81 (1974), The Complete Fantastic Four #2 (1977), Atlantic-serien [Fantastiske Fire] #1/1980 (1980), Atlanticserien #1/1980 (1980), Die Fantastischen Vier #5 (1981), Nova #43 (1981), Super Spider-Man TV Comic #548 (1983), Die Fantastischen Vier #134 (1998), Essential Fantastic Four #6 (2007), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #13 (2011), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #8 (2022), Fantastic Four Omnibus #5 (2024), I Fantastici Quattro #132, Marvel Super-Storys #1, The Complete Fantastic Four #3
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