Fantastic Four #240
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #240, titled 'Exodus,' is the capstone of John Byrne's debut arc on the series and delivers one of the most consequential single-issue status-quo changes in Inhumans history: the relocation of the entire city of Attilan from Earth to the Blue Area of the Moon, driven by the Inhumans' fatal sensitivity to terrestrial pollution — a decision that gave the Inhumans a distinct cosmological identity they would carry for decades. The issue also introduces Luna Maximoff, the daughter of Quicksilver and Crystal and the first recorded offspring of a mutant and an Inhuman pairing, a character whose hybrid nature and later empathic powers seeded ongoing storylines across Avengers, Quicksilver, and Inhumans titles well into the 2000s. Byrne layers in a pointed cross-title Easter egg — Attilan's landing site buries the exact spot on the Moon where Jean Grey sacrificed herself in the 'Dark Phoenix Saga,' quietly tying together his tenures on both Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
John Byrne served as sole writer and artist, with Jim Salicrup as editor and Jim Shooter as Editor-in-Chief; the cover was inked by Terry Austin. The issue carries a March 1982 cover date but was released in December 1981, closing out what Marvel itself has described as Byrne's first arc on the title (#232–240). A now-famous editorial caption in the Black Bolt splash panel — declining to print a sound effect for his voice — was Byrne's deliberate callback to a creative dispute with Chris Claremont over an explosion sound effect in Uncanny X-Men #119 three years earlier, as documented by CBR's Comic Legends column.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Luna Maximoff, daughter of Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) and Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin), born on the Moon during the Inhumans' relocation.
- Luna is the first child in Marvel continuity born to a mutant and an Inhuman; her combined genetic heritage initially leaves her a normal human with no powers.
- The entire Inhuman city of Attilan is relocated from Earth to the Blue Area of the Moon in this issue, a status quo established here that persisted across Marvel comics for years.
- The Moon landing site chosen for Attilan is explicitly the same location where Jean Grey/Phoenix died in the 'Dark Phoenix Saga' — a deliberate Byrne X-Men callback.
- An editorial note on the Black Bolt voice panel reads 'we're not going to insult your intelligence by placing a sound effect in this panel' — referencing a real argument Byrne had with Chris Claremont about a sound effect in X-Men #119 (1978).
- Cameo appearances by Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, and Uatu the Watcher.
- Written, penciled, and inked by John Byrne; cover by John Byrne and Terry Austin; edited by Jim Salicrup; cover-dated March 1982.
- Collected in Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 21 (ISBN 978-1302918194) and the John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1 (2011).
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Reprints
↩ Reprints [Marvel Hostess Ads] #68 (1982)
Reprinted in Fantastic Four #131/132 (1982), Los 4 Fantásticos #24 (1985), Nova #106 (1986), Fantastici Quattro #12 (1989), Los Comics de El Sol #20 (1990), Los Comics de El Sol #21 (1990), Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne #[1] (2001), Coleccionable Los 4 Fantásticos de John Byrne #3 (2002), Fantastic Four: Klassiska serier av John Byrne #[nn] (2005), Best of Marvel : Fantastic Four - Retour aux sources #[nn] (2005), Fantastic Four: Tilbake til start [Alle Tiders Superhelter] #[nn] (2005), Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus #1 (2011), Artist's Edition #[12] (2013), Marvel Héroes #59 (2015), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #21 (2019), Les trésors de Marvel #1 (2021), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #13 (2025), Die Fantastischen Vier #11, El Asombroso Hombre Araña Presenta #198, Fantastic Four #33
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