Fantastic Four #359
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #359 marks the debut of two characters who would each go on to fuel major story arcs in Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan's run: Devos the Devastator, a cybernetically enhanced alien whose warped ideology of 'peace through annihilation' made him one of the era's most conceptually distinctive Fantastic Four antagonists, and the unnamed symbiote-like entity that would be christened Dreadface in the very next issue. Devos in particular proved durable enough to evolve from a single-issue cosmic threat into a member of the Fearsome Foursome, reappear in the Annihilation cosmic event, and receive a modern reintroduction in Ryan North's 2025 run, demonstrating the lasting grip a single well-constructed villain debut can have on a title's mythology. The issue also arrives in the immediate aftermath of the resolution of the Alicia-is-a-Skrull storyline, placing the team in an emotionally raw moment that the story exploits for interpersonal tension between Ben and Johnny — making it more than just an action set-piece. For readers tracking the DeFalco–Ryan period, which has been reassessed by later critics as an underrated stretch of cosmic-scale storytelling, this issue represents the creative team's most productive single-issue world-building session.
In "Devos the Devastator!", the Fantastic Four find themselves stranded light-years from home, their escape route cut off—only to face a terrifying new threat in the void. Written by Tom DeFalco and brought to life by Paul Ryan’s dynamic art, this 1991 issue delivers high-stakes space survival with a monstrous new adversary on the prowl. The cover, by Paul Ryan and Danny Bulanadi, captures the crew’s peril with chilling precision.
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Writer Tom DeFalco and penciler Paul Ryan had taken over Fantastic Four together as a creative team, with DeFalco simultaneously serving as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief — an unusual dual role that shaped the editorial direction of the book throughout the early 1990s. Issue #359 was edited by Ralph Macchio and inked by Danny Bulanadi, with Christie Scheele on colors and Bill Oakley on letters; all five collaborated regularly across the DeFalco–Ryan run. The story grows directly out of the preceding arc in which the real Alicia Masters was rescued from the Skrulls, and the creative team used the team's resulting stranding in deep space as a narrative pressure-cooker that would naturally force them into contact with a new cosmic antagonist. Among the Easter eggs artist Paul Ryan embedded in Devos's trophy hall was an apparent caricature of John Byrne — the artist most associated with the title's preceding acclaimed run — mounted on the wall alongside alien specimens, a sly piece of in-house humor that the Marvel fan community has long noted.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Devos the Devastator, an alien cyborg vigilante created by Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan, and Danny Bulanadi, whose ideology holds that universal peace can only be achieved by exterminating every species capable of waging war.
- First appearance (unnamed, in containment aboard Devos's ship) of the symbiote-like entity later identified as Dreadface — it is named and given its full debut in Fantastic Four #360, the immediate follow-up issue.
- Written by Tom DeFalco (also Marvel Editor-in-Chief at the time), with art by Paul Ryan (pencils) and Danny Bulanadi (inks); cover date December 1991, released October 1991.
- The story is a direct continuation of the Alicia Masters–Skrull arc: with their hyperdrive wrecked after her rescue, the Fantastic Four are stranded in deep space when Devos pulls their ship aboard his own vessel.
- Paul Ryan concealed an apparent caricature of former FF artist John Byrne — best known for his run on issues #232–293 — among the alien trophies mounted on Devos's ship wall, a noted Easter egg in the fan community.
- Devos went on to become a recurring villain in the DeFalco–Ryan era, joining the Fearsome Foursome (with Paibok, Klaw, and Huntara) before appearing in Marvel's Annihilation cosmic event and the Realm of Kings: Inhumans limited series, and was revived again in Fantastic Four vol. 7 #31 (2025).
- The issue has been reprinted three times: in the German Die Fantastischen Vier (Condor) #36 (1993), the French Nova (Semic S.A.) #181 (1993), and domestically in the Fantastic Four Epic Collection vol. 21 — The New Fantastic Four (Marvel, August 2018), which collects issues #347–361.
- Devos received an animated adaptation when a version of the character appeared in the Disney Channel animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (season 1, episode 2, 'The Borough Bully,' February 2023).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Die Fantastischen Vier #36 (1993), Nova #181 (1993), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #21 (2018), Fantastic Four Special #41
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