Fantastic Four #377
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #377 (June 1993) marks the debut of Huntara — born Tara Richards of Earth-6311, daughter of the time-traveling Nathaniel Richards and therefore Reed Richards' half-sister — a character whose ambiguous loyalties and deliberately unresolved origin made her one of the more intriguing additions to the Richards family mythology of the era. The issue simultaneously delivers the first team appearance of the Fearsome Foursome, an ad-hoc villain coalition built around Huntara, Klaw, Paibok the Power Skrull, and Devos the Devastator, giving the DeFalco–Ryan run its own signature antagonist ensemble at the precise moment the creative team was pushing hardest to upset the FF's status quo. It also serves as the opening chapter of the 'Nobody Gets Out Alive' story arc (issues #377–392), which CBR and other retrospectives identify as the stretch where DeFalco and Ryan most aggressively dismantled the team's Silver Age stability — scarring Ben Grimm, deepening Sue's Malice persona, aging Franklin into the teenager Psi-Lord, and seeding the long Hyperstorm subplot. As the arc's launch point, #377 is consequently the entry issue for readers tracing how the DeFalco–Ryan era tried to reshape Marvel's First Family for a grittier decade.
In "If This Be War--!", a teenage Franklin Richards returns from a brutal future war, his mind haunted by what he's seen and what he's done. With the Fantastic Four facing a new threat in the form of the Fearsome Foursome, they must piece together Franklin's cryptic warnings before it's too late. Written by Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan, with art by Paul Ryan and cover by Paul Ryan, this 1993 issue blends urgency and mystery in a pivotal moment for the team.
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Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan had been the book's creative anchor since 1991, with DeFalco simultaneously serving as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief until 1994 — an unusual dual role that gave this run an insider's latitude even as it drew outside scrutiny. Ralph Macchio edited the issue with Pat Garrahy as assistant editor, and the Grand Comics Database notes that the inking credit was disputed for years (Danny Bulanadi appears in several indicia and retailer records, while GCD ultimately confirmed the inker through the original artwork owner). Ryan had arrived on the title fresh from acclaimed work on DP7 and Quasar, and his clean, broadly appealing line — which comic critics have described as underrated precisely because it was paired with divisive writing — carried the visual storytelling load through this ambitious mid-run pivot.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Huntara (Tara Richards of Earth-6311), daughter of Nathaniel Richards and half-sister of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, who later became a founding member of Fantastic Force.
- First team appearance of the Fearsome Foursome — Huntara, Klaw, Paibok the Power Skrull, and Devos the Devastator — though the Marvel Database notes the group is not actually named until Fantastic Four Unlimited #5.
- Written by Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan (also penciler); inked by Danny Bulanadi (some credits) / confirmed inker disputed per GCD; colored by Gina Going Raney; lettered by Jack Morelli and Rick Parker; edited by Ralph Macchio.
- On sale May 20, 1993 (cover date: June 1993); published in both Direct Edition and Newsstand variants.
- Storyline context: Franklin Richards has just returned from Earth-6311's future as the teenager Psi-Lord (following his abduction at the end of #376 by Nathaniel Richards), while Johnny Storm's criminal trial for burning Empire State University runs concurrently across issues #376–378.
- Doctor Doom's subplot — using stolen Watcher energy to beacon a cosmic entity to Earth — is seeded here, paying off in issues #380–381 with the arrival of the Hunger.
- Sue Richards is depicted under the influence of her merged Malice persona (established in #369), a key ongoing character thread through this arc.
- Reprinted in Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 23: Nobody Gets Out Alive (Marvel, 2022), which collects issues #377–392, Annual #27, and related tie-ins.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Nova #200 (1994), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #23 (2021), Die Fantastischen Vier #42
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