Fantastic Four #578

The Cult of the Negative Zone

The Human Torch tells Valeria about his strange encounter: He was at a new night club called the Other Side of Zero run by a death-obsessed man calling himself the Anti-Priest. Picking up a girl and not liking the scene, he took her up on her offer to go back to his place. However, when he took her to the Baxter Building. Whoever when they arrived, the girl managed to get into Reed's lab and open the portal to the Negative Zone. To Johnny's horror and disgust, the woman suddenly rips open revealing five insects within her, one of them carrying a bomb. As the bugs crawl into the portal, Johnny goes after them and finds himself on a Negative Zone world under siege by the forces of Annihilus. He was too late to stop the bomb from going off and was forced to retreat back through the portal. Before he did, he notices that the forces of Blastaar managed to expand Prison 42 into a massive city. When Johnny asks his niece why she is interested in his story, she tells him that she needs to continue to learn, however, in reality, she has been gathering information about these Four Cities that have appeared recently and discovered that the prophecies of the future Franklin Richards are coming true.

At that moment, the Invisible Woman has returned to Old Atlantis in Antarctica with Andromeda, a representative of the Sub-Mariner's kingdom. Andromeda questions Ul-Uhar's claim to call himself king when his people have remained isolated for centuries. In response, Ul-Uhar raises the city out from beneath its tomb of Antarctic ice and up to the surface. Back at the Baxter Building, Mister Fantastic scolds Johnny for going into the Negative Zone without back-up. Johnny realizes the danger he potentially put everyone under after going in half-cocked. Reed tells Johnny that everyone is going through changes and Johnny is going to go through some as well and that it's time for him to figure out where he is going to stand.

Meanwhile, on the Ship-City on the Blue Area of the Moon, Queen Onomi Whitemane has selected the six warriors for the next Light Brigade. With the soldiers selected they are brought to Eldrac. The leader of the Light Brigade tells Eldric to bring them to a battle they cannot win. With this command, Eldra opens his doors and the Light Brigade dives in to face the unknown battle ahead. They soon find themselves in the Negative Zone battling an insect horde.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Valeria Richards, Onomi Whitemane, Light Brigade (Midnight Blade, Metallic Titan, Stonethrower, All-Knowing, Sun, Creeping Death), Cult of the Negative Zone (Anti-Priest), HERBIE, Eldrac, Andromeda, Ul-Uhar