Issue(s): Fantastic Four #148, Fantastic Four #149
Cover Date: Jul-Aug 74
Title: "War on the thirty-sixth floor!" / "To love, honor, and destroy!"
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Writer
Rich Buckler - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Review/plot:
The Sandman shows up in the Baxter Building, attacks Reed, and then slithers away.

When the Thing and the Human Torch fail to stop the Sandman from escaping, Reed launches into full dick mode:

Johnny discounts Reed's anger because Sue went off to live with the Sub-Mariner last issue. But then he bizarrely claims that Reed shouldn't be mad, cause he's not mad and "Heck, Sue's my sister -- and isn't that almost as close as a wife?". Ummm, unless you've been sleeping with your sister and now you're jealous that Namor took her away, no, you're not in the same boat as Reed.

Reed builds a device to track down the Frightful Four, but it isn't needed because the Wizard suddenly attacks.

Thundra shows up to defend the Thing, using the "only I get to beat him up" justification.

After the Frightful Four (or three, as it turns out), are defeated, Namor shows up with an invading Atlantean army. He's with Sue, and she's mad.

Somehow Giganto survived the nuclear bomb that went off in his belly way back in Fantastic Four #4, or there was more than one Giganto.

Now, let's look at the ramifications of an Atlantean attack on the US:

• Mass panic
• Expenditure of police resources. Probably even injuries to police.
• Probably mobilization of the National Guard or Armed Forces
• More strain on US/Atlantean relationships (putting it mildly)
• Property damage

Duh, right? Why do i list these things? BECAUSE THE WHOLE INVASION WAS ACTUALLY JUST A RUSE ARRANGED BETWEEN MEDUSA AND TRITON TO GET REED AND SUE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN! Talk about super-heroes using the world as their playground. Sheesh, what a disaster.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - end of Reed/Sue separation, which started back in Fantastic Four #130

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Human Torch's appearances in Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 and Marvel Team-Up #23 take place after these issues.

References:

• The Frightful Four disappeared at the end of Fantastic Four #136
  
• Reed's tracking device was based on a Psi-Amplifier he built in Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 (Giant-Size Super-Stars becomes Giant-Size Fantastic Four with the second issue).
  
• Thundra previously appeared in Fantastic Four #133, and Fantastic Four #129-130.
  
• Reed put Franklin in a coma in Fantastic Four #141.
  
• Namor first fought the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #4.
  
• It's not actually confirmed, but the Inhumans' "get Reed & Sue back together" scheme must have been what Project Revival, mentioned in Fantastic Four #145, was about.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

What I never understood is that after Sue and Reed reconciled at the end of issue #149, it still took several more issues before Sue returned to the team. Hence, the Invisible Girl was gone from active Fantastic Four duty for almost two years!

During 1974 John Byrne did his first FF story as a sample sent to Marvel; it eventually got printed without dialogue in Comics Interview #25. The art was very much in Buckler's Kirbyish style.

James Robinson made it clear just recently that Gigantos are a separate species.