Marvel Just Published a H.E.R.B.I.E. Comic That Will Break Your Heart

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Marvel Just Published a H.E.R.B.I.E. Comic That Will Break Your Heart

Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics | Tagged: fantastic four, HERBIE

Marvel just published a H.E.R.B.I.E. comic that will break your heart by Ryan North and Cory Smith (Spoilers, but not many)

Marvel Comics just published a Fantastic Four comic by Ryan North and Cory Smith that may be the best H.E.R.B.I.E. comic I’ve read, and I am not going to explain why. No, instead, you are just going to have to go and buy it, one way or another. Now, Ryan North has been writing up a storm on Fantastic Four for the last three years, with a series of one-shot stories and a longer arc for the whole series. Fantastic Four #33, published today, is part of the One World Under Doom crossover and has the Fantastic Four trying to restore Ben Grimm’s Thing appearance and powers, after Doctor Doom “cured” him. As The Thing, not being the Thing, is also depriving the other Fantastic Four members of their powers. And they do need to save the world from being ruled by Doctor Doom.

And to do so, they identify the only place the cosmic rays that created The Thing can guaranteed to be found in the concentration necessary is in the first picoseconds of the Big Bang. And the only way they can get them is to travel there in those picoseconds. And the only way they can work in that timeframe is with a compute who can think that quickly.

Which means a H.E.R.B.I.E. upgrade. And then the trip. And I am reminded suddenly of Alan Moore’s short story  The Improbably Complex High-Energy State, recently collected in Illuminations, set during the first femtosecond of creation, where time and space are only just starting to exist, yet there are suddenly all sorts of confused sentient beings, hurtling towards their own destruction, and so having lots of sex. This is not that comic. But it is one about appreciating the time you have left.

It is called Fantastic Four Hundred And Thirty-Six Quadrillion, the number of seconds that have passed since the Big Bang. And it’s the souped-up H.E.R.B.I.E.that takes the narrative lead. With H.E.B.B.I.E. trying to run the mission, in which the Fantastic Four have no idea what’s actually happening.

My favourite superhero comic book of the week. Go buy it. H.E.R.B.I.E. was initially created for The New Fantastic Four cartoon in 1978, as the rights to the Human Torch had been sold elsewhere. An assistant to the Fantastic Four, he joined the comic books in 1979 courtesy of John Byrne, but has always had a relatively minor role. Today’s Fantastic Four #33 may be his biggest and best story, ahead of his appearance in The Fantastic Four: First Steps film, voiced by Matthew Wood. Of which, yes, there is a new trailer out today…

FANTASTIC FOUR #33
(W) Ryan North (A) Smith, Cory (CA) Joshua Cassara
FANTASTIC ZERO! It all comes down to this! Thirty-three issues of fantastic adventure culminate in a final stirring adventure, back to the beginning…of EVERYTHING. When the solution to what Doom did to Ben can only be found in the past, the Fantastic Four must voyage back four hundred and thirty-six quadrillion seconds into the Big Bang! Of course, the tremendous energies there make it unsurvivable – unless H.E.R.B.I.E. is in control of the precise timing required. Action, adventure and big ideas collide in this special finale issue – which leads into our even more special new #1 issue, coming next month! Rated TIn Shops: Jun 25, 2025 SRP: $3.99

“}]] Marvel just published a H.E.R.B.I.E. comic that will break your heart by Ryan North and Cory Smith (Spoilers, but not many)  Read More