Mark Waid Era (2002-Present) Mark Waid took over as writer of Fantastic Four with a great boost: Marvel gave his first issue, #60, the price of only 9 cents to encourage new readers -- and to beat DC's previous successful promotion, Batman: The 10-Cent Adventure. Many readers were cynical, and expectations ran high. Nonetheless, the general response was good, if not stellar: Waid, along with artwork that felt light as a feather, seemed to re-infuse the title with a sense of wonder and joy, not so much returning the team to a sense of wondrous exploration as creating that wonderous sense anew for a new age. The title would soon be the site of another first for Marvel: it would become the first relaunched Marvel title to revert to its original numbering, doing so upon reaching #500. Although billed as the first Marvel #500, Thor (originally Journey into Mystery) had reached that mark years before, though that title's own relaunch obscured this fact. The renumbering of Fantastic Four stemmed from Marvel's ongoing repudiation of the past wholescale rebooting of Marvel titles. The relaunched title would see no #71; #500 followed #70. During Waid's run, Marvel launched their "Tsunami" line of supposedly manga-influenced new ongoings mostly focused on teenagers. Three of these new ongoings were loosely a part of the Fantastic Four franchise. Namor, launched with a 25-cent promotional first issue, was set in Namor's youth and was cowritten by Andi Watson and Marvel President Bill Jemas. Inhumans focused on a group of young Inhumans in America for the first time. A new Human Torch series focused on the youthful character with a art showing a manga influence. A few months later, a new Silver Surfer series was launched as well -- although, thank the gods, without a manga influence. Despite the promotional events surrounding the title, Fantastic Four would quickly become the subject of some controversy. In the summer of 2003, word broke that Marvel had fired Mark Waid from the title. Little explanation seemed to have been given, and Waid's version of events focused on ridiculous demands by Marvel to transform the book into a family sitcom, which he was unwilling to do. According to Waid, Marvel President Bill Jemas was to cowrite the book and turn it into a suburban comedy; for his part, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada publicly denied the claim. Aided by the internet, controversy immediately broke, with thousands -- including some who had liked the promotional issue but were not regularly reading the title -- protesting the firing, praising Waid's work on the title as a noteworthy reinvigoration. While Whereas Waid remained on the title to finish his last storyline, artist Mike Wieringo quickly left in protest. Playwright Roberto Aguierre-Sacasa, unfamiliar to comics readers, was named as taking over the title with #509, and rumors swirled that Marvel was trying to replace high-paid creators with lower-paid ones. As it became clear that what Waid had heard about the title's new direction was not accurate (or was no longer accurate), his firing seemed to make even less sense. As Waid put it, I have no idea what's going on. According to Joe [Quesada]'s letter, they're not doing what I thought they were doing. But if that's not what I'm not doing, then why was I fired? I've been told I don't understand what the new direction is, so now I'm even more confused as to why I was fired. (Wizard #0, cover-dated September 2003, page 28) Then, in early October 2003, Marvel reversed itself, apparently responding to fans' sentiments. Mark Waid would stay, and Mike Wieringo would return to the title. Roberto Aguierre-Sacasa and his artist would not scrap their work: they would be the starting team on a new ongoing title, entitled simply 4 and published through the Marvel Knights division (formerly headed by Quesada). This, combined with the launch of Ultimate Fantastic Four, suggested a renaissance of for the franchise, at least in terms of titles published. Not experiencing a renaissance was the Tsunami line of new manga-influenced ongoings, which in general debuted strongly but quickly saw strong drops in sales. Black covers with metalic ink, given to each title's seventh issue or so, failed to attract attention to this flood of new, fairly lackluster material. Namor, which had experienced a number of artistic changes in its short run, was cancelled with #12. Inhumans closely followed, also ending with #12. Human Torch, which had failed to catch fire, concluded the following month, also with #12.

IMAGE	TITLE	DESCRIPTION	STATUS
Fantastic Four (third series) #60-70, 500-520: Mark Waid script
Fantastic Four (third series) #60-64, 67-70, 500: Mike Wieringo pencils; Karl Kesel inks
	Fantastic Four (third series) #60	"Inside Out"; reveals that Mr. Fantastic promotes the Fantastic Four's celebrity, complete with costumes, out of guilt for his misjudgment in launching the flight that would have otherwise made the team freaks; promotionally priced at 9 cents; cover-dated October 2002 [READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	1
	Fantastic Four (third series) #61	"24 Blocks and One Blockhead"; the Thing has a lead on the Yancy Street Gang's pranks, revealed to secretly have been Johnny Storm's all along; Sue Storm gives her brother Johnny responsibility by making him the chief financial officer of Fantastic Four, Inc. [READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	0
Fantastic Four (third series) #62-64: "Sentient" storyline
	Fantastic Four (third series) #62	a being created through Reed Richard's PDA materializes and batters Sue and Ben, destroying Sue's arm [READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #63	Johnny arranges to give unstable molecules to a company to make uniforms for police and firefighters [READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #64	the mathematical being is defeated	0
Fantastic Four (third series) #65-66: "Small Stuff..." storyline; Mark Buckingham pencils; unknown inks
	Fantastic Four (third series) #65	as Mr. Fantastic slightly shrinks the Thing to battle a giant cockroach-like creature (that got into the Baxter Building in #60), Johnny Storm's plan to give a corporation unstable molecules is revealed to be a sting, except that the unstable molecules begin to destroy the corporate skyscraper in which they were housed	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #66	as Mr. Fantastic and the Thing send the giant cockroach back into its dimension, Johnny Storm gets Sue to use her forcefields to seal off the skyscraper and its expanding unstable molecules; Johnny is promoted to comanage Fantastic Four, Inc., giving him control over the Thing's allowance	0
	Fantastic Four Vol. 1: Imaginauts	collects Fantastic Four (third series) #56, 60-66; also includes Mark Waid's proposal for his run on the series; uses the cover to #60 as its cover	1
	Fantastic Four (third series) #67	Doctor Doom traces down Valeria, his old lover from before he travelled to the U.S. to study; Doom gets a new costume and magical powers [READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #68	baby Val's first spoken word is "Doom"; Franklin Richards is teleported to Hell	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #69	Doom controls baby Val; the four fly to Latveria and confront Doom	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #70	the Fantastic Four surrender to Doom, who has them tortured	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #500	Mr. Fantastic learns some magic from Dr. Strange; the Fantastic Four send Doom to Hell and rescue Franklin from there, but Reed's face is scarred; the series's numbering changes, adding all three series together as (if the numbering had never been rebooted); the first Marvel title to officially be numbered #500 or greater (and the first to be renumbered in this fashion)	0
Fantastic Four (third series) #501-502: Casey Jones art
	Fantastic Four (third series) #501	as Sue and Ben take a traumatized Franklin out, Johnny takes Reed and baby Val to Doom's adolescence as if to kill the villain	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #502	as the Thing helps Franklin cope with a dangerous world, Reed gets some of Doom's hair before returning to the present with Johnny and baby Val	0
	Fantastic Four Vol. 2: Unthinkable	collects Fantastic Four (third series) #67-70, 500-502; also includes scripts or art from altered scenes from these issues, Mike Wieringo's designs for Doctor Doom's new costume, a page showing the process of a page's development (from script to final version), (obviously phony) movie-like "outtakes" from these issues, text from Stan Lee's original synopsis for Fantastic Four (first series) #1, a two-page cartoon by Fred Hembeck on the Fantastic Four's history, and three pages of miniaturized covers from the title's history; uses the cover to #500 as its cover	1
Fantastic Four (third series) #503-508: "Authoritative Action" storyline
Fantastic Four (third series) #503-508: Howard Porter pencils; Norm Rapmund inks; Tony Harris & Tom Feister cover
	Fantastic Four (third series) #503	securing Doctor Doom's weapons in Latveria, the Fantastic Four face an angry Latverian population	1
	Fantastic Four (third series) #504	Reed convinces the team about his occupation of Latveria, revealing Doom's stockpile of weaponry	1
	Fantastic Four (third series) #505	Reed speaks to the people; Ben challenges Reed about their actions; Doombots, controlled by Reed, take out Ben and Johnny	1
	Fantastic Four (third series) #506	various nation's armies -- including the U.S.'s -- surround Latveria; Ben, Johnny, and Sue battle Doombots controlled by Reed in the street, securing the people's trust; when the others leave to talk to Nick Fury, Reed writes a goodbye letter; published on Wednesday, 12 November 2003	1
	Fantastic Four (third series) #507	Reed imprisons himself and Doom, but the other three break in, freeing Doom, who possesses Sue Storm	1
	Fantastic Four (third series) #508	the team battles Sue Storm, possessed by Doctor Doom; to defeat Dr. Doom, Ben Grimm is killed; six weeks later, with the team's patents confiscated by the government, Reed tells Sue that he plans to bring Ben back to life; cover-dated February 2004	1
	Fantastic Four Vol. 3: Authoritative Action	collects Fantastic Four (third series) #503-508	0
Fantastic Four (third series) #509-520: no art data entered
Fantastic Four (third series) #509-511: "Hereafter" storyline
	Fantastic Four (third series) #509	cover-dated March 2004; published on Wednesday, 21 January 2004	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #510		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #511		0
Fantastic Four (third series) #512-513: "Spider Sense" storyline
sans titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Fantastic Four (third series) #512	Spider-Man appears	0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #513		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #514		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #515		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #516		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #517		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #518		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #519		0
	Fantastic Four (third series) #520		0
MISCELLANEOUS
Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules #1-4: no data entered
	Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules #1	[READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	0
	Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules #2	[READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	0
	Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules #3	[READ MATT MARTIN'S REVIEW]	0
	Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules #4		0
4 #1-4: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa script; no art data entered; Steve McNiven cover
4 #1-4: "Wolf at the Door" storyline
	4 #1		0
	4 #2		0
	4 #3		0
	4 #4		0
4 #5-12: no data entered
sans titles or indicia Larger Version Available	4 #5		0
	4 #6		0
	4 #7		0
	4 #8		0
	4 #9		0
	4 #10		0
	4 #11		0
	4 #12	no final issue known	0
HUMAN TORCH
Human Torch #1-6, 8-12: no data entered
	Human Torch #1	published as part of Marvel's Tsunami line of new, manga-influenced launches	0
	Human Torch #2		0
	Human Torch #3		0
	Human Torch #4		0
	Human Torch #5		0
	Human Torch #6		0
Human Torch #7: Karl Kesel script; Skottie Young pencils; Joe Seung inks; no cover-data entered
	Human Torch #7	features a black cover with a special metalic ink; cover-dated January 2004	1
	Human Torch #8		0
	Human Torch #9		0
	Human Torch #10		0
	Human Torch #11		0
sans titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Human Torch #12	final issue	0
INHUMANS
Inhumans (fourth series) #1-6, 9-12: no data entered
	Inhumans (fourth series) #1	published as part of Marvel's Tsunami line of new, manga-influenced launches	0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #2		0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #3		0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #4		0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #5		0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #6		0
Inhumans (fourth series) #7-8: Sean McKeever script; Robert Teranishi pencils; Nelson inks
	Inhumans (fourth series) #7	features a black cover with a special metalic ink; cover-dated January 2004	1
	Inhumans (fourth series) #8		1
Inhumans (fourth series) #9-12: "No Matter the Cost" storyline
	Inhumans (fourth series) #9		0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #10		0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #11		0
	Inhumans (fourth series) #12	final issue	0
NAMOR
Namor #1-12: Andi Watson & Bill Jemas writing; takes place when Namor was young
Namor #1: Salvador Larroca pencils; Danny Miki inks
	Namor #1	in the early 1920s, a boy Namor meets Sandra, a human, gets hugged by his Mom, and helps Atlanteans fish; years later, Namor confronts a shark; promotionally priced at 25 cents; published as part of Marvel's Tsunami line of new, manga-influenced launches; cover-dated June 2003	1
Namor #2-12: no art data entered
	Namor #2		0
	Namor #3		0
	Namor #4		0
	Namor #5		0
	Namor #6		0
	Namor #7		0
	Namor #8		0
	Namor #9		0
	Namor #10		0
	Namor #11		0
	Namor #12	final issue	0
SILVER SURFER
Silver Surfer #1-10: no data entered
Silver Surfer #1-6: "Communion" storyline
	Silver Surfer #1		0
	Silver Surfer #2		0
	Silver Surfer #3		0
	Silver Surfer #4		0
	Silver Surfer #5		0
	Silver Surfer #6		0
	Silver Surfer #7		0
sans titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Silver Surfer #8		0
	Silver Surfer #9		0
	Silver Surfer #10	no last issue known	0

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