Fantastic Four by Waid & Wieringo: Unthinkable

One of the greatest creative pairings on FANTASTIC FOUR since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo brought Marvel’s First Family into a golden era - and straight into one of their most monumental showdowns with the greatest foe, Doctor Doom!

The Fantastic Four’s arch-nemesis, Doctor Doom, has leveled up by doing the unthinkable! But what great sacrifice did Doom make to gain his frightful power -- and his terrifying new armor? Victor strikes at the very heart of Marvel’s First Family by targeting the children of Reed and Sue Richards. To save Franklin and Valeria from their fates, the FF must fight harder than ever before -- and Mister Fantastic, ever the scientist, must force himself to learn and believe in magic! Even if they survive this deadly encounter, the emotional scars left will not be gone anytime soon -- so what can the Thing do to help?

COLLECTING: Fantastic Four (1998) 67-70, 500-502

New York Times best-selling author Mark Waid has worked for every major company in the comics industry in a nearly three-decade-long career, writing thousands of issues, including runs of Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, Ka-Zar and Fantastic Four. His other works of note include his collaboration with painter Alex Ross on Kingdom Come, which earned an Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. Waid enjoyed his greatest outpouring of critical acclaim with the Eisner Award-winning Daredevil -- which included a revered collaboration with frequent artistic partner Chris Samnee. He later took on such diverse pop-cultural icons as Princess Leia and Archie, and ushered in a new era of greatness for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in All-New, All-Different Avengers. His Marvel work continued with Avengers, Black Widow, Captain America, Champions and Doctor Strange.

The late Mike Wieringo established himself as one of the leading artists in the comic-book industry with his work with writer Mark Waid on DC’s Flash during a run that included the debut of Impulse. Wieringo’s continued collaboration with Waid brought him to Fantastic Four in 2002; the pair kicked off their tenure with a history-making nine-cent first issue. Wieringo’s ability to translate dynamic action to the comic-book page made him uniquely suited to launch Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in 2005 with writer Peter David.