Concept introduction: the "fill in" issue

Every once in a while, the creative team gets a little full of itself and decides it needs some time off either because a) they have overcommitted themselves and cannot meet all deadlines, b) they have overworked themselves and cannot keep up, or c) their names are Art Adams and they need about a year to do one issue of something anyway. We readers of the Fantastic Four are a fortunate lot. We have had to deal with very few fill in issues. The major writers of the Fantastic Four have been such tireless engines of creativity that they could never afford to take a break (although the occasional guest penciller has found himself surprised to be there).

Unfortunately, Walt Simonson's tenure on the Fantastic Four brought us several of these fill in issues. Take this one for example, since it is really quite a poor story. Here we are faced with Kubik and Kosmos, two of Marvel's no-personality "cosmic entities" who are able to channel interstellar energies at levels powerful enough to curl Don King's hair, and, as such, therefore believe themselves to be the superior of the human race. I don't know about you, but I really want to wretch when these creative voids materialize into the pages of my favorite comic book. In this story, they materialize in order to run a goofy test on the Fantastic Four, wherein they strip each member of the Fantastic Four of a personality trait, except Reed, whom they strip of his intelligence. Johnny loses his aggressiveness, the Thing his courage, the Invisible Woman her compassion. In the course of the experiment, the fan foursome are forced to overcome obstacles by adopting new personality traits. Ben develops compassion, Sue courage, and Reed aggressiveness. Johnny inexplicably develops vast intelligence, which he uses to get the drop on Kubik and Kosmos, exposing them as the manipulators of the experiment. Apparently, the writer knows very little about the genetic factors that develop one's intelligence quotient, in addition to the knowledge required to solve such a problem in the first place. Then again, what's to know about two cosmic cookies like those losers?

Hey, hey, this used to be the Beyonder. No, really. You know those sections of the original series of Fantastic Four annuals that you never read? The ones that are boring and have nothing to do with the Fantastic Four? Well, in one of those, the male Beyonder (who had become another universe at one point because he was bored) decided to become female and learn more about the universe. It's hard to fault his logic since I've always felt that if I could figure out women, I would know more about the universe, too.

Anyway, Kubik turns out to be a similar entity, having evolved from a cosmic cube like Kosmos now believes she did. So Kubik takes it upon himself to educate his fellow being in the ways of the universe. Now I would just as soon never see these characters again, but if I had to do so, I would like to see "Kosmos" wake up one day, realize he/she was fooled by a clever Kubik, become the evil Beyonder again, and kick the ass of every one of these "cosmic" nobodies so that I would never have to read about them again. Well, except Galactus. He's got a cool hat.