STORY: "Dark Destiny" (22 pages)  The X-Men and the Fantastic Four defeat the Z'Nox by banishing their planet to the "Distortion Zone."

What you need to know:
Marvel Girl has a vision in which she turns into Dark Phoenix and starts killing the other heroes, but it stops after a few pages and fades from memory.  We then proceed with the scheduled Z'Nox story.  The point of this is presumably to establish that Jean was always of particular interest to the Phoenix Force, and perhaps try and strengthen the idea that she was destined to become linked to Phoenix.  Ultimately, it doesn't have much wider impact.

For some reason we get a one-page subplot scene with Sue Richards and Agatha Harkness discussing a "disturbance" - apparently something to do with Agatha sensing Phoenix.  This doesn't really add anything to the story, except perhaps to explain why Sue isn't with the Fantastic Four at this point in their history.

The Z'Nox end up banished to the "Distortion Zone", which is the buffer between the Marvel Universe proper and the Negative Zone.  This is apparently a humane solution, since the Z'Nox will have plenty of energy there to feed on, but nobody else to attack.

In Illinois, ten-year-old Ashley Martin is approached by a Sentinel, setting up a subplot which continues for the next several issues.

Once again we have a page of Candy Southern at the mansion with Professor X, still foreshadowing the Angel storyline which starts in issue #13.  Down in the Savage Land, Bobby is still an amnesiac, in a scene which appears to serve simply as a reminder that the subplot is ongoing.

The hidden number #75 is, again, apparently obscured by lettering.

Comments:
An odd story which doesn't really work.  It starts off teasing something big about Phoenix, but then drops it like a stone and goes back to the Z'Nox story as if nothing had happened.  Since nothing is really achieved, it ends up seeming terribly gratuitous.

As for the Z'Nox, while the basic idea makes perfect sense, the actual story seems to be going through the motions.  Bizarrely, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four manage to invade the Z'Nox planet without encountering a single Z'Nox - although they do fight a giant lizard thing simply because there was one in X-Men vol 1 #65.  The basic problem here is that the Z'Nox aren't really present in the story as characters or opponents, so the heroes just waltz in, beat up a reptile security guard, do what they came to do, and leave.  It feels as though something's missing.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X, Cyclops, the Beast and Marvel Girl I

GUEST STARS
The Fantastic Four: Mr Fantastic, Crystal, the Human Torch and the Thing (all next in Amazing Adventures vol 2 #1)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Ashley Martin (first appearance; next in flashback in issue #11)
Candy Southern and Iceman

VILLAINS
The Z'Nox (next in Amazing Spider-Man vol 2 #23)
Sauron (last in issue #7)

GUEST APPEARANCES
The Invisible Girl and Franklin Richards (both between Fantastic Four #101 and Amazing Adventures vol 2 #2)
Agatha Harkness (between Fantastic Four #94 and #103)
The Phoenix Force (behind the scenes; next in the back-up strip in Classic X-Men #8)

Written: 27 February 2006

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