Fantastic Four Annual #9
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four Annual #9 is a window into Marvel's early-Bronze Age reprint strategy, packaging three of the most narratively dense Kirby-era stories into a single king-size volume for readers who had missed them the first time around. Its centerpiece reprint — 'Bedlam at the Baxter Building!' from FF Annual #3 — was the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, one of the most ambitious shared-universe set-pieces Marvel had published to that point, assembling virtually every hero and villain on the roster in one story. The inclusion of 'Lo, There Shall Be an Ending!' (FF #43), the climax of a multi-part Frightful Four arc in which the Thing breaks free of brainwashing and rejoins the team, gave newer 1971 readers access to a pivotal character-restoration moment they would otherwise need expensive back issues to find. As part of a run of Annuals (7–10) that contained no original material, this issue reflects the era's publishing reality: reprints in oversized formats were a practical and affordable way to circulate the Lee-Kirby canon to a growing audience.
"Bedlam at the Baxter Building!" brings chaos to the most iconic wedding in superhero history as Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl host their celebration—only for Doctor Doom to unleash his Emotion Charger, turning a joyous occasion into a full-scale siege by a horde of super-villains. With the Baxter Building under attack, the Fantastic Four and their allies must defend the wedding feast from an onslaught of villainy, all while the fate of the event hangs in the balance.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 18 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $5–$54.99 18 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Published with a December 1971 cover date under Stan Lee's editorship, the issue was part of a stretch of FF Annuals — numbers 7 through 10 — that Marvel filled entirely with reprint material rather than commissioning new stories. The cover itself is a reprint of the Jack Kirby/Vince Colletta cover from Fantastic Four #43 (1965), and all interior art credits trace back to the original Lee-Kirby-era creative teams. A minor production footnote: the letterer credit on the lead story has been revised by comics historian Nick Caputo, who in 2012 attributed the lettering to Sam Rosen rather than Artie Simek, as originally indexed.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Published December 1971 by Marvel Comics; also marketed as 'King-Size Special #9,' making the 'Annual' designation semi-informal.
- Contains zero original material — the issue is composed entirely of three reprints from the Lee-Kirby era.
- Story 1: 'Lo, There Shall Be an Ending!' — reprinted from Fantastic Four #43 (1965); script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta; features the FF vs. the Frightful Four (Wizard, Sandman, Trapster, Medusa) and the Thing's return to the team after being brainwashed.
- Story 2: 'The Bouncing Ball of Doom!' — reprinted from Strange Tales #131 (1965); script by Stan Lee, pencils by Bob Powell, inks by Dick Ayers; pits the FF against the Mad Thinker.
- Story 3: 'Bedlam at the Baxter Building!' — reprinted from Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965); script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta; the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, featuring a massive Marvel Universe crossover cast including the Avengers, X-Men, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Nick Fury, among many others.
- The cover is itself a reprint of the Kirby/Colletta cover from Fantastic Four #43, not an original piece commissioned for this annual.
- Annuals #7 through #10 in the Fantastic Four series all lacked original content — a publishing pattern confirmed across multiple collector reference sources.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Strange Tales #131 (1965), Fantastic Four #43 (1965), Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965)
Key issues in Fantastic Four Annual
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.