Synopsis
Galactus is dying of indigestion because he ate 5 immortal Elders Of The Universe. So he sent Silver Surfer, Invisible Woman and Mr Fantastic to retrieve the 6 Soul Gems which had fallen through a black hole along with 3 other Elders. Complications in the last 2 issues ended with the 3 flying back with the Gems into the black hole in the spaceship Galactus had provided. But then In-Betweener popped up to claim that he had orchestrated the whole thing so that he got hold of the Gems.
Mr and Mrs Richards lie unconscious with 5 of the Gems scattered round them. Silver Surfer faces In-Betweener who has the 6th Gem on his brow - the Soul Gem once worn by Adam Warlock which can steal souls. SS blasts him to no avail because as he says he's only a concept created by other concepts, Lord Chaos and Master Order. He lies between those opposites and other dualities like life and death, good and evil, reality and illusion. And now he has the Gems in the hole between 2 realities. Suddenly he says he can't breathe. But then he adds that he doesn't need to so it's useless Sue Richards enclosing him in a force field. We see that now that they've left the magic dimension she is no longer Malice under the influence of Chaos, and Reed isn't an unfeeling slave of Order.
Surfer asks IB what he plans to do. He replies that he was born in the magic dimension they've just been in, on the other side of the black hole to Surfer's universe. But now he'll pass through and have a whole new universe to bring to balance. And he'll leave the 3 heroes in the magic world. At that point the 3 Elders (Astronomer, Possessor and Trader) pop in and reveal that they were in cahoots with the In-Betweener. And now they're going home too. For his part IB has agreed to kill Galactus for them, thus fulfilling the plan the EOTU attempted in #7-10 which will end 'our' reality and usher in a new 1 in which the Elders will take Galactus' place. (Presumably IB will survive into that too.) Trader gathers up to other 5 Soul Gems and In-Betweener takes them away.
Sue is of course worried because they left their young son Franklin Richards on Galactus' spaceship in the care of his Herald Nova (their friend Frankie Raye). Reed reminds her that Nova and Franklin have their own powers. And anyway he has a plan. 1st they repair some damage to their ship and then he'll put it into action.
But meanwhile the foes have traversed the black hole and emerged in sight of Galactus' ship. Frank spots them and Nova tells him to hide where Galactus is in the most heavily fortified centre of the ship. Then she sends out the Punisher robot (from Fantastic Four #49 and other places) who starts to beat the IB up. He suffers the beating while he analyses the robot and then summons its direct opposite. And the 2 life-forms annihilate each other. Then they enter Galactus' ship and Trader uses the power of his 5 Gems to defeat Nova.
Then on to the dying Galactus. They ignore little Franklin who knows he can't stand up to them because he sealed most of his own power away until he's old enough to control it (in FF#245). In-Betweener intends to kill Big G, not just because he promised the Elders but because in this universe G stands between Death and Eternity as IB stands between Chaos and Order in the other reality - and he doesn't want the competition. So he bathes Galactus in his power to summon his opposite to cancel him out. But it doesn't work and he realises that Big G is unique in having no counterbalance.
However In-Betweener doesn't want him here in this universe so he intends to send him through the black hole to the other universe. But the Elders can't accept this because their 5 brother Elders are still inside Big G. (They don't mention that they need Galactus killed to end this reality.) IB says he's done what he can to honour his pledge to them so now he's free to do what *he* wants. Trader threatens him with their 5 Soul Gems (to IB's 1). But IB counters by summoning Death, the 1 force that can 'negate' them. Astronomer points out that they can't be killed because Death has vowed not to accept them into her realm. IB says that his summoning overrides that, and Death is compelled to kill them. IB then sends Death away but it seems she's not going to forget this. Then IB sends the spherical spaceship containing dying Galactus, young Franklin Richards and unconscious Nova through the black hole ...
... where it's spotted by Sue Richards who's concerned for her son. Then Reed puts his plan into action. He contacts Silver Surfer a long way away, and SS and the Richards' ship both simultaneously generate a very bright light. And Master Order and Lord Chaos come to investigate this unusual occurrence. Surfer announces himself and friends as visitors from the universe of Death and Eternity. Chaos and Order say they know them but they aren't important here. So Norrin Radd tells them of the actions of their minion In-Betweener.
Meanwhile Reed and Sue have docked their spaceship inside Galactus' enormous 1. They find Big G but no sign of Frank or Nova. Then Surfer joins them with the 2 Gods outside the ship. The Gods bathe Galactus with their emanations. Inside G the 5 consumed Elders (Champion, Collector, Gardener, Grandmaster and Runner) feel convulsions, then a maelstrom, then a constriction and a tunnel leading to an opening, and emerge from Big G's mouth (thanks to the Comics Code). And they're closely followed by Frankie Raye carrying Frank(lin) Richards. It seems Frank used his dream power to find them the safest place, inside Galactus. But now Galan has recovered and is eager for revenge on the In-Betweener.
Characters:
Plus: Astronomer, Champion, Elders Of The Universe, In-Betweener, Lord Chaos, Master Order, Nova (
Frankie Raye), Possessor (
Kamo Tharnn), Runner, Trader.