"Invasion From The 5th Dimension!"

With writer Roy Thomas back in the driver's seat following Gerry Conway's twenty-month stay on Fantastic Four, artist Rich Buckler continued to make his mark on the title, handing both writers a number of successful tales to work with in a run which lasted over two years (though taking a break for a few issues). One of the earliest of those tales was just after Thomas had re-dipped his toes in the FF's waters by joining Len Wein to wrap up the Dr. Doom/Silver Surfer plot which had entangled the team; from there, Thomas moved to guest-starring the uncanny Inhumans, along with a villain who had the misfortune of crossing paths with one of the FF well over a decade before.

In the 1975 two-part tale, Zemu is dusted off and instead reintroduced as "Xemu," though you can continue to pronounce them the same, courtesy of the dizzying spin applied to the error by the letters page armadillo tasked with explaining it away:

(TBH, I happen to prefer "Xemu," though I can't bring myself to high-five the writer of that response when they couldn't cough up a simple "Oops" and leave it at that.)

Yet aside from the threat Xemu poses, in the spirit of FYI there are a number of takeaways from this story which are notable. For one, it marks the end of Medusa's lengthy stay in the book as a member of the FF, instated by Thomas as a replacement for Sue Richards just after the team helped the Inhumans come to terms with their personal shame in the form of the construct called Omega; in addition, Medusa's departure not only coincides with Sue's decision to return to the team, but also with Johnny Storm's decision to return to his original blue costume, having adopted the costume colors of his namesake, the android Torch, at the same time Medusa had decided to join the team.  (Though Johnny's later decision to do an about-face on his costume choice actually had more to do with the real-life editorial decision implemented to avoid confusion in regard to the reappearance of the original Torch in The Avengers.)

On a more humorous note, Ben Grimm, the Thing, once more is cajoled into attending the opera with his lady, Alicia Masters--and as we can see in a comparison with a prior story from 1963, the circumstances he encounters after the performance are equally disagreeable.

While Johnny finds that, where women are concerned, clothes don't necessarily make the man:

And do you remember when Sue was toying with the idea of becoming a private eye?

A line of work she appears to have a talent for, as seen in her 2019 series where she flies solo as a secret agent--an occupation made retroactive to shortly after she gained her force field powers.  But the scene actually appears to be more of a nod to recent letters that wanted Sue to be more of a force in her own right post-reconciliation with Reed, with one letter's response hinting at a new development for her:  "...in the next issue or two, ... you'll see Sue begin a whole new career--the last one you ever thought she'd pick!"  Apparently toying with the idea was as far as it went.

Other items of interest include the fact that the Baxter Building has had a secret entrance all this time, which either Quicksilver, the Inhumans, or their foe have knowledge about:

It also turns out that Quicksilver is now considered an Inhuman, by decree and by himself:

Yet as to the main story, regrettably you'll find that it lifts a good deal of its content from an earlier FF two-parter from 1969 while simply replacing the threat of Maximus with Zemu Xemu. Though where Maximus achieved his goal from the use of hypno-potions, Xemu, while no stranger to deposing rulers through the use of force, makes good use of dimensional transport to bypass any perimeter defenses which the Inhumans have in place and basically take the royal family by complete surprise.

Game and set to Xemu, who rightly basks in his victory here despite the Inhumans' protestations. But what does he hope to gain by installing himself as ruler of the Inhumans' refuge/city? It turns out the Inhumans are merely the means to an end in regard to Xemu's ambitions--plans which will see fruition with the aid of a "saser" weapon designed to amplify sound, thanks to a power source which will undeniably make Xemu a danger to the entire planet.

To force Black Bolt's cooperation, Xemu uses Quicksilver to retrieve the one person whose safety Black Bolt values beyond all others--the very same Medusa, currently in America with the Fantastic Four. (Xemu has certainly done his homework on the Inhumans.) But upon arrival, a brief skirmish with the Human Torch destroys Pietro's means of communication with Xemu, and thus his return transportation--and against Pietro's objections, the FF insist on accompanying both himself and Medusa back to the refuge using their NASA ICBM.

And if you're wondering about the confusing back-and-forth between Reed and Sue in that scene, our letters page armadillo seems to be working overtime on this issue.

So what are the parallels we have between this story and its 1969 "model" so far? Well, Maximus needs no cooperation from Black Bolt beyond his captivity; but leaving nothing to chance, he decides that he cannot risk allowing any of the royal family to remain free and possibly threaten his rule. And so it's Crystal, Medusa's sister and predecessor as a member of the FF, who must be retrieved--and in place of Quicksilver, we have the Alpha Primitives, transported by Lockjaw into the FF's midst, who surprise and hold off the FF long enough to succeed in their goal of returning to the Refuge with the FF's Inhuman member.

Nor does Maximus delay in unveiling his own super-weapon which will further his goal of conquest--which, like Xemu's, starts with Earth and will extend to the universe.

And yet this story has only begun to tap the earlier Lee/Kirby story for its material.

(But don't think that's going to keep Xemu from pulling the trigger!)

NEXT:

"Havoc In The Hidden Land!"