Oddly, there were TWO Fantastic Four annuals in 1998. The first one, here, was “X-Men/Fantastic Four Annual 98” and it followed the theme of the ’98 annuals, which was to team up two series.
This is the second annual, just about the FF. And it arrives at a time when their main comic is not doing well. But the creative team is different, and their both very, very talented, so let’s keep an open mind, shall we?
It’s (another!) alternate reality version of the FF meeting the FF. These stories are usually tiresome, but the idea in this one is that the team was created in 1961 but time actually moved forward–unlike the 616 which uses what they call a “sliding timescale” that basically means people don’t age but time moves forward. It’s very confusing in the 616.
It’s a cool idea for an alternate universe.
And it starts with a midnight snack.
Beyond that, it’s fun read with no impact on continuity, and in the end it’s unclear if any of it really happened or if it was just Thing’s bad dream brought on by eating a bad sandwich.