As members of the Fantastic Four, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm spent much of their heroic careers working with the smartest person in the Marvel Universe, Reed Richards. But in the aftermath of 2015's Secret Wars, half of the FF disappeared, leaving the Thing and Human Torch leaderless. Now, after dealing with their grief over their missing family, the pair are ready to reunite -- and there's a new smartest person in the Marvel Universe to give them orders. Unfortunately for them, Lunella Lafayette, the star of Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, is only nine years old.

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In Issue #25, writer Brandon Montclare and artist Natacha Bustos kicked off the series' Marvel Legacy arc, “Fantastic Three,” which began with Ben and Johnny seeking Lunella out. The storyline quickly became a celebration and exploration of the legacy of the Fantastic Four. CBR spoke with Montclare about the arc, the classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby era FF characters that will appear in it, and the role Devil Dinosaur and Lunella's parents will play in the series moving forward.

CBR: It was clear that you had a great time playing with a lot of the classic Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four elements in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #25.

Brandon Montclare: Things like Legacy are one of the big reasons I did Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. When Amy [Reeder, Montclare's original co-writer] and I were first working on the book, we were already doing Rocket Girl together. Marvel were fans of Rocket Girl and wanted us to bring some of that to their universe. So, from my perspective, this was an opportunity to play with all the toys.

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It wasn't just, “I'll create a new character in Moon Girl and we'll have this different thing and different angle.” All of that ended up happening, which was great. But the reason you really do this is so that you can be part of the Marvel Universe. So I grab at any opportunity to play with all the Marvel stuff. Sometimes I wonder if it's a little too much—if I should be focusing more on Moon Girl and less on things like guest appearances. But it's been a lot of fun.

When we first discussed Legacy, we didn’t know how we’d make Moon Girl fit. Ideas went back and forth. At some point, using the Fantastic Four became an option, so I jumped at the chance! I had used the Thing in an earlier arc of the series and had some ideas about tying Lunella into the missing Fantastic Four. So a few of those got revived. Human Torch got added to the mix. And pretty soon the team was off to the races.

I thought there was a natural connection to the Fantastic Four. Especially when Marvel allowed us to make Moon Girl the smartest person in the Marvel Universe. Plus there’s the Kirby connection through Devil Dinosaur. Again, this arc has been all the reasons I wanted to do a book at Marvel. It was a lot of fun to connect to the history.

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Ben and Johnny are Lunella's current adventuring partners, but Devil's name is still on the book and Moon Girl still thinks about and even misses him. Is there hope that he may return some day?

His name is in the title just to simplify the Diamond ordering process, but you’ll notice he’s not on the covers any more. Lunella sent Devil Dinosaur back to his own time at the end of #23. She thought that was the right decision, but it's tearing her apart. That's why she's been looking for new partners. She misses Devil Dinosaur, but right now it's all about the new team and what's going on with the three of them.

Another interesting thing I got from Lunella's inner monologue in issue #25 was, for such a young kid, she's got a good understanding of who she is and what it means to have friends.

Yeah, a big part of the Moon Girl character is how hard it is for her to connect well to other people. A lot of that Amy Reeder brought to the table. Lunella was always incredibly smart and can figure out a lot of things, but the one thing she couldn't figure out was people. Devil Dinosaur really brought her out of her shell.

So it may look like she's getting better with relationships, but there will always be a part of her that makes interacting difficult. Natacha Bustos and I will always approach her as a bit of an outsider and someone who has trouble fitting in. That's why she's so gruff sometimes. It's a defense mechanism.

Do you think Lunella might be on the Autism Spectrum?

It was an influence on Amy’s contributions. She has a nephew with Autism. But it’s also unsaid, because it’s a very real thing and people deal with them in real ways. Our story doesn’t have enough room to properly focus on such an important topic. So it’s just a background influence. But a lot of people have clocked Lunella’s personality and mannerisms as something you might find on the Autism Spectrum.

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The big shock at the end of #25 is that Galactus has arrived on Earth, but fans of books like The Ultimates know that this is the “Lifebringer” incarnation of Galactus. What's it like writing this version of the character?

It's cool writing the current incarnation of Galactus. Again, I want Moon Girl (especially during Legacy) to be part of the Marvel Universe. While it's fun to do a throwback to Fantastic Four #48 with Silver Surfer and Galactus, it's equally nice to say we're in the Marvel Universe of 2017. So things have been flipped. But if you read issues #26-27, you'll see that the more things change, the more they stay the same!

This new Galactus still has old habits, and he’s become a team with Silver Surfer, without either of them planning on it. Working with their current versions is also an opportunity to forward the Legacy theme for these two important Marvel characters. The arc touches on how they used to be versus how they are now.

It was fun to see these all powerful cosmic figures and entities come to Moon Girl's neighborhood.

Yeah, we enjoyed that. In a lot of ways Moon Girl is the spiritual successor to Mister Fantastic. A lot of “Fantastic Three” is how Moon Girl interprets Reed Richards' legacy. Galactus has a lot of reasons to remember Reed Richards too! So this giant golden god will be judging the new and old Smartest There Are.

The arrival of both Galactus and the Silver Surfer suggests the Earth is in dire peril. What else can you tell us about the action and stakes of “Fantastic Three?”

Yes, this is the biggest threat Lunella has ever faced—a lot like the first time Galactus came to Earth. This time Galactus and the Silver Surfer come to warn that something even bigger and more cosmically destructive is coming.

It's a mystery as to why this new cosmic creature approaches. Some of the signs point to the Fantastic Four being the cause. Lunella has to get to the bottom of it, or it’s the end of the world! It's sort of a double whammy. What is this force greater than Galactus that's threatening Earth, and what does the Fantastic Four have to do with it? Fantastic Four mythos and old comic books will be important to this story. It's not just about the Thing and the Human Torch being the last two. There's a mystery around the old Fantastic Four. But I can't say too much about that!

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I love that we got to see Lunella's parents interacting with Ben and Johnny in issue #25. What kind of role will they play in this story? And are they starting to come to terms with how important their daughter is to the larger Marvel Universe?

They are still very much in denial, which I think is a fun way to play them. Moon Girl will be on the news saving the world, but sometimes Mom and Dad want to think, “Oh, she's just at school where we dropped her off. And she promised she would never do this type of thing again.”

I really like her parents as characters, but I have to treat them as supporting characters. They evolve a little, but I need them to be largely basic. They’re similar to many parents. Do they really understand what their kid is doing? And do they really understand their kid? They of course love her. They would and have sacrificed everything to protect her. But even prior Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1 and now 25 issues later she's someone they can't always control or protect. So she's going to have to take care of herself. She's also growing up a lot faster than any other nine-year-old.

If you like her parents and the teachers and the locals, they have a larger focus in our next arc of Moon Girl that starts with #31. Right now it’s Legacy--all about Lunella's role in the Marvel Universe. She’s the Smartest There Is and a superhero. Then we'll take a step back and do a more home-spun story after that.

So you want to give Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur a nice balance of being part of the larger Marvel Universe and being able to do its own thing?

Yeah, absolutely. As much as I love the opportunity to write the Silver Surfer I want to write more of her parents too. You can't always do that in the same story though. So our next story will have more of her family. For our readers who want more of them and characters like Eduardo and Zoe and Ms. Dominguez just be patient. No one in our supporting cast is forgotten! Not ever!

Finally, We talked about the fun you're having, but it's clear your collaborator, artist Natacha Bustos is enjoying herself as well. She seems to really be leaning into the Jack Kirby-ness of this arc especially with her depictions of the Silver Surfer.

Natacha is an amazing artist. She can do it all; from a little girl, to a dinosaur, to the Human Torch, the Thing, and Galactus.

As a professional I very much believe that the artist has to come first in the storytelling. That being said, the script is written before the art. So once I get the rough idea of what I want to do with the story, I make sure I include a lot of opportunities for Natacha to take over the comic. Then I circle back and fit that in plot, character, and structure wise. In my mind it's all driven by setting up Natacha to deliver the goods.

She isn't the first person you'd think of when you think of Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four, but that's what made this so cool. She's doing this great mix of the old and the new.

Alithea Martinez is doing the art for issue #26, and it was great to work with her for an issue. And our colorist, Tamra Bonvillain is so important to this book. She brings it all together with a big, golden Galactus and a lot of cosmic stuff going on. It's great to have her because Tamra always adds a lot of pop personality to Moon Girl. Travis Lanham is an unsung hero. Moon Girl does a lot more than the average dialogue and sound effects. We got a T-rex with a catchphrase and who mumbles stuff you sometimes need the reader to interpret. We also use a ton of narration, which has to be put into a flow. Even Locator Caps are an important part of this book. Plus, Travis has to make it play with dialogue between big Dinosaur, bigger Galactus, and biggest Living Planets. It’s a great team. And the people responsible for the team are editors Mark Paniccia and Chris Robinson.

It's a treat doing this book. Because I've had success in the creator owned field, I don't feel the need to spend every page saying, “Hey here's my take on my character, Moon Girl.” It's been so much fun to put her out into the Marvel Universe. She's now in other books like Secret Warriors. She’s in video games. Fans are embracing her. That's forcing her to be a bigger part of the Marvel Universe, which is what it’s all about.