"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun!" Is that a Bradbury reference? All I can think of is "For Science."

The title reminds me of Ray Bradbury's "The Golden Apples of the Sun" but also reminds me of the last line of They Might Be Giants "For Science":  

Oh, it's a Pink Floyd song! Yeah, they do nothing for me, sorry. From 1986, Fantastic Four #297, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun!" Written by Roger Stern, art by John and Sal Buscema.

We don't see the FF for a bit in this one, as we start on an alien Warworld (not that one!) as cruel Lord Umbra has his armor loaded with a new weapon, the "star-tap siphon!" Umbra incinerates his toady-scientist after install, and prepares for a final battle against his rival, and brother, Jaagur. Back on earth, She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot land Reed's newest hypersonic plane at a South Pacific military base, reuniting Franklin Richards with his family. After their fight with the Mole Man, Reed had been asked by the government to investigate disturbances in the sun. While she understands that's probably serious, Jen is more curious about the return of the Thing, who is crabby as hell, approaching surly. Ben had been mutating at the end of his solo book, and while he looked more or less normal (for him) mentally he was not okay, bitter and self-conscious, not unlike when he first became the Thing. Reed would give this more attention, if he thought Ben would allow the usual barrage of testing, and if the sun wasn't going to implode unless they did something...

Most of the time, the FF go on this sort of thing with about as much drama as loading the family up for a Target run; but Johnny tells Alicia, this might be a dangerous one: they were kind of rushing, with slapped-together equipment. Johnny asks Alicia to marry him if he makes it back, and she says yes; but the Thing is within earshot, and even with his mask you can tell that just wrecked him. (Of course, this would be retconned, and "Alicia" was really the Skrull Lyja, but there's absolutely no indication of that here.) The Four, plus She-Hulk, launch a few hours later, to finish constructing the "counter-phase cannon" in space, to disrupt whatever was siphoning the sun. (It's hardly Sue's first rodeo, but she considers the notion that the four of them might die on a rocket trip someday. And Jen too, I guess.)

Meanwhile, on Warworld, war intensifies, as Umbra and Jaagur's forces slaughter each other, in that cool sci-fi way John Buscema used to draw every so often in Avengers or Silver Surfer: I don't know that he ever did a full book like that...

While Umbra and Jaagur face off, in space construction has nearly completed, so Ben decides he's done. Not done working, but rather done with life, as he starts to drift away. Johnny refuses to let him go, which Ben considers just his guilt showing: the Torch manages to get Ben back, but then runs out of air himself, and Sue has to save him. Reed doesn't have time for that, though, since he has to fire the beam, which wrecks the Umbra/Jaagur final battle, as well as Warworld. The FF escapes, and the sun is saved...while Umbra and Jaagur appear to have merged into a single being, in space near the sun! To be continued... 

Ben today acts closer to his very first appearances, like almost 300 issues didn't happen for him; but I think it's the first time we see him actively attempt suicide. Like, there had been times where he thought about dying, or giving up and letting himself die, but this was different. I don't think he would be like this for long, thankfully.