What a difference a month makes - and a change of creative team. The Fantastic Four are back where they belong (at the "top of the pile") under the steady hand of scribe Jonathan Hickman and artist Dale Eaglesham.What immediately strikes you about this issue, in total contrast to the last few, is the bright, vibrant colours and excitement that leaps off the page, as opposed to the dire, dismal artwork that compounded the depression of Mark Millar's run on the title (yes, I'm not totally convinced by the "bulked-out" Reed Richards and the short sleeves on the uniforms, but these are minor, trivial details).
But, of course, the main saviour of Marvel's First Family is Jonathan Hickman, immediately throwing us into a wild story of super-science off the back of his excellent Dark Reign: Fantastic Four mini-series about Reed's device for scanning parallel dimensions and seeing how decisions played out in alternate worlds.
It's no real shock that the "shadowy figures" watching him in the mini-series turned out to be alternate Reeds from these other dimensions, but the big "wow" factor comes in his introduction to The Council of Reeds, a beautiful and mind-blowing idea that brings back pleasant memories of the Alan Moore/Alan Davis era of Captain Britain.
The Fantastic Four appear to be, once again, in the hands of a writer and creator who will, hopefully, be able to possibly recapture some of the magic that attracted me to this team during the days when John Byrne was writing and drawing their adventures.
I liked this issue also and have the same reservations about Reed's 'summer look'. As cool as I find the 'League of Extraordinary Reeds' I gots me a baaaaad feeling about all this. These kind of things never work out well but I am interested in the ride. The Miller run was missing something that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it was the darkness you mentioned, maybe it was the easy way everything got solved. Its weird to look back sometimes at all the hundreds of story arcs I have read with this superhero team. It felt good to be surprised again.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I'm sure it's going to end badly ;-D
ReplyDeleteIf Reed (and his League) really was able to "solve everything" it would bring a sudden grinding halt to the raison d'etre of superfolk, but it'll be fun to see him try!
I was so-so on the book but it has been only one issue so I'm keeping an open mind about it. I think the 'solve everything' idea that Reed is obsessed with is based on a flawed premise (that everything can be solved within a finite amount of time) and that made the whole thing feel a bit silly to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm used to and celebrate comic book science but that whole idea just seemed to ludicrous to me. I did find the variant Reeds aspect also reminded me of the Alan Moore Supreme comics (Alan Moore is a hard act to follow). With that said, I am thankful Millar isn't writing FF anymore. ;)
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, has anyone read the Cosmic Sized FF? Is it worth picking up?
Cosmic Sized Fantastic Four = major disappointment, $4.99 for a double-sized issue with a forgetable story by Cary Bates with pish art and nothing to do with "cosmic".
ReplyDeleteThe second half is a reprint of a brilliant John Byrne era FF story (issue 237)... but it's still a reprint.
Certainly not worth $4.99, but if you can find in a bargain bin that's a different matter...