Top Of The Pile: Fantastic Four #572

On one level, it's easy to praise the conclusion of Jonathan Hickman's first story arc on the Fantastic Four for simply not being Mark Millar.

But Hickman's story recaptures the wonder and thrills of the Fantastic Four comics that I grew up reading.

It was not just the pure brilliance of his idea of a council of "alternate universe" Reed Richards banding together to "solve everything", but the revelation of the ultimate price that had to be paid along the way towards reaching that goal.

Once again, the Fantastic Four are a family of characters I can relate to, and want to read about.

Hickman brought the universe-spanning story down to a human level, by focusing on the parallels between the sacrifices of The Council and those of Reed's own father during Reed's childhood, which made the final page of the story all that more satisfying.

While I still have slight issues with artist Dale Eaglesham's portrayal of the buffed-up Reed Richards, the comic looks bright and exciting in ways it never did during the painful Millar era.

If Hickman continues with this calibre of writing, and I'm sure I'll come round to Eaglesham's take on Reed soon, then this could be the dawning of a new golden age of Fantastic Four greatness (maybe even nudging John Byrne-era greatness eventually; but let's not got ahead of ourselves).