|
|
 |
This would be the Fantastic Four section of the CBCU. We start with some Black Panther, who is in this section since he was in the FF for a while and first appeared in the book, followed by Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, an all-ages read that has dropped in quality recently. We then go to a couple of FF one-shots, then Ultimate Fantastic Four and finally the core title, Fantastic Four.
Spoilers Ahead.
Catching Up – Fantastic Four:
-Black Panther #’s 33-34- These two issues finish off the FF in the crazy gangster Skrull homeworld with a very weird twist, there are a group of African-American Skrulls fighting for equality taking the guise of Martin Luthor King and Malcolm X. That was just a really odd wrench to throw in there. I know Reggie Hudlin is in charge of BET but I think this just doesn’t fit the story. If it was a black/white thing, themes we have seen in real life and in film for a long time, that’s fine. Equality is something we should strive for. But I don’t like the use of these political icons leading aliens. For me, it didn’t fit the story and it immediately became hackneyed and stale. The revelation at the end of the last issue that the frogs may be sentient was pretty cool. 1/2.
-Black Panther #’s 35-37- These three issues start a new arc where Black Panther must face the one foe he has never defeated, Killmonger. KM goes to a neighboring tribe and gets their trust. He is using this to turn on Black Panther and draw him into a fight. KM has power beyond his normal means and Panther and Wakanda don’t know where it’s coming from. It may be the US that is providing KM with this power of forcefields and the Red Ghosts old plant to create crazy animals. This is a good ol-fashioned fight between Black Panther and KM as someone is trying to take down Wakanda. I really liked these three issues. 4/5.
-Black Panther Annual #1- This annual tells us (through one of the frogs) a future that may come to pass, where Wakanda and the Black Panther rule the world in peace as they get ready for a wedding. As future stories go, it is one of the most positive ones, and this was a fun story to read, as well as showing the frogs and their sentience again. 5/6.
-Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #’s 31-35- These are the all-ages oriented titles and for a while I really enjoyed them, but for some reason my interest and enjoyability of them has waned. Let’s go in order here, starting with #31. The FF stop a criminal who uses a special perfume that forces people to buy his perfume in a very unmemorable story. Ben gets transported to the past and meets Tin Man and fights some rogue cowboys. Ben stars in another story where he has to singlehandedly fight some monster, the FF fight Mad Thinker and his Android after Reed accidentally fixes it. Finally, the FF fight an alien and then they judge a beauty pageant together. All in all, not a spectacular run here. The last four issues were good and point-worthy, but the first one was just bad. 9/11.
-Fantastic Four Presents: Franklin Richards: Spring Break #1- This is another collection of Franklin tales. Here he makes an Iron Man costume, tries to use a time device to get through gym and math class, makes a science experiment that goes badly, drinks a burbing potion made for Johnny and gets HERBIE hooked on video games. This was fun enough, but worth $3? I don’t know. 9/12.
-Fantastic Four: Isle De La Muerte #1- The Thing goes off on a vacation to a secret spot, but of course the rest of the FF are interested and follow him. The Thing is just crushed they showed up and eventually Sue has to have a heart to heart with Ben to help him understand why they showed up on him. Through the midst of all of this, the FF must battle the Mole Man and his team of Chubacabras. Mole Man is all of a sudden into the ecology and saving it, but the stuff with Ben and Sue make this issue a real keeper. 10/12.
-Ultimate Fantastic Four #’s 49- This concludes the crazy story where Sue is abducted by the new Red Ghost, the FF and Crimson Dynamo have to stop her. Sue manages to escape and the FF show up to stop the villain, and the resulting explosion destroys the plant where the Red Ghost was experimenting. They return home, with the relationship between Reed and Sue in disarray and find a Cube around Manhattan. 11/14.
-Ultimate Fantastic Four #’s 50-53- This four-part story features the return of Thanos, as he tries to reclaim power of the Cosmic Cube. He battles Reed and turns him to stone, then takes Sue and Johnny, turns them evil (with dark hair!) and returns to Manhattan to take over the world. He reshapes it in his own image and things look bad for Earth. Thing was kidnapped earlier by Thanos’ daughter and they restore Reed and they return back home. Reed and the rest of the FF finally take down Thanos and kill him, but then Reed sends the Cosmic Cube back in time to when Thanos first found it, in a weird way of coming full circle. I groaned when Thanos returned at first but the four-issue run was enjoyable and full of action and story. 15/18.
-Ultimate Fantastic Four #54- This is the start of a new arc where we are introduced to a new team, the Salem 7, Sue investigates some egg hatching below Oregon, and a SHIELD shrink (Agatha Harkness) plays psychological games with the FF. It was a good opener. 16/19.
-Fantastic Four #553- This ends a silly story where Doom and the FF from the past and Reed has to figure out who to trust. He learns that things about the timeline are not as he thought they were. There’s a fight and all, and it turns out future Reed turned the world into a paradise. This was not a good send off for McDuffie on this title. 16/20.
-Fantastic Four #’s 554-557- This is the start of a new story done by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. They reintroduce an old character who used to date Reed, Alyssa Moy. She shows him a project they are working on which his a new lifelike model of Earth called Nu-World. It will be devoid of any weapons, and she has a protector nicknamed C.A.P. to destroy any weapons. Of course, the robot gets let loose, defeats every super powered hero, until Reed shows up with a huge monster suit to stop it. Reed wins, tells Alyssa he is not in love with her, and thus the first arc ends with Dr. Doom showing up asking for help. It was a little corny, but it was a lot of fun reading Millar and Hitch’s first stab at the FF. 20/24.
-The Bottom Line- The FF titles were very strong, with only a few misses, with most of the misses coming at the end of runs of a title which means I didn’t remember the original stories. I liked this crop and anytime you can hit 83% on a run of titles you have a winner. The first family shows why it is the world’s greatest comics magazine.
|
|
|
|
|
Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
|
|
|
|