Ben and Alicia find themselves in 1947 small town ‘murica. Sue and Reed are stuck in another small town - full of Doombots what don’t know they’re Doombots?! And Johnny plays at being a convenience store woman. All puzzling situations, but how come they ain’t together - wha hoppen to the Fantastic Floor?!
Is this the best Fantastic Four series in a decade? You bet your sweet bippy it is! (Disclaimer: I don’t know what a bippy is. Answers on a postcard to nobodycares@cancelmenow.com for a no prize) I’m as ashocked as you are that Ryan North’s written a pretty decent book in Fantastic Four, Volume 1: Whatever Happened to the Fantastic Four? which seems better still in comparison to Dan Blob’s preceding awful run on the title.
I get that the FF are superheroes but I always preferred when their stories weren’t about them going up against their rogues gallery, a la most Marvel characters’ books, and instead had sci-fi adventures that were about them exploring and sometimes solving the unknown. North seems to feel the same way as he’s written a FF book about just that, and it’s all the better for it.
The first half of the book, where the characters are separated and doing their own thang, is oddly the best part. Ben and Alicia’s opening story is both entertaining and oddly moving (it’s a mix of at least two great movies - answers on a postcard to ishereallydoingthisbitagain@hahadanblob.com); Sue and Reed’s adventure has some effective horror moments that hearken back to the best of the Twilight Zone; and Johnny’s political dabbling isn’t so propagandist that the story doesn’t forget to also entertain, which it does, although it’s the weakest of the three standalones. North is known for his light, banterous fare (Squirrel Girl, Adventure Time) but he’s much better and less irritating when he’s not going for his version of “funny” and playing it straight - the Johnny story is the one time where the comedy comes close to stepping all over and undermining the drama.
I was interested in finding out the big mystery for why the Four split up and the reveal isn’t bad - Ben and Alicias’ reactions are all the more convincing given they’re parents of young kids, and it sets up the larger storyline North’s going for in this series. The second half of the book though definitely feels less compelling once they’re reunited as a team. North’s still going for imaginative sci-fi stories but they’re suddenly not as compelling. Maybe it’s because he has to find things for everyone to do and it feels forced/a case of too many cooks, maybe it’s the quipping overload, or maybe the two-parter 4-D story was just too abstract and ultimately uninteresting, but I was pretty checked out by the end.
Iban Coello and Ivan Fiorelli’s art is consistently solid enough for a superhero book. Nothing too flashy, nothing too bad - I didn’t love it but I don’t have any complaints either. The Thing isn’t the easiest character to draw but both manage it well. Speaking of consistency, the Alex Ross covers are great as always.
The book ends on a note I don’t think we’ve seen the FF in before (although we have for other Marvel characters) and I’m on the fence as to what it means for the quality of upcoming books. But Ryan North has surprised me enough with this first one to make me curious about the next so I’ll keep going with it for now. This one’s half a strong book but it’s half more than I was expecting. Whatever happened to the Fantastic Four? They became worth reading again!
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