The Fantastic Four have been mostly boring to me. The best Fantastic Four stories seem to be the ones that are absolutely implausible, insane sci-fi trips that no other comic can replicate, but the problem is that these sci-fi acid trips are few and far between. Furthermore, it would exceptionally difficult for a writer to keep up with the pacing required for the kind of demanding Fantastic Four book I am imagining, but it has been done before.
Ultimate Fantastic Four was really my first attempt at reading the Fantastic Four’s adventures on a regular basis. From Bendis and Millar to Ellis then back to Millar, it was an excellent series that mixed high concept science with superheroes, but I lost interest during the Mike Carey run.
As far the regular Marvel 616 Fantastic Four goes, I had never really read the series until Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch jumped on the title. Millar and Hitch are two key figures in the formation of action movie comics. Millar’s writing has always been characterized by an emphasis on action scenes while Hitch is famous for excellent choreography (except for that issue of Ultimates where they clearly ripped off of the Matrix).
The Millar/Hitch run on Fantastic Four is fascinating because on the one hand, the title has the potential to be bizarre, wild and delightfully mind-bending, but since the emphasis was usually on the family dynamic, some of those sci-fi elements were downplayed in favor of more character elements. Its also fascinating because its a departure from the typical superhero paramilitary themes that Millar and Hitch defined with Ultimates and the Authority. Essentially, Millar and Hitch attempted to capture silver age sci-fi fun in their Fantastic Four and it was a success up until they decided to leave the title in their last two issues.
Note: when a creative team leaves a title and are credited with crafting the plot only, jump ship because you know its not going to be particularly strong. For further evidence of this, see the JMS run on Superman.
Once Millar and Hitch left Fantastic Four, I decided to leave the title as well. Honestly, I left the title because I knew going into reading Fantastic Four that I would leave when Millar and Hitch left. Maybe I’m contributing to an overall problem in the industry where fans follow creators rather than titles (something to explore in Saving Comics), but I’d honestly had enough of the Fantastic Four by that point. I had 16 quality issues that I enjoyed and that’s about all I needed.
I had heard some good things about the Jonathan Hickman run on Fantastic Four, but seeing as how I had too many books anyway, I decided to hold off. That is, until the death of the Human Torch.
Normally, I don’t really get caught up in the hype of a character’s death especially if I don’t read the title in the first place. The promise of the death of a Fantastic Four member was different this time, however. Two months before the issue debuted, the news hit that someone was going to die. A month later, my mom called me and asked, “Did you hear that someone on the Fantastic Four is going to die?”
“Yeah, a month ago.”
“Who’s going to die?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, the girls at work have been wondering and I thought you would know.”
I found it strange that my mom’s co-workers were even remotely interested in comic book news much less news about the Fantastic Four, so given that there was some interest in the issue, I decided to pick up Fantastic Four #587 to give it a read and see what the fuss was about and more than anything, I am curious as to how accessible the comic is to new readers. Therefore, going into this issue, I didn’t read any of the previous issues in the storyline in order to go in relatively fresh.
The Review
Page 1 – Recap of the previous four issues of storyline and the threats are far worse than our heroes have ever imagined. Galactus is eating Nu-World (the artificial planet from the Millar/Hitch run) and Reed Richards is trying to save as many people as possible. Sue is caught between an uprising in Atlantis as Namor begins taking control. Finally, Johnny and Ben are battling the forces of the Negative Zone.
So . . . there’s a lot going on.
Page 2 – 6 Defending the Baxter building is an eclectic mix of heroes. Johnny Storm is the only one who is immediately recognizable as Ben Grimm is powerless and carrying a gun. Valeria and Franklin Richards (children of Reed and Sue) have joined in the fight with Franklin providing some major firepower. In addition to the Richards family, there are some of Moleman’s mole people, Leech from the Morlocks (really? Why?!) and Dragonman.
We learn that they are trapped in the building and must activate some maguffin in order to save the day.
Page 7 – Two Atlantean races are talking about something or another and I have no context for what is going on, so I don’t care. Its a six panel page where five panels are useless to those that are unfamiliar, but the last panel reveals that Sue Storm is now the leader of their tribes for some reason. Ultimately, who cares?
Page 8 and 9 – On Nu-World, Reed races to save everyone on the planet. A woman named Natalie X has absorbed the personalities of everyone on the planet, so Reed just needs to get her off the planet in order for everyone to be saved . . . just without their bodies or something.
Galactus’s most boring former herald Lightwave is there on the scene filling everyone in that Galactus isn’t eating the planet because he is just trying to destroy it.
Page 10 – 13 – In the Baxter building, everyone is blasting through the insect army while Valeria figures out how to close the portal. After a lot of science talk that made my eyes glaze over, they decide to build a bomb and Valeria mentions that someone has to stay on the other side and detonate it.
Page 14 – 16 – Namor is mad at Sue Storm and tries to fight her, she gives him a backhand that knocks him down and he tries to flirt with her. She leaves.
Pages 17 – 18 – Nu World is falling apart and apparently, the Maestro (evil future Hulk) lives there too.
The rest of the issue – Ben plans on sacrificing himself for the good of the world, but at the last second, Johnny throws him out of the Negative Zone and stays behind. The Annihilus Hordes descend upon Johnny Storm as he yells “Flame On!” The issue ends with Johnny being taken down by the oncoming insect army as the portal closes. Ben holds Valeria and Franklin close as they all cry together.
As far as deaths go, this one was left relatively open-ended. To call Johnny Storm “dead” would be a bit of an overstatement and somewhat presumptuous. As the old saying goes, “If there isn’t a body, then there’s no chance that he’s dead and even if there is a body, don’t worry, he’ll be back.”
Look at the death of Ted Kord the Blue Beetle. Now there was a death that you could be sure of. Max Lord shot him in the head and that was all. Over and done. Meanwhile, Johnny Storm goes down fighting? No way is he gone.
I’m going to call it now: he’ll be back in a year or less. How he is coming back could be debated, but my two bets are:
1) He becomes some sort of herald for Annihilus – a poisoned mind that fights for the Negative Zone.
2) He finds a way to survive in the Negative Zone and finds a way to signal the Four.
All in all, it might be because I missed out on the first four issues, but the issue itself was a mess. Even if I had read the first four issues, the resolutions to the Galactus and Atlantis storylines seemed short and unresolved to me. There was just a lot going on in this issue, and none of it particularly compelling.
Overall, not a horrible comic, but a tough one to really care about considering the buzz it received.
Funny thing is that Ted Kord may even still be alive thanks to a time paradox in Booster Gold. Sure, he was dead in the head, but now even his hole in the head and cremation thing might not be so finite.
Also, Johnny is totally alive. No way he went down.
Unfettered apathy may not be basis for your best columns, but you’re right about the main points. The whole death of a character hype thing rarely generates great stories, and this one is less convincing than most.
Hickman’s run has been uneven but with flashes of brilliance. I’ll counter your apathy by recommending the recent FF Annual. It may have been the best single issue of a comic that I’ve read in the past year.
This makes me think–maybe as part of the Saving Comics agenda, you could have a monthly recommendation of a current or classic comic that should not be missed. I know most of the comics I’ve come to love were recommended by someone. Maybe you could encourage others to periodically spout off their current favorite title. It might be cool if it just manifested in a little web sidebar where frequent Popgun readers nominate titles. Not that I know how to do that, but it’s an idea.
Chad – Fear not, I’ve got an article tomorrow that is all about my favorite comic of the moment. This article wasn’t meant to feel apathetic so much as it is meant to point out how as much as Marvel wanted this comic to be a collector’s issue, it was difficult to get into in comparison to other superhero deaths.
I think that you’re 100 percent right. He’ll come back as some form of villain related to Galactus starting a crossover involving the Inhumans.
I feel sorry for the Wizard. He was a renaissance man who got bored with ordinary pursuits and turned his attention to outdoing the Human Torch. The Torch sent him to prison and he emerged in his phallic helmet as a criminal (like so many of our young people). His whole criminal career was catalyzed by Johnny Storm, and now after decades of failure, the Wizard is faced with the realization that he’s dressed like a part of male anatomy for nothing.