Reed and his father have never really had a close relationship. Taking a little trip together could change things for Reed.
The Good
Before I get into anything, let me just say that there was a point in this comic that actually brought a tear to my eye. The issue was going along fine in a typical Hickman fashion. Suddenly I got hit by certain events that almost came out of nowhere. It should have been expected but I was caught by surprise.
There's no denying that FANTASTIC FOUR (and FF) have been pretty insane lately (in a good way, of course). Hickman's been building up the suspense and stories since he first came on board. It's been a great trip seeing how he's been tying in the smallest things together.
What we learn is there are consequences to every action. With someone like Nathaniel hanging around, you'd think they'd have a good idea what the future might hold for them. There's also the fact that they've seen the adult Franklin and Valeria. But one line from Nathaniel puts everything in a new light. They've rewritten the future and this is the first time he's not sure what the future is.
Another point to note, the recap page brings up the fact that the Future Foundation kids made that serum for the Thing that allows him to turn human for a week each year. We may not get the answers here but that's something I've been wondering about and can't recall Reed fully giving his thoughts on it.
Then there's the art. The good and bad thing about this series is we've seen many great artists during Hickman's run. While I do love some consistency in my comics, we've been able to see a lot of good art. I've always been a big Ron Garney fan, especially after his CAPTAIN AMERICA run with Mark Waid. His art looks great here. Part of it may be from Jason Keith's color art as well.
The Bad
The issue starts out as what feels like just an "okay" issue. Reed and Nathaniel going off on a little adventure almost felt too forced. For some reason, most of the time we see future events, they don't have the same excitement as the current time period. But all this is a minor thing as the story quickly evolves into something you might not expect. That's where it shines.
The Verdict
There's been a lot of action in this series lately. Jonathan Hickman (with Ron Garney and Jason Kieth on art and color) give the characters a chance to catch their breath. These types of stories are great to see once in a while as action after action can get overwhelming and possibly monotonous. When it's time for the action to slow down a bit, this is where writers have to show their versatility as well. What begins as a simple trip into the future (only in comic books can you say going to the future is simple), the story soon takes off and Hickman shows us why so many of us have been enjoying his run on the series. His stories often go in directions we're not expecting and his ability to surprise us comes across as genuine rather than feeling forced. I've been a fan of FANTASTIC FOUR since I first started reading comics and I'm loving everything that Hickman is giving us.