Nathaniel Richards travels back to Mr. Fantastic's college days to recruit all the ol' boys for a battle against his evil alternate self in the future, all while a grown-up Valeria scares the hell out of Sue.
The Good
I hadn't encountered Neil Edwards' art before this comic and I have to say I was quite taken aback. He's a "total package" penciler whose work is damn close to Bryan Hitch's level (although I'm sure Neary's inks go a long way in putting the work in that direction.) I hate to use "cinematic" as a compliment, but this guy's filled this book with reality - - real settings, real people, real action. And I have to give Hickman his due, because he's got a utterly masterful rhythm with his words. I think he struck the right balance between playing the heady SF straight while still stepping back enough times to keep a properly humorous perspective. He gives Reed, Ben and Doom real personalities that are still in line with their larger-than-life characterizations. While Nate Richards getting chased by his dopplegangers is (probably intentionally) walking over ground previously walked by Immortus and all his duplicates, I still found his spin on it to be quite fresh.
The Bad
I still have memories of Hyperstorm and the tendency of these kind of stories to get overly complicated, really quickly, so I'm a little leery about where these future versions' adventures will be going. So far, so good, of course, but the standards are definitely going to have to be kept up, because it'll be so easy for this to fall astray.
The Verdict - 4/5
If the tweed sweaters and old school letter shirts on the cover weren't a clue, this title's paying proper respect to the FF's roots while still keeping it up to modern storytelling expectations. Hickman and Edwards are amazing combo and I'm excited to see where they take first family of Marvel, even if this particular storyline might be veering dangerously close to time-travel plots from the past.
In the past, I have loved Hickman's work. Secret Warriors was amazing. Each issue left me wanting more. The charactes were good, and the story seemed better. What else could a comic reader want? Well, for starters, how about the book keeps that 'steam' moving forward?
To me, Hickman is outstanding at starting a book. Making everything feel and seem wonderful. Getting you to love the characters, etc. And personally, I think the first ark Hickman did with Eaglesham on Fantastic Four, SOLVE EVERYTHING: #570-572, is one of the greatest 'Fantastic' stories I've ever read. The problem is, after a while, I feel like even Hickman loses interest in what he's writing.
I can't really say anything more here other than my opinion. And eveyone has one. So there's my two cents. I hope other people enjoy his work, I hope the sales are good, but I'm getting ready to drop Fantastic and pick up Green Lantern.
this was a great comic. this is by far my favorite comic off my pull list this week( take notice i haven't read my copy of Secret Avengers #3 yet. lol)
I just got this yesterday along with Shadowland and a DD comic and i just skimmed through a couple pages of it and it made me decide to read the other comics first but since it sounds good i"ma hurry and read it
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