Fantastic Four #1 Preview and Spoilers

[kilderkin]

This is part of the discussion we are having in the Wallmart thread. It is a question on how to obtain new readership. Periodicals that are in the face of the general public has been the way that new readers are brought into titles. To my knowledge, there has never been a case where a graphic novel has been the source for new readership for a creation. It is always the other way around that periodicals spawn graphic novels and moves. It is two, OTOH that movies and novels can spawn comics. Price will always be part of the equation, but this revival has just been plainly exploitative. The fans wil spend the money, but Marvel has to deliver the goods, and they plainly failed here.

Fortunately for them, and they are probably betting on this which is even more exploitative behavior on their part, the FF is well established with a motivated fan base and so they will probably get away with this for an issue if they bounce back quickly. But if they continue in this vein, they will lose their audience and folks just will stay off the book for a long period of time. This happened largely with the DC reboot, and with Star Trek. If the audience feels exploited and pandered to, eventually they tune you out and you've squandered a billion dollar asset.


You would think that since they were putting out those $1 reprints that they would read them and learn what was working and what would not. John Byrne, Walter Simeonson, and and Marv Wolfman are still alive.

I do know that in the uk, a good access point for younger readers to marvel and dc are the licensed reprints from panini and titan

Available widely in big chain stores and about 3 to 4 floppys of content for around 4 to 5 pound

That's decent value for material around a year or so old, the marvel ones are currently doing secret empire

Working with youngsters, this is what most tell me they read and go to if a movie catches their interest, it's not a 15 to 20 pound trade

dc move into Walmart looks smart imo

[JKtheMac]

That was dismissive of a whole class of others opinion and when I read something like that, it will stop me from reading the rest. There is no point in reading a post that starts with being dismissive of others opinions with a snide, and insulting comment. No one owes anyone else an audiance. If you insult my opinion, or even someone elses opinion, I will NOT read the rest of what you wrote.

Oh my bad. I imagined you actually wanted to engage with people. Instead you want to take insult even if none was intended.

I can’t quite see how being labelled as anti repeat panel is offensive but you be you.

[CaptCleghorn]

Yeah, what the heck was that about! This might be the only time the FF was existing in a parrellel universe with the world of Oz.... and the Oz movie was entirely too long as well. It cuts into the Thanksgiving meal.

I've mentioned this a few times in the past, but the FF isn't a book about family only, nor is it a book about only cosmic adventures. It reaches its heights when combining the two. We've seen critics rave about the combination of basic family drama with extaordinary circumstances in both Breaking Bad and The Sopranos. Fantastic Four has been dng that for decades.

The scene in question is a silly way the FF ot home from a far out of the way dimension. The drama in telling Sue she wasn't the best singer of the group wasn't saving the world, but it was a major step for a family. A straight forward getting home with a deus ex machina device is something that the Avengers or X-Men could do. Telling your wife, mother, and sister she can't sing is something that is pure FF.

And the way home being seen bu your heart is heavy handed unsubtle allegory by Slott. The team is coming home; that's the point.

The issue is an introduction to the team and what they mean to people.

Certainly the book hasn't gotten blanket rave reviews and even some of the frequent FF posters here have some problems with it, myself included. But there are many who like the book. A collection of reviews can be found here:
https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-b...-four-(2018)/1

[kilderkin]

I've mentioned this a few times in the past, but the FF isn't a book about family only, nor is it a book about only cosmic adventures. It reaches its heights when combining the two. We've seen critics rave about the combination of basic family drama with extaordinary circumstances in both Breaking Bad and The Sopranos. Fantastic Four has been dng that for decades.

The scene in question is a silly way the FF ot home from a far out of the way dimension. The drama in telling Sue she wasn't the best singer of the group wasn't saving the world, but it was a major step for a family. A straight forward getting home with a deus ex machina device is something that the Avengers or X-Men could do. Telling your wife, mother, and sister she can't sing is something that is pure FF.

And the way home being seen bu your heart is heavy handed unsubtle allegory by Slott. The team is coming home; that's the point.

The issue is an introduction to the team and what they mean to people.

Certainly the book hasn't gotten blanket rave reviews and even some of the frequent FF posters here have some problems with it, myself included. But there are many who like the book. A collection of reviews can be found here:
https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-b...-four-(2018)/1

Some good points,

I certainly felt that the general characterisation,, with a couple of key irritations, we're it's strong point

it's wasn't bad for me, it was generally good just lacked the impact I hoped for from such a big issue 1 that I felt it could have delivered

but most importantly the characters were on point enough for it to hold a lot of promise and that's very important to me

[CaptCleghorn]

Some good points,

I certainly felt that the general characterisation,, with a couple of key irritations, we're it's strong point

it's wasn't bad for me, it was generally good just lacked the impact I hoped for from such a big issue 1 that I felt it could have delivered

but most importantly the characters were on point enough for it to hold a lot of promise and that's very important to me

I think we're looking at this very similarly. The issue was far from perfect and the flaws people have pointed out have been noted by many. But the general tone of characters, attitudes, and looks of the characters are spot on.

We get that the FF should have reunited in this issue.
We get that the Doom story was padding we didn't need.
The price was too damn high.

I don't disagree with any of those assessments. I think even the most fervent fans of the issue will realize that there is a point to these criticisms.

[kilderkin]

I think we're looking at this very similarly. The issue was far from perfect and the flaws people have pointed out have been noted by many. But the general tone of characters, attitudes, and looks of the characters are spot on.

We get that the FF should have reunited in this issue.
We get that the Doom story was padding we didn't need.
The price was too damn high.

I don't disagree with any of those assessments. I think even the most fervent fans of the issue will realize that there is a point to these criticisms.

I copy that

[mrbrklyn]

I've mentioned this a few times in the past, but the FF isn't a book about family only, nor is it a book about only cosmic adventures. It reaches its heights when combining the two.

I'm all for that, but neither of these elements are here, and IMO, this mush book that is pretending to be an FF book wasn't even pulled off well. This book could have been skipped altogether and we could have gone on straight to issue two. The best part of this book was my excitement to see it on the shelf, and that was immediately tempered by being confronted with the fact that the book I was looking at was actually Captain America and the FF was way to my left.. After finally choosing a cover... ech... I brought it to the counter and paid for it, still quite excited. After purchasing it, hopping on the subway and then reading it, it was all down hill from there. There was nothing about this book that was remotely like the Fantastic Four. I hope someone from Marvel is reading this because that book was garbage and if they force feed the FF fans this stuff, it will be a colossal failure.

[Ravin' Ray]

Just a reminder to keep this discussion civil and not be condescending to others. I get that the readership is split over this issue, and there's a bit of hyperbole over key points coming from both sides, but one shouldn't have to to belittle the other side to bolster one's own position, and remember that a lot of what is being passed around here are personal opinions.

[JackDaw]

I read my comics years in arrears nowadays, so if ultimate assessment of overall run is that it’s poor...I’ll just skip it.

But I am fairly optimistic that overall run will be good or better, based on the few Dan Slott comics I’ve read over the years.

I thought his short run on Thing, Idol of Millions was tremendously good...and it gives me hope that he’ll give a more rounded view of Ben than we sometimes see. And his run on She Hulk suggested to me that he has necessary imagination to complete a top notch Four run.

And although I’ve never read any of his Spider-man run...that certainly testifies to his stamina on a major property, and ability to stay for long haul.

[kilderkin]

I read my comics years in arrears nowadays, so if ultimate assessment of overall run is that it’s poor...I’ll just skip it.

But I am fairly optimistic that overall run will be good or better, based on the few Dan Slott comics I’ve read over the years.

I thought his short run on Thing, Idol of Millions was tremendously good...and it gives me hope that he’ll give a more rounded view of Ben than we sometimes see. And his run on She Hulk suggested to me that he has necessary imagination to complete a top notch Four run.

And although I’ve never read any of his Spider-man run...that certainly testifies to his stamina on a major property, and ability to stay for long haul.

Yes I agree

I didn't read his spiderman but it seemed well received mostly, some said it lost it somewhere near the end but I think that's true for most long tenures on any book

I loved his thing work

I'm not a huge fan myself, but that's mostly because he was on spiderman and I won't buy that since one more day, so I missed a lot of his stuff

I am confident he will get the character right long haul

[JKtheMac]

I think we're looking at this very similarly. The issue was far from perfect and the flaws people have pointed out have been noted by many. But the general tone of characters, attitudes, and looks of the characters are spot on.

We get that the FF should have reunited in this issue.
We get that the Doom story was padding we didn't need.
The price was too damn high.

I don't disagree with any of those assessments. I think even the most fervent fans of the issue will realize that there is a point to these criticisms.

Indeed even though I enjoyed this issue and think the main story was very well written I can see all of those points. I agree with the last two, but as a pragmatist I don’t blame Marvel for maximising their takings by putting in a second story. Just not this second story.

I get why many would like the team back together here, but personally I would express that sentiment slightly differently as wishing the book had been more about the whole team. They can be separate until issue five for all I care, as long as we get to see them all and the parrellel stories have a unity that allows us to consider it an F4 story. I see this as a flaw of this issue, and I personally would have liked the backup story to be about Reed and Sue. (From solicits it seems we won’t need to wait until issue five so there is that.)

[kilderkin]

Indeed even though I enjoyed this issue and think the main story was very well written I can see all of those points. I agree with the last two, but as a pragmatist I don’t blame Marvel for maximising their takings by putting in a second story. Just not this second story.

I get why many would like the team back together here, but personally I would express that sentiment slightly differently as wishing the book had been more about the whole team. They can be separate until issue five for all I care, as long as we get to see them all and the parrellel stories have a unity that allows us to consider it an F4 story. I see this as a flaw of this issue, and I personally would have liked the backup story to be about Reed and Sue. (From solicits it seems we won’t need to wait until issue five so there is that.)

Yes, if the backup was actually a ff reed sue story at tangent to the ben john side of this, I would have very much enjoyed that

[vitruvian]

To my knowledge, there has never been a case where a graphic novel has been the source for new readership for a creation.

Do you mean specifically where introduction to a creation or franchise through a graphic novel has led to new readership for an ongoing periodical? In that sense, you may be correct, although I wouldn't be too certain without hard numbers on where the readership for, say, Doomsday Clock or Sandman Universe is coming from.

As far as new readership for a franchise, full stop, goes, though, I think it's well established that more readers have been introduced to Watchmen through the graphic novel over the decades than ever picked up the original 12 issues when they were published, and it's a similar situation with Sandman, Love & Rockets, etc. Unless you don't qualify readers only of the graphic novels as new readership in some sense?

[SuperiorIronman]

Y'know that probably should've been what happened. If they aren't going to get back together this issue then the larger space should've been for a story on Reed and Sue's end. Potentially explaining what they had been doing in the post-Battleworld multiverse, hinting about upcoming villains or threats, maybe given some context for the decision to stay away so long or comment about the state of the MU considering all the upheaval.

Doom's story flat-out doesn't need to be here. In-fact it belongs more on Iron man's end considering what Victor was just doing to provide some closure for Infamous Iron man. That part of the book seems like it would've been better suited for Reed and Sue because if they aren't going to be back this issue, it goes to show everyone is actively working towards the same goal because as is, it feels like an afterthought.

[vitruvian]

Y'know that probably should've been what happened. If they aren't going to get back together this issue then the larger space should've been for a story on Reed and Sue's end. Potentially explaining what they had been doing in the post-Battleworld multiverse, hinting about upcoming villains or threats, maybe given some context for the decision to stay away so long or comment about the state of the MU considering all the upheaval.

Doom's story flat-out doesn't need to be here. In-fact it belongs more on Iron man's end considering what Victor was just doing to provide some closure for Infamous Iron man. That part of the book seems like it would've been better suited for Reed and Sue because if they aren't going to be back this issue, it goes to show everyone is actively working towards the same goal because as is, it feels like an afterthought.

I can see them feeling that Doom does belong here if they want to set him up to be a primary antagonist for the team again moving forward.

My take, it's simply that they're doing a slow roll with the story and leaving room for lots of character development and rumination on what the team has meant both to its members and to the public in the past before jumping into the actual reunion - which honestly, I don't mind.

Now, they promised Impy that we actually get the reunion in #2, so what I expect to happen is that a big chunk of the second issue is exactly what you've asked for here, a lot more detail on what Reed, Sue, Franklin, and Valeria have been up to in the far reaches of the multiverse, including how much Franklin and Valeria have been allowed to mature (looks like teens from advance art) and why they haven't come back before now, a little more development on the home front, and then the actual reunion right at the end of the issue.

#3 will likely then be where they delve into the nitty gritty of the reunion, recriminations, reconciliation, questions as to how they should/should not operate as a team and family again, all of that... possibly with reactions and/or confrontation with interested parties such as the government and Doom towards the end of that issue.

And we won't really jump into the new conflicts and status quo until.... Fantastic Four #4!