FF#1 sounds like Reed and Sue lost the children, or, that bad lady on future covers has forced Reed to re-evaluate his decision to stay out of the MU.
What we got was the ever-present struggle that the Thing And Torch are going through that left them out of the family. I would be peeved too, if I was ostracised from the FF, who go on an adventure, something the FF do as their modis operandi that Ben and Johnny thrive on. Why? That’s what I hope Ben confronts Reed with in this. And Johnny.
So, something bad happens on the adventure of Reed and the family, (Might be something to do with the Molecule Man), so Reed has to abandon his isolationism and get Ben and Johnny to come help, because Reed hasn’t come to Earth. Now, how bad can it be? Reed was God-Reed the last time we saw him. What could be so bad God-Reed has to panic and go find Ben and Johnny now? Did Reed use up all his Beyonders power already?
The inking and colouring was the first thing that struck me about the preview when it came out. Pichelli does great art, but the choices of inker and colours made her art look flat. For a book like the FF returning, you really want Steve McNiven, or Leinil Yu to give it punch, with good back up inkers and colourists.
On one level, you look at 1961 and FF#1. It was a pretty lack-lustre opening as to art and colours. I’m not sure who inked that first issue, but maybe it was Jack Kirby himself. Maybe the editor of 2018 FF#1 wanted to go with a similar lack-lustre start, as a homage to the first Kirby issue too?
And if you are going to go with homage, you would go with “first time you get powers”, too. All the angst and trauma of being changed into monsters, and then the reconfirming of their mission to help humanity. That’s what I’d like to see. Certainly Reed seems to still have his stretching powers, but I don’t know about Sues Force fields. If the FF do lose their powers at the start of this series, somehow, and they take a time machine to their inception again, that could be nice, too.
Last edited by jackolover; 08-10-2018 at 07:28 PM.
From what I'm reading is, I should skip this $6 prelude issue and wait for #2.
Wow! What a great opening issue. It was so well done, I really don’t get the complaints. I’m definitely hooked.
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Best comic of the week.
Art was great and there were some classic pages that legit made me laugh.
The emotional through line of the story was on point. It is a very well crafted tale designed to define exactly where Ben and Johnny are. The use of the space is masterful and assured, leaving me with no doubt that Slott will have a worthy run here. Not sure if it was my favourite issue of the week, but it was definitely the top of my reading pile and the next issue will be too.
Just a nothing story. 1st half was just boring. Second half - doom is back again for the 1000th time. No hook at all and repeating the same panel of newsreader 6 (six!!!) times was very cheap in a very expensive book.
I know there is no convincing the anti-repeat panel brigade, but I will simply repeat my often made assertion that the technique has been an important part of comic books from the dawn of the medium. It is often a sign of someone that understands the medium and how to get the most out of it.
Repeat panels create a rhythm, slowing the eye to be guided elsewhere and provide focus. If the newsreader wasn’t there you wouldn’t have had a problem presumably, because there is a standard number of panels outside of the newsreader, and there is no lack of effort in the artwork on those pages.
Jumping to the conclusion that it was done to save time or effort is rather strange. It is one of those self defeating criticisms. Allowing the critic to feel superior but at the same time spoil their own enjoyment and reduce their own appreciation of the process.
“It took me out of the moment” comes the cry, while never acknowledging the self-centred focus of the criticism.
Misunderstood art is not necessarily bad art.
Last edited by JKtheMac; 08-13-2018 at 03:08 AM.
Lets look at the page in question.
For a start the repeated newsreader was established on the previous page, so we already know what she looks like and by not changing her pose in any way we don't really need to let our eyes settle on her much on this page. her presenece is not supposed to draw the eye for long, instead just provide punctuation and context.
FF1 P11.jpg
Our eyes will take in that she is still talking and be drawn initially not to her but to the news story images. We will immediately see the 'Four No More' text and understand the message from the newsreader is both negative and untrue. A slant upon the news that represents how many may see it and how the news is reporting things. We also get that measured sense of newsreader speech. The way they divide their sentences and partly rely on images like a public speaker might use a visual presentation.
Naturally our eyes will be drawn to the person talking as we take in her words, but we may not do this every time, so the word balloons force us to by sending our eyes down towards her equally prominent image again. This serves to slow us down and reiterate this is not just an F4 recap page, but a page that is setting a tone. We are supposed to take our time here.
Our eyes then will flick to the familiar recap image and the word balloons then lead us to the rocket and the direction of the rocket again pushes us back to the news reader. No change to her pose but her position has been de-emphasised, the comic wants us to read the words carefully. The balloons then don't quite point to her, making us more focused on the power-sets of our heroes. This is the slowest panel since the first one, and it returns to the four characters with context. The composition and the balloons send us all around the image and once we have taken them in they send us to the corner of the page and onto the next page.
The other part to this page is its context in the overall story. The story beats in this comic are emotional. The whole story is framed by the emotion of loss and grief, moving on and accepting. Slott is pacing the emotion out. This is an emotional low point. It is not supposed to provide heightened emotion. It is a come down from the public calling out from windows. This page represents who is missing and how the wider public may feel, in a measured and less emotional way. Its a pause point and the beginning of the next up-turn. It slowly builds back up through the talking heads on the next page and eventually takes us to three key emotional beats in the last few pages of the story.
So in summary when I look at this page I don't see four identical images and think "cheat" I think "oh look, a smart visual pacing device where Pichelli is augmenting both the overall flow of the story and the way the exposition is delivered."
P.S. It occurs to me I should add a nod to Joe Caramagna for guiding the reader across the page, emphasising the punctuation that Pichelli provided with the lay-out.
Last edited by JKtheMac; 08-14-2018 at 12:56 AM.
Hey, it's a step up (no, many steps up) from this:
And it's almost a week now, but I loved this story. I guess I was so emotionally involved in Ben's and in particular Johnny's reactions that I felt the crushing blow over the fake signal served to magnify that much more the relief and joy at the big luminous "4" that was shared not only by Medusa, Crystal, Luke Cage, Jennifer Walters, and Wyatt Wingfoot but practically the entire western hemisphere.
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