Fantastic Four: Wedding Special #1 review and spoilers

[Ravin' Ray]

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Johnny ever dated She-Hulk.

They sorta/almost dated.





From Spider-Man/Human Torch #4

[Marvell2100]

This was a pretty good issue.

[CaptCleghorn]

I concur on the last page of the Ben story. Wow. It makes sense in a way, but it's a development I was not expecting. I certainly hope Dan Slott knows what he's doing with this.

My favorite part has got to be the Thing/Pulverizer exchange, though. We see Ben discreetly communication with a prisoner and keeping their less than adversarial relationship under wraps. That says a lot about Ben and how he is the heart of this team despite getting the least normalizing abilities. Buckingham and Farmer also did a nice Kirbyesqe style with the art making it feel right..

[Iron Maiden]

I concur on the last page of the Ben story. Wow. It makes sense in a way, but it's a development I was not expecting. I certainly hope Dan Slott knows what he's doing with this.

My favorite part has got to be the Thing/Pulverizer exchange, though. We see Ben discreetly communication with a prisoner and keeping their less than adversarial relationship under wraps. That says a lot about Ben and how he is the heart of this team despite getting the least normalizing abilities. Buckingham and Farmer also did a nice Kirbyesqe style with the art making it feel right..

Okay, read this late last night and are you referring to Alicia being able to control her step-father? That panel looked a bit sinister to me. And I really didn't need to hear about his body cavity searches. Whoever gets that duty must really be on the outs with the warden.

[bomaya]

The first story wasn't great but Simone wasn't helped with the very rushed-looking art but the second story was awesome. Great charatcer touches, nice dialogue, lovely art by Bucky and a really good ending. I'm guessing it's just a one-off thing and not going to lead anywhere but that's fine. Liked Hembeck's cartoon pages too.

[Digifiend]

Has Crystal got Medusa's powers all of a sudden? How the heck did she grow her hair so fast? It was still short in FF #4 like it has been since All-New Inhumans in ANAD, and considering that issue ended with Ben saying to Alicia "lets get married this weekend", the Wedding Special is definitely less than a week later!

[Johnrevenge]

Has Crystal got Medusa's powers all of a sudden? How the heck did she grow her hair so fast? It was still short in FF #4 like it has been since All-New Inhumans in ANAD, and considering that issue ended with Ben saying to Alicia "lets get married this weekend", the Wedding Special is definitely less than a week later!

As some people have commented, artist probably gave Crystal long hair to avoid confussions between her and Alicia (it's the most reasonable theory)

[Crimz]

Okay, read this late last night and are you referring to Alicia being able to control her step-father? That panel looked a bit sinister to me. And I really didn't need to hear about his body cavity searches. Whoever gets that duty must really be on the outs with the warden.

I liked the implication that Alicia may have controlled her step-father. It's surprising, but not so much that it's out of character. It's something I could definitely see her doing after all the years Puppet Master tried to mess things up for her and Ben. It also potentially provides interesting drama in the future. I'm interested to see what comes from this.

[Iron Maiden]

I liked the implication that Alicia may have controlled her step-father. It's surprising, but not so much that it's out of character. It's something I could definitely see her doing after all the years Puppet Master tried to mess things up for her and Ben. It also potentially provides interesting drama in the future. I'm interested to see what comes from this.

So am I. I think it is because we are so used to Alicia needing to be rescued or something that at first it made me fear that Slott was going in the Lyja direction again and this isn't really Alicia. But as you point out, it casts her in different light. She is taking the reins of control and even though the method is a bit villain-ish, it's not like he has shown the ability to stay out of trouble. He also had gone a bit loopy in that story where he took control of a small town

[Crimz]

So am I. I think it is because we are so used to Alicia needing to be rescued or something that at first it made me fear that Slott was going in the Lyja direction again and this isn't really Alicia. But as you point out, it casts her in different light. She is taking the reins of control and even though the method is a bit villain-ish, it's not like he has shown the ability to stay out of trouble. He also had gone a bit loopy in that story where he took control of a small town

It's nice to have more depth to Alicia now that she's marrying Ben. I love the two together, but as a supporting character she was not very fleshed out. Like in this issue it introduced her having art friends, my first thought was "Alicia has friends outside of the FF?". But if she was a real person it makes sense that she does, so it's nice to see. I'm intrigued to see how much more she grows during this run.

It was also nice to see Sue hang out and have fun away from the other members of the team and the kids. I hope to see it more often, but this time outside of an FF related book.

[CaptCleghorn]

Okay, read this late last night and are you referring to Alicia being able to control her step-father? That panel looked a bit sinister to me. And I really didn't need to hear about his body cavity searches. Whoever gets that duty must really be on the outs with the warden.

Yeah, that was it. We've only seen Alicia as a sparkling positive bastion of humanity. It's a dark turn, but this is a bad road paved with good intentions move. As a final scene to what appeared to be a good-natured happy book, we see a long time character visit the dark side. The contrast before Hembeck's OK strip was jarring.

Her characterization has been purity personified. But if we look at her as a character, we see a woman who is blind and yet has managed to navigate NYC and the NYC art world. Those struggles tell me she's at least as tough and adaptive as anyone in the Marvel Universe. Her guts and will are part of her and haven't come about because she's hanging with Ben and crew.

Apologies to Fred Hembeck but IMO, this was an encyclopedic foray into the Puppet Master. It was far from his best stuff. Still, though, it was pretty good.

[CaptCleghorn]

Has Crystal got Medusa's powers all of a sudden? How the heck did she grow her hair so fast? It was still short in FF #4 like it has been since All-New Inhumans in ANAD, and considering that issue ended with Ben saying to Alicia "lets get married this weekend", the Wedding Special is definitely less than a week later!

She got drunk and wore a wig.

What, like no one else ever did this?

Picture added for solidarity with Crys.

CCstrobeCover.jpg

[Prof. Warren]

I liked the implication that Alicia may have controlled her step-father. It's surprising, but not so much that it's out of character. It's something I could definitely see her doing after all the years Puppet Master tried to mess things up for her and Ben. It also potentially provides interesting drama in the future. I'm interested to see what comes from this.

Yeah, I don't think it necessarily casts Alicia in any kind of sinister light. I liked it as a revealing character beat that lent some depth to Alicia.

She's manipulating her father in order to pave the way for her and Ben's life together. I took it as an act of love above all else.

Slott is a master at laying down seeds that pay off much later so it wouldn't be too surprising if this came up again down the line but we'll see what he does with it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this special. All three stories were enjoyable - Slott's especially so.

[CaptCleghorn]

Yeah, I don't think it necessarily casts Alicia in any kind of sinister light. I liked it as a revealing character beat that lent some depth to Alicia.

She's manipulating her father in order to pave the way for her and Ben's life together. I took it as an act of love above all else.

Slott is a master at laying down seeds that pay off much later so it wouldn't be too surprising if this came up again down the line but we'll see what he does with it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this special. All three stories were enjoyable - Slott's especially so.

Here's the beauty of this. Crimz, IM, and myself all LOVE the FF. But we often differ on details. I welcome posts where we can discuss our differences of opinion and see where the other person is coming from. It's going to be fun to see how the sides of fan4fandom break down with this development.

[Crimz]

Yeah, I don't think it necessarily casts Alicia in any kind of sinister light. I liked it as a revealing character beat that lent some depth to Alicia.

She's manipulating her father in order to pave the way for her and Ben's life together. I took it as an act of love above all else.

Slott is a master at laying down seeds that pay off much later so it wouldn't be too surprising if this came up again down the line but we'll see what he does with it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this special. All three stories were enjoyable - Slott's especially so.

Never said it was sinister. It's a morally grey thing that was done with good intentions. It has the potential to lead to an interesting story or at least an interesting interaction with her step-father.
Most Alicia stories are about her off and on relationship with Ben or being in some sort of danger. The twist at the end of the second story opens up possibilities for a more complex and 3-dimensional Alicia. For the marriage to last, Alicia is going to have to be a more interesting character and Slott may just be planning to do that.