The First Family of Marvel: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2019

[CaptCleghorn]

I always liked where Hickman left Franklin at the end of his Fantastic Four run, before taking on the Avengers titles when Bendis decided to leave. We had been seeing Future Franklin and Future Val coming into the story to help Nathaniel with the impending attack of the Mad Celestials. After seeing stories where Franklin's powers get out of control or when he was put into a coma by Reed, it was refreshing to see Franklin's Future adult self coming to give him some instruction on his powers. This is something FF writers had neglected I think. Too often it was a jump to panic mode or even worse, just ignore educating him about his powers altogether

Future Franklin could be playing a role in Powers of X. The more I think about it, the more of an obvious development that is. And even though it's obvious, Hickman's had the best handle on future Franklin and is currently defining future X-Men.

[U.N. Owen]

I forgot this week had an issue released. Naturally, I picked it up and found myself.

spoilers:

Unimpressed, really. I don't know why I expected more since this is as straightforward of a Hulk-Thing fight as you can get. Ben defeats the Hulk but Hulk gets the last laugh by turning Puppet Master into a human pretzel. The only twist is that Ben won this time, but it's slightly cheapened by how Puppet Master was pulling the strings. Oh, and he missed his honeymoon which would be tragic, but the generic flow of this storyline sucked that out of me.

end of spoilers

We go to space next time. Slott, please don't screw this one up.

[Crimz]

I liked this weeks issue.

spoilers:

It's part of placing Ben back in the big leagues again. His win was also done in a way that didn't disrespect Hulk or Ben. I hope this firmly places him among the big bruisers again and that he gets the chance to showoff in the upcoming cosmic story.

end of spoilers

[Crimz]

Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe the reason Franklin's personality is so boring, repetitive, and cliche is because it always has been. The only difference is that we are noticing it now that he has a bigger role.

As a kid the only interesting thing about him was his powers and the potential stories they provided. That's it. His personality was just... kid. Nothing special or unique, just what you'd expect from a child character. The same seems to be the case now he's a teen. His personality is that of all cliche rebellious teens in media, and he focuses so much on his dwindling power because all Franklin stories are about his powers. There's nothing else to him.

[Snoop Dogg]

Hickman made Franklin's everything revolve around his powers and how great his future would be so now his everything revolve around the lack of powers and Metallica.

[Crimz]

Hickman made Franklin's everything revolve around his powers and how great his future would be so now his everything revolve around the lack of powers and Metallica.

Even before Hickman it was all about Franklin's powers. That is his only story, and the only interesting thing about the character.

Valeria is the one who actually has (or had) a personality.

Can anyone even describe what Franklin's personality is? Even before the aging in the current run he had no personality.

[Snoop Dogg]

Frank is enjoyable in the Hickman run which I just reread, and there are some quirky things in the stories about him and Leech, but he's just an endearing kid. Loves his family. Loves cool kid stuff. Is a kid. Future Frank is kind of just a cool guy. I'd rather him be pissy, just for conflict with the other characters.

[Snoop Dogg]

#12 SHALVEY VARIANT

[U.N. Owen]

Even before Hickman it was all about Franklin's powers. That is his only story, and the only interesting thing about the character.

Valeria is the one who actually has (or had) a personality.

Can anyone even describe what Franklin's personality is? Even before the aging in the current run he had no personality.

Can anyone even describe what Franklin's personality is? Even before the aging in the current run he had no personality.

Really lonely, exotic food fetish, non-exotic food fetish, and irrational hatred of Katie Power. He had more personality in the Power Pack run than he did under his own family book. And he was a guest character. Hickman gave him his artistic side as you do see Franklin's drawings of the elemental symbols from Avatar the Last Airbender, so clearly he's a fan of that. Then again, who isn't?

Really, this is what I wanted, to get a personality away from his powers and build off of precedent. So sad for getting my hopes up.

[phonogram12]

Really dug this latest issue. I gotta say, I've always vastly preferred the smaller scale stories to the bigger ones with the FF. Like, Ben & Alicia trying to go on a honeymoon, the FF trying to get comfortable in their new digs. You just learn so much more about the characters than when you're bogged down by a bunch of craziness (at least IMHO).

[Crimz]

Marvel's First Family Has to Set Things Straight in 'Fantastic Four: Negative Zone' #1 This November

[Snoop Dogg]

oh my god, SHIELD TEAM SIX brought mike carey back with a lasso

[U.N. Owen]

On the bright side, if I end up dropping the main book, I'll at least have a ton of side stories to read.

[Ravin' Ray]

It mentions the Fantastix. I tweeted Slott a few days ago about when they would return as he wouldn't just rebrand them as a one-off team and he liked my tweet, and now North gets to write them. Just have to wonder when this takes place with regard to Annihilation Agenda.

[Digifiend]

I wonder if the Fantastix will get their own book, and that backup launches it like how the Future Foundation appeared in a backup story in F4 the week before their book launched? North needs a new regular project now that Squirrel Girl is over.