Fantastic Four: True Story (spoiler accepted)

[Iron Maiden]

I thought the writer's concept for Galactus was a bit odd. So he sends the Silver Surfer to you and then you get years to prepare for oblivion. Reed spends decades preparing for his arrival. But then when the Surfer arrives again, the deal is proposed the Reed need only become his new herald and he gets the same arrangement as Norrin Radd andEarth will be bypassed. While I do like all the interludes of their personal lives I wish that the only thing they were dealing with throughout this series was the impending destrucion. It seemed to me that people were taking things a little too calmly. Why should they bother to pay bills, go to work? It seems to me that there would be large pockets of anarchy because essentially whatever they did everything would be wiped out by Galactus.

And then Doom comes up with this bizarre offer to just keep feeding Galactus half a billion people every year. I think that the characterization of Doom has been mishandled. This version doesn't have the burning rivalry with Reed and is a lot more "tame" for lack of a better term.

[CaptCleghorn]

I thought the writer's concept for Galactus was a bit odd. So he sends the Silver Surfer to you and then you get years to prepare for oblivion. Reed spends decades preparing for his arrival. But then when the Surfer arrives again, the deal is proposed the Reed need only become his new herald and he gets the same arrangement as Norrin Radd andEarth will be bypassed. While I do like all the interludes of their personal lives I wish that the only thing they were dealing with throughout this series was the impending destrucion. It seemed to me that people were taking things a little too calmly. Why should they bother to pay bills, go to work? It seems to me that there would be large pockets of anarchy because essentially whatever they did everything would be wiped out by Galactus.

And then Doom comes up with this bizarre offer to just keep feeding Galactus half a billion people every year. I think that the characterization of Doom has been mishandled. This version doesn't have the burning rivalry with Reed and is a lot more "tame" for lack of a better term.

There is the fact that this is a superhero world which gets saved on a regular basis. But, damn, letting Mark Russell loose on a story where people actually expect annihilation would have been fun to read. And the repercussions afterwards for people who went a little caca (for Dean Stockwell, RIP) would also have made interesting reading.

[Iron Maiden]

There is the fact that this is a superhero world which gets saved on a regular basis. But, damn, letting Mark Russell loose on a story where people actually expect annihilation would have been fun to read. And the repercussions afterwards for people who went a little caca (for Dean Stockwell, RIP) would also have made interesting reading.

Yes it would...the heroes would have they're hands full just dealing with the increasing chaos. You don't only have the garden variety criminals but everyday people saying what the heck, I'll just smash this jewelry case and take what I want or just walking out the store with groceries, people not bothering to show up for work....etc. Sure there will still be the honest ones but there's always those that have less scruples.

[lefthanded]

Anyone read the last issue?

This issue felt pretty underwhelming and didn't really need to exist. It definitely had an epilogue feel to it, but it didn't tell us anything new about either the heroes, or the decade it is set in. It seemed to mainly be interested in the cameos, which, who knows, maybe they are testing the waters for Life Stories focused around them.

Would have been perfectly fine if the previous issue was the ending.

[Digifiend]

What seemed rather daft as well was the fact that they assembled an Avengers team (well, they didn't give a name, but that's what it is) consisting of Captain Marvel, Ironheart, Shuri, Miles Morales... and Iron Man, Captain America, Thing, and Invisible Woman. Tony and Steve really had no business being there, as both are geriatric (Steve would be almost 100 years old, and Tony should be in his 80s). Sue was shown to have her powers fail her. Ben's the only old guy whose involvement makes sense. Miles asked if he can die, and he doesn't even know.

They should've done what Spider-Man Life Story did, and utilised the next generation (Spidey was shown to have two kids, and one of them did serve as his successor, with Miles later replacing her). We know Franklin has daughters - wouldn't they probably have powers? They don't even appear, are only mentioned! They also should've shown more of the Champions (Kamala and Amadeus, perhaps), maybe some Young Avengers or New Warriors (who'd be adults in the 2010s if they started in the 2000s and 1990s respectively). There's no way the active Avengers only consists of Carol, Shuri, Riri and Miles.

[CaptCleghorn]

Anyone read the last issue?

This issue felt pretty underwhelming and didn't really need to exist. It definitely had an epilogue feel to it, but it didn't tell us anything new about either the heroes, or the decade it is set in. It seemed to mainly be interested in the cameos, which, who knows, maybe they are testing the waters for Life Stories focused around them.

Would have been perfectly fine if the previous issue was the ending.

The issue could be thought of as underwhelming, but it is the FF. They combine the drama of superheroics and family. A conclusion where Reed finally says what he needed to to his wife and son seems a much more fitting conclusion to me than Galactus' meal being thwarted.

The format is terribly awkward as it's only 180 pages to tell the story of four lives over 60 years. Add to that fitting in the world around them, which does include contemporary characters, and there is very little that can truly be covered in any sort of detail. Reed and Sue's grandkids are in college and that's told in a throwaway line. While the series structure was limiting, I thought Russell had a pretty good handle on the characters' voices. I would like to see him do another story where he wasn't hampered by needing to stretch across 60 years and could focus on the social commentary he's known for.

I liked it and I don't regret buying it, but I wasn't very impressed.

[lefthanded]

The issue could be thought of as underwhelming, but it is the FF. They combine the drama of superheroics and family. A conclusion where Reed finally says what he needed to to his wife and son seems a much more fitting conclusion to me than Galactus' meal being thwarted.

The format is terribly awkward as it's only 180 pages to tell the story of four lives over 60 years. Add to that fitting in the world around them, which does include contemporary characters, and there is very little that can truly be covered in any sort of detail. Reed and Sue's grandkids are in college and that's told in a throwaway line. While the series structure was limiting, I thought Russell had a pretty good handle on the characters' voices. I would like to see him do another story where he wasn't hampered by needing to stretch across 60 years and could focus on the social commentary he's known for.

I liked it and I don't regret buying it, but I wasn't very impressed.

I agree that since FF is more about the family than anything else, having Reed bare his soul to Sue/Franklin is a good coda.
But that was seemingly already addressed in the prior issue, with Reed accepting that he can't beat Galactus and so spends the remaining years till Galactus' arrival in a happy place with his family.

Also agree, that overall, although I wish the miniseries was better, it was a good bit of Fantastic Four. Especially compared to the past several years of FF stories.

[Crimz]

The series felt like a book written by a writer who just read the wiki of the FF. You could tell that Zdarsky's Spider-Man: Life Story was written by a fan who loved the character. The same was not done for the Fantastic Four and it shows.

[Darkshadow]

What seemed rather daft as well was the fact that they assembled an Avengers team (well, they didn't give a name, but that's what it is) consisting of Captain Marvel, Ironheart, Shuri, Miles Morales... and Iron Man, Captain America, Thing, and Invisible Woman. Tony and Steve really had no business being there, as both are geriatric (Steve would be almost 100 years old, and Tony should be in his 80s). Sue was shown to have her powers fail her. Ben's the only old guy whose involvement makes sense. Miles asked if he can die, and he doesn't even know.

They should've done what Spider-Man Life Story did, and utilised the next generation (Spidey was shown to have two kids, and one of them did serve as his successor, with Miles later replacing her). We know Franklin has daughters - wouldn't they probably have powers? They don't even appear, are only mentioned! They also should've shown more of the Champions (Kamala and Amadeus, perhaps), maybe some Young Avengers or New Warriors (who'd be adults in the 2010s if they started in the 2000s and 1990s respectively). There's no way the active Avengers only consists of Carol, Shuri, Riri and Miles.

Wait...Franklin has daughters??