World's Greatest Comic: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2022

[danielsan52]

https://www.superherohype.com/comics...ic-four-44/amp

Cool preview. That cover is awesome!

[Magmaster12]

Franklin in therapy was a genuinely good idea (Johnny should have some too). It was a missed opportunity to have it off-panel and only refer to it once. It was the perfect set-up to really explore Franklin's character.

I've got mixed feelings about seeing Franklin in therapy because it just felt like Slott was trying to wave away the opposition people had to his retcons

Johnny seeping with Victor's fiance was a whole new low for him and he has some serious issues to work out.

[Oberon]

In the MU, it seems that many of the enhanced humans come from specific original situations.
But still sometimes they're not quite but somehow related.

So maybe modern mutants are what ultimately happened the genetic factors associated with Deviants, though over vast time, they're relatively minor - until the gene, the x gene can be stimulated.

In Inhumans, which often seem like similar enough to Eternals, the process of genetic expression is more intense because they are purposely exposed to terrigen agents.

If Franklin is to be considered a mutant, he is to mutants, what mutants are to non-mutants.

He, his enhancements have put him on par with Galactus and other higher powers.

[Iron Maiden]

Franklin in therapy was a genuinely good idea (Johnny should have some too). It was a missed opportunity to have it off-panel and only refer to it once. It was the perfect set-up to really explore Franklin's character.

The poor kid had to have therapy after Waid's Unthinkable arc too.

[Darkshadow]

The poor kid had to have therapy after Waid's Unthinkable arc too.

That cannot be understated. It tends to just be largely forgotten, but yeah...in a comic book, Doctor Doom in a skin suit sent a small child to Hell to be tormented by named demons.

All that aside, he and Mephisto (AKA Satan) have a personal beef.

He needs psychological help in the worst way.

[Darkshadow]

In fact, I would argue that Franklin Richards has developed a much more personal rivalry with Mephisto than Norrin Radd. Norrin defeats Mephisto by preserving his own soul. Meanwhile, Franklin literally killed the devil. The SS vs Mephisto thing is one of comic's greatest rivalries...I would argue that Franklin has put Mephisto to heel every time Franklin has dained to interact with him.

[Iron Maiden]

That cannot be understated. It tends to just be largely forgotten, but yeah...in a comic book, Doctor Doom in a skin suit sent a small child to Hell to be tormented by named demons.

All that aside, he and Mephisto (AKA Satan) have a personal beef.

He needs psychological help in the worst way.

I thought Waid went overboard. Unthinkable was far too dark in tone and I don't like that Franklin was victimized.

[Alpha to Omega]

That cannot be understated. It tends to just be largely forgotten, but yeah...in a comic book, Doctor Doom in a skin suit sent a small child to Hell to be tormented by named demons.

All that aside, he and Mephisto (AKA Satan) have a personal beef.

He needs psychological help in the worst way.

And that was the second time that Doom sent Franklin to Mephisto's Hell, the first being in Fantastic Four Annual #20 where he attempted to trade Franklin's soul for his mother's.

[Ravin' Ray]

We have two scenes where outside of Doom manipulating Val she is exposed to magic. The first is in Marvel Knights 4, where Reed, uneasy over Dr. Strange's diagnosis of the mystical attack on Val, secretly arranges for Diablo's release as a back-up plan. The alchemist teaches Franklin and Val a spell of banishment that he read and modified from the original.



The second is in the AU Fantastic Four: The End where an adolescent Val traces runes in the air for Sue to see. This sends her on a quest to find a mystical artifact that can manipulate time and enable the FF to save Franklin and Val from dying in their past, by drawing them right before the moment of their death, into their future, the FF's present. Val learned about runes from Agatha Harkness's tomes of magic.



So there is precedent for Val learning magic in at least two realities. However, I don't see her as the type that shoots magical bolts of energy; rather I see her learning about magic as an academic discipline where she becomes knowledgeable about incantations and magic artifacts. In other words, she doesn't project magic energy herself, but can expertly use artifacts and read spells.

[CaptCleghorn]

It rarely gets mentioned, but Valeria is a pretty smart young woman. I would be tempted to assume she's also taken a few notes and remembered some details regarding the plethora of universes the family created over their five years or so post Secret Wars. Some of them probably have a magical base. Where Reed would be less interested and possibly less able to make use of such potential, Val seems like she's made for magic or whatever the potential for magic using is.

[Lukmendes]

Considering that Valeria likes "uncle Doom", her learning magic from him could be fitting too, but yeah, without going too far with how much magic she uses, nothing that could make a reader randomly think "Hey she could be a Sorcerer Supreme candidate" lol.

At least that could give her intelligence something to stand out from Reed's more, though I would hope that writers would avoid putting F4 in more magic related situation just so she gets to do something, "this looks like a job for Aquaman" is a trope that can work, but can get annoying real fast lol.

[Nomads1]

Whoever’s coming in better not touch Ben’s kids

I agree. I thought they were a great addition to the FF family.

My biggest peeve about MC2 is that it's basically just one man's singular vision. Not that it's a bad vision because DeFalco is a fine storyteller, but I feel it should have been a large scale collaboration, with many of the older writers with legendary runs at the time getting a chance to 'advance' their takes on the characters without restriction.

I don't disagree. At all.

What did you make of Last Planet Standing? I thought it was a great Galactus level event with a unique fate for him and the Surfer.

I did like Last Planet Standing. Last Hero Standing also. I thought they were fun events.

You'll get half your wish in August with this graphic novel:

I'm looking foward to this.

Peace

[Oberon]

Waiting a long time for the book going with this cover.
I wish they could have showed us Sue's action in the preview

[xcoijoi]

Susan holds her own, which is fine.

But Doom is one again portrayed to be delusional about his abilities to defeat his adversary ; and helpless & ineffectual. Thanks a heap, Slott.

Also, the entire issue felt rushed.

[Oberon]

Well, as a BIG event, the Reckoning thing didn't resonate well with other tie ins or other comics, right? Just too contained for a big-touted event.

As fate had it, I actually showed up at my LCS yesterday and they could not sell me today's comics sniff.

Will anyone write a spoiler ish review (I never mind the spoilers, btw) ?