World's Greatest Comic: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2022

[Crimz]

Honestly...when Johnny does get fixed...I would not mind him keeping the ability to burn in space/underwater gimmick

Me too. Just make it another upper-limit ability like his nova. He can do it when necessary but it comes with side effects and a time limit for how long he can do it.
That should keep him from being too OP.

[cmore]

Johnny is in his weird situation. When comic writers want to write someone as having grown up they usually have them settling down with someone and having kids. Which is a pretty narrow-minded view of maturity. For Johnny that will not happen (at least not permanently) because Marvel views this as aging the characters too much plus it doesn't really suit Johnny to be married with kids imo.

The other way to mature him is to give him responsibilities like a job, rent, bills, etc. However, with how the Fantastic Four are set-up he never had to worry about these things. This leaves very few paths to show Johnny maturing.

You want him settling down because you already have 2 married couples with kids and it limits his story potential. You also can't give him the usual adult responsibilities because the FF all live together.

So what do you do?

I think in the FF book, he might never grow up unfortunately. Too many things are preventing that from happening in a permanent way and I don't know the solution.

Johnny's had several jobs, but nothing positive ever seemed to come of them. He's always been a mechanic, and I assume he's still responsible for keeping the FF's vehicles in good working order, so we know that he's capable. When the team was having financial problems, he got a job with the fire department, but that didn't last. He was with a band for awhile, but losing his powers ended that. His last job was when Sue made him CFO in order to give him more responsiblity, but as soon as the story was over and Johnny and his co-worker saved the day, that was the end of that.

I'd love to see growth in the character, but I don't expect to get it from Slott. He seems to be content with Johnny staying irresponsible and stupid.
I wish the writers would bring back Wyatt. Johnny always seemed more grounded when he was around. Send the two on an adventure together.

Sue needs a job too ... or at least a hobby. Now that her kids don't need constant attention, I can't help but wonder what she does all day.

[Digifiend]

Sue should join the Avengers. Or at least their Agents of Wakanda wetworks team - she has experience as a spy.

[strathcona]

Is anybody reading the current Thing mini? It feels really weird and Ben seems OOC in it. I'm not even sure when it's supposed to take place in continuity. But there is just enough mystery surrounding his date and the kid to keep me coming back.

[Ultimate Captain America]

Sue needs a job too ... or at least a hobby. Now that her kids don't need constant attention, I can't help but wonder what she does all day.

She has a job: Nick Fury frequently sends her on covert missions.

And she has a hobby: spying on Johnny's girlfriends. But perhaps she needs a new hobby for the foreseeable future.

[Iron Maiden]

spoilers:

I was about to ask how yall felt about Slott's run but the FF being dismantled is a big NO from me.

end of spoilers

Anyway, I still look at the Hickman stuff with fondness and gonna break out the Matt Fraction FF issues since they're still a mystery to me.

Aside from the Lee/Kirby big trades I just got, what are some quick and easy runs to dive into?

I think everyone who is diving in to the Fantastic Four should read the John Byrne run. He did it all, scripting, art and sometimes even the lettering and answering letters on the fan mail page.

As for the latest issue, just another terrible story and scripting by Slott IMO

This scenario was the absolute rock bottom ....
spoilers:

Johnny rants like a 8 year old spoiled brat and then even worse, later on Sue actually slaps him.

end of spoilers Does Slott even like these characters? It's character assassination taking place in a comic book

[Crimz]

Johnny's had several jobs, but nothing positive ever seemed to come of them. He's always been a mechanic, and I assume he's still responsible for keeping the FF's vehicles in good working order, so we know that he's capable. When the team was having financial problems, he got a job with the fire department, but that didn't last. He was with a band for awhile, but losing his powers ended that. His last job was when Sue made him CFO in order to give him more responsiblity, but as soon as the story was over and Johnny and his co-worker saved the day, that was the end of that.

I'd love to see growth in the character, but I don't expect to get it from Slott. He seems to be content with Johnny staying irresponsible and stupid.
I wish the writers would bring back Wyatt. Johnny always seemed more grounded when he was around. Send the two on an adventure together.

Sue needs a job too ... or at least a hobby. Now that her kids don't need constant attention, I can't help but wonder what she does all day.

That's the point, most of the ways to show him mature simply either won't ever happen (having a kid) or would only be temporary due to how the FF operate (like getting a job). I agree that Wyatt seems to be a character that calms down Johnny's immaturity. I have no idea why Slott just dropped the character after a few issues. I thought Wyatt would be an important supporting character that sticks around like Alicia does. I hope the next run brings him back and keeps him around this time.

I agree that Sue needs something to do, especially as this run is content in her doing nothing.

Sue should join the Avengers. Or at least their Agents of Wakanda wetworks team - she has experience as a spy.

I personally like them to keep the main teams as separate as possible, otherwise every team becomes and Avenger offshoot. So I'd love to see Sue on a different team, just not an Avengers one.

She has a job: Nick Fury frequently sends her on covert missions.

And she has a hobby: spying on Johnny's girlfriends. But perhaps she needs a new hobby for the foreseeable future.

Her spy work was more of a hobby and it wasn't very frequent at all. Also there is no more SHIELD.

The spying on Johnny's girlfriends was the dumbest and most out character thing Slott has written of her. I prefer her being wallpaper in the run if he thinks that is how to write Sue...

[Iron Maiden]

I wish a new writer will come aboard after Slott's Reckoning War "epic" is over. I'd like to see either Chip Zdarsky, Al Ewing or Christopher Cantwell on this title.

[Crimz]

I wish a new writer will come aboard after Slott's Reckoning War "epic" is over. I'd like to see either Chip Zdarsky, Al Ewing or Christopher Cantwell on this title.

I hope it ends after that event too, it's a natural climax to the run and most of his plot points have wrapped up. The only ones remaining are Johnny and Franklin's powers which can be solved anytime. Reed's sister is the only plot thread that I don't know when or how it could into play.

Those writers are my top choices too:

Ewing seems to have something very cool and sci-fi planned based on how the team factors in his previous works. But he's going to be writing an X-Men book so I don't know if he'd be available whenever the FF book does eventually change writers.

Cantwell's very few FF related books have been really interesting, especially his Reed and Doom dynamic. I just worry that it would be the center of the book, the other 3 deserve their own arcs and antagonists. I wouldn't want another run that focuses on Reed and Doom.

Zdarsky usually gets them right and has the right balance of family drama and sci-fi craziness. His Marvel Two-in-One was pretty great, but his Fantastic Four/X-Men had a lot characters acting weird. I don't know how consistent his characterization would be.

All of them are great choices imo but also have some potential problems. Whether it would be schedule or writing. Either way I would be happy with any of them.

[Iron Maiden]

I didn't realize that Ewing would be doing an X-Men book so I guess that might eliminate him. I don't see much on Zdarsky's plate for Marvel except for the Devil's Reign mini series. But he may be working on creator-owned works. Cantwell did a one shot with the Fantastic Four that was about the family going on a vacation that goes awry. But he's got a lot of stuff going on besides Iron Man.... some indy stuff like Blue Flame and Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body ( )

[Wat]

Johnny underwater should have caused a massive steam explosion with how hot he was burning, but I think comics have long since kicked science in the crotch on the floor.

Rather they have cut off the crotch and made u science dickless.

[Ultimate Captain America]

Her spy work was more of a hobby and it wasn't very frequent at all. Also there is no more SHIELD.

But that's exactly what we were talking about, right? A hobby. It's not as if she needs a full-time job to pay the rent, just something to do between FF missions.

And yes, there is no more SHIELD, but Nick Fury is still around, and there are still things that need to be done. She has done this both in her solo comic and in the current FF run (she had to sneak into Latveria's embassy, Doom pointed a secret that Reed kept from her, and when she protested he pointed that she's doing those spy missions without Reed's knowledge). So yes, Sue doing spy missions in her free time is already a thing.

[Digifiend]

I didn't realize that Ewing would be doing an X-Men book so I guess that might eliminate him. I don't see much on Zdarsky's plate for Marvel except for the Devil's Reign mini series. But he may be working on creator-owned works. Cantwell did a one shot with the Fantastic Four that was about the family going on a vacation that goes awry. But he's got a lot of stuff going on besides Iron Man.... some indy stuff like Blue Flame and Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body ( )

Ewing once had Ultimates, U.S.Avengers, Rocket and Royals all on the go at once. They were all cancelled by the time he moved onto Immortal Hulk, but he's quite capable of handling multiple books at once. So doing an X book as well as Venom wouldn't stop him doing FF. The question is, does he have any current creator owned stuff going on that'd take him past four books?

[cmore]

But that's exactly what we were talking about, right? A hobby. It's not as if she needs a full-time job to pay the rent, just something to do between FF missions.

And yes, there is no more SHIELD, but Nick Fury is still around, and there are still things that need to be done. She has done this both in her solo comic and in the current FF run (she had to sneak into Latveria's embassy, Doom pointed a secret that Reed kept from her, and when she protested he pointed that she's doing those spy missions without Reed's knowledge). So yes, Sue doing spy missions in her free time is already a thing.

When I mentioned Sue needing a hobby, I was thinking more about an activity outside of the superhero business, like Johnny's car racing or Ben's poker games. She doesn't seem to have any life outside of raising her kids and being invisible woman.

[Iron Maiden]

When I mentioned Sue needing a hobby, I was thinking more about an activity outside of the superhero business, like Johnny's car racing or Ben's poker games. She doesn't seem to have any life outside of raising her kids and being invisible woman.

In the John Byrne days at least she had Jennifer and Jan to hang out with at the beauty salon.