World's Greatest Comic: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2022

[Oberon]

Although I mostly liked the art, Reckoning War was unnecessary. I even feel cheated by the one cover of Sue, invisible running from Watchers. The story didn't seem to address anything Sue did in particular that was, ummn,

fantastic.

And like you, the concept of "increasing the universe" seems pointless, because we already know the universe is endless.
Here's hoping we have a tighter story and better roles for the characters.
The 'things' that should remain for the future team are:

Ben, Alicia, and their kids. They've been about the best character side plot.

Johnny and Sky and off they go. Hope this has some ongoing story. But

maybe not in this title? Where could this story continue?

And who would 'replace' Johnny? I suppose we could do worse than to have Jack of Hearts stick around, with She-Hulk.

[Iron Maiden]

Hey, I like Jack of Hearts. And I have faith in Rainbow Rowell on She-Hulk. I mostly liked her Runaways ongoing that ended recently but it did get a rushed ending. I especially liked Doombot who was sort of the Mr. Belvedere to the group. He was sure a sharp dressed Doombot

[Ravin' Ray]

And who would 'replace' Johnny? I suppose we could do worse than to have Jack of Hearts stick around, with She-Hulk.

Oh you know, they'll pull a fast one on us and replace him with—gasp—H.E.R.B.I.E.

[ARkadelphia]

Prediction…

The new writer will be…

Kelly Thompson

[CaptCleghorn]

Prediction…

The new writer will be…

Kelly Thompson

I'd be happy with her on the book.

[danielsan52]

God no……. She ruined Carol.

[Digifiend]

Ruined? She made her more popular. Nobody's had such a long run on Carol since Brian Reed's Ms. Marvel run, which means her series is the most successful with Carol as Captain Marvel. 42 issues solicited, and Reed's run ended at #50.

[danielsan52]

Ruined? She made her more popular. Nobody's had such a long run on Carol since Brian Reed's Ms. Marvel run, which means her series is the most successful with Carol as Captain Marvel. 42 issues solicited, and Reed's run ended at #50.

I loved the character as Ms. Marvel and I absolutely loathe her now. I really don’t want to feel that way about anyone in FF if that writer takes over.

[CitizenXXX]

I loved the character as Ms. Marvel and I absolutely loathe her now. I really don’t want to feel that way about anyone in FF if that writer takes over.

So what did she do?

[alanyoung909]

Slott gave a clue about the artist a while ago. He said it was someone who did just one issue during his run. So I doubt it's Southworth who hasn't done any FF work.

Slott tweeted that he knows who the new writer and artist is (and of course praises the new creative team) and that the artist has already drawn two issues.
Announcement soon, I think in November we are waiting for F4 1.

Since I had some time, I decided to have a look into this.

---

Slott wrote exactly 51 issues of Fantastic Four - 46 issues of the main book, the Wedding Special (WS), Empyre Fantastic Four 0 (EFF0), Empyre Fallout Fantastic Four 1 (EFFF1), Reckoning War Alpha (RWA) and Trial of the Watcher (TotW).
I've listed down all the artists (pencils only) who've worked on Dan Slott's Fantastic Four.
(*) denotes issues where the artist either did a back-up story or only a portion of the main story.

Sara Pichelli - 1, 2, 3*
Simone Bianchi - 1*
Skottie Young - 1*
Nico Leon - 3*, 4*, 36, 37
Stefano Caselli - 4*, 8*, 9*
Aaron Kuder - 5, 6, 7*, 8*, 9*
Michael Allred - 5*
Adam Hughes - 5*
Mark Buckingham - WS
John Lucas - 7*
David Marquez - 8*
Reilly Brown - 8*
Paco Medina - 9*, 10*, 11*, 14, 15*, 16, 18*, 20, 21*, 22*, 23, 24, 25*
Kevin Libranda - 10*, 11*
Paolo Villanelli - 11*
Juanan Ramirez - 11*
Sean Izaakse - 12, 13, 17*, 19, 21*, 22*, EFF0*, EFFF1
Robert Quinn - 15*
Luciano Vecchio - 17*
Carlos Magno - 17*, 18*, RWA*
Bob Quinn - 17*
Francesco Manna - 18*, 38, 39
R.B. Silva - EFF0*, 25, 26, 27*, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34
Will Robson - 25*
Juanan Ramirez - 27*
Ze Carlos - 27*, 29, 30
Javier Rodriguez - 32*, TotW
John Romita Jr. - 35
Carlos Pacheco - RWA*
Rafael Fonteriz - RWA*
Rachael Stott - 40, 41, 42, 43*, 44*
Andrea Di Vito - 43*, 44*
Davide Tinto - 44*
Farid Karami - 45
CAFU - 46

---

So who are the single-issue artists?
Simone Bianchi - 1*
Skottie Young - 1*
Michael Allred - 5*
Adam Hughes - 5*
Mark Buckingham – WS
John Lucas - 7*
David Marquez - 8*
Reilly Brown - 8*
Kevin Libranda - 10*, 11*
Paolo Villanelli - 11*
Juanan Ramirez - 11*
Robert Quinn - 15*
Luciano Vecchio - 17*
Bob Quinn - 17*
Will Robson - 25*
Juanan Ramirez - 27*
Javier Rodriguez - 32*, TotW
John Romita Jr. - 35
Carlos Pacheco - RWA*
Rafael Fonteriz - RWA*
Andrea Di Vito - 43*, 44*
Davide Tinto - 44*
Farid Karami - 45
CAFU - 46

Now, remove all the single * artists (because I believe they were brought in to meet the deadlines / help with artist availability):
Mark Buckingham - WS
Javier Rodriguez - 32*, TotW
John Romita Jr. - 35
Farid Karami - 45
CAFU - 46

Now, who's schedule is clear enough to have already drawn two issues of the book?
Mark Buckingham - Currently working on Miracleman with Neil Gaiman
Javier Rodriguez - Currently working on Defenders Beyond with Al Ewing
John Romita Jr. - Currently working on Amazing Spider-Man with Zeb Wells

Farid Karami - Currently not working on anything that's been announced
CAFU - Currently not working on anything that's been announced (besides FF46 which he finished some time ago)

So my educated guess for the new Fantastic Four artist is CAFU.
He's a bigger name than Karami who just got started at Marvel, he's done some big solo books (Valkyrie, Iron Man) so he's ready to level up to a team book.
Also, since he's doing FF46, he must have designed the look for Reed's sister, who will probably carry over into the new run.

[Iron Maiden]

Since I had some time, I decided to have a look into this.

---

Slott wrote exactly 51 issues of Fantastic Four - 46 issues of the main book, the Wedding Special (WS), Empyre Fantastic Four 0 (EFF0), Empyre Fallout Fantastic Four 1 (EFFF1), Reckoning War Alpha (RWA) and Trial of the Watcher (TotW).
I've listed down all the artists (pencils only) who've worked on Dan Slott's Fantastic Four.
(*) denotes issues where the artist either did a back-up story or only a portion of the main story.

Sara Pichelli - 1, 2, 3*
Simone Bianchi - 1*
Skottie Young - 1*
Nico Leon - 3*, 4*, 36, 37
Stefano Caselli - 4*, 8*, 9*
Aaron Kuder - 5, 6, 7*, 8*, 9*
Michael Allred - 5*
Adam Hughes - 5*
Mark Buckingham - WS
John Lucas - 7*
David Marquez - 8*
Reilly Brown - 8*
Paco Medina - 9*, 10*, 11*, 14, 15*, 16, 18*, 20, 21*, 22*, 23, 24, 25*
Kevin Libranda - 10*, 11*
Paolo Villanelli - 11*
Juanan Ramirez - 11*
Sean Izaakse - 12, 13, 17*, 19, 21*, 22*, EFF0*, EFFF1
Robert Quinn - 15*
Luciano Vecchio - 17*
Carlos Magno - 17*, 18*, RWA*
Bob Quinn - 17*
Francesco Manna - 18*, 38, 39
R.B. Silva - EFF0*, 25, 26, 27*, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34
Will Robson - 25*
Juanan Ramirez - 27*
Ze Carlos - 27*, 29, 30
Javier Rodriguez - 32*, TotW
John Romita Jr. - 35
Carlos Pacheco - RWA*
Rafael Fonteriz - RWA*
Rachael Stott - 40, 41, 42, 43*, 44*
Andrea Di Vito - 43*, 44*
Davide Tinto - 44*
Farid Karami - 45
CAFU - 46

---

So who are the single-issue artists?
Simone Bianchi - 1*
Skottie Young - 1*
Michael Allred - 5*
Adam Hughes - 5*
Mark Buckingham – WS
John Lucas - 7*
David Marquez - 8*
Reilly Brown - 8*
Kevin Libranda - 10*, 11*
Paolo Villanelli - 11*
Juanan Ramirez - 11*
Robert Quinn - 15*
Luciano Vecchio - 17*
Bob Quinn - 17*
Will Robson - 25*
Juanan Ramirez - 27*
Javier Rodriguez - 32*, TotW
John Romita Jr. - 35
Carlos Pacheco - RWA*
Rafael Fonteriz - RWA*
Andrea Di Vito - 43*, 44*
Davide Tinto - 44*
Farid Karami - 45
CAFU - 46

Now, remove all the single * artists (because I believe they were brought in to meet the deadlines / help with artist availability):
Mark Buckingham - WS
Javier Rodriguez - 32*, TotW
John Romita Jr. - 35
Farid Karami - 45
CAFU - 46

Now, who's schedule is clear enough to have already drawn two issues of the book?
Mark Buckingham - Currently working on Miracleman with Neil Gaiman
Javier Rodriguez - Currently working on Defenders Beyond with Al Ewing
John Romita Jr. - Currently working on Amazing Spider-Man with Zeb Wells

Farid Karami - Currently not working on anything that's been announced
CAFU - Currently not working on anything that's been announced (besides FF46 which he finished some time ago)

So my educated guess for the new Fantastic Four artist is CAFU.
He's a bigger name than Karami who just got started at Marvel, he's done some big solo books (Valkyrie, Iron Man) so he's ready to level up to a team book.
Also, since he's doing FF46, he must have designed the look for Reed's sister, who will probably carry over into the new run.

I didn't use your same methods but came up with CAFU as the answer about a week or two ago here

First of all, Mike Allred hasn't done a full issue of the Fantastic Four since probaby Matt Fraction's FF and I think he would be terrible on the book. His art is too stiff and plain IMO.

I think you made things way too complicated since Slott obviously meant artists who did the Fantastic Four book, not just covers or a handful of pages in a special issue in his time on the book. Skottie Young has never done an entire issue of anything FF since the Franklin Richards Son of a Genius series so that was always going to be a non-starter.


I went to the list of Fantastic Four comics listed on the Preview summary page of Fantastic Four issues and got the credited artists from there. Voila. Answer in about 5 mintues. Well, I guess you had fun doing it your way But I really don't know how it all fits in with the compass clue.

[Crimz]

61 years or Marvel's First Family!


Happy Fantastic Four day!

[Triniking1234]

God no……. She ruined Carol.

Nah. Whoever greenlit that origin retcon ruined Carol. Thompson's (65%) OK

[Iron Maiden]

61 years or Marvel's First Family!


Happy Fantastic Four day!

Love that Alex Ross piece. That is part of the alternate cover for his art book Marvelocity. I picked up a copy at C2E2 a couple of years ago at this booth but he wasn't there in person that day. I think he still lives in Chicago. Even his art prints of his work can cost over $500!

[Digifiend]

Nah. Whoever greenlit that origin retcon ruined Carol. Thompson's (65%) OK

And that happened in a mini before Thompson's run started, which was done by her previous series' writer. Thompson's just working with the cards she was dealt, so if the origin is the issue, you're blaming the wrong person, danielsan.