World's Greatest Comic: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2023

[MichaelC]

Yes plz. I have to add that let's forget the nitpick about the fight and note that this New FF launch has soured on me big time. Issue #3 clinched the groaning icky sentimentality that taken over the book with North. It solidified what I couldn't quite put my finger on in the other issues.

I was willing to give issue #1 a pass for being out of the gate and writing Ben as a simpleton rather than a simple guy but #2 just stepped off wrong with situating the robot takeover as some kind of misguided AI and Doom into some sort of a failed genius rather than a whole one like Reed. Because we are to understand that what makes our heroes HEROES is not their powers but their big hearts and optimism and in the case of Reed his genius is being positive without fail. We see that too in the chezzy rendition of Johnny Storm Union organizer...really? WTF #3 carries on with the first two issues of this run of the series with The Fantastic Four scattered yet unified in their 'socially responsible' heroism in the face of Artificial life, corporate greed.

The FF has been a to be avoided book for years because it was a "Family" book espousing homilies about pulling together, standing by your relations and friends like an old sitcom from the 50's as if the book was a nostalgia trip. Gone was the actual wonder and daring of the classic run and its many worthy runs of inventive and challenging stories of the science team that also happened to be a family. It was one of the last books to make a comeback to the reinvented MU because it was a corny collection of characters that seemed out of step with the times. I say that as a fan and long time reader.



It wasn't done before because preach-y comics are boring and strawman arguments from the get-go. It was unique to TV in the 60's because that was not what people thought of in terms of science fiction. Fact was westerns had already been doing that preaching for a while seems to escape many a commentator. And I have read people saying it "contains much of what's admirable about this specific franchise, embracing exploration and wonder over violent superhero antics..." yet I wonder why they are blowing all this air up to praise something that is not there. What exploration? What is challenging here? Where is the wonder rather than the wondering?

Great stories featuring Johnny were mentioned here as showing him struggle with the limits of his abilities, his fame trying to live up to the hero status and issue 3 tries to ride this out of the barn door but it fails so miserably with the cut-out villain of the story and injecting some misbegotten "realism" into the use of his flame powers.

I shudder to think where this series is now going, and its true redeeming quality may be that it makes the DeFalco and Ryan era look good.

I'm not sure where this view of the FF comes from. Reed Richards started out as a reckless scientist who didn't know as much as his pilot about cosmic ray shielding, and his ignorance and arrogance got that pilot turned into a grotesque freak. Thing was a bitter misanthrope on the verge of becoming a villain. The earliest FF stories were much darker than people seem to remember them.

[ARkadelphia]

I'm not sure where this view of the FF comes from. Reed Richards started out as a reckless scientist who didn't know as much as his pilot about cosmic ray shielding, and his ignorance and arrogance got that pilot turned into a grotesque freak. Thing was a bitter misanthrope on the verge of becoming a villain. The earliest FF stories were much darker than people seem to remember them.

Good call out

[Digifiend]

There's literally nothing that indicates suspended animation. This is a set up to age the kids a bit more to join or start a teenager based group: Marvel's biggest clientele.

There was already nothing stopping them sticking Powerhouse and Brainstorm with the Champions. I did find it odd that Outlawed didn't affect the FF kids, actually.

[GhostCryptid13]

Hopefully this means Franklin has has powers back, he should have them by now.

[Rzerox21xx]

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-clues-fan...ampaign=CBR-TW

[Crimz]

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-clues-fan...ampaign=CBR-TW

Franklin and Valeria look younger which is great imo

[Digifiend]

They were supposed to have been aged up five years, right? Before Secret Wars they were 8 and 3, so they ought to have been 13 and 8. Slott's run had the kids both being teenagers, around 13 and 15. Val was definitely older than she should've been. She looks around the same age as Jo and Nikki here, which would be around 10, which is more like how it should've been all along.

[Steroid]

Franklin and Valeria look younger which is great imo

I am in complete agreement.

[Frontier]

Watch their ages continually be inconsistent .

[CaptCleghorn]

Watch their ages continually be inconsistent .

Yeah. There's the metric of how old Marvel thinks the kids are. There's how old the writer writes them. And then there's how old the kids look when they're drawn. Books with kids need writers and artists who can handle characters of that age. And of course, knowing what those ages are.

[Rzerox21xx]

God I hope nothing bad happens to Ben and Alicia 2 cats.

[Lukmendes]

So how's the current F4 run? I read its first issue a few months back, and while I kinda rolled my eyes at the mystery box at the end, the rest of it was pretty fun, did it keep the quality?

[Crimz]

So how's the current F4 run? I read its first issue a few months back, and while I kinda rolled my eyes at the mystery box at the end, the rest of it was pretty fun, did it keep the quality?

I personally have been enjoying it, and the "mystery box" will be revealed next week

[Oberon]

Watch their ages continually be inconsistent .

another 'Franklin' accident? lol

[Frontier]

So how's the current F4 run? I read its first issue a few months back, and while I kinda rolled my eyes at the mystery box at the end, the rest of it was pretty fun, did it keep the quality?

It's starting out slow but it's been solid and fun so far, and North seems to have a good handle on the cast and their voices.