World's Greatest Comic: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2023

[Iron Maiden]

CBR has a monthly Q & A column here and this one features a session with Ryan North. I wish I knew about this so I could have submitted a question!

Here is the link to yesterday's column.

It also features some unlettered preview pages

[Frontier]

Doom is wasting no time!

[jwatson]

I freaking loved this issue. The art while not my fave close up creates all the atmosphere and scenery you need. This was definitely a smaller story but i loved it it felt like a family outing and we saw how the FF connects. Sue being classified as such a big threat, the minor power explorations like reed being able to see as good a telescope or the extra skin on his arms later, things like that the artist killed the weird. Alicia is a pretty good pr person for the team and i continue to admire the way johnny is being written, dude is smart, he just isn't interested in science and that is okay. Really looking forward to next issue a solid 8.5/10 for me. i hope the cihldren are back soon. But for such a small adventure the emotional connections and showing us why the FF work was huge. Also loving sue is a Dr.

also johnny absorbing heat. i digressed but that was part of the powers being explored more thing. lol

[TheMaker1610]

Johnny's marriage was made up of some pretty weird circumstances and the ending isn't necessarily due to his immaturity. Johnny has a big man-child personality. As much as the claim has been made that "it's the Torch we grew up with", it's part of his personality. Examples of characters who embrace their inner child but still adult when needed abound in fiction and in real life. His big problem has been thinking with his "little head". His relationships have not gone well. He's chosen extremely poorly (Medusa, Alicia atop the list).

His parenting abilities could be showed in his dealing with Franklin and Valeria. I still think a relationship could be introduced, but one not getting too intense or serious.

Speaking of Johnny's "little head", remember when he went to bed with Victorious, the night before her wedding with Doom? That was Wells' levels of stupidity lmao

[Iron Maiden]

That writing by Slott on the Doom/Victorious/Johnny triangle was like a bad sitcom episode. It seems like it ruined the character of Victorious because we seldom see her anymore. I think current writer Ryan North should just ignore the whole thing.

[Crimz]

Speaking of Johnny's "little head", remember when he went to bed with Victorious, the night before her wedding with Doom? That was Wells' levels of stupidity lmao

That writing by Slott on the Doom/Victorious/Johnny triangle was like a bad sitcom episode. It seems like it ruined the character of Victorious because we seldom see her anymore. I think current writer Ryan North should just ignore the whole thing.

It was forced and best forgotten.

Doom proposed to her directly after they slept together. She was single and not in a romantic relationship with Doom. The only person he did wrong by was Sky. Doom had no right to be upset with anyone but Victorious for waiting to tell him on their wedding day.

Johnny didn't deserve punishment from Doom and the whole thing is best forgotten.

[CaptCleghorn]

It was forced and best forgotten.

Doom proposed to her directly after they slept together. She was single and not in a romantic relationship with Doom. The only person he did wrong by was Sky. Doom had no right to be upset with anyone but Victorious for waiting to tell him on their wedding day.

Johnny didn't deserve punishment from Doom and the whole thing is best forgotten.

Doom is Doom, though and what he did, I understand from a character viewpoint, even if unjustified. As far as Johnny and Victorious, I get it. The Johnny and Sky seemed really bizarre and that armband thingy never seemed to be 100% accurate to me, but the move was not a classy one by Johnny there.

Victorious has a lot of potential as a Latverian loyalist who has some independent thought. Although Doom has on some occasions listened to an opposing view, he is still Doom. Victorious allows for more shades of grey from the Latverian side.

[Digifiend]

That writing by Slott on the Doom/Victorious/Johnny triangle was like a bad sitcom episode. It seems like it ruined the character of Victorious because we seldom see her anymore. I think current writer Ryan North should just ignore the whole thing.

Victorious only disappeared because FF changed writer and Doom's solo book finished. Perfectly normal. She's probably still in Latveria doing her usual thing, but there's no reason for her to show up otherwise (in this case, Doom is attacking the FF in the US, they aren't on his territory - so no reason for Victorious to be present).

[Oberon]

Agree, best forgotten.

I only want to know of Skye's/people if a real coherent placement could be found (good luck)

[cmore]

That writing by Slott on the Doom/Victorious/Johnny triangle was like a bad sitcom episode. It seems like it ruined the character of Victorious because we seldom see her anymore. I think current writer Ryan North should just ignore the whole thing.

I can probably forgive Slott for that Johnny/Victorious nonsense, but I don't know if I can ever forgive him for turning Sue into a creepy stalker.

[Oberon]

I can probably forgive Slott for that Johnny/Victorious nonsense, but I don't know if I can ever forgive him for turning Sue into a creepy stalker.

He left us up in the air with Alicia and puppety ness.
Will this come up again. It was interesting, and then nothing.

[Frontier]

There was a lot of stuff in Slott's run that wasn't well-thought out or executed.

[Darkshadow]

I think Slott had a hundred issue plan because of his success with Spiderman. I don't think he anticipated his take on the Four would not be well received. In Slott fashion, he dropped threads along the way to feed his 100 issue plan. I'll be the one to say some of his threads had promise, and I hope someone ties them up. It's bad form to not close loops in long running serials.

[Starrius]

I liked the married johnny from the 80s. He grew up some and even led to him leading fantastic force. But he had the same fate as spider-man and sandman. He got a writer who wanted the torch from their childhood. The child, hothead torch so "wifes a skrull." Back to status quo. Reset.

I always thought Byrne taking Alicia away from Ben after 20 years of them being a couple and giving her to Johnny was a big mistake.

I am glad that Johnny's wife Alicia ended up being the skrull Lyja..

I am even more glad that Ben and Alice are a married couple.

Their wedding was long overdue.


I am enjoying reading the Fantastic Four

[Oberon]

Possibly many of the FF runs left dangling stuff.

Things I wanted from various runs:

How did the New Salem folks have that robot, way back in the Perez era?

All of the various one-off alien/races they have met.

Or Ebon Seeker and Frostfire. I really wanted more of that.

I am still not satisfied with the various Reed father stories. But I like the mystery. Maybe old Nathaniel is really Kang, after all this?

etc.