Review: Fantastic 4: Antithesis #1

Fantastic Four Antithesis combines the talents of one of the greatest writers and one of the greatest artists in comics. Yet somehow the comic is less than the sum of those parts. Instead of focusing on its classic strengths it focuses on being hip and modern. In almost a parody-like way memes, hashtags and shocking behavior takes the place of character work and story-telling. All of this is unfortunate as Neal Adams and Mark Farmer use this book to pour heart and soul into some astounding artwork.

The book opens with a battle with Annihilus. Adams uses this battle as a chance to showcase great action, but the story and art isolates the battle to a city block, making the scale feel more like a battle between Spider-Man and the Rhino. Instead of using this massive villain, he“s simply reduced to a raving, throwaway prelude.

The action then shifts to home life, where Sue seems to have nothing to do but manage her kids and try to attract Reed“s attention. A prank feud between Ben and Johnny is interrupted as the team must coordinate to cushion the force of a falling Silver Surfer. Surfer then reveals that Galactus is dead.

The art throughout the book is classic Neal Adams goodness. The Thing might grimace way too much, but every panel is filled with classic action and Adams still clearly knows how to create interesting visuals. But the writing just does not live up to the visuals. It“s not clear if the stiltedÂ writing is by Mark Waid or simply that this was a story by Neal Adams with an assist by Waid.Â

The scope of the story should be larger, the dialogue should not try so hard to impress young readers, and we need to see Neal Adams drawing some amazing Galactus rather than simply having him be ”˜killed“ off-screen.

Hopefully future issues will improve on all of this. Waid had an incredible run on Fantastic Four and he just needs to tap into that expansive, classic spirit and let the art do the rest.Â

Writing: 2 of 5 stars
Artwork: 4.5 of 5 stars
Colors: 4.0 of 5 stars

Overall: 3.5 of 5 stars

Storytellers: Mark Waid And Neal Adams
Inks: Mark Farmer
Colors: Laura Martin
Publisher: Marvel

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.