REVIEW: Fantastic Four : Sacrifice Anything

I (and many other True Believers) can remember fondly the days when it was cool to down Dan Slott because of his run on Iron Man (Arno Stark anyone?) and the whole fiasco that was Hickman approved in regards to Franklin Richards and whether he has access to Krakoa or not.

I am not here to say that all of that is forgiven, but damn : this Reckoning War that Slott has mustered out has turned out to be some good reading. I was tempted to miss out on this entire saga, but every issue has gotten better and better and it’s no surprise that number 689 has followed tradition. My only qualm with this story is that Slott has caught Dr. Doom down bad, and I’ve been noticing this trend across books whether Doom is up in space with the Guardians of The Galaxy because Ewing said so, or if Doom is licking his wounds from catching a Hulk-sized beatdown because David wants to add on to the Maestro lore.

Doom said it himself in this issue, the man has “mastered sorcery AND science (even though they are one in the same if you cut the mysticism out)” – it’s about time to give ol’ Victor Von his flowers, that’s all I’m saying. Other than my need to defend the good Doctor from what I feel is the short end of the stick, Slott has been able to pen an epic that I didn’t think he was capable of accomplishing.

This issue of Reckoning War (and the others before it) reads like a dusty and tattered graphic novel, found on library shelves when I was locked out of any number of foster homes that I resided in during my youth. Hell, even the art accompanies those fond memories too – Di Vitto, Tinto, and Stott’s pencils combined with Aburtov’s colors have a new millennium feel back when Marvel character’s were bright and glossy while their competitors pages were acid washed and pale.

The appearances of the StarJammers, The Watchers, She-Hulk, and even Jack of Hearts makes this feel like such a huge event – with destruction and demise looming at every corner for the protagonists. Despite this, the humor is still present and effective, especially amongst the exchanges with the usual suspects in The Thing and Johnny Storm but going as far to the deadpan quips from this Watcher-empowered Mr. Fantastic to the underestimations coming from the big bad in regards to the opponents he has decided to face to enact his vengeance.
Fantastic Four “Sacrifice Everything” is good stuff.

Not a dull moment and worth it’s inclusion within this Reckoning War saga, which I guarantee will be sought after at back issue bins and circulation desks years after this story sees it’s first printing within a collection that will be tattered and filled with all sorts of smudges and dust because Reckoning War will pass through many hands (dirty and sanitized) for pure enjoyment of Kirby and Lee’s First Family, done right.

Score : 5/5

(W) Dan Slott (A) Rachael Stott (CA) CAFU & more…