Review: Fantastic 4 #1

After so long, after Marvel Team-up, the Fantastic 4 are back baby!Â But is it the “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” or another Marvel disappointment?

Ben and Johnny are back from their travels and still alone in a city full of superheroes.Â True, Ben has Alicia and Johnny has Wyatt, but there are parts of their lives still absent.Â Reed and Sue, despite Ben and Johnny’s roam through the multiverse, are still missing.Â A Yancy Street prank shows that the city has a lot of love still for the Fantastic 4, which is surprising considering you have Spider-Man, the Avengers and X-Men running around the place.Â But hey, the FF were more adventurers than just straight up heroes.Â With Ben and Alicia talking pets and future plans, it seems that Johnny’s faith in his sister and brother-in-law is keeping him rooted in the past.

This book is the next big series from Dan Slott who way back when threw some some curve balls into Peter Parker’s life.Â Slott kind of goes through the motions in this issue.Â For fans of the team, theyÂ may have seen all this moping around already in the prequel like Marvel Team-up book.Â The dialogue works well enough with a couple of guest stars added to the mix to give their perceptions of what the FF means to them.Â That’s all well and good but surely the fans that have been clamouring for this book deserve more than kittens for their $5.99.

Sara Pichelli provides the art along with Elisabetta D’Amico in a style that is different enough from the Marvel norm to stand out.Â Ben is at hisÂ ‘ahem’ hulking best, Johnny flames on as always and the art, despite some pedestrian storytelling, manages to convey a level of movement.Â Square angles are used in places to give the duo a seemingly not of this world vibe, further emphasising how lost they are.Â The colors are by Marte Gracia and are the best part of the book.

The book also feature a call to arm for perennial FF villain and overall despot, Doctor Doom.Â Again written by Dan Slott, this time collaborating with Simone Bianchi, the back-up feels a little bit hodge-podge to be honest; hopefully clarity is forthcoming.Â Finally, we get an Impossible Man tale by Slott and Skottie Young which is practically so self-aware of this books shortcomings when compared to fan expectations, that you could take it one of two ways; positively it answers the knee jerk disappoint that you may have with parts of this book; negatively, they are taking the mickey out of the readers expectations.Â How you feel about this last page is totally your call.

Is this book a return to form for the First Family of Marvel?Â Despite the idea that I should be able to “wait one more month”, I can’t help but feel this is a wasted opportunity, a feeling that is not helped by the fact that on one page they spell one of the main characters name wrong; believe when I say I know how to spell Johnny and it isn’t with two ‘H”s.Â Hopefully this typo has been picked up prior to the book going to press.Â Regardless of typo’s, my overall feeling regarding this book is that it is less than Fantastic and is in reality “just another comic magazine”.

Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by; Dan Slott
Art by; Sara Pichelli, Simone Bianchi and Skottie Young
Colors by; Marte Garcia, Marco Russo and Jeremy Treece
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network