Sometimes a simple superhero comic transcends its own premise and becomes something more. Other times you encounter a comic so terrible, it makes you regret ever having affection for the medium. You know what I mean. Everyone has encountered books that exist on the extreme ends of good and bad taste. But what about the other books? The everyday comics? The stories that make up the majority of comics: totally, utterly, okay. “Fantastic Four” #4 is one of these comics. Light, clever, competent, and completely fine.
Written by Dan SlottCover by Esad Ribic
Illustrated by Stefano Caselli & Nico Leon
Colored by Erick Arciniega
Lettered by VC’s Chris Eliopoulos
Meet the Marvel Universe’s New Fabulous Foursome: THE FANTASTIX! Wait. What?! Who are these imposters? Why are they in the Baxter Building?! And how is it that they own the lease?! A strange new turn in the Fantastic Four’s legacy! A secret side mission for the Thing! All this and a special appearance by one of the FF’s oldest foes!
You know the feeling I’m describing. It’s what TV Tropes would call an 8.8. (Not that I’m going to give this comic an 8.8. We have our own grading scale here.) The basic idea is that we want everything we read (or watch, or listen to, or play) to be A+ material, but we know that can’t always be the case. Look at most superhero comics though, and you’ll find a lot of books that are genuinely bad. “Fantastic Four” #4 is not bad, and in that it is almost less interesting than a catastrophic failure. It’s like the Law and Order of comics. A reliable read.
We start out with our heroes (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, the Thing, Franklin, and Valeria) in another universe with their assembled allies and the Future Foundation. They’ve just defeated the all-powerful Griever and are ready to return to Earth. When they get there about a third of the way into the issue, they find that their old home the Baxter Building is now the home of the Fantastix, a team humorously derivative of the F4.
And like, that’s about it. There’s a lot of well-written conversations and table setting for lots of cool stuff to come. One recurring beat (which I find hilarious) is that Iceman keeps insisting that his brief tenure with the Fantastic Four makes him a member. The thing is… Iceman really hasn’t been part of the F4. But the story makes it clear this is all the setup for some sort of retcon. This is the kind of foreshadowing that writer Dan Slott and editor Tom Brevoort are actually pretty good at, so watching this in-joke play out is pretty fun.
The Fantastix themselves are a fun distraction. The book never pretends that they’re really going to replace the F4, and they certainly don’t overstay their welcome. 2-D is flat and stretchy. Iceberg is strong and frozen. Ms. Fantastix sparkles and flies around. And there’s another one, she’s made of indestructible diamonds. Although these guys don’t leave much of an impression they serve the story well. Artists Stefano Caselli and Nico Leon draw the team with a lot of charm, especially 2-D who has a weird power and a goofy haircut.
The art team also has to draw like half the rest of the Marvel universe and they do a great job. It’s pretty much house style, but I’ve seen enough people mess up a bearded Reed Richards or the texture of Black Panther’s costume to know that a good house style is worth a lot. “Fantastic Four” means a lot of alien landscapes, weird monsters, and impossible sights. One approach would be to lean into all the weirdness. Caselli and Leon make the impossible seem possible. Another dimension? It looks like Nigeria at sunset. Not the world outside my window (which is currently covered in snow), but not Jack Kirby drawing the Negative Zone either. The art is subtle, letting the character interaction do most of the heavy lifting.
Early into that Fantastic Four vs Fantastix fight (the Wrecking Crew also gets involved), Franklin gets sort of bored and asks uncle Ben to take him to go see his soon-to-be-aunt Alicia. There’s a cute scene with lots of hugging. That’s kind of the issue in a nutshell. The fighting stuff doesn’t really amount to much. The family stuff is really sweet. It’s not that nothing happens. Hell, the Future Foundation team disappears into the multiverse for the foreseeable future; they’ve been around since 2010! But like,¯\_(ツ)_/¯. They’ll be back. The Fantastix will probably make another appearance too. I’m enjoying this series and will definitely check out the new issue, but its unlikely #4 is going to leave me with a lasting impression.
Continued belowBut then I think about all my whining about big events. And let’s be real, if you’re a Marvel fan you’ve whined about events too. Not every storyline needs to have universe breaking stakes! Sometimes we want little episodes that give the big plots room to breathe. If every story shatters the status quo, than there is no status quo. That’s what made me realize- Dan Slott is the master of the 8.8 story. We spend a lot of time focusing on the big crossovers, but his “Spider-Man” run was filled with fun issues. Those are the stories that I forget about and frequently delight me when I go back to read the series.
I’m happy Slott, Caselli and Leon are on this book. Though their popularity waxes and wanes, the F4 are the foundation of the universe. If every issue tried to be “The Galactus Trilogy” we’d never get stories like She Hulk trying to chase down some skeezy photographers like in “Fantastic Four” #275. It seems that this creative team is committing to Marvel’s first family for the foreseeable future. I can’t wait to see what crazy things they have in store, and the fun little adventures that come between the major story beats!
Final Verdict: 7.5 – a simple table-setting issue that gets far on charm.
