Fantastic Four 587 featured Reviews 

Hick-F4M: The Loss (A Multiversity Summer Comics Binge Production)

By | July 24th, 2019
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

A team – and a family – of adventurers, explorers, and imaginauts, the Fantastic Four lead lives both ordinary – and extraordinary!

And today we have the heart-wrenching conclusion to the first phase of Jonathan Hickman’s run on “Fantastic Four.” Namely the end of the title. Today we’ll be cover “Fantastic Four” #579-588, the last issue being billed as the “final issue,” though this is comics. Nothing ever dies. But that doesn’t mean there’s not losses, not suffering, not pain, not laughter, not family, or victories, or triumphs, or tragic defeats. Welcome to Hick-F4M.

We spent last week with set-up, set-up for what I imagined would be the rest of this volume before the transition into “FF,” and yet one ought to remember this is a Hickman comic. And Hickman is nothing if not always playing the long game. What these 10 issues do contain are beautiful familial explorations that all build to something, just not the war or the conflict I was imagining. But God do Steve Epting, Neil Edwards, and Nick Dragotta make it a gorgeous ride.

These 10 issues contain first the ‘Heroic Age’ tie-ins, which was Marvel’s relaunch after the “Siege,” event. That banner runs through #582, and those issues act less as an “arc” and more as episodic vignettes that help set the stage for ‘Three’ the arc that runs through #588, with that issue acting as an epilogue. The banner bills the arc as “Countdown to Casualty.” And they deliver. All of these issues can be found on Marvel Unlimited under the “Fantastic Four 1998-2012” series title, or on comiXology, or in a back issue bin somewhere, as well as on Amazon in collection.

But enough of that. Spoilers from here on out. Let’s dive in.

“Fantastic Four” #579-588
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Illustrated by Neil Edwards and Andrew Currie(#579-81); Edwards and Paul Neary (#582); Edwards and Scott Hanna (#582); Steve Epting (#583-585); Epting and Rick Magyar (#586); Epting, Magyar, and Mike Perkins (#587); Nick Dragotta and Mark Brooks (#588)
Colored by Paul Mounts
Lettered by VC’s Rus Wooten
Covers by Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, and Javier Rodriguez

Alright so as I stated the first four issues by Hickman and Edwards are stage-setting, episodic issues, with #581-2 acting as a short two-parter that will pay off in #588 and definitely beyond. I was harsher on Edwards in my last installment as I felt his two-issues earlier on were more muted with a lighter ink, but the four he puts out here are quite excellent and superior to the earlier issues. There’s more shadows and the lines are much darker, and the coloring from Mounts matches and carries over from how he was coloring Dale Eaglesham. There is not an ugly issue in this bunch.

The first issue here also introduces a concept that is still a driving force a decade later: the Future Foundation. All of the various kids that the family has brought in are organized for the first time and Reed begins his new think tank of teenage and child genuises who really just steal the show for the rest of the issues. The way that Reed justifies it as well is amazing – attending a conference and telling off a bunch of terrified, power-seeking, old white dude scientists and telling them their paranoia is ruining the world. It matches the spirit of the last arc, and what should be the Fantastic Four’s constant charge: never stop imagining. The possibility of a better world is always on the horizon, and when we are institutions turn inward we lose sight of that. I loved this issue.

Issue #579

Of course after the Future Foundation is formed, Valeria steals the attention of her father, which upsets Franklin, and we get issue #580 where he spends a whole day with Johnny. It’s a cute issue on that front, letting Johnny and Franklin have a one-off adventure where they beat up a minor villain while the FF work on trying to cure Ben as their first group project. It’s so genuine of them, and I sobbed a little at Val’s apology to Ben that they only managed to come up with a cure that would make him human for a week, as if that’s not a beautiful gift in and of itself. Both of these issues feature “Interludes,” which tell us the happenings of Nu-World, which I still found quite confusing because I lack the background for that concept, but manage to get Ted Castle and Alyssa Moy to Earth, which sets up Reed’s role in the next arc. I’m sure there’s more in those interludes that I missed, and that backissue reading and re-reads would allow me to better understand.

Continued below

Franklin and Valeria continue to get the spotlight as we return to future Franklin, meet future Valeria, and also the future version of Reed’s dad Nathaniel Richards, who came as quite the shock to me to see, mostly because I thought he was gone gone. These issues feature some inspired pages by Edwards, Neary/Hanna, and Mounts, and the pages that have white backgrounds stand out the most. The panel where Nathaniel explains to young Reed what happened to him, as well as the fadeout panel at the end of #582 with future Valeria talking to her mom are nothing less than fantastic.

Issue #581

These issues manage to see you on the kids and portray just how important Val and Franklin, as well as the Future Foundation, are to Hickman’s overall vision for this book. While these issues have featured all the kids, it’s these that begin to put them at the center of the book, weaving the rest of the plot around the family and around the children. It’s this that going into ‘Three’ I was the most surprised by. I expected to get to the war that future Franklin warns young Val about by this point, but ‘Three’ continues the localized family stories that have broader consequences. The way that the conflict of the four cities was set up in the last few issues made it seem quite urgent and present, and while ‘Three’ absolutely deals with players in the coming war, it sets up more. Which actually works much better. While the four issues of ‘Prime Element’ were interesting, this coming conflict felt rushed. Here there’s more room to breath, plenty of time with the Future Foundation, and so much time to be invested in the family. Hickman clearly has a longterm plan and vision for this book – and in a week that “House of X” begins there is sure to be plenty of talk about Hickman and longterm planning – but none of that gets in the way of the deep emotional bonds of the family which we are supposed to be way more invested in. Hickman manages to weave the plot around the family in such a way that the danger feels very present and yet taking our time to get there doesn’t feel like a waste of time, unnecessary, or strung-out.

This brings us to #583 then, which also happens to be Steve Epting’s first issue of the book. I’ll just say it right now: Epting is a brilliant artist. His art is dynamic and expressive, and also a little bit of a departure from Edwards and Eaglesham. Epting has what feels like a more muted and painterly quality to him that differs from the traditional superhero fare, though with plenty of variety, that this book has had thus far. I really just love him everywhere he shows up.

Issue #583

This arc manages to set the bar high right off the bat, and then slowly ease off the throttle and just let everything explode. Valeria rediscovers the Bridge and therefore has to seek out Doom, who for some comic book-y reason has suffered brain damage recently. In a very picky and pedantic moment I would’ve appreciated an editor’s box or note or something telling me where this happened and just a bit more than I got, but it is presented so matter of factly that it doesn’t get in the way of what’s happening. Ditto with the dead Galactus from the future buried at the core of the Earth that Silver Surfer finds. I get it, I’m in the wrong, I can use Google, I should read more comics. Sure. But I didn’t, and I haven’t.

Anyway, this five-issue arc, plus coda, proceeds telling three stories simultaneously every issue. We have Reed, Galactus, and Silver Surfer on Nu-World, Sue mediating between Old and New Atlantis, and lastly the possibility of a Negative World invasion at the worst possible time as Ben has taken his cure to make himself human for a week. All of them play soft at first, Ben and Johnny have a great day and week (and have dinner with Jack and Stan), Galactus and Reed carry on like old friends, and Sue berates Namor and seems to get him to concede to Old Atlantis’ demands. And then all hell breaks loose.

Continued below

Issue #584

We’re promised a death and Hickman manages to sell the hell in a way that it really could be any of the Four, and tension is held that you think it could truly be anyone. This is just absolutely a testament to Hickman’s ability to defy expectation and manage to tap into this story here and pace it and divide it in a way that creates maximum anxiety for the reader. While ‘Prime Elements’ told four separate stories, it gave each an issue and room to breathe. ‘Three’ chokes you with fear and anticipation as some of the biggest conflicts of this series thus far are faced each by an individual family member, with one paying it all.

I knew the spoilers about Johnny going into this story. It’s hard to tiptoe around the internet in 2019, so I knew he was going to bite it, but I really did think we’d get Inhumans vs. Annihilus vs. High Evolutionary vs. Atlantis and he’d go out in a blaze of glory, you know, like a Marvel event. He goes out in one last stand, but it’s horrifying to watch and also so much bigger/smaller than what I imagined. He goes out protecting his family, and everything about it, the weight of it, the final “Flame on!” is sold so beautifully. Valeria and the Foundation’s ruthless pragmatism, Ben’s resolve, Johnny’s defiance and will, and then the bitter switch of Ben getting his powers back right as everything goes wrong. The way Epting draws Ben and the kids on the other side the Negative Zone, silence and all after a massive double-page spread showcasing giant action with no words (a staple of this run thus far) was a gut-punch.

Issue #587

All this and then the coda is a silent issue. My God. Nick Dragotta comes on for this one and just manages to sell all the grief, pain, and anger of literally everyone in the family without him or Hickman having to add any word balloons. It’s a near perfect issue, and absolutely the highlight thus far of the run. From grief to acceptance; from Susan’s isolation, to the Future Foundation’s new mission to kill Annihilus, to Reed looking back to the Council and the Bridge, and to Ben getting into a fight before collapsing into the Hulk’s arms, God it’s just great.

It’s great, and then it’s topped off with a back-up story with Mark Brooks art that I got weepy at the end of. Hickman and Brooks capture a quiet afternoon of Spider-Man trying to console Franklin over Johnny’s death.

Issue #588

I hadn’t even thought of the parallels, but Hickman manages to exploit all of them. The guilt, the great power and responsibility, the dead uncles, the family and the need to find it and fight for it. Of course Spider-Man would be the perfect caregiver at this point. It’s just beautiful. I can’t say more than that. I mean I could, but I’ve said enough and not enough at the same time. “Fantastic Four” #588 is about as good as it gets.

So we’re down to 3 members of the family. No more four. No more “Fantastic Four.” What now? I’ll let Hickman tell you in his own words.

We’ll be back for more Hick-F4M next week with “FF” #1-11.


//TAGS | 2019 Summer Comics Binge

Kevin Gregory

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