We’ve seen Fraction and Bagley in “Fantastic Four” #1, delivering a family-friendly tale of time traveling adventure, and we’ve enjoyed it. It’s a classic take on the team with a modernized slant, truly offering up a different and tighter take to the ideas the team represents compared to what Hickman did on his monumental run.
But now it’s time to really get crazy. Now it’s time for “FF.”
Written by Matt Fraction
Illustrated by Mike AllredWe have seen the future and it will be fantastic! In the absence of the Fantastic Four, a substitute Four, hand-picked by the real deal–Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk and Miss Thing–stand ready to guard the Earth and the nascent Future Foundation for four minutes… NOW! what could possibly go wrong?
“FF” #1 picks up where “Fantastic Four” #1 left off – Reed Richards is taking his family on a tour through space and time, and he needs someone else to protect the universe while they’re gone. Well, for four minutes anyway. Time travel is fun like that. And so, each of the team goes out to find someone they believe will work well as their replacement, and all the while the book is interspersed with interviews from the Foundation. It’s a bit quirky, definitely a change of pace, and let me tell you – a damn fine introductory book this issue makes.
Here’s why “FF” works: with the massive creator switch-ups at Marvel, we’re given a version of the New 52 idea with the condition that continuity remains in tact. Everything Hickman did with the characters “still happened,” and there’s no white-washing of history when it comes to the colossal endeavors that he brought to the book, meaning anything that comes after has to respect and reflect all of his work. With that in mind, though, Fraction is a very different writer from Hickman, to the extent that without having read a page of the issue you know it’ll be remarkably different in form and fashion. The key, then, is to make sure the transition feels organic, that it doesn’t play off as Fraction ignoring Hickman’s work, let alone all that came before it — and with just a few slights of hand, that’s exactly what’s accomplished here before you even know it.
The basic idea of “FF” is that this is supposed to be a title for the future, and so that’s what Fraction and Allred give us. Everything that the book used to be is immediately considered to be the past, and what we’re given with the first issue is very much what comes next. While that sentence might seem a tad bit obvious (“like, no duh!”), it’s important to understand what this book does at the most basic level of its existence. While the following comment isn’t meant as a slight, Hickman’s use of “FF” and “Fantastic Four” didn’t fully utilize the potential two books gave; rather, after ‘Forever,’ the second book was merely an ancillary title to help tell a story that was ostensibly too big for one title. This isn’t just “that other Fantastic Four book” anymore, though, because this is about the Next Generation — both in terms of the role of the children and the replacement team, and that’s the important distinction. It’s seemingly ancilary at first, sure, but it’s not a tie-in any longer. Rather, it is a beast of an entirely different nature for almost an entirely different audience.
That’s what makes this experiment feel like a success. “Fantastic Four” and “FF” go together like peanut butter and jelly, but in reading just the first issues of both titles it’s clear that you could choose one or the other and still have a good meal. “Fantastic Four” is the peanut butter here in that it’s stable, offers the base and can mix easier with other things; “FF” then becomes the jelly, which is freer in form and more loose overall, seemingly created only to compliment the former based on societal conditioning but actually able to stand on its own if desired. And while I’m happy to admit that I am more of a peanut butter guy usually, “FF” is very much my jam.
Continued belowHowever, what’s ultimately the most intriguing element about “FF” is its existence as the inverse of “Fantastic Four.” Fraction has come up with a formula that truly justifies the existence of both titles, as “FF” contains an almost entirely opposite title: instead of the traditional three men/one woman team, we’re given three women with one man; where the other title dives into the past, this blazes into the future; the other is about family, and this is about community. The list of how “FF” reflects “Fantastic Four” is impressive and rather long, but it stands as noteworthy that one of the stand-out aspects of the title lies simply within how it’s used with its counter-part, delivering an experience that truly allows for Fraction and his two collaborators to develop two distinct approaches to the Fantastic Four legacy.
The only inherent issue the book has is basically the same thing most of the Marvel NOW! first issues have suffered from, in that it’s all set-up for a plot to come in a second issue. This isn’t inherently a negative, but when you take into consideration the massive press blitz Marvel has done for their various titles, it leaves little to be discovered in the issue itself. Even if you didn’t know what the basic plot is, the overall idea for the series is stretched out over the duration of the book to the extent that nothing essentially “new” happens; from looking at the cover you know who the new team is, and all we’re given is how each member was asked to join. The book is brought to the starting line of a race, and the starting gun fires on the final page, leaving the reader with a book where nothing really happens.
And yet, that doesn’t really hurt the enjoyment of the book at all. It’s such a strong character showcase from Fraction and Allred that, even if half of it is talking heads, it’s still effortlessly enjoyable. Between Fraction’s recognition of the history of the characters and Allred’s fun and energetic artwork, “FF” #1 stands as an enjoyable introduction to the characters if little else, and that’s perfectly fine. It’s quite obvious that the real adventure will begin in the next issue, and now that the readers – both new and old – are able to closely acclimate to the cast just in time for the shit to hit the fan whenever those four minutes goes horribly wrong (assumedly in the next issue).
Suffice it to say, Fraction and Allred are very much a dream-team for comics. Neither of them need justification in a review given their legacy in comics individually, but it’s worth nothing that each of their individual styles wind up complimenting one another perfectly. In fact, it’s the representation of the Thing that winds up being the most telling, as his scene is the most reflective of what Fraction and Allred each bring to the table. Both Fraction and Allred seem to be channeling Lee and Kirby for the Thing’s scene of recruiting She-Hulk, albeit amplified to the max, and it’s great. Where most of the character designs are done in the Signature Allred Style, the Thing is the most Kirby-esque thing Allred has ever illustrated, seemingly plucked from the Golden Age and placed into this new book — and that mixture of the classic with the modern amplifies the main theme of the title ten-fold. Meanwhile, while Fraction’s dialogue regresses the character from where Hickman had him (a stoic figure, wracked with quiet guilt) back into a lovable and clumsy Brooklynite who can’t help but bring up his Aunt Petunia at awkward times, the pairing of Yesterday’s Thing with the Future Thing (She-Hulk) is the best example of why the replacement team will work overall, effortlessly complimented by Allred’s art. The Thing is essentially the proof of the “FF” pudding: it’s the classic helping to usher in the new, with a healthy dose of levity to break the overall ice.
That said? While I said there’s no need to really review Fraction or Allred’s work given their history, it’s worth making note of the scene between the Invisible Woman and Medusa to do it for me. It’s easily one of the best things Fraction has ever written, and if you’ve ever wondered why Mike Allred is one of the most popular illustrators in comics today, this one sequence is all you need.
So all things considered, “FF” #1 essentially makes for a better introduction than “Fantastic Four” #1. It’s not that the other title is necessarily bad in anyway, but if the modus operandi of Marvel NOW! is to deliver content that is new and easily accessible, then it’s “FF” that truly delivers it with smart form and fashion. The new volume of “FF” is certainly not the same as the old, but it operates so fluidly and transitions so smoothly that it should appeal to scholars and neophytes both, and with a new cast and a new direction “FF” could easily be one of Marvel’s most entertaining new books once the ball truly gets rolling. For now, it’s a wonderful set-up to a bright future.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
