This is a Fantastic Four thread.

[stalungrad]

Oh, I'm glad you've found an FF jumping-on point that works for you. I shall continue reading so's we can get to the terribly important job of Talking About It.

Fantastic Four #610

• This one's great fun! Okay, AIM island is probably setting up for the Avengers, but the Wizard's story is one I've been dying to read. I had a whale of a time with the whole thing; from Reed being given the job by the President because the Avengers clearly don't know a thing about Barbuda on out. It's strange how stressful some of these comics have felt lately, with so many Important Things depending on the actions of the F4. This is pure comics!
  
• Actually, it feels like a silver age comic. Not in the tedious way silver age fetishists try and replicate the feeling of the era; but rather in the structure. This is a big, self-contained adventure with a cliffhanger, rather than PART ONE OF HOWEVER MANY. The cliffhanger is more like a Stan Lee Spider-Man than a Bendis Avengers.
  
• It's also wonderful how the cliffhanger moves the story from Fantastic Four concerns to FF ones. This is a story designed to be told across both books, and it looks as though both acts will be perfect for the book they're in. It's also nice that it seems to move from a big plotty story to a more intimate character story; that's one of my favourite tricks of Hickman's, and really, Bentley's clearly miles more exciting than AIM Island.
  
• It's hard to pick just four things about this issue. I could rave and rave. But let's talk about something that didn't work for me - the artwork. I think I've worked out where I stand on Stegman's art - I like it, but I don't like it coloured. Just imagine his stuff in clean black-and-white for a moment. Isn't that better? You look at the lots-and-lots-of-lines he puts in on faces; he's not an artist whose style suits colouring. Shame there's no way most Marvel readers would accept a monochrome issue. The page where Reed is made ambassador of the island in particular would look great without colour, I reckon.
  

[Veronica Cale]

Kyoujin Tsuru

Now, as I'm not reading anything by the big two I find myslef missing reading comics about characters I dearly love. So, once again I have made an attempt to get into the Fantastic Four. The last time was FF #1, which did not go well as the issue was dealing quite a bit with the death of Johnny and felt like walking into a wake.

Fantastic Four #1 went much better. This was obviously a set up issue laying the groundwork of where we are, where we are going, and why we are going there. While this issue does not have me gushing, I did like it a bit. I do have quite a few qualms with the book, but i think I'll be giving this run a few more issues.

Liked it. But didn't love it.

And wish I had some kind of meaningful and deep reason to dislike it other than the fact I found Franklin to be distractingly needy.

Nevertheless. I still think the idea of having the F4 explore space is the most important idea ever.

[Chaindragger]

Veronica Cale

Liked it. But didn't love it.

And wish I had some kind of meaningful and deep reason to dislike it other than the fact I found Franklin to be distractingly needy.

Nevertheless. I still think the idea of having the F4 explore space is the most important idea ever.

I found the Franklin part a bit off as well, but we don't know the content of his dream so its possibly warranted.

[Wally_West]

I'm pretty angry and tired of Comics In General right now, so I haven't bothered picking this up. Unless someone incredibly cynical says one of these new series knocks their socks off, I'm going to pass.

Suck it, comics.

[Chaindragger]

Hard for it to knock my socks off when this is obviously a "this is where we are, and where we are going issue". I love the idea of where its going conceptually, because they are explorers and that's what they are going to do. I do also like Ben in this, but that may be my love of the character.

[Wally_West]

Doesn't sound worth it. Remember when I used to say it was a great time to be a comic book fan? That boat has sailed, crashed and everyone on board died.

[Chaindragger]

Pretty much picking through the wreckage for something to read at this point.

[ProjectLazy]

I just read 535-585? ( the one with ben as a human and other spoilers.

Great read but something bugged me. When did Reed get so buff?

[Chaindragger]

FF #1 was all sold out at the shop by the time I got there after work on Wednesday. Pretty good sign.

I was thinking about the line-up as it seemed a little off to me. It didn't really balance out well in terms of power sets. I pondered it a bit and considered the character types involved.

You have of course the scientist in Reed, and while I'm not very familiar with Scott lang, from what I've heard, he fits the bill.

You need a rough and tumble adventurer like Ben, and Jen filled in for him before, so that's cool.

I wasn't sure about "Miss Thing" but with the premise to this team being "Hey, we'll be right back, mind the store, I'm sure nothing bad will happen, but just in case..." Johnny getting his girlfriend on the team for a little milkrun proves interesting, and she's our youthful adventurer who occasionally makes mistakes.

As for Sue's position, she's the matriarch. She's the person who will take care of the others, be it in a supporting role, or taking on the threat to keep the team safe. Not many characters come to mind for a role like this, but medusa does fit the bill.

So I have to say, I think this was a pretty thoughtfully put together team.

[Chaindragger]

I did get my hands on FF #1 this week. Loved the art, but I expected to. I want Allred to draw ben Grimm forever and ever. Being away from marvel for an extended period I was not familiar with Scott Lang. Him having lost a child and then being asked to temporarily head the Future Foundation is something well worth exploring and that's got me onboard here. Also, the structuring of the issue really gave me a great idea of who these characters are, especially since a lot of those kids were unknown to me.

[NeoPaladinOfLight]

I agree. Scott came back with the Children's Crusade story, right? That's where his daughter Stature died. Did I ever finish that series? I think I didn't pick up the last issue.

Anyway, I was thoroughly impressed with the structure of the story overall. Like you said, it gave you great insight into the cast, set up the team, and made you interested in what was going to happen. Scott finding out about Reed was cool too.

I'm glad the kids aren't gonna go by the wayside. That was my biggest fear going into this. All and all, I was very pleased.

[Teatime Brutality]

Wally_West

Doesn't sound worth it. Remember when I used to say it was a great time to be a comic book fan? That boat has sailed, crashed and everyone on board died.

LINDA! THEY GOT YOU TOO!

[Chaindragger]

Another issues in and the team is on their way. I hadn't put together that the big chompy fella in issue 1 was Devil Dinosaur, so shame on me. This is the first time I've seen Darla do anything aside from being "the hot girl that Johnny dates". I like her. She's compassionate and has a real sense of adventure. This was a really good issue. The humor in it was fun but not overly used. It was trying to be funny for the sake of trying to get a laugh. It was funny in that I can completely see these situations playing out and it was natural for these characters to act this way with each other.

Still not too sure about Johnny being kinda an airhead, however I loved the "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" bit to the point of being eager for the next issue.

Congratulation Matt Fraction: you've got me buying a Marvel book for the first time in 16 years.

[Wally_West]

Teatime Brutality

Wally_West

Doesn't sound worth it. Remember when I used to say it was a great time to be a comic book fan? That boat has sailed, crashed and everyone on board died.

LINDA! THEY GOT YOU TOO!

Almost weekly Comics send me a concrete, easy-to-understand message that they do not want my money. All across the board I've lost my primary source of entertainment from comics.

I don't 'twitter,' I feel 'Tumblr' makes people lazy and infinitely less remarkable, and comments sections on comic book news sites only beat me over the head with how unwelcome I am in this fan community. So there goes my secondary source of entertainment from comics.

What's left? In an entertainment construct where creators are selfish, companies are mean-spirited and clueless, corporations only want the trademarks, and fans think I'm a 'fake' or only want to discuss who's ******** whom, I'm standing in a desolate hallway of the tattered remains of what comics could be.

Meanwhile, Every Other Fandom seems more than willing to welcome me, my interests, my discussions and my money. So yeah. THEY got me. Because they 'get' me.

[Chaindragger]

FF #2 hit this week. I really, really like it. The team got to see some action. It was the type of weird funny that I really like. It wasn't trying too hard, but the situation the characters are in just naturally leads itseld to give us some laughs.

I find myself really liking Darla. I was expecting her to be some vapid pop star, but there she is playing with Artie and Leech and being as sweet as can be. She's refreshingly human.

The other characters are really shining as well, and the book continues to sell out at the comic shop.