Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman TPB 2

Jonathan Hickman has a problem. He actually has so many ideas for the Fantastic Four that there aren't enough pages to address all the details he comes up with for each story. For most of the stories in this trade, there is an iPad-like note page of additional information to wrap up or expand on the story in the main pages. This comes dangerously close to a post-script resolution, one of my big movie pet peeves, but the actual art closes the story effectively without those note pages. They're essentially a nice bonus.

This trade tells FF stories like they were meant to be. The team travels all over the Earth exploring mad ideas, mostly with ties to established Marvel events or characters. A sunken city of the High Evolutionary. A hidden sea with a different kingdom of Atlantis. An uprising in the Negative Zone after the Annihilation Wave. And a spaceship city inhabited by the Inhumans of other planets in the Marvel U. These are awesome, detailed ideas that really show off how well the FF work together. But Hickman gets the other parts too, there is some great character stuff for the Thing and Human Torch in particular.

Dale Eaglesham's work is awesome. It is detailed and classic looking. This really is a team of beautiful people; it must be hard for the Thing to hang around in the Baxter Building.

Excellent

1 comment:

JBaker said...

"This trade tells FF stories like they were meant to be." Spot on. Given that I honestly don't care for the FF (and that Reed's stature in the Marvel Universe is overblown), Hickman is doing wonders with this title; no small feat coming after Mark Millar's run. The Three TPB will be a "must-have" next year. Still 2 issues left but I'm already calling it a classic.