Fantastic Four #1
Reviewed by: Robbie Rowe
Rating: 7 of 8
Fantastic Four #1
Writer: Dan Slott
Artists: Sara Pichelli, Skottie Young and Simone Bianchi
Having read this comic, I’m left with the one, burning question: who is Wyatt
Wingfoot? The greatest and original superhero family are finally back... aren’t
they? The Fantastic Four have been disbanded since 2015, with Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic, Sue Richards/Invisible Woman and their children, Franklin and Valeria Richards, all missing, venturing through the universe to ensure it’ll stay in one piece after the fate of universes was decided in Secret Wars.
Despite being a family, Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/Thing are pretty divided on whether they think the rest of their family will ever return, with Ben having lost faith due to a secret only he knows, while Johnny always maintains faith that his nephew, niece, brother in law and sister will return. The bulk of the issue focuses on how the Fantastic Four’s absence has affected everyone – the family, the public, former members.
Though one of the stories focuses more on how Dr Doom’s absence as ruler of
Latveria affected its’ citizens – in a very, very scary way. Dan Slott really, really
understands how Doom speaks, who he is as a person, while Bianchi captures a
very unique, different look for him to what I’m used to, or how he’s looked
recently. I’m very eager to see how, if at all, the returns of the FF and Dr Doom
collide with one another, especially with the good doctor being the greatest
nemesis of the family.
There’s a nice degree of humour when it comes to a fairly unique story told by the Thing, with a touch of Ferris Bueller ;) Also a fairly nice Rocky reference when it comes to Alicia Masters, the long-time blind girlfriend of Ben Grimm. I was also glad to see some very strong emotion in the issue, whether it was the pain of Johnny, or the joy of Alicia. It was a very welcome mix – fantastic, if you would :-) This is an interesting mix of an issue, going from humour, to sadness, to spine chilling horror – and an intriguing ending which teasingly sets up issue 2. I’m more than delighted to join the World’s Greatest Superhero Family on their new adventures... together.