by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Neil Edwards (pencils), Andrew Currie (inks), Paul Mounts (colors), and Rus Wooton (letters)
The Story: Franklin, Leech, and Johnny head to Arcade Toys for “the most impossibly awesome toy event ever.”
What’s Good: With wacky characters like Arcade and Impossible Man and most of the action taking place in a madcap toystore, the book reads like a really fun kids movie or cartoon of the sort that adults can also find enjoyment in. As a result, there’s a lot of energy and gleeful abandon to the book, making it basically impossible to dislike. It’s the kind of action that just makes the reader happy and that’s never a bad thing.
Certainly, Arcade and Impossible Man’s larger-than-life presences are more than welcome and make the comic a livelier and more welcoming experience. Both characters suit the kids movie tone perfectly and give the book a sense of familiarity. They’re two Saturday morning type characters and as such, they offer a bit of a reprieve from the big ideas that Hickman usually layers his books with. I do love Hickman for those ideas, but giving us a little break now and then can be refreshing and liberating. That and Impossible Man, when written well, is always a barrel of fun.
Amidst all the wackiness, there is solid character work as well. I was pleasantly surprised by Hickman’s writing of Johnny this month, who came across as uncharacteristically paternal, loving, and even, dare I say it, responsible. His relating to Franklin’s situation and the advice he gives his nephew hit home and provided something of a tender moment between the two. Basically, Johnny acted like the perfect uncle this month. All of this was still distinctly Johnny, however, with his characteristic narcissistic remarks peppered throughout.
The final scene, which involves the Future Foundation seeking a cure for Ben’s condition, was intriguing as well. I found it particularly effective due to bittersweet note it ended on. What the Future Foundation does for Ben is so limited, yet for Ben, that’s already a miracle. It’s heartwarming to see something done for Ben, but also sad that it took this long and is so deteriorated in effectiveness as a result. Hickman struck this balance perfectly.
What’s Not So Good: Neil Edwards does a great many things right: his Impossible Man and Arcade look great and the toystore is wonderful. Unfortunately, his work on his characters’ faces is still a mixed bag. Some faces are fine, even enjoyable in their occasional exaggeration. At other times though, the exaggeration becomes too much or a face comes across as artificial, if not downright goofy-looking. I suspect that Edwards is relying on photo references for his characters’ faces and that this may be at the root of these difficulties. Whatever the case, there are too many awkward facial expressions and it detracts from the art, which is otherwise pretty good.
I’m also still not a fan of Hickman’s “Nu-World interlude.” It’s incredibly random and it comes out of nowhere. Worse still, it suffers from that “I-sort-of-get-it-but-not-really-when-I-think-about-it” feeling that I occasionally get with Hickman’s writing.
There’s also the fact that Arcade’s motivations behind his plot are, well, fairly unknown, or at least really weak. It’s a major hole but, the weird thing is, I was having so much fun with what was going on that I actually didn’t realize it, let alone care, until I’d finished the whole issue and really thought about it.
Conclusion: Lots of fun, Hickman’s FF is back in shape. If you’ve got kids interested in comics, I imagine they’d love this.
Grade: B+
-Alex Evans
Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Alex Evans, Alex Power, Alyssa Moy, Arcade, Arcade Toys, Ben Grimm, Comic Book Reviews, comic reviews, Dragon Man, Fantastic Four, FANTASTIC FOUR # 580 review, Fantastic Four #580, Franklin Richards, Future Foundation, Human Torch, Impossible Man, Johnny Storm, Jonathan Hickman, Leech, Lightwave, Maestro, Marvel Comics, Moloid, Moloids, Mr. Fantastic, Neil Edwards, Nu-World, Power Pack, Reed Richards, Ted Castle, The Thing, Val Richards, Weekly Comic Book Review
Okay, a meta comment on the site itself. Much as I love it, I have to wonder why you use these “read more” links 2/3′s or so into a post. What’s showing above the line is already more than a page long. It would be easier if you just had everything on one page! Or if you want things to be condensed, put the link early on instead of at the end.
It’s annoying, particularly since if it’s a book I’m only nominally interested in (like FF) I don’t really want to read the whole review, and I have to click the link to see the relevant portion – the grade. If the grade is good I might go back and read the whole article to see if I want to pick it up. If the grade is mediocre I figure I can just keep ignoring that title. Of course if the grade is low I may read the whole article for entertainment value.
Fair enough. I just wanted to give people the option to read a full article if they wanted to know more. Perhaps the phrase “Click here for full article” would be more fitting?
It would make sense to me if the links were in the first 1/4 of the article, but most frequently they are in the last 1/4. Just makes the process of reading the site … cumbersome.