By: Matt Fraction (story), Mark Bagley (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Paul Mounts (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)
The Story: Welcome to the next era of the family four. Meet the family and learn all about their new mission, which will have them sailing off to the unknown corners of the universe.
The Review: In many ways, the issue is structured as something of a reassurance for readers of Jonathan Hickman’s seminal run. Matt Fraction knows he has big shoes to fill so he takes baby steps here, showing that he’s not ditching any of the strong elements that Hickman introduced.
At the same time, the issue has a very clear structure: each of the four gets one scene where Fraction basically shows us how he understands each character and his take on their respective core essences. All told, each scene hits the mark. Reed and his habit of taking on burdens, Sue’s role as the mother of the team, and Johnny and Ben’s respective brands of comic relief all go off quite well. There is an argument to be made that perhaps Fraction goes a little far with Johnny and Ben, who feel a bit over-the-top and a bit like caricatures of themselves to an extent, but honestly, given how funny I found their respective scenes, it’s hard to really fault Fraction for this. I mean, sure their personalities were a little exaggerated, but I still enjoyed the hell out of their portions of the issue and fun is the ultimate objective, right? And there’s no mistaking that Hickman’s Ben and Johnny are pretty darned funny.
Really though, it’s hard to rate this issue because of how conservative it is for a first issue. It lays out the groundwork and introduces the major characters and that’s really all it sets out to do. It accomplishes these goals, but it’s hardly a first issue with big ambitions. It also stays very much in line with the tone of Hickman’s run, so it’s not really the sort of startling, shocking first issue that throws the reader head-first into a bold new creative direction, as was the case with this week’s first issue of Thor: God of Thunder or Fraction’s own Hawkeye. In this sense, it actually reminds me a bit of last week’s first issue of Iron Man. Fraction’s not trying to reinvent the wheel here and gives us familiar fare, but that being said, there’s certainly something to be said for comfort food and given that the Fantastic Four are some of my favourite comics characters, I’m sort of okay with that. While Fraction doesn’t blow the doors of a revelatory, property reshaping first issue, the issue feels very competent with a clear direction that feels true to the Fantastic Four (a cosmic journey to save the family) and a firm handle of the characters in both their personalities and voices.
I feel similarly about the art – Mark Bagley isn’t the guy you necessarily turn to when you want a visually distinctive or jaw-droppingly iconic superhero title, but he’s also sort of the gold standard for modern superhero comics. He delivers everything you’d expect out of a 2012 Marvel comic, no more and no less. He’s a good fit for the title and his work, with its classic superhero feel, comes across well. Again, Bagley is a conservative choice for a book like this, but I suppose that falls into line with Fraction’s script: it may not be the most ambitious, but it’s very competent and reassures that the title is in good hands.
Conclusion: Fraction and Bagley show they have the tools for a solid run and lay some solid groundwork, showing that at the very least, this should be a good run. Whether it’s great or not depends on where we go from here.
Grade: B
-Alex Evans
Grade
Conclusion