Filed under: Comic Reviews, Marvel Comics | Tags: Ben Grimm, FF, Johnny Storm, Mark Bagley, Matt Fraction, Reed Richards, Sue Storm
Writer Matt Fraction has stepped away from a solo title like Iron Man straight into Marvel’s first family The Fantastic Four – a different challenge for Fraction but one that he seems to relish.
The direction of this release is pretty evident from the start as a well-balanced story is laid out – spreading the page time evenly between Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben who are all facing their own daily challenges in life as they juggle their commitments as a superhero team. Opening with some typically full-on action scenes we ease into Reed’s latest battle wounds which turn out to be much more significant than he lets on to the other members of the team.
Johnny is typically trying gain the attention of the latest girl in his life, Sue tries to balance the mother/superhero roles she fulfils and Ben continues to try and fit into the world with his bad attitude and rock hard skin. A deftly crafted balancing act between the individual and team aspect of the title from Fraction as he works alongside Mark Bagley, who he has worked with previously on Fear Itself: The Fearless. This title, however, sees the creative team aim high and reach it with ease and this all combines well with the exception of maybe the opening action sequences which seemed to lack some of the better crafted moments later in this issue.
Bagley captures the characters emotions perfectly as the story works closer to the big setup from the creative team – The Fantastic Four team are heading off on a year-long adventure across multiple-universes…….a trip that will pass by in the blink of an eye here as they explore. Reed’s ulterior motive for this is to try and find a solution to his injury problem which actually turns out to be his cells breaking down – so it looks like Mr Fantastic is against the clock here.
As Fraction picks up this title he’ll also be taking on the FF release this month too and weaving an initial arc between the two so we’ll be looking out for these two titles as they progress. A science-filled family adventure feel to this opener and that’s really in-line with what I’d expect from Reed and the gang.
7/10
G-Man
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
Comics Anonymous 