Posts Tagged ‘ Fantastic Four ’

In honor of the Fantastic Four‘s 50th Anniversary, I thought I’d run down my favorite runs on the book. It’s worth bearing in mind that I like a lot of bad comics and that I haven’t read much from after Stan and Jack’s departure through John Byrne’s coming on board for double duty (so from about #103 – #230ish) so I’ve missed a good quarter of the original volume. I also never read the Marvel Knights Four book, or Morrison’s 1234 so they aren’t included here either.

Anyway…my totally subjective list of FF goodness (including Amazon links to some stuff; please ignore them if you like):

1 - Stan and Jack’s run: Fantastic Four #1-102

You can’t have the FF without this; hell, you can’t really have the Marvel Universe without this. As I said previously, it’s not just a great run but it’s the sheer number of other ideas that came about from this, ideas and characters that underpin so much of the Marvel Universe. Once Stan and Jack hit their groove, the book became what defines it for me the most – the FF aren’t really super-heroes, they’re a family of explorers who happen to have super-powers.

2 - John Byrne’s run as writer/artist: Fantastic Four #232-293

Marvel took a chance when they put John Byrne on the book as writer and artist. Although he’d pulled double duty before (including a two-part FF tale and the classic Marvel Two-In-One #50 – I can’t recommend you track down that Thing story enough) handing him the reins to FF must have been a pretty ballsy move – but it payed off big-time. Byrne’s run lead to an empowered Invisible Woman, with Sue finally stepping into a strong role after playing nursemaid for 20 odd years, the Thing leaving the team, She-Hulk stepping up to the big times as a member of the team, Johnny seeing Alicia, the death and rebirth of Doctor Doom, the Hate Monger’s corruption of Sue Storm which lead to this oft-reblogged panel -

- and a whole host of other stories, including the FF traveling back in time as Nick Fury tried to kill Hitler. The FF were explorers again, and a family – even if Ben was absent for a good chunk of the run. Simply put, Byrne’s FF sold me on the team and the book when I was younger – and they sold me for life. His departure mid-story was abrupt and (I believe) related to him taking on Man of Steel for DC, but the stories up to that point – just great comics.

3 - Mark Waid’s run as writer, partnered with Mike Wieringo and Howard Porter: Fantastic Four v3 #60-70, v1 (renumbered) #500-524

Waid and the late Mike Wieringo gave the franchise a kick-start when they came on board the book in 2002, restoring a sense of wonder that was missing from the book for a while. Waid’s FF was about character, with the stories designed to highlight aspects of the team’s personalities that maybe hadn’t been played with too much in recent years; Reed’s desire to keep his family together coupled with his guilt for ‘ruining’ their lives; Johnny’s desire to better himself yet still be the irresponsible kid; and Doom’s desire for power at the expense of his humanity. In their ‘Unthinkable’ arc, Doom refocused himself on his magical powerset as opposed to his technological one, and wore an armor created from the skin of his one true love (yes, you read that right).

Waid and Ringo were fired from the book with #500, but reinstated after fan backlash – but the firing meant that Howard Porter stepped in for an arc where the FF took over Latveria. Ringo was back for the rest of the run though, as Reed, Sue and Johnny went to rescue Ben from Heaven – and a certain benevolent creator…

The run continued for over a year after that – and I recommend the whole thing. The FF were back as explorers (see, there’s my hang-up again).

4 - Tom DeFalco’s run as writer, mainly partnered with Paul Ryan: Fantastic Four #356-416

I’ll catch some grief for this one, as DeFalco’s 90s output rarely makes anyone’s list of good comics (except mine, where he also shows up for his Thor/Thunderstrike run) but I can’t help it: I love it. Coupled with the under-appreciated Ryan, DeFalco crafted what turned out to be a years-long run. If a lot of that run eschewed the exploring for the super-hero aspect of the book, it turned out to be more than ever about family.

DeFalco kicked off by breaking up the marriage of Johnny and Alicia by retroactively making her a Skrull agent, Lyra, for the previous 100 or so issues (and this was before Superboy Prime retconned punch dead kids back to life). It was a bold move, but set in motion a great personal arc for both Johnny and Ben through his run, as well as adding Lyra to the ever-expanding family. The team grew after (spoiler!) Reed’s death to accommodate the likes of Ant-Man Scott Lang and his daughter (now better known as Young Avengers‘ Stature), Kristoff – Doom’s successor with a copy of Doom’s mind, Nathaniel Richards – Reed’s time-traveling entirely untrustworthy father, and more.

I’ll admit it’s not all good; Franklin’s fast-forward aging and subsequent heroic persona and team (the oh-so-90s Fantastic Force) and Sue’s abominable new outfit fairly reek of the decade of excess – and don’t even get me started on Atlantis Rising, but there’s enough good stuff here for me to overlook that. From Ben’s further scarred face (thanks, Logan) to the team’s cross-time adventure as they try to find Reed (spoiler – he’s alive), to the team’s final run as they go up against Onslaught, it’s a run that gets very little love – but I love it all the same.

Sadly, this run is almost entirely uncollected. I tell ya, DeFalco gets no respect.

5 - Steve Englehart’s run as writer, mainly partnered with Keith Pollard: Fantastic Four #304-325

Englehart picked up the book from Roger Stern (whose Avengers I love), who had the thankless job of tidying up Byrne’s run and getting the Thing back on the team in time for the book’s 25th Anniversary issue, and promptly made it his own by shipping off Reed and Sue to retirementville to raise Franklin away from danger and making Ben the leader of the team.

Ben replaced the pair with his gal pal from his time on the superhero wrestling circuit (yes you read that right), Ms Marvel – this being redheaded Sharon Ventura, not then-Binary Carol Danvers – and Johnny’s ex, the Inhuman princess Crystal, who had previously subbed for a pregnant Sue. This caused all kinds of drama for Johnny, who still carried a torch for her but had recently married Alicia, who was Ben’s ex. And a Skrull, of course, but we didn’t know that yet.

The run took the team on a tour of the MU’s wildest places – from Wakanda to the Mole Man’s underground kingdom to the Savage Land and beyond, cementing them once again as explorers. He also managed to throw in an unexpected sequel to Secret Wars II (which aptly featured one more throw-down between the Beyonder and Doom), wrap up his long-lingering Mantis storyline that he’d carried with him through various Avengers books, and to explore Ben’s role as leader and his character by mutating him further – the infamous ‘pineapple Thing’ – and making Sharon a female version of him struggling with depression.

Englehart’s run ended ignominiously starting with the return of Reed and Sue to the team in #326 (after they had a four issue stint as Avengers) by editorial edict and a horrible storyline for another six issues that he took his name off. It’s worth checking his site for his own comments on his run – but the first couple of years, right up to #325? Good stuff.

Like DeFalco’s run this is entirely uncollected – but worth tracking down in the cheap bins.

6 - Walt Simonson’s run as writer/artist: Fantastic Four #333-354, less a couple of fill-ins

Much more critically applauded than the last two entries on my list, Walt Simonson’s run had the dubious responsibility of cleaning up the mess left by Englehart and build to the team’s 350th issue. Simonson threw a lot of familiar stuff into the mix – Thor, Iron Man and, er, Death’s Head, for instance – and at times the Fantastic Four felt like bit players in their own book. Never was this more obvious than in the excellent three parter (with art by Art Adams) with the ‘new’ Fantastic Four made up of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider and the Hulk.

Even so, the highlight of Simonson’s brief run for me was #352 as Reed and Doom battled across time – with you having to find the next part of the battle by using the timestamp. Also, having the Time Variance Authority be filled with clones of Mark Gruenwald – as nobody else could keep track of everything – was a nice touch.

7 - Karl Kesel’s run as writer: Fantastic Four 2099 #1-4

Oh, what could have been.

In the month cover dated January 1996, the 2099 line added two more books – Fantastic Four 2099 and X-Nation 2099, bringing the total in the line to six; by the month cover dated August 1996 the line was canceled and replaced by an anthology book that limped before dying a slow death at #8, effectively marking the end of the entire line.

Unlike all the other 2099 creations, these weren’t namesakes – they were the original FF, or at least facsimiles of them. In his four brief issues (the fifth was plotted by Kesel but not scripted by him, as the book joined the line-wide hurtle to cancellation in the form of a giant planetoid flooding the Earth, or something) Kesel managed to exactly capture the feel of the real FF as they should be: an ordinary family of extraordinary people in an extraordinary situation. Worth picking those four up in the quarter bins at the next convention.

8 - Carlos Pacheco’s run as writer/artist: Fantastic Four v3 #35-54

Pacheco flew solo on the book after Chris Claremont’s run ended (see below) – with some script assist from Jeph Loeb – and the results were surprisingly good. He seemed to concentrate on revamping some of the team’s less threatening villains, with Diablo, Grey Gargoyle, the Puppet Master and Trapster all getting a look-in. He also wasn’t afraid of using the team’s history, with many past members showing up for cameos. And honestly, Johnny hooking up with Namorita was so obvious I wondered why it hadn’t happened sooner.

Once he was on a solid footing, Pacheco maybe overstretched himself a little with a big arc centering on Abraxas, an entity with a desire to destroy the universe, and with tying up a loose end concerning Valeria from Claremont’s run

Pacheco’s run as both writer and penciller ended with #49, but he remained as co-plotter through a silent issue and a four-part Inhumans story, then left the book. All in all, a good run that looked to the past for inspiration.

9 - Chris Claremont’s run as writer, mainly partnered with Salvador Larocca: Fantastic Four v3 #5-32

Claremont took over the book when (I think) editorial decided Scott Lobdell’s Heroes Reborn relaunch wasn’t working out. He promptly made it feel like a bunch of left-over X-Men and Excalibur plots, having the team run into those books’ cast-offs like Genosha, the Warwolves, the Technet, Saturnyne, Roma and the Captain Britain Corps – even going so far as to have an other-dimensional version of long-time Excalibur supporting character Alysande Stuart be a Scottish-themed Captain Britainalike, Caledonia, and join the team as Franklin (and later Valeria’s) nanny.

Speaking of Valeria, Claremont introduced her as the future daughter of Doom and Sue as a teenager who was soon accepted into the family; this seemed like it would make sense towards the end of the run but was never fully resolved. He also introduced Alyssa Moy, Reed’s former flame, who would later be used extensively in the Millar/Hitch run.

Once all the X-nonsense was out of his system, though, Claremont managed to tell a good space story followed by a great arc with Reed trapped in Doom’s armor and having to pretend to the world at large that he was Doom.

A rocky start – but a strong finish. Once again, this is pretty much uncollected – and I can understand why – but it shouldn’t be too much hassle to track down on ebay or at a con.

There are other notable runs in recent years – JM Straczynski’s run as writer, Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s run (which holds up better on re-read, actually) and the current Jonathan Hickman run – but for me, none of them quite capture the essence of the FF. They’re either too enamored of Reed (JMS), or of their own ideas (Millar and Hickman) or simply do not feel like the FF I know and love (Hickman, again).

Still, I should give an honorable mention to Dwayne McDuffie’s stint which had Black Panther and Storm replacing Reed and Sue, as it managed to replicate the family feel of the book very nicely. Sadly, it was always viewed as short term and Reed and Sue were back in less than six issues, with T’Challa and Ororo – and McDuffie – departing shortly after.

Also leaked today was this -

- really? A return of Fantastic Four title with #600? Who’d a thunk it?

50 years ago today on August 8th 1961, the Marvel Universe came into being with the publication of Fantastic Four #1, written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby.

A recent – and ongoing – lawsuit may cast doubt on who created what when, and bloggers and columnists have been complaining about legal issues and moral imperatives and the like, but putting that aside for a moment – this comic has lasted fifty years through three relaunches and dozens of creators and editors. I may despise not like the current actionless, joy-sucking direction, but I still love the characters at the core of the series.

It’s not just the core five – and I will fight anyone who says that Doctor Doom isn’t a core part of the book – that impresses about the FF, though, it’s the mind-boggling list of characters and concepts that sprung from it that are still around and important in the MU today; Silver Surfer, Galactus, the Inhumans, the Watcher, Namor (I know, technically Golden Age, but he was in limbo before being revived in FF), Blackbeard Thing…

I was going to do a longer post about homage covers, and origin homages (such as Cyborg Superman), and how the book has survived bad periods before and will survive the current incarnation, too.

In any case; here’s to you Fantastic Four #1 – now, anyone want to buy me a copy?

IDW’s new Godzilla comic launches today – but it’s by no means the first foray the King of Monsters has had into the US comic market. Yes, he had some Dark Horse series in the 80s and 90s, but – more memorably he also had a 24 issue run from 1977 to 1979 as a fully integrated part of the Marvel Universe.

And that Godzilla series will forever beat all challengers for these simple reasons…

1. Eating the Seattle Space Needle!

Well, I’m assuming he’s eating it, as opposed to going in for some lovin’. It’s been a while since I read the series.

2. Fighting the Champions! (of Los Angeles!)

That’s right, Godzilla threw down with the short-lived 70′s hero team that inexplicably hung out together for no real reason. Hercules! Black Widow! Angel! Ice Man! I guess it was Ghost Rider’s day off. And this was back when Hercules was really incredible. Like, towing-the-island-of-Manhattan-incredible.

3. Hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Godzilla’s not much of a conversationalist so the primary human content of the comic came from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mainly inept attempts to capture him. Lead by Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones and Jimmy Woo – yes, that Jimmy Woo – the organization kept trying and, largely, failing to capture (or even keep track of) the green behemoth. Will the same be said of IDW’s Godzilla? Clearly not.

4. Red Ronin!

Red Ronin, people. Red Ronin is certainly not a Shogun Warrior, just in case you were wondering. Designed by S.H.I.E.L.D-advising Japanese scientists Tamara Hashioka and Yuriko Takiguchi in conjunction with Stark International to battle Godzilla, Red Ronin was usually piloted by cheeky 12 year old Rob Takiguchi because, let’s face it, the person you want controlling a 100ft tall robot warrior is definitely a 12 year old boy with raging hormones.

5. Being kidnapped by aliens to fight other monsters as Earth’s champion!

Is it just me or did that seem to happen a lot to Marvel characters in the 60s and 70s?

6. Cattle rustling!

Will IDW’s Godzilla be falsely accused of cattle rustling and chased by a bunch of angry cowboy types? I don’t think so.

7. The Incredible Shrinking Godzilla!

Obviously having a 100ft tall lizardKing of Monsters traipsing around the US pretty much unhindered (not to mention cattle rustling) would be a bit of an embarrassment for S.H.I.E.L.D., so Godzilla was miniaturized using the ever-popular Pym Particles (Hank Pym, is there anything you can’t do?!?) which led to a whole other set of adventures as he slowly started to grow back to normal…

- he got molested by Dum Dum Dugan! (Oh, come on, you were never really going to trust a man with a hat and mustache like that, were you?)

- he fought rats!

- he wrestled on the docks!

Bet IDW’s Godzilla doesn’t throw down with rats under 8th Avenue.

8. The Fantastic Four!

Eventually, if you’re in the Marvel Universe and you’re a big-ass monster chances are good that you’re going to throw down with the Fantastic Four, if only so the Thing can lament about how he’s just a monster too. And let’s face it, he did that a lot back in the 70s.

9. Devil Dinosaur! (And Moon Boy too, but nobody likes him)

There’s certain super-hero tropes that you can’t get away from, like fighting another hero over some silly misunderstanding then teaming up against a greater threat. Thing is, when you’re Godzilla, fighting another hero should really only last as long as it takes for you to stand on them – unless you’re Devil Dinosaur. Moon Boy, though? He should probably have just been trod on.

10. A real ending!

It takes low sales (or the lapsing of the license, whichever came first) to finally put Marvel’s Godzilla book to rest, but Big Green went out fighting the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D. before finally heading off out into the Atlantic to hibernate.

What that means is that – licensing aside – Godzilla is still out there. Sleeping. Waiting. Dream on that, Merry Marvelites!

What’s that you say?

That’s only 10 reasons why Marvel’s Godzilla rules, but the title said 11?

11. J. Jonah Jameson vs Godzilla.

Nuff said.

Trying something new today. Last night I actually read all the comics I picked up yesterday – something that never happens – and figured I’d do a review post. And then I thought why not do some review tweets as well?

So each review appears on twitter (I had to cheat with the comic titles in a few cases to get it under 140 characters), with a tiny bit more detail here. So off we go…

Action Comics #898 Incomprehensible Maguffin makes this a mess; @Paul_Cornell‘s story is a big disappointment. At least its over soon. #OTR

A bit more – I really like most of Paul Cornell’s work, but his Action leaves me cold. I just don’t buy Lex acting the way he does. He’s back running LexCorp, yet still flies around in that godawful armor and kills people in public with no come back – and that’s not even getting into the Lois robot again. Additionally, this whole black orb power quest thing makes little sense the more you read it; too much of the dialogue about them is close to nonsensical. I’m sorry, but I really think this has been a failure.

Teen Titans #92 A Robin switcheroo makes the last few issues pointless. Jeanty’s art doesn’t suit unless you like Buffy as Wonder Girl. #OTR

A bit more – Speaking of failures, I understand that Tim might want to hang out with his friends a bit more now he’s not all moody loner guy, but losing Damian after only a few issues feels like a mistake; now we’re back to Ravager being the only internal source of tension on the team. Again. And can we give the Calculator a rest, please? I’m almost as sick of him as I am of Raven.

Am.Spider-Man #655 Touching and beautiful; @DanSlott and M.Martin knock this out of the park marred only by 2 unnecessary final pages. #OTR

A bit more – I always get a little bit of a smile when Dan Slott shows off his knowledge of Spidey continuity, but the two page spread of people who have died was fantastic. Sally Avril? Ben Reilly? The Spider-Mobile? Awesome – and Slott’s the only writer I can remember bringing up the fact that Spider-Man killed someone in the Spider-Man vs Wolverine one-shot back in, what, 1987? And Marcos Martin – his layouts and work here are simply amazing. Restrained and simple in the silent funeral scene, but taking on almost Steve Ditko-esque levels of trippiness in the dream sequence. Like I said, though, I didn’t really need the 2 page lead in to next issue. As a stand alone, this would have been perfect.

FF #588 Less an ending and more a tease for FF#1. Hickman’s best written issue. Especially touching: the Thing/Thor/Hulk and ‘Uncles’. #OTR

A bit more -I’ve been pretty vocal about not loving Jonathan Hickman’s run on the book, but this was really good, even without dialog for the main story. Even so, there were some bits I didn’t need as they clearly just set things up for FF #1; Kristoff taking over Latveria (When was the last time we saw him? Where did that awful armor come from? Does Stature still have a crush on him? Why is Doom stepping down?), Reed deciding to reassemble the council, and the return of Nathaniel Richards (again) especially left me cold. That said, Ben’s venting in the desert with Thor and the Hulk – presumably at Johnny’s request was perfect, as was his almost hateful look at Namor during the wake. I also enjoyed the fact that Doom showed for Johnny’s funeral, even if only for a panel, and that Reed was apparently ready to fly solo in the Negative Zone with the Ultimate Nullifier to try to get Johnny back -only to receive his shredded costume from l’il Annihilus (so still no body…). Nick Dragotta gave a suitable Kirbyesque feel to the art, especially where the mourning Sue was concerned, and all in all did a fine job. And as I said, the ‘Uncles’ back-up with Franklin and Spider-Man was nice and sweet. I may just stick around for FF after all.

D&D #4 Continues to be a pleasure; one of the better recent launches. Captures the fun D&D spirit but great for non-players too. #OTR

A bit more -Phew, not the end of the series after all! I still can’t recommend this enough to fantasy fans. Simply a very well crafted and fun comic, and John Rogers is writing the hell out of it. Highly recommended.

SkullKickers #6 Some hits and misses in this anthology issue but maintains the fun of the series. Forgettable and skippable though. #OTR

A bit more – The first two tales are pretty good fun, the second two less so. This isn’t the best introduction to the comic by any means, but it’s a decent enough placeholder for regular readers. It seems as if the second arc won’t kick-off until May, but it should be worth the wait.

Turf #4 Labyrinth plot draws tighter together and parties come together; continues to be incredibly impressive comics debut for @wossy. #OTR

A bit more – Jonathon Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards are really knocking this out of the park, despite the lateness. Gangsters vs Vampires vs Aliens may sound like a recipe for disaster, but it’s really not; there are so many great characters at play here that even the quiet scenes like the face-off between the Dragonmir brothers, or the looting of a diamond store really hold your attention. That’s the other thing; I haven’t read a comic that takes this long to read in a long time. The art is beautiful and the dialog is so dense that you really need to go back and read the whole comic again when you’ve finished. As a penultimate issue this obviously isn’t a jumping on point, but when the trade comes out I recommend you pick it up.

And that’s your lot!

It occurs to me that there are plenty of things I should have written about here that I haven’t over the past few weeks. In no particular order…

The Death of the Human Torch

Liked it, didn’t love it. Some nice character work (which is where Hickman seems to do his best), but shoddy plotting and characters conveniently forgetting how their powers work in order to get to the point he wants. Just as Sue forgot she could throw up a forcefield quicker than Namor can throw a trident a few issues ago, so Johnny seemed to forget he could (a) fly, and (b) go supernova and at least take some of the bugs with him. Also, the art makes his death seem a little uncertain. What’s to stop the horde stop and take him prisoner as soon as the door closes and Ben can’t see him anymore?

On the plus side, Namor’s reaction to being decked by Sue was priceless (as was her subsequent reaction to him) –

- and Johnny and Ben got their very own Spock and Kirk moment before the Torch checked out.

Other than that, though, the issue – like all of Hickman’s run – was largely disappointing.

Spider-Man joins the Fantastic FourFuture Foundation

I really have three thoughts on this: (1) it won’t last, (2) itisn’t the first time, and (3) that’s one butt-ugly costume.

Moon Knight’s new book

I’d probably actually have an opinion if I gave a monkey’s about the character – but I don’t think throwing more multiple personalities into him is a good idea, to be honest.

The Hobbit to start filming in March

About fricking time! I’ll probably listen to the press conference at some point.

Batgirl #18

Continues to be the most fun book around, and more people should read it – I mean, if you can make me enjoy an issue with Klarion in it, you’re doing something right. Don’t ever leave, Bryan Q Miller!

The death in this week’s Amazing Spider-Man

I know a lot of people will say this is yet another case for Women in Refrigerators, and the victim could just as easily have been Jonah’s son instead of his wife Marla – and they’re right, really – but the bottom line is that I don’t really care about that. It’s always bugged me that back in the 60s Jonah was responsible for the creation of the Scorpion, and financed the Spider Slayers, but that he never really got any comeback for it.

Dramatically speaking, it’ll be interesting to see where Jonah goes from here especially as he accepts his culpability. I suspect he may resign as mayor, but we’ll see. I only wish that there had been some acknowledgment that Mattie Franklin (the former Spider-Woman) had been killed recently, since she lived with Jonah and Marla for some time.

Oh, and the reason that Marla died instead of John? He’s the fricking Man-Wolf, that’s why.

The other major thing that happened in Spidey this week was the loss of the hero’s spider-sense, but that’ll probably be back soon. You know, just like the Human Torch.

Okay, that was a longer round-up than I thought. Anything else I should have commented on recently that I didn’t?

I’m on lockdown online right now because apparently the AP have spoiled Fantastic Four #587.

I may not be impressed with Jonathan Hickman’s run on the book, I may not think the death will stick – because even though the book is canceled with the next issue and replaced by FF#1 I can’t help but notice that if it gets renumbered after #12 it will miraculously become Fantastic Four #600 – but I will be damned if I’m spoiling this for myself.

My money’s still on Johnny dying if ’3′ means we’re left with three FF members (although part of me thinks Ben should get hit by a car crossing the road while he’s human), and on Ben surviving if ’3′ means that three of the members will die.

Anyway: lockdown.

I’m fairly sure that you’ve seen this teaser that Marvel put out this morning:

That’s the current Fantastic Four creative team launching FF #1 in March 2011.

There’s two possibilities here – first, that the Fantastic Four is being relaunched as FF following the (permanent and for real this time, for honest) death of one of their own. The second is that the creative team is moving over to FF featuring Reed’s fairly-recently-established young braintrust, the Future Foundation, which includes his kids, Alex Power, a bunch of Moloids and Dragon Man.

Personally I’m all for the second scenario if it means somebody else is writing the Fantastic Four proper. If it’s the first – and more likely – scenario, well at least I finally have a good jumping off point for the book I’ve collected for about 25 years.

In the first scenario, the fact that the book will seem to be called FF regardless of the number of living members (or the three-sided logo) does put me in mind of a SDCC teaser that we saw…

Thoughts?

…and Gotham…and New York…

These amazing prints by Justin Van Genderen are available to buy on imagekind.

Well, rediscovers in the sense that he’s shown them for a TV show, not in that he found them tucked away in the attic. Strangely wonderful:

I’ve come to the conclusion that Michael Chabon was right. In his 1995 treatment for a Fantastic Four movie (available for download here) he wrote:

The world of the movie is a timeless, more innocent world, a world where Evil lives behind an Iron Curtain on the Dark Side of the planet, a world where, even in 1995, it is always November 21, 1963. Men still wear hats, kids are into hot rods and spaceships, women have bouffant hairdos, and New York City is the vibrant, shiny capital of the Free World. A Technicolor, bossa nova, Douglas Sirk world. A world where radiation is not only terrifying and evil but also capable of producing wonders and miracles. A world of amazing machinery and devices. There is wickedness, to be sure, and there are bad people, and it takes the eternal vigilance of a few stalwart champions to keep our shores from being overrun, our homes and towns from being infested from within, by the emissaries of darkness. Fortunately such champions exist: the Fantastic Four.

He’s right. As much as I like the two previous Fantastic Four movies (and I like them a lot for what they are – frothy family-friendly superhero flicks), a true FF movie that captures the spirit of the comics should be set in the 1960s.

Think of it – a period superhero movie; where else could you have Mr Fantastic’s inventions seem so amazing? Where the pogo plane wouldn’t be laughed at? Where you could poke fun at the rampant sexism evident in the early FF comic?

Chabon also thought that you should just skip the origin story entirely and have the FF as established celebrity super-heroes; I like that too.

And yesterday when I posted about January Jones being cast in the new X-Men movie, it struck me that she would make a perfect 1960s Sue Storm. Perfect. And if she was Sue, why not populate the entire cast with Mad Men actors?

Jonn Hamm as the emotionally distant, distractingly handsome super-genius, Mr Fantastic!

The aforementioned January Jones as Sue Storm, the model-turned-headstrong superhero that just wants to get married so that she can finally be kissed and not heard!

Vincent Kartheiser as the self-absorbed none-too-bright cad about town, Johnny Storm!

And as we’re skipping the origin, there’s no need to see Ben Grimm at all – which means John Slattery can use his piercing blue eyes to emote ol’ Benjy through the CGI’d rocky hide of the Thing!

Yep, I think we’ve got this all wrapped up!

Last year, it was announced to very little surprise that Fox would be rebooting the Fantastic Four – and this morning, AICN is running a story that the working title for the reboot is the Fantastic Four Reborn, presumably because that worked so well for the Superman franchise. The first two movies did decent box office but didn’t set the world on fire, were critically panned and generally dismissed by comic readers.

So of course I liked them.

They weren’t perfect by any means, but they were fun and frothy, weren’t overburdened by angst and set up the family dynamic pretty well. They did screw up Doom royally in the first one, but managed to slightly redeem the character in the second, so there is that. I also don’t mind the Galactus-as-cloud thing, either. After all, as much as I love the big guy, he’s going to look a bit stupid on screen.

In any case, I think that Fox, like Sony and Spider-Man, lose the rights to the FF (and the X-Men for that matter) if they don’t have a film in development for a period of time. Even if the rights did revert to Marvel, it seems likely that a new cast would take up the mantle – especially now that former Johnny Storm Chris Evans is playing Captain America.

So who could be the new Fantastic Four?

If Fox want to make it marketable, I think they’d have Reed and Ben in their early thirties, with Sue in her mid twenties and Johnny around twenty. I also think that they may want to think outside the box a little in casting – so who could they cast? Now bearing in mind that people can play a couple of years around their actual age….

Reed Richards – Reed’s smart, but he’s also supposed to be good looking. I mean, he snagged Sue Storm before he was all stretchy in the unmentionables and recent creative teams on the comic have gone out of their way to emphasize that he’s quite the catch. So…how about Jake Gyllenhaal?

Sue Storm – Beautiful. Poised. Smart. Always a few years younger that Reed, I’m okay (very okay) with Glee‘s Dianna Agron.

Johnny Storm – Chris Evans was note perfect for the role, but if we’re going younger it wouldn’t hurt to have someone who’s a bit of a teen heartthrob. Personally I’d like to have someone like Anton Yelchin in the role, but I think a more marketable bet might be somebody along the lines of…shoot me now…Zac Efron. Provided he got a haircut, some more acting lessons and did something about that permatan thing he has going on.

Ben Grimm - Michael Chiklis was also perfect for this role, perfect. Even so, I think that having the Thing be a man-in-suit is a bad choice, especially with the technology available these days. This is one role that I figure there’s some leeway on the age thing – we won’t see too much of Ben before he gets Thing-ified, so casting someone older with a bit of hair dye and smoothing a couple of wrinkles will work fine for me (and hey, he’s only 37). This guy’s got the physique going for the motion capture, an already gravelly voice, eyes that he can act with, and that apparently women find appealing, and, let’s face it, is the best thing by far about Grey’s Anatomy. Sure, he was already the Multiple Man, but nobody remembers that – Eric Dane.

As for Doom – someone European would be a start. Someone used to playing it dark. So how about True Blood’s Stephen Moyer?

Who would you rather see?

There are some days where you just need to post some filler.

And there’s no better filler than the late Mike Wieringo’s Fantastic Four art.

Nuff said.

This weekend Marvel teased a Fantastic Three project

It ain’t the first time…

…the book bore this banner following Reed Richards’ ‘death’ in #381 of the original series – until Ant-Man Scott Lang showed up to provide the brains a few issues later.

In fact for a family team book, the FF have had quite the cast of members – Sue took time off during both pregnancies, replaced the first time by Crystal while the second time she stayed around the background. She was also replaced by Medusa during a separation from Reed.

Years later when both she and Reed left the team to try and have a normal life (they ended up joining the Avengers briefly before returning to the FF so you can see who well that turned out) they were replaced by Crystal and Sharon Ventura, then Ms Marvel and later the She-Thing. Recently the couple took a leave of absence once again to repair their marriage following the superhero Civil War, and were replaced by the Black Panther and Storm.

The Thing has been out of the team at various points too, whether he be depowered (although at times he stuck around in a Thing robotic suit), on the Secret Wars Battleworld or simply in a huff. He’s been replaced by Luke Cage and the She-Hulk.

There have also been a lot of almost-members, hanger-ons who have stuck around for a while but never been officially on the team – Nova (Frankie Raye, not Rich Rider), Namorita, Nathaniel Richards and Kristoff spring to mind – so in fact the only person who hasn’t taken an extended leave of absence at one time or another is the Human Torch.

So – can we expect a Torch-less FF soon?

In a stunning bit of casting news, the Warrington-born DJ, reformed hellraiser, former-ginger, now-greying, ex-Mr Billie Piper, Chris Evans has been cast as Steve Rogers, Captain America in the upcoming movie.

It’s a weird bit of casting but…

…oh.

Well that makes more sense.

While I don’t hate the casting, I hope that Evans reigns in what I can only refer to as his ‘shtick’ – that over the top comedy delivery that was prevalent in his Johnny Storm role and in The Losers trailer where he plays Jensen.

Even so, I think he has some qualities that will serve the movie well – it’s just a shame (at least from my perspective) that this pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of any future Fantastic Four movies, at least without reboots.

Look, I liked them, okay?

So let me get this straight: Eternity contains everything, including Hank Pym.

And because Hank Pym thinks everyone hates him…

Yeah, okay. I can live with that.

But really, Eternity loves Hank Pym!

Why? Because he’s Scientist Supreme!

Er…well, the title feels a little forced, but I guess I can live with that too. After all, it’s not like Hank’s the smartest guy in the room; Eternity admits that Reed Richards is a lot smarter but an explorer (presumably the Explorer Supreme!) and Stark’s an Engineer (Supreme!). I have a hard time thinking Stark’s brighter than Pym though, and Eternity doesn’t say he is – it’s just that these are the guys that Pym compares himself to most.

The fact that they’ve both been massive dicks to him in this series is probably another reason that Eternity calls them out.

Tangentially, you know who Pym doesn’t see as his equal?

That’s right, baby. Because Pym knows that no-one is equal to Doom.

Anyway. So it turns out that while Reed and Stark have the role of Explorer and Engineer locked down, Pym’s the Mage.

Er…like magic? He uses science like magic? So he doesn’t have to explain how he does what he does, kind of like how Forge could make anything before Warren Bloody Ellis blew him out his glory hole?

You know what? I like Hank Pym. I always have even with his many, many, many flaws – so I’m okay with this new role and the new-found confidence it instills.

You know what I don’t like?

Creepy ‘that’s-the-brain-patterns-of-your-dead-ex-wife-in-a-robot-your-robot-son-built-for-a-mate-you-weirdo-perv’ Pym-Jocasta moments.

At least Speed doesn’t like it either…

Posted via web from Comic By Comic’s Wonderous Posterous!

Tuesday seems to be developing into the day I post my reviews so…

Batman and Robin #2 – Another good issue, and I know this is being overwhelmingly positively reviewed but…(and you knew there’d be a but)…I really don’t like Damien and that’s souring the whole book for me. I understand that I’m not supposed to, but when there’s very little likable about a character, why bother reading about them?

Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 – Better late than never! A good set up issue, but I need more Hush like I need an axe in the head. I know that he’s become Dini’s pet bad guy over the past year or so, but let it go already. The Manhunter back-up was a good start to Kate’s Gotham adventures, but had very little weight to it.

Gotham City Sirens #1 Nice art, but once again there’s very little of note going on. Catwoman’s weak as a kitten (ho ho) so decides to set up house with Ivy and Harley, because obviously nothing could possibly go wrong with that – and that’s about it. Sure there’s a random bad guy thrown in but…that’s it.

Green Lantern Corps #38 – Good, but underwhelming intro to Blackest Night. The Guardians continue to be bastards, and nobody really seems to mind aside from Kyle and Guy. Suspect that’ll come back to bite them in their little blue asses.

Justice League: Cry for Justice#1 – Nice art, shame about the cliched writing. Every character wants “…Justice!”, which appears to be another way of saying “…Revenge!”. Overwrought, over played, and distressingly unsubtle. Although it does have a talking gorilla, so there’s that.

Agents Of Atlas #7 – I’m teetering on dropping this, as much as I like it. I’m just not sure where it’s going exactly. Right now, it feels oddly directionless – it seems desperate to define itself by reference to its guest stars. Next issue may make it or break it, Gorilla Man or not.

Amazing Spider-Man Family #8 – As good as ever, and per Bleeding Cool, not exactly cancelled, which is good news.

Captain America Reborn #1 – I don’t even have an opinion on this. It reads well, it looks good, it makes some sense…but I need to let it play out a little more before I make a decision one way or the other on the book. Something just feels iffy to me, using time travel as a plot point – even if it was heavily telegraphed in the early days of this volume of Captain America. And if that was Steve pulled out of time, who was buried in his coffin?

Fantastic Four #568 – Splash pages galore as the Marquis of Doom and his hooded disciple knock the team around a bit and then Reed shows him what a real man is. And then Reed gets the crap kicked out of him by a whole bunch of alternate versions of the Torch, the Thing and Sue. What? Ridiculous, borderline incoherent, but a very good looking book.

Invincible Iron Man #15 – Good issue, if a little light on action – but the plot moved forward nicely anyway. It’s the first time that the loss of Tony’s memory and intelligence hit on an emotional level, too, with a simple “Who’s Happy?” showing just how bad things are getting.

Uncanny X-Men #513 – Pointless posturing as Norman Osborn consolidates his power and clumsily muddles through some exposition as he introduces his own team of X-Men, and Cyclops ponders his next move. Honestly, I don’t know how this is the same guy writing this and Iron Man right now.

War Of Kings #5 – Continues to be an example of how to do a crossover right. And, of course, it all seems to boil down to the two leaders duking it out. I’m intrigued for what’s next for these characters, and hope that we get an Inhumans regular series out of it, or at least something starring Ronan and Crystal, who are really the break out stars of the story.

I also picked up Buffy but haven’t a chance to read it, so next week for that. I know, you can’t wait!

Better late than never – and still ahead of this week’s releases, which is good.

Action Comics Annual #12 – A steaming pile of crap. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve read a worse comic in a long time. Where to begin? Perhaps the grating, omniscient third party narration? Perhaps the fact that their origins are contrived? Perhaps the fact that we may know their history but we don’t really know them? If you haven’t bought it, don’t.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 - The store I went to didn’t have it. I choose to take this as a sign that it is not destined to be a monthly pull of mine. Alternatively, I may pick it up this week.

Outsiders #19 – Not bad, not good, just forgettable. The good news is that it has Vandal Savage (who’s always fun, in spite of Morrison’s makeover) and it also has Ra’s Al Ghul. IN A BEAR HEAD-HAT.

Power Girl #2 – Aaand I’m out. Well, that was quick. I’ve been looking forward to this comic since it was announced over a year ago, but I’m done. Two issues in and I get half an issue dedicated to the origin of a villain I don’t care about? Not only that, but the book suffers from serious verbal diarrhea. It’s the opposite of decompressed storytelling – which is fine until you realise that you don’t really care about the story anyway.

Supergirl #42 – Solid issue, with Lois reliably under control mourning her sister’s (apparent) death. It’s funny, but for all the fuss about Supergirl being back on track (and it is), I kind of view this book as the home of the Superman supporting cast right now – Lois, Sam Lane, Lana, Cat Grant; they’re all here. And the book’s the better for it. Oh, and Jamal Igle’s art on here is fantastic. He and Sibal are really working well together.

All-New Savage She-Hulk #3 – A great fun little mini. I find myself liking this more and more, and having the original She-Hulk punch out the Sentry is icing on the cake. Although…who wants more tiny little Normans running around? Sure, Harry’s okay, but the two-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken weren’t enough? Although…would a Norman/Lyra mix still have his brillo pad hair?

Amazing Spider-Man Family #7 – A Roger Stern-penned Spidey tale is always a must, even if it is about Aunt May and Uncle Ben first getting together – but on the eve of May’s wedding, its a nice little retrospective. Throw in Spider-Girl (still entertaining) and Fred Hembeck’s l’il Peter Parker meeting the Brothers Voodoo, and you’ve got a nice little book.

Cable #15 – The whole Messiah War thing has basically become one big fight scene. Enjoyable fluff, but no depth to it.

Captain Britain And MI 13 #14 – I mentioned how much I liked this last week – but allow me to add this:
Heh.

Dark Reign Fantastic Four #4 – The more I read this book, the more concerned I am with Hickman taking the reigns of the regular title. Reed is back in ‘fix everything’ mode (which is the title of Hickman’s first arc), Ben, Sue and Johnny are supporting characters, and Franklin and Valeria are funny but kind of brattish – and they really shouldn’t be one of the main focuses of the book in my opinion. On the plus side, Norman Osborn is reliably crazy and the end of the issue promises a great smack-down which will, no doubt, not be delivered.

Invincible Iron Man #14 – Apparently I missed last issue which is why , but I’m all caught up now. Fraction handles this book much better than he does Uncanny X-Men. Focused, smart and funny, he’s on fire here, and Sal Larocca’s work is gorgeous. I’m a bit confused about Crimson Dynamo as I thought Dmitri was out of the suit, but that’s not enough to put me off.

Mighty Avengers #26 – Better than last issue, which isn’t saying much. I’m still not entirely on board but I want to see how this plays out. Honestly, though, the book needs a better art team than this.

Punisher #6 – Didn’t pick it up. So its been moved to the trade list!

War Of Kings Ascension #3 – This issue turned the spotlight on Chris Powell as opposed to Darkhawk and was the better for it. The art’s a lot less confusing without the two Darkhawks running around, and I feel like I’m getting to know the protagonist. And the book has finally dovetailed with War of Kings.

X-Men Legacy #225 – A decent enough wrap up to Xavier’s arc, but after a year and a half of him as the central star, I still don’t really care about him. So I suspect that the book’s failed, really, in spite of solid writing on Carey’s behalf. Nice art though.

The one-word review thing got tired (mainly because I didn’t want to repeat words over and over again) so instead, I’m going to be trying to do a very quick review of books I picked up this week.

Only no grading, because I could never do that consistently anyway.

Action Comics #878 – Four issues in to the new status quo and I’m still not sold. The only reason I’m still here is because (a) it’s got Lois, and (b) it’s going to loop back around to the other Superman books in a few months.

Batman #687 – You really have to tilt your head and squint to make this fit in with Battle for the Cowl – presumably because it fit in with writer Judd Winick’s scrapped version – but it’s not bad. Dick’s a bit mopey but it sets up the new status quo nicely enough, plus we get a scene where Dick and Alfred learn of Bruce’s death – which should probably have been shown sooner. Not a bad start.

Booster Gold #21 – It feels like this book’s got a kick in the ass after the last lackluster arc. Jurgens delivers the goods with what looks to be the start of a showdown with the time-traveling Black Beetle and some nice interplay between Booster and the new Batman. Wonder what happened to Booster’s ancestor, the second Supernova, though? The back-up – sorry, second feature – with Blue Beetle was fun but disposable. Good to see Paco and Brenda again, but the story felt like something more suited to Gail Simone’s old All-New Atom title as opposed to Beetle. Maybe it’s just me.

Flash: Rebirth #3 – A third slow issue about the fastest man alive. Huh. On the plus side, nice art, a last page reveal that makes the first page make sense, the return of two heroes – even if one of them appears to get wiped out again immediately – and one good line from Barry to Superman almost make the issue good. Honestly, though, if this is a big a deal as everyone makes it out to be, it should be a more interesting read.

Green Lantern Corps #37 – There’s an awful lot going on here: Sodam Yat’s so-obviously-not-final sacrifice, Arisia rallying the Daxamite population against Mongul, riots on Oa and rogue Guardian Scar generally raising hell and causing big, big problems. Tomasi, Gleason and co pack a lot in, but not so much that it’s unreadable. Although, seriously: Arisia, guerilla leader? Come on.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #5 – I’m not sure what’s going on with the art here. The character work is great, but the space battles look rushed. Story-wise, things move on a little bit, Vril Dox plots away and we finally see the real Starro. I kind of liked the big starfish version myself but whatever. It’s a quick read that may be better served in trade format.

Red Robin #1 – I’m on the fence here. On the plus side, I’m not as down on Tim and Dick’s interaction as everyone else seems to be – I didn’t read this as Tim being forced out of the Batfamily by any means. Similarly, I like that he has a clearly defined mission – find Bruce Wayne – that’s sending him globe-trotting across the, er, globe. I also liked the appearance of a certain Bat-foe, and I thought that Yost and Bachs make a pretty good creative team. On the minus side, I am a little worried that Tim – one of the most optimistic DC characters at one point – is now going all dark and moody, and that one of the character’s great assets in the past was his non-super supporting cast which are now all gone. Also, this paragraph is way too long.

Amazing Spider-Man #597 – I think for such a ‘big’ storyline, team Spidey could have assigned one penciller. Chechetto’s work here is actually very good, so good that I don’t think we needed Phil Jimenez on part one of the arc. Kelly’s story is tight and sharp, and full of nice moments as Spidey tries – and fails – to masquerade as bad-ass Venom in amongst the Dark Avengers. Good stuff. And two pages teasing the return of a classic villain in #600 made me realize just how much I’ve missed him. Good issue.

Deadpool #11 – Crazily good fun. I haven’t always been a fan of Daniel Way’s work, but this is just great – and Paco Medina’s art here is perfect for the madcap main character. Bullseye and Deadpool go at it, and neither really want it to end – and neither do I.

Fantastic Four #567 – The only reasons I’m still buying this right now are because I’ll be damned if I let this crappy run kick me off the book, the run’s almost over, and more importantly I hold out the teeniest, tiniest hope that it’s going to end with Doom coming back and kicking seven shades of shit out of his so-called Master. Also, I’m assuming that the guy’s permanently-shadowed apprentice is an alternate Reed Richards. Or Wolverine, because that’s just how Millar rolls.

Lockjaw And The Pet Avengers #2 – Severely, severely awesome. Pick this up.

Uncanny X-Men #511 – What a clusterfuck. Land’s art has people posing all over the place in confused fight scenes and Fraction’s script seems to assume that you just don’t care if a story makes sense. This whole Red Queen thing feels like it was just to get Psylocke back, and it’s been tortuous getting there. The book needs new blood, stat.

War Of Kings Savage World Of Skaar – Gorgon and Starbolt play Enemy Mine. Or, you know ‘Skaar, when the walls fell’ (bonus points for getting the misquoted reference!). Pointless and predictable, with merely adequate artwork and script, but oddly engaging all the same.

Wolverine #74 – Er, haven’t read it yet as I want to dig up #73 and read both in one sitting. But it sure looks pretty.

X-Men Forever #1 – I…okay, I can’t honestly say that this was a good book, but I can say I enjoyed it for what it was – a nice, nostalgic look at what might have been, complete with modern take on the corner box. Grummet’s artwork is as solid as ever (except for the oddly static cover) and there’s a sense that things will be different this time out – I fully expect the death of an established X-Man to prove a point in the first few issues. But ‘Remy Picard’? Seriously? I’d guess this is a fake name as LeBeau hadn’t been revealed as Gambit’s name at the time X-Men #3 shipped, and Jean Luc LeBeau hadn’t been…Jean Luc…Picard…oh. I’ll get my coat.

Angel: Blood & Trenches #4 – This has been an enjoyable throwaway series with gorgeous pencils by John Byrne. And I mean gorgeous. Unfortunately, the last issue here is a little rushed, and the final two page denouement feels completely unnecessary – honestly, there are some things that just feel a little bit off, and having Angel save Hitler is one of them. Otherwise, a decent read.

I was one of those who was looking forward to Dan Slott’s take on the Avengers when it was announced that he was taking over Mighty Avengers when Bendis left to take over Thunderbolts create Dark Avengers.

I’m an Avengers fan since the days of Roger Stern’s stint as scribe, and I’ve read/now own a good chunk of what came before that, so I was all up for a return to an old school feel for the book – something that Bendis’ Mighty never achieved, in spite of the initial claims that it would provide that feel.

Instead, we got a weak and muddled three-issue opening arc which dealt with magic, Wundagore Mountain and Modred the flamin’ Mystic, perhaps the least useful magical character in the MU. As someone who doesn’t like much magic outside of Dr Strange, this wasn’t an ideal arc for me – but more than that, something felt off about Pym’s portrayal.

It wasn’t the new codename or outfit – in spite of Hercules’ concerns. It wasn’t even in the way that Iron Man reacted to him leading the team; it was in Pym’s reactions to everyone else.

Let’s see…he’s lost Jan and is hanging out with the robot whose brainwaves are based on hers. He’s desperate to prove himself as a hero, apparently to partly honor Jan’s memory but also apparently for himself.

He’s also overbearing and more than a little condescending to the younger members of the team, including but not limited to Cassie, who’s been quite successfully proving herself a hero for a while now.

He grossly over reacts to Jocasta shutting off their lab to protect it – to the point where you have to wonder if Slott’s really on board the Pym redemption train as he’s claimed to be.

Oh, and not only is he displaying some very erratic behavior, building a robot called Salvation Two (presumably because Salvation One went so well), but he’s also picking a fight with Reed Richards.

I mean, granted Richards was being uncharacteristically dickish, but still…

And, oh yeah, his team’s being led round by the nose by Loki.

What really bugs me is that Reed and Stark, prior to the Skrull invasion would never have treated Pym this way. They both respected his scientific prowess, regarded him as a friend and treated him as an equal. But now they’re both acting like heels and Pym’s disintegrating.

It’s not an Avengers that appeals to me; it’s not what I thought Slott would deliver, it’s making me actively dislike one of my favorite characters and to be honest, it’s not a lot of fun.

I’m disappointed, and if things don’t turn around in this FF arc, then I think I’m actually going to do something I’ve never done: drop an Avengers book.