[Spoiler alert: I’m detailing pretty much the entire Hickman FF run.]
The final issue of Fantastic Four came out this week, following last month’s issue where Johnny Storm died. Jonathan Hickman has been writing FF since issue #570 and before that he wrote a direct lead in with his Fantastic Four: Dark Rein mini. What can I say? Hickman is writing the best Marvel U comic coming out. This issue damn near made me cry. The main strength of Hickman’s FF is the deep character development. Each member of the FF has grown, both by establishing important points from the past and by introducing new elements that propel the FF saga into the future.
In the first storyline, Reed Richards is faced with the ultimate expression of his intellect when he discovers a Multiverse Reed Richards Council who governs the universe on a level rarely seen even in the ever-cosmic Marvel U. Another Reed plotline is a carryover from the Millar/Hitch run where a bunch of people from the future harnessed the power of Galactus to travel back in time, leaving a giant corpse that Reed elected to hide deep beneath the earth. Now, however, the Silver Surfer has discovered the corpse and reported its existence to Galactus, who has come to earth seeking answers from Reed. Reed is then basically forced to lead Galactus to Nu-World, an artificial earth where the Galactus-killers from the future have been hanging out. Galactus proceeds to do what he does best: destroy the planet. The funniest part is that Galactus destroys the planet not because he’s hungry, but because he’s pissed off and want to kill all the inhabitants! Reed does manage to save a select few of the refugees from the future, most notably the Maestro, the evil Hulk from the future! Nice move, Reed!
Sue is also getting into some pretty cool intrigue as the new Ambassador to a rival Atlantean race that is getting all up in Namor’s business. Hickman’s Sue Richards takes care of business, she doesn’t sit around waiting for Reed to pay attention to her and if she’s got somewhere to be, she just palms the kids off on Johnny and Ben and takes off. When she first goes with Namor to some negotiation summit with the other Atlanteans, you may be thinking that Sue is in for some major sexual harassment from Marvels first fishy mutant, but instead, she ends up politically outmaneuvering Namor, much to his regal dismay!
The children of Reed and Sue, Franklin and Valerie Richards have not only been developed to a large degree, but they have been joined by a mass of new members of the extended family: Dragon Man, an android recently reprogrammed by Val, some children from a newly discovered race of intelligent mole men, a few of the Power Pack kids, and Artie and Leech, who you may remember from the early days of the original X-Factor series. This ragtag group of kids, under Val’s direction, have basically started their own super group, the Future Foundation. This junior league FF cracked the problem of Ben’s monstrous appearance, allowing him to return to his human form, albeit for only a week or so per year.
Val’s character is perhaps my favorite, her intelligence plotline was introduced in the Millar/Hitch run but has gained full flower under Hickman’s direction. We now know that Val is smarter than her dad, which may put her in the running for smartest on earth. One cool thing Marvel has been doing in the last few years is introduce this Marvel U intelligence ranking, although who is in fact the smartest has not been revealed…yet. Val is a very new character but she has really developed fast and is sure to be a Marvel mainstay for years to come.
Franklin Richards has an interesting predicament: he feels threatened by his little sisters massive intelligence, yet he himself is most likely the most powerful mutant on the planet. A future Franklin and Val travel back in time and kick up a bunch of dust, reinstating young Franklins powers and dropping a bunch of knowledge on young Val and then promptly disappearing again, to an unknown but not very promising looking fate. Franklin also gets my award for most touching scene in the series, when he meets up with Spider-Man right after Johnny dies. Franklin confides in Spider-Man that he thinks he may have been able to save his Uncle, and Spidey tells Franklin about how his own inaction resulted in the death of his Uncle too. Very moving stuff, really, which is rare for a mainstream superhero book but it makes sense when you remember this book is all about family.
Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm’s character development in the series have generally advanced in tandem, with Johnny trying to draw Ben out of his shell, as it were, and Ben grounding Johnny in the larger family. They shared an especially touching issue when Ben is reverted to his human form and Johnny takes him out on the town. Ben’s transformation turns tragic however, when he is powerless to save Johnny from his untimely fate, turning back to stone minutes too late.
You may be asking yourself, “Is that all?” What? Isn’t that enough?!! The FF have got it going on and it doesn’t look like Hickman is going to let up anytime soon. A lot of people are wondering, is Johnny Storm really dead/really going to stay dead? I don’t know, but I will point out that the series is ending with issue #588, which could mean this new FF series could very well run twelve issues, then revert to the original numbering for issue #600. That would also be a nice neat thirty issues, not including the Dark Rein mini, which in this day and age is a very respectable run. However Hickman has stated that he’s only getting started and has quite a lot more in store for Marvel’s First family, and I for one, am a True Believer!
-Ronald Rosebud.
