Comic of the Week (2/23/11) – Fantastic Four #588

Comic of the Week (2/23/11) – Fantastic Four #588

If you haven’t read Issue 587 yet, there’s some serious spoilers here. This issue picks up directly where the previous one left off, with one of the Fantastic Four dead. This issue focuses on how the rest of the family deals with the loss, as well as setting the story on the oath to the future. The “Three” storyline opened a lot of doors, and the remainder of the Four are going to have their hands full closing them. Most impressively, this great story is told without a single line of dialog. Nick Dragotta, a relative unknown, steps in and delivers some of the best pencils I’ve ever seen. Emotional, groundbreaking and impactful, Fantastic Four #588 will definitely be a serious contender for best issue of the year. Fantastic Four #588 Marvel Comics Story: Jonathan Hickman Art: Nick Dragotta (Backup by Mark Brooks)...

Fantastic Four Issue 584: “Three, Part 2: Congratulations, Mister Grimm. You’re handsome again!”

Fantastic Four Issue 584: “Three, Part 2: Congratulations, Mister Grimm. You’re handsome again!”

I’ll admit, I don’t know a lot of the backstory here; I’m just sort of going with the flow. Prior to Issue 583, I hadn’t ever read Fantastic Four regularly. So, everything I know leading up to this issue is from the recap page at the front. Apparently, The Thing has some sort of potion that can make him human again for a week; Sue Storm is joining Namor for a diplomatic meeting; and the corpse of Galactus that showed up at the end of the previous issue is from an alternate future. Okay, then. The focus of this issue is the newly-human Ben Grimm. He has a week to live as a normal person again, and Johnny Storm is helping him make the most of it. I absolutely loved this entire sequence; there are some fantastic character moments and Epting captures the mood perfectly. The best panel in this comic has to be their dinner with “old friends,” none other than Stan Lee and Jack Kirby making cameo appearances in the comic they created. It all ends with a very touching scene with his long-time love interest Alicia Masters. It looks like the Human Torch is a pretty nice guy, setting all this up for his best friend. The issue ends on an awesome, though confusing note. The version of Galactus that Silver Surfer discovered was from the future, yet died in the present. I may have to look into some back issues to figure this whole thing out, though maybe Reed Richards will be offering up an explanation in the next issue. All in all, I absolutely loved this issue in every way, though I’m a little unsure how far it advances the overall plot. Hickman’s writing on this and other titles has been near-universally praised, and there’s nothing here that makes me think he doesn’t have a plan, so I’m sure it will all come together soon. Also, the heavy character development of The Thing may lead many to believe he’s the character being killed off, but don’t be surprised if it’s a red herring. Fantastic Four Issue 584: “Three, Part 2: Congratulations, Mister Grimm. You’re handsome again!” Marvel Comics Story: Jonathan Hickman Art: Steve Epting, Paul Mounts...

Fantastic Four Issue 583: “Three, Part 1: In Latveria, the Flowers Bloom in Winter”

Fantastic Four Issue 583: “Three, Part 1: In Latveria, the Flowers Bloom in Winter”

It’s been impossible to read a Marvel comic over the past couple months and not know about this storyline. The ads have been everywhere and definitely sparked my interest. You tell me a long-standing fixture of the Marvel Universe is going to die, and I’m there. I’ve heard good things about Jonathan Hickman’s work on Fantastic Four going back to Issue 570, so I figured there was no better time than now to check it out. The issue does a decent job recapping recent events, from the FF’s interactions with the High Evolutionary and an assembly of inter-dimensional Mr. Fantastics, to Doctor Doom’s loss of intellect during the “World War Hulks” event. Part of the issue focuses on the FF battling against the forces of the High Evolutionary, but it’s largely unimportant to the central plot of the issue. The real star here isn’t even a member of the Fantastic Four, but rather Valeria Richards; Reed and Sue’s daughter. Valeria is as smart as her father, but as brash as her Uncle Johnny. She happens across a device in Reed’s lab that lets her in on what her father is up to. She realizes he’s overextending himself and putting everyone at risk. She turns to the most unlikely of allies for help and pays Doctor Doom a visit. The scenes between Valeria and Doom are easily the highlight of the issue. This issue marks the first with Steve Epting as artist. Epting brings an interesting style to Fantastic Four; the visuals look like nothing I’ve seen from the series previously. Much like his work on Captain America, Epting uses heavy shadows for detail and emphasis, and while I personally love the style, long time FF fans may be put off by it. All in all, the issue was fun, but not as spectacular as I was expecting. Then I read the epilogue. Those last two pages, told from the perspective of none other than the Silver Surfer, went a long way to setting up the future of this storyline. Those two pages alone have me eagerly anticipating the next issue of Fantastic Four. Fantastic Four Issue 583: “Three, Part 1: In Latveria, the Flowers Bloom in Winter” Marvel Comics Story: Jonathan Hickman Art: Steve Epting, Paul Mounts...

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