Saturday, July 31, 2010

Fantastic Four #581 and #582 - Marvel

I thought this was a really cool idea, and story. I don't know where Jonathan Hickman comes up with this stuff. Basically, in these 2 issues, he brings together the story around why the older Franklin came back from the future. Basically, Franklin and Valeria decided that they didn't like the way that things turned out. So they're going to use their powers, as well as the intellect of their grand-father, Nathaniel to try to 'fix' things. In the first issue we find out that Nathaniel has been up to all sorts of things since disappearing from Reed's life all those years ago. Kind of like that quorum where Reed found himself, with all the possible variations of himself brought together . . you know where they wanted to fix everything, well . . Nathaniel was involved with trying to stop a guy with a quantum power source inside of him. It, however, exploded and Nathaniel was touching it at the time. It gave him some powers over the time-stream, but it also threw him some 6000 years in the future. As well as every other Nathaniel that ever existed anywhere . . anytime. The future was ruled by Immortus and he decided that the only 'fix' was to either get rid of them all, or . . one would be allowed to live. But they had to determine which one that would be. Which is where Nathaniel is currently, in the past, when he visits Reed at the University all those years ago . . they are down to two. Which is why he's come to Reed for help . . he doesn't think he can beat this guy by himself. But Reed doesn't have all the cool devices that he has in the present time, so . . Reed gets Victor involved . . as well as his best friend Ben. They all end up in the future, and the issue ends with them facing off against the 'other' Nathaniel. In issue #582 we get to see the big fight. Of course Reed and his father are going to win but the important thing is . . Nathaniel couldn't kill his other self. Even though he knew it was 'kill or be killed', he still couldn't bring himself to do it. So . . Victor does it for him. This issue also tries to explain what Valeria and Franklin's ultimate plans are. It's all a little confusing, but . . this is what I got out of it. Through the course of these events, with Nathaniel, every other Reed throughout the multiverse was left as an orphan. Franklin and Val didn't like that because they believed that every kid needs a father. Franklin believes that's what's wrong with his dad, Reed. Why he's always been so distant and why scientific pursuits come before family. So essentially, he's trying to rewrite reality . . rewrite history, and . . 'fix' his dad. Whether it works or not . . I guess we'll have to wait and see. I just think Jonathan wrote a brilliant story here. It's a little convoluted . . I had to read parts of it twice to fully understand what was going on, but . . it was worth it. In the end it was a kind of touching story, that Franklin was willing to go through all of this just to try to 'fix' his dad. He and Val, thier future selves, wouldn't be surviving this. But that was necessary for the changes to take place. It was a brilliant concept. Neil Edwards did the art for both issues. With Alan Davis doing the covers. Next issue Steve Epting will be taking over on pencils.

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