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.

Fantastic Four Annual #32 - Marvel

The Fantastic Four have faced many threats over the years. They've shown their faces as both idle threats and, many, the grandest of nature. They've saved the Earth, the Universe, the Multiverse, the Negative Zone, and . . well, pretty much every other dimension or plane of existence that they've encountered. And the villains that they've faced have been many, and varied. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time that they've had to face this type of threat. And I say that because . . knowing Johnny, and his 'man-whore' ways, I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't been an issue before. And if you haven't guessed already, this issue the Fantastic Four family, and Johnny in particular, face an issue that Johnny somehow has avoided for a very long time . . a pregnancy scare. But of course, in typical FF fashion, it doesn't stem from the typical 'one nite stand'. It appears that Psycho-man . . or actually his daughter, Psycho-woman, is behind this threat. One night, while at the club, she uses her powers on Johnny and Amy. Basically, while in miniaturized mode, she shrinks down and jumps back and forth between bodies to impregnate Amy. Not the most romantic of encounters. Anyways, she says she's trying to build an army of cosmic warriors and for that she needs Johnny's tissue. Which is why she's gone through this great ruse. And of course, all of this happens inside Johnny's brain, where she's taken up residency. With the combined skills of the FF they end up beating her. But the end of the story is left kind of open-ended. They decide that the pregnancy would leave Amy, and the child, to open to attack by any one of their rogues. So Reed is going to go back to stop it, but . . he starts to second-guess the the whole operation. In his moment of indecision, Amy grabs the time-remote, and jumps into the time pool herself. They don't know where she went, or what she did. The way she was talking, it looked like she might abort the Jr Johnny, wherever she ended up. But . . they don't know. She might of changed her mind. And at the end, Johnny says what everyone else is thinking . . 'She could've gone anywhere, at any time. My child could be alive, right now, walking the streets. All grown up' I guess we'll have to wait for future issues of the FF to see if this is going to come back to bite them. And, having said that, it's most assured that now . . eventually, it will. I thought it was a good story by Joe Ahearne. There were a couple of spots that seemed a little confusing, or muddled to me. But overall, I thought it was an interesting story, and a neat take on a realistic occurrence. Well . . as far as 'realism' goes with the FF. I liked it. Of course it helped that Bryan Hitch did the art. The whole issue looked . . well, Fantastic!

Fantastic Four #580 - Marvel

I just praised Jonathan Hickman on his story-telling abilities, and then . . I read this book. There were some really cool ideas presented in this issue, but . . the main story that everything is wrapped around . . in my opinion was just way to predictable and obvious. To me, the best part of this issue was the first 3 pages, and the last 7. In the middle we get a story about Arcade and the Impossible Man. I know! Boring! Right? Anyways, supposedly Arcade has reformed and he's opened a toy store with his theme being franchised commodities . . Super-heroes, and some Super-villains too, I'm sure. Anyways, his big focus right now is the Impossible Man. He's got this huge line of toys planned, with goals of making a lot of money . . legitimately, for both himself and the Impossible Man. He's even done the unthinkable and had the Impossible Man put a fraction of his essence into each of the toys, making them even more spectacular. The problem is . . Johnny shows up with Franklin and Leech not knowing that it's an Arcade front. Now, no matter what Arcade says, you just know that sooner or later he's going to crack and whip out the death-traps and toys. I mean, it's his schtick. So when it happens it's just way to predictable. However, it was interesting how Franklin, with Leech knocked out, and very upset about Arcade ruining their perfect day, uses his reality altering powers to take Arcade down. He actually does so pretty much single-handedly. But other than that, this middle part was just way to obvious. Anyways, the story in the beginning and the end is that the classroom of students that Reed has assembled has picked their first project. They've decided to tackle the problem of fixing Ben. As they see it, the Fantastic Four's power's are always either on or off. They all have that control, except for Ben. So they've devised a formula for helping that to happen. The problem is, had he been given the formula much earlier it probably would've afforded him better control. But since he's been in this state for such a long time, the alternative . . human, is more of the alien now. So while this formula will do the trick, it's only going to allow him about 1 week per year of transformation. Ben's response to this terrible news? 'I'll get to be normal for a whole week every year? . . I'll take it!' We also get the pages that we've been getting recently catching us up on Nu-Earth's history. Apparently it progress' at a much faster rate of speed than our normal reality. We get 700 years of history here in 5 panels. It starts out at +515 years, and goes up to +1217 years. The only thing that confuses me is that there's always a panel in the middle that's labeled . . 'Nu-Earth - Real Time - Beyond the Distortion'. I'm not exactly sure what that means. But in that panel, it appears that there's an infinity of Ultrons that have built up over that time. Plus, we don't know yet what affect all of this history is having on our present Earth or story-line. Also, this issue didn't deal with all of these 'cities' that are coming to a head. I assume we'll pick up on that next issue. So . . overall I thought it was a good book. I just didn't particularly care for the Arcade story. But there were still some great ideas here. I thought Neil Edwards did a good job with the art.

Fantastic Four #579 - Marvel

I've been loving this series. I think Jonathan Hickman is doing a terrific job of bringing fantastic ideas and a unique perspective to this book. It seems like Jonathan has been exploring a lot of interesting ideas, and . . I'd say he's doing as good a job or better than Mark Millar did. And that says a lot. And, while I do miss Dale Eaglesham's work, it appears that Neal Edwards will be doing the art . . at least for the foreseeable future. It looks ok. He does a good job. But . . I do miss Dale. Anyways, this issue gives us a whole lot of information. Anyways, first of all . . Reed had built a symposium of sorts for forward thinking minds. It was his way of getting people to think about the future.The possible problems, the possible solutions . . and hopefully present ideas for a better tomorrow. But this year . . he's disappointed. The problem is, all of these people . . they've gotten old. 'There comes a time when each generation has outlived it's usefulness and must be cast aside for a new one. It is with this understanding that I resign from this body immediately. Because there is a fire called discovery burning within me. And I won't go back in the cave for anyone.' So, he begins building something new. A new consortium, or school . . as it were. It's called the Future Foundation, and right now . . it consists of the smartest kids that he knows . . Valaria, Franklin, Alex, Leech, Dragon Man, and a few others. This should prove to be very interesting. Meanwhile, things are starting to happen in these many new cities across the globe. In Old Atlantis, the society has reached out to the world that it cut itself off from and is starting to have desires, and yearnings. Sue's the human ambassador, so . . she's trying to work with them. If anything goes astray, she'll be the first to know. Nu-World seems to be on some kind of accelerated time distortion. In the span of 2 pages, they move ahead in history over 300 years. But a Dr Ted Castle tries to keep himself isolated from that time-space distortion. It appears to have worked for the first 100 years, but . . we don't know if it continued to work. Also one of the visitors to the Baxter Building, one of the advanced Mole-men, makes a discovery. 'A curved axis runs from the Forever City, through Old Atlantis, to an Inhuman city-ship on the moon? The radius of that axis happens to mirror the frequency at which a portal to the Negative Zone opens.' I don't know exactly what that means, but . . I don't think that it bodes well. And Reed visits Bentley Whitman to find out that his mind is still deteriorating. But he also wants to let him know that he's going to help raise the boy-clone of his. He's wants to give him things that Bentley had forsaken him. Actually, I think he wants to prove the theory of nature over nurture . . or vice-verse. Anyways, like I said . . there's lots of cool ideas presented here. They're a little fragmented in this issue . . we get little pieces of a lot of stuff. But . . it's thought provoking and original, nonetheless. It's a great book, and every month I'm left wanting more.

Fantastic Four #577 - Marvel

Ok . . in this title, so far we've seen the threat from the Future Franklin that there would be a war between the four cities. Then, as if right on cue, the Fantastic Four have begun finding out about these various cities. First the Moloids, or an evolved species thereof, have raised the High Evolutionary's abandoned city from beneath the surface of the Earth.They've decided to take up residence there, and want to be deigned a sovereign nation. Next, they find a city buried under one of the poles. It appears to be either an off-shoot of Atlantis, or . . maybe it's the original. Anyways, it consists of 4 races, and after saving it from AIM's exploration, or domination, they've selected Sue to be their human ambassador. Now, in the Blue Area of the moon, the Inhumans have begun building a new nation there. Apparently, when the Kree experimented on the Earth's population, those many thousands of years ago, there were also testing various species from all over the cosmos. A total of 5 species survived the tests, or showed promise, and are now coming to live together. There's only one problem. They've decided to build a massive city for them all to populate and they want it to be situated on Earth. They're calling themselves the Universal Inhumans. But before they can begin their universal collective, Black Bolt has headed off to the homeworld Hala. He plans on crushing the Kree, and then returning to lead their 5 tribes. We also find out about an elite group of Inhumans, their 6 greatest warriors, called the Light Brigade. 'Once every generation, during the Ceremony, the Light Brigade takes on an endless succession of trials in order to internally prove the worthiness of the Inhuman collective. The offering ends with the death of the last living member. No light Brigade has ever survived longer than a year.' So . . is Jonathan Hickman saying that the members of the Light Brigade are only a year old? Or . . maybe, a year since their transformation? Or, is he telling us that the ceremony lasts a year? And what really is the importance of all of this? Also . . as a warrior race, why would you pick your 6 elite warriors only to have them die a year later? To me . . it would be perfectly fine to be #7. Anyways, Jonathan is building towards something bigger here . . the 'war', obviously. But the Franklin that came back from the future looked to be in his early 20's. And our Franklin is only 7 or 8. So . . does the war not happen for 12 to 15 years? There's a whole lot of unanswered questions here. However, despite that . . I think Jonathan is introducing some incredible ideas in this book. 'Fantastic', even! Hopefully we'll find out soon where this is all heading. In the meantime it's an enjoyable ride. And with Dale Eaglesham back on the pencils this issue, it was visually exciting also.

Fantastic Four #576 - Marvel

It seems to me that Jonathan Hickman is building towards something bigger here. All the recent chapters of this title seem like building blocks in a much bigger story-arc. However . . we haven't been shown how they're all going to fit together. Yet! This all seems to have started out with an older Franklin coming back in time to give Valeria a message. A message about a coming conflict between four cities. Then last issue the Moloids . . or at least a hyper-evolved species of them that began progressing that way when they went to live in an abandoned city built by the High-Evolutionary . . the Moloids raised said city to the surface and have begun to set up a sovereign nation. Now, this issue . . we find out that there's a lake buried under the south pole. In 1973 they found a giant lake hidden some 13,000 feet under the ice-cap. However, at that time they didn't have the means to analyze or explore it. Not until about 4 years ago when the Richard's foundation gave them the equipment to do so. When they began scanning the lake, they also found that there were some huge structures down there also. Now they're about 24 hours away from sending down their first unmanned probe. The problem is . . AIM is also interested in this discovery, and they're slant drilling from about 5 miles away to achieve the same goal. So, they're going to have to skip the unmanned tests and drop in a manned team of researchers to do some exploring. That's where the FF come in. This is a job made for them. So . . long story short, the FF and AIM arrive within moments of each other. The FF try to establish contact, while AIM comes in with guns blazing. The FF have to do what they've done so often and come to the aid of the indigent races that live here. They stop AIMS descent and are welcomed into the royal chambers of the city. It turns out that these people consider themselves to be in Atlantis. There's 3 races that survived here, and they operate under one voice. They ask the same of the FF so Sue steps up as the 'voice of man'. This issue ends with the FF heading home, and Sue being deigned the 'herald' should their 2 worlds ever need to talk to each other int he future. And Sue has naturally contacted Namor. But he hasn't called back yet. Like I said . . we're building towards something here, but I'm not sure what yet. We've got all these single issue stories, but . . they're all connected. I assume we'll have to find out about the other 2 cities though before this storyline goes much further. I can't wait to see what happens. Jonathan has presented some terrific ideas here. It should be equally as interesting to see how he brings them all together. And I love Dale Eaglesham's art. He does a terrific job. I just wish he could be here every issue. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Overall I thought it was a great book. Now I look forward to seeing what's planned for the future.

Fantastic Four #575 - Marvel

I have to say . . I'm pretty impressed with Jonathan Hickman's stories so far. Obviously I've been reading his work in Secret Warriors, but . . it's a little different for this book. I'd even go so far as to compare him to Geoff Johns in that he takes a character, in this case the Mole-Man, and focus' on a different aspect of his personality or behavior. Basically . . redefining the character. He doesn't change the Mole-Man. If anything his arguments with Ben confirm that he's still the ego-maniacal tyrant that he's always been. However, in a more enlightened conversation, he does express how he's basically trying to take care of his 'people', and in his own way prevent them from having to deal with the petty things that people on the surface face. However, there's a new problem. The High Evolutionary had built a hidden city for him to work on his experiments. In it he built an ascension engine. But after time . . it started to devolve his experiments. He and the rest of his New Men were forced to flee. But the ascension engine was never shut down. Now, some of the Moloids have begun to live in the city, becoming more evolved and intelligent. As a result they're starting to make some of the bad decisions that surface dwellers do. And, they want to raise the city to the surface as it was originally intended. Which is why the Mole-Man gets the Fantastic Four involved. One of the interesting scenes was when the FF come across the resting place of the future Galactus . . where Reed buried him. It was also interesting seeing the different underground cities as they make their way down. In the end though, the city does indeed rise and they're requesting to be treated as an independent nation-state within the continental US border. You just know that's not going to go well. Anyways, all in all I thought it was an interesting book. I don't think this is the last that we'll hear of this . . it seems to be a set-up for something bigger, but . . I also don't think we'll be seeing this in the next issue. Jonathan seems to be setting up some nice story-lines in this book, for later exploration. I can't wait to see where they all lead. Dale Eaglesham is back on the art this issue. I miss him over in the JSA, but . . if he's gotta go somewhere, I'm glad it's this book. His style fits it perfectly.

Fantastic Four #574 - Marvel

Jonathan Hickman is doing a terrific job with this book. He's really bringing some neat ideas to it. And this issue, while used to celebrate Franklin's birthday, this issue is actually a set-up for the next story-arc. First we have Franklin's birthday party to attend, along with all of his friends. Power Pack is there, as well as Spider-man, and Franklin's friends Artie and Leech. Both of which Reed has invited to come live with them since they obviously don't have a home of their own. This progress as they normally would. Anytime the Fantastic Four has a gathering of this type, you just know something bad is going to happen. But for the most part . . the party is uneventful. That is until after everyone leaves. Then they get a visitor in the hallway by Franklin and Valeria's room. He tells Franklin something, but we can't hear him. And then he gives Valeria a very specific message. 'Listen closely because each word was chosen carefully . . it is just for you, Val. No one else can know this. There will be a war between the four cities. The dead must not be forgotten. The future man must return to save the past. And all hope lies in Doom.' She then finds out that her future self is the one who sent him, and leads her to figure out that this future messenger is actually an adult version of her brother, Franklin. But . . as soon as you see this guy in the halls, you have to admit that you expected that. Plus . . he arrives on a time-quake. To me, that kind of gave it away. Anyways, we find out later that his message for Franklin was . .'Rest . . and remember what you are.' Later in his room, Franklin is hiding under his blankets. It looks like he's reading a book or something. We find out that he's actually just created a baby universe. And now his warning has more meaning . . 'The future must be avoided at all costs.' It appears that Franklin is regaining his powers. Neil Edwards fills in on the pencils this issue. I thought it was ok. Not great, but . . it was a pretty uneventful issue, overall. Things should be amped up a bit though next issue.

Fantastic Four #573 - Marvel

Okay, Jonathan Hickman presented some fantastic ideas here . . pun intended. Basically, since the last time the Fantastic Four saw Nu-World, their sun collapsed in upon itself creating a black-hole. Nu-World is on the edge of the event horizon of that black-hole, so . . time travels faster than normal for them. Even though it's only been a couple of weeks since they were last here . . it's been 8 years for the people of Nu-World. In that time Lightwave and Ultron have taken over as the world leaders. And they can't use the portal to get back to Earth because it was damaged when they first got here. Luckily . . the kids stowed away on Ben and Johnny's little vacation here, so . . Valeria is along for the ride. And as she tells Ted Castle, the architect and constructor of Nu-World . . 'Promise me you won't tell anyone, but I'm already smarter than my dad.' So . . long story short . . Ted has gotten old . . Alyssa is reduced to a brain living in a robot who is killed by Psionics, Johnny's old girlfriend who is now working for the bad-guys, when they come to break out Ben who was captured when they first got here. And Valeria helps Ted build a new portal for them all to get back to Earth. Everyone else though has decided to stay because they want to go down with the ship . . I guess. The other great idea Jonathan had with this story is to wrap it all up in one issue. I could see this one being dragged across 3 or 4 issues, but . . most of it would've been filler. I mean, sure the people of Nu-World are gonna come back to be a thorn in their side . . sooner or later. But . . we don't have to get into all of that right now. That'll just be a plot thread hanging there for later on. So overall . . I'm very pleased with Jonathan's work on this issue. It was exciting, original and precise. Thank you very much. Neil Edwards does the pencils on this issue. Dale needed an issue off? Already? He did 24 issues of JSA without missing an issue. What's up? Anyways, I liked the book. It was . . . wait for it . . . Fantastic!! You knew that was coming. Right?

Fantastic Four #572 - Marvel

Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham are doing a 'Fantastic' job with this book. In this 'Solve Everything' storyline, Reed has joined a group of like-minded individuals, literally, in trying to solve Earth's problems. But now just this Earth . . all the Earths. Reeds from every dimension have gathered in this special place to try to fix all of existence's problems. What they hadn't considered, or maybe they did and just ignored it, is that the universe has a plan . . ultimately. It may not always seem like it, but . . there appears to be a set and desired course of action. Having messed with these cosmic plans, one of the various Earth's Celestials decide that it's time to put a stop to this travesty. They come in and strike at the base of the Reeds operations, and take out a lot of them in the process. Our Reed is one of the ones tasked with returning through his door and bringing some weapons back for them to launch an assault. As he goes through the door, one of the Celestials reach for him . . the door takes off his hand. I wonder what Reed's going to do with that. Anyways, he returns and they seem to route the Celestials, but . . in the process Reed learns what the price is for fixing everything. The Reed that the Celestials turned tells him, 'Friends? Family? No one here has those things anymore. We gave all that up for the greater good. The cost of solving everything is everything. How can we think about little things like our personal lives when the fate of all we know lies in the balance? All you will have left is this.' Reed contemplates his brother's words, but ultimately . . he falls back on what his father told him. In a flashback he's apologizing to Reed for the life they've led. And he tells him, 'When you grow up, I expect more. Son . . I expect better. I want you to be a better friend than I was. Be a better husband. Be a better father. Reed . . be a better man!' And it looks like . . for now . . that's what he's chosen. Anyways, while all of this was happening, Johnny and Ben have departed for their Nu-World adventure. But it'll be interesting to see how that world has changed after the Marquis of Death's visit during Mark Millar's run. Also . . the boys don't know it, but . . they have some tag-alongs. Franklin and Valeria have decided to hitch a ride with their favorite uncles. I don't see this ending well, but . . that story continues next issue. Anyways, I think Jonathan and Dale did a fantastic job with their first story-arc here. In the end it's not really resolved, but . . for now it's on the back-burner. I wonder what'll happen when it pops up again? In short . . I love this book. I look forward to it every month. Fan-frikkin-tastic!!

Fantastic Four #571 - Marvel

I think Jonathan Hickman has come up with a Fantastic idea here . . pun intended. Reed has decided that he wants to 'fix everything'. Remember? Idea 101! Anyways, to do so Reed is using his 'Bridge'. It allows him to see into other dimensions so that he can see the implications and ramifications of his ideas and actions . . how they affect the Earth in another dimension, before he launches some grand complicated plan here. In doing so, Reed has gotten the attention of the Consortium. Basically, it's a large gathering of Reeds from many various dimensions. They've all come together to do what they couldn't do alone. They're dedicated to accomplishing great tasks in all dimensions, and . . helping each other reach their full potential. Anyways, Reed has to decide if he wants to join the group or not, so he takes a week and follows some of them around to see what they do on a day-to-day basis. It's epic, and grand, and everything that he expected it to be. However, they also show him that there's good, and there's bad. Sometimes in order for them to accomplish some of the 'big fixes', they have to do some things that may be construed as a bit unscrupulous. But even through all of this, and afterwards . . Reed decides that he wants to join. As much as he's done with his life, there's still bigger and broader things that he can do. There's only one problem. Just as he's about to join, one of the other Reed's comes back and says that's he'd been captured and tortured. During the process he gave up the group and it's location. This normally wouldn't be a problem for 1 Reed, let alone hundreds. But . . the being he was captured by were . . the Celestials. Even with the Infinity Gauntlet at their disposal . . this may be more than even they can handle. I think Jonathan does a great job with his character development and interactions. He brings out a lot of emotions in his dialogue. Such as when Reed and Sue are discussing Reed's lack of time for his family. Plus, like Mark Millar, he seems to be another one of those guys with grand ideas. Original ones. Which is rare. It makes for some great story-telling. I also thoroughly enjoyed Dale Eaglesham's art. I miss him on JSA, but . . he's a great fit for this book too. Plus, maybe now he'll get the accolades he deserves. This was a great issue. And Jonathan's just getting started.

Fantastic Four #570 - Marvel

First of all I want to say that I think Dale Eaglesham is a completely underrated artist. He'll get more of the recognition he deserves here than he did on JSA. But personally I thought that was a fantastic series. The first couple pages of this book were perfect. For those fans out there in spasms because Mark Millar and Paul Neary aren't here any more . . all I can say is . . give it a shot. Yes it's different, but . . sometimes different is good. And, even though we're going a different direction now, there's still aspects of Mark's run that are hanging around. There's no doubt that Mark made a huge impact on this franchise. He introduced some fantastic . . pun intended . . ideas that'll be a part of this book for a long time to come. I'm sure Jonathan Hickman will be equally original. Well . . maybe not equally, but I'm sure he'll put his own spin on things . . his unique perspective. Anyways, this issue we're going back to the idea that was introduced after the Initiative . . idea #101 . . 'solve everything'. The thing that I noticed this issue, which I liked, is that most of the ideas, the big moments, were tucked away in little moments that didn't seem that important. The FF stop another attack by Bentley Whittman . . the Wizard, this issue . . but, it's afterwards when Reed goes to confront Bentley that the idea for a new story-line is created. He says to Reed, "You see the same things I do. Math is the language of God, Richards. We've both done the calculations . . this world is going to tear itself apart and there's nothing either of us can do to stop it." During that exchange, there's a little boy clone of Bentley's milling about. So later when Reed's telling the story to the kids . . their version of a bed-time story . . Franklin asks his dad, "What about the little boy?" Reed gives him a watered down version of how the system works, but Franklin says . . "But your going to help him . . you have to try, right?" I think that little innocent statement get's Reed's head going, so he goes down into his 'idea' room to do some thinking. He's thinking about a machine that he created that provided answers to impossible questions. The machine was pure knowledge, and he thought much to dangerous to fall into the wrong hands, so he hid it here in his room of 'ideas'. But one of the questions he asked it was . . "Who else seeks the answers to these same questions?" That was an epiphany, and question that will change everything. As it turns out he decides to turn the machine on, and he gets some visitors. They're all different versions of himself from various dimensions. They take him to a special place . . "A construct nestled inside a fabricated pocket reality. It's a place outside of both the universal structure and the space that exists between them. Here, the rules that govern all reality do not apply. It is here that we do our work." And by 'we', he means 100's of different versions of himself. Basically, from this point, they 'police' reality. They monitor all the various dimensions, looking for problem spots, and then they take a reactive position. And he meets the creators of this 'world'. They're 3 much older versions of himself, and they're all wearing a version of the Infinity Gauntlet . . with all the gems. I'm just wondering, but . . isn't that kind of what Valeria did with the Fantasticar when they went to visit Ireland? Anyways, as epic as that appears to be, Johnny and Ben are also starting out on a new adventure. Johnny wants to get Ben away, so he's taking him to Nu-World for a couple of days. However, it occurs to me . . the FF aren't aware of the Marquis' visit there before he came to their world. They have no idea what they're walking in to. I thought this issue was a fantastic point for Jonathan to start his run here. I think he's incorporating some of Mark's fantastic ideas . . and coming up with a few of his own. I know Mark is a comic 'god', but . . I think this run is going to be every bit the equal of his. And, did I mention that I love Dale's work?

Ultimatum - Fantastic Four: Requiem #1 - Marvel

If you followed this Ultimate title, you should pick up this book. It wraps up the story that was left hanging there at the end, and connects these characters actions into the Ultimatum story-line. It also sets the stage for their future involvement and participation in the relaunched Ultimate Universe. Reed had left the group to go and confront Victor. Basically . . he feels responsible for everything. He feels that he's the one that has set Victor on his path, and since Victor's machinations are what led to Magneto's breakdown . . Reed feels responsible for everything. He's trying to figure out how to stop, or reform Victor but every scenario he runs leads to the same conclusion . . the ultimate 'fix' for this situation is Victor's death. However Reed can't do that. Which is what leads to the scene in Ultimatum #5 where Ben pays Victor a visit . . and crushes his head. Meanwhile, Sue and Ben's search for Johnny has led them to the dark dimension. It seems that Dormammu, sensing Johnny's weakness, has snatched him up to absorb his power and enable his to cross the barrier into the real world. That's how he broke through the sky-light in Strange's sanctum sanctorum. Sue and Ben are quickly on the scene, and with a well-placed bubble around his head, Sue converts him back to a normal human. But the real important part of the story is at the end when everyone is present for the burial of Sue's father. You can see that everyone is carrying their own baggage now and can't really relate to each other as a group, or family anymore. They're cordial and respectful, but . . they're also each carrying their own guilt and responsibility own. Which they don't want to burden the others with. So the story ends with them each going their separate ways. Sue is following in her father's footsteps by rebuilding the Baxter Building, and heading up it's scientific community. Johnny has gone off to Europe. Ben joins SHIELD as a fighter pilot. And Reed? Reed has moved back home with his parents. His is definitely the situation that seems most dire. It's almost like he's given up . . on everything. With the relaunch of the Ultimate Universe next week . . with Avengers, and Spider-man, it'll be interesting to see how these separate characters fit into the various story-lines. You just know we're going to see them around somewhere. I thought this was a great book, and story, by Joe Pokaski and Robert Atkins. This really served well to wrap everything up, and at the same time set the stage for the next act . . whatever that may be.

Fantastic Four #569 - Marvel

I have to be honest with you . . after all the build-up of this story . . and this Marquis of Death character . . I really wasn't to thrilled with the way everything got wrapped up this issue. I know Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham are taking over next issue, but . . with Joe Ahearne helping out Mark Millar on the scripts the last couple of issues . . I gotta wonder just how much Mark was actually involved. The story just didn't seem to have the same focus as the beginning of Mark's run on this book. Also Stuart Immonen steps in on the pencils this issue. The problem came at the end of last issue when Reed literally walks from room to room, but when he walks in on his family it's as if he's been gone for weeks. And the Baxter building is being overrun by FF teams from a myriad of dimensions. Later it's explained that the Marquis threatened them into . . well, fighting themselves. "In their eyes you are the villain. I showed them the endless torture that awaited their dimensions after you refused to stop me. So I gave them a choice. Destroy your world and save their own." Eventually Reed uses a device that Valeria has been working on to absorb all of the other FF members powers into themselves . . amplifying their own powers exponentially. The problem is . . they only have 23.4 seconds before their hearts explode from the exertion. However, Ben has brought Clyde Wyncham to come face to face with his future self . . and they use thier powers on each other trying to take each other out. So when the Reed and Co. do fight him . . the Marquis is greatly diminished in power. The next 23.4 seconds last about 4 pages . . 4 pages of beautiful conflict, but it ends up being Doom that delivers the killing blow. Obviously Reed wasn't going to do it. And then he goes into this long tirade about how he came back from the dawn of time. Also Doom considers himself to be greatly upgraded, because of his ordeal, so . . "All questions of rivalry with you are settled. You are of no consequence. I bear as little animus for you as the brainless Megalodon that tore me asunder." We also find out that Ben has called off the wedding with Debbie. He just doesn't want to put her through the pain of worrying about him every time he leaves on some cosmic adventure, plus he doesn't know what he'd do if one day he returned and she was no longer there. He was trying to be noble, but . . I think he was also selfish. I don't know. Like I said . . I just didn't like the way that this was all wrapped up. I thought it was very anti-climatic. Which is a shame because up until now I thought Mark had a brilliant run.

Fantastic Four #568 - Marvel

Well . . that didn't take to long. We find out this issue just who this Marquis of Death really is. " . . Clyde Wyncham. The world's most dangerous super-villain. He came from an alternate dimension, where he was their one and only mutant." When confronted with his image, Reed remembers exactly who he is. But he, the Marquis, also wants to tell his own tale . . "His reality-altering powers subdued by brain damage and this cybernetic helmet of your design, which provides him with an eternity of pleasant dreams. Until the day not many years hence when your adversaries join forces. Many dreams died that day. The day Clyde Wyncham was woken from his slumber. His mind restored . . his appetite for slaughter awakened. Clyde Wyncham conquered time and space and became their master. He dedicated a billion years to crisscrossing the whole of reality, becoming at last . . the Marquis of Death. And my final voyage began, I cut a path through millions of worlds and millions of Reed Richards to give you this one chance to save them all." So, while this guy is considered to be Doom's master . . really, this whole time he's only been after Reed. Boy, if Doom heard that this is what he'd been used for . . I'm thinking that he'd be pretty pissed that he was manipulated this way. And, that means that Reed was actually more important to him that Doom . . his own protege. A protege that was picked, I'm sure, for the express purpose of causing Reed and his family grief. No . . I don't think Victor would be to happy with that piece of knowledge. To bad he's sitting in the belly of a dinosaur shark right now. The Marquis has taken Reed on a tour of his past. He's offered to spare his reality, if he but makes a different decision during a key moment in their history. But Reed refuses to sacrifice anyone but himself. So he's returned. But he finds that the present has been altered also. It appears that the Fantastic Four consider him the enemy, and he's attacked by Sue, Ben and Johnny . . hundreds and hundreds of them. Wow! Mark Millar has really done an incredible job with this series. And Bryan Hitch has been simply superb with the art. But, right now, I'm a little concerned that we may be seeing Mark and Bryan on their way out. This issue Mark is helped by Joe Ahearne on scripts, and Bryan is assisted by Neil Edwards on the art. Is this the beginning of the end . . or do these guys just need a little break on their fantastic run? I hope it's the latter, but . . I'm afraid it's the former. Ok . . I stepped away for a second to check the postings. Next issue is listed as Mark's last issue, and Stuart Immonen is doing the art. After that Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham take over the creative chores. We'll have to talk about this some more next issue.

Fantastic Four #567 - DC

I'm not sure who's going to follow up Mark Millar's run on this book, but . . whomever it is, they are going to have some pretty big shoes to fill. These issues have been brilliant. This issue begins immediately where the last left off . . with Doom burning at the feet of the Marquis of Death, his master. It appears that is was Doom himself who first track this guy down. He wanted him to teach him everything he knew. But now, this Marquis of Death, doesn't feel like he's lived up to his potential. "How eager he was when he first tracked us down. How full of cruelty and ambition. Let's dump him in the Pliocene Age. His corpse will make a fine meal for the Megalodons." And he's quickly swallowed by a dinosaur sized shark. But I'm getting ahead of myself, in the beginning of the issue Doom rises up and confronts his would be master. The battle he then engaged in lasted six weeks. "Others joined in this terrible fight, but it was Doom who created the Omega Box and Doom alone who defeated his master." With the Marquis dead, and the FF torn apart, Doom mourned. He then, "Married and rehabilitated, his only interests were scientific progress and the well-being of all mankind." We see in the 5 years that follow that the Earth becomes a Utopia. Until one day, in the Omega Box, Doom and his wife, Susan, are talking about the future of their unborn child when it's revealed that this was all a hoax by the Marquis. "You haven't been gone five seconds. You're still lying burned in the dirt. You haven't even blinked yet. There was no Omega Box, no ultimate battle, no wife or heir apparent. We were just having fun." And then he uses his powers to wipe out Latveria, and all the people in it. "This is real. This isn't a battle we came here to wage . . this is punishment." Then after he dumps Doom's body in the past he decides he's going to forgo the Slaughter. Instead he dons the mask of Doom . . "Honor will be restored by rectifying his failures . . starting with the Fantastic Four. Let us see how they fare against the new Doctor Doom." I have a feeling that things are about to get a whole lot worse before they get better. This is a fantastic story-line and I can't wait to see how this one is resolved. You just never know with Mark. It could go in so many different directions, and the only thing you can know for sure is that it won't go in the direction you expect. Mark is definitely a 'road less traveled' type of person. Fan-frikkin-tastic!! Oh yeah, by the way Bryan Hitch's pencils are just as stellar.

Fantastic Four #566 - Marvel

I think instead of titling this book the Fantastic Four, we should title it the Fantastic Mark Millar. I really think that would be just as appropriate. I can't believe the ideas and concepts that Mark comes up with for this book. It's . . . fantastic! This issue the team, and Doom, are both heavy with anticipation for the arrival of Doom's master. To that end, Reed investigates what was thought to be a whale beached up on the shore. That was until they saw it's feet, and sandals. It turns out there's a dead Watcher washed up on the shores of Thailand. However, it's not Uatu, but rather a Watcher from another dimension. Reed discovers that during the autopsy. During all of this, Ben is having trouble with Debbie's ex. It turns out that he's trying to profit off of his ex-girlfriends foray into super-hero romance, by writing a book. But, in sticking up for his fiance's honor, he may have done more harm by scaring her. We'll have to see how this all washes out. Then, in Latveria, Doom heralds the arrival of his master . . and the new apprentice. He informs Doom, "Am I happy with your progress? Does it please me that your name reverberates around this world as the greatest villain who ever lived? NO! I look around and see much wealth and happiness. I hear the heartbeats of enemies who have beaten you time after time. I smell defeat upon your flesh. So much promise that has amounted to nothing. In truth, your failure disgusts me. You rule a time kingdom I have never even heard of. After twenty years. Your foes deserve a new menace Victor . .", and with that he incinerates him inside of his armor. That was a pretty powerful ending. This series has really come leaps and bounds since Mark's control of the scripts. I'm not taking anything away from anything that's come before. There have been some great runs on this book. But, you have to admit, this is probably going to go down as one of the best runs ever. It really is fantastic. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Bryan Hitch is turning in some incredible looking pages. Every issue leaves me screaming for the next.

Fantastic Four #565 - Marvel

This story had me more than a little confused last issue. It seemed like everything was gearing up for this Masters of Doom story-line when . . bam . . we're back at Christmas time and Reed, Sue and the rest of the family have gone to Scotland to visit Reed's cousin Hamish. It doesn't become clear until the end of the issue that this is basically an in-between story. In this issue we find out that the town is being protect by some ancient monster called Korgo. Basically he/it protected the town from crime, disease, strife, etc. for the last 2000 years. All he asked in return was a child of his choosing every 25 years. This time he asked for Hamish's son Angus. That's when Hamish invited the Richards to Scotland and offered Korgo Valeria instead. Once they found out what Korgo was, it was just a matter of them finding something big enough to hit him with. It's at the end of this story that we realize that this happened before the current events of the series. One of the women that Sue helped save writes her a few months later. Basically she wants to say thanks for everything that Sue, and the rest of the FF did for them back in Armailt. " . . I just wanted to show you what a difference you've made to one person's life . . and hopefully raise a little smile after everything that happened when you went back to New York. I'm sorry about what happened with Doctor Doom and those horrible teachers of his. So sorry for what happened to the Thing and that lovely fiancee he had." That all sounds a bit ominous. Anyways, I guess Mark Millar had to take a little break from all the danger and adventure for a little side story. That or he just needed a little time to get everything ready for this big Doctor Doom epic. Bryan Hitch's pencils were great . . as usual. It appears that next issue all the Doom and gloom will be hitting the fan . . literally. I can't wait.

Fantastic Four #564 - Marvel

Compared to recent issue of the Fantastic Four . . this was a pretty calm issue. The family has decided to take a vacation so they've gone to Scotland to see Reed's cousin Hamish. They've gone there for the holidays and they sincerely believe that they'll just get a little R&R, and some family time. Which they do . . this issue. But . . this is really the calm before the storm. There's something going on in this little 'burg. Something just below the surface that no one can see. And no one wants to talk about. One woman does try to warn Sue. She tells her to watch out for her kids. But then one of the locals plays her off as the town heretic. All we find out this issue is that there's some locals that seem to be working for someone that calls himself Korgo. And they want Valeria. Or rather Korgo does. She'll fit his 'needs'. I've always enjoyed this book. The Fantastic Four have been one of my favorite groups . . or families, for quite some time. But I really feel that Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch have brought a new life to this book. It's incredible . . and fantastic. Mark just brings so many cool ideas into his stories and I really love the way all the seperate chapters still have ties to each other. Just like life . . a new 'focus' or 'direction' is always predicated on the events of the previous one. One couldn't happen without the other . . . the natural occurance of events. I'm not sure how long they'll be on this book, but I hope they've got them chained to the desk because it would be nice for them to be here as long as possible. This is easily one of the best books on the shelves right now.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #60 - Marvel

For being the final issue of this title, this book certainly didn't tie up any of it's outstanding story-threads. Sue and Ben are still looking for Johnny. They're concerned for Reed also, but he took off after Namor because he thought he was responsible for the tidal-wave. It's a natural assumption. Anyways, Sue got the help of the Mole-man and her mother also. They figured out that all of them are carrying Reed's nanobots inside of them, so now they just need an antenna large enough to get a fix on the signals. Which means they have to go to Atlantis. Long story short, they find their Sue and Ben's signals on Earth, but no others. Then Sue gets the idea of overlaying Reeds dimensional maps on top of the Earths. They find Reeds signal in the Squadron Supreme's dimension. But Johnny's signal? It's in a dimension that they have no idea where it is. We see it, and it looks like Hell. But I could be wrong. But with this being the final issue of the book . . how are we supposed to get any answers. Well, it turns out some of them will come from the Ultimatum mini-series. However, I'm guessing, most will come afterwards from Ultimatum: Fantastic Four Requiem. I imagine there will be on of these for each of the Ultimate titles. And from there . . hopefully, we'll find out what the future of these characters actually is. I thought Joe Pokaski and Tyler Kirkham did a pretty decent job with this book. I just don't like all these unanswered questions. But that's how they build suspense. Right? Anyways, it looks like were down to the Ultimatum title, and then . . . whatever mini's follow it up. I sincerely hope this isn't the end. For any of the titles.