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?