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!!