Fantastic Four #585 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Steve Epting (art), Paul Mounts (colors), and Rus Wooton (letters)

 

The Story: Reed tries to talk down Galactus and the Surfer while Sue attempts to mediate a meeting between Atlanteans.

What’s Good: I’ve heard people complain that not enough happens per issue of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four.  That sure isn’t the case this month.  This issue jam-packed with content and story.  Almost every major plotline currently running in FF is touched upon and moved forward in some significant way and every member of the Fantastic Four plays a major role.  This is one of those comic books that truly feels longer than its 22 pages.  Nothing is neglected and honestly, it’s impressive what Hickman accomplishes given that he’s tasked with simultaneously running two very different stories in the span of a single issue.  The dealings with Galactus and the Atlanteans are very different in plot, tone, and setting and yet Hickman manages to synthesize them into a cohesive, calamitous whole.

I think one of the reasons for that is the ever-present feeling of dread and darkness that looms over the series.  That’s not to say that Hickman’s writing a grim and gritty or particularly pessimistic Fantastic Four, far from it, it’s just that there’s this ominous feeling that lingers over the issue and all of its plotlines.  There’s a near constant sense of danger and encroaching disaster that is honestly independent of the countdown on the cover, though admittedly that doesn’t hurt.

With the FF split apart this month and placed on very separate missions, things feel like they’re spiraling out of control and that it’s only a matter of time before something catastrophic occurs. Yet, the beautiful thing is that I have neither idea nor clue as to what that catastrophe will be and where it will come from, as, right now, there are so many things going wrong.  Similarly, Hickman continues to give each of the members of the FF little moments of farewell, emotional characterization, or impending danger that hints that they’re a goner but these are so subtle and played so evenly, that it makes me feel like I’m swimming in a sea of red herrings.