FF #18 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: Johnny takes the class on a field trip to the Negative Zone.

The Review:  For the second straight month, FF proves that Jonathan Hickman has a really solid grasp on comedy.  Unlike the last issue of FF, however, the comedy in this issue isn’t always the direct focus, nor is reliant on big gags with set-up.  Instead, Hickman lets the dialogue bring the laughs, mostly courtesy of Johnny, whose voice Hickman has an excellent handle of.  From his trademark arrogance to his wonderful dynamic with the students, Johnny is really great this month.  I loved the simultaneously affectionate and dismissive stance he takes to the kids and his treating them like the ordinary kids they aren’t leads to some great laughs.

I also really liked the fun spin Hickman put on the insect denizens of the Negative Zone.  They’ve long been seen as the faceless, single-minded swarm, so seeing them rebel for….democracy and self-government (?!) was a brilliant, brilliant twist by Hickman that led to an amusing, but also quite smart issue.  It also leads to a wonderful conclusion however that balances things very well – while the bugs of the Negative Zone may want democracy and self-government, they’re ultimately still bugs from the Negative Zone.  It’s almost a quasi-historical/political statement by Hickman; if you interfere with another culture’s politics and that interference leads to them taking after your own political practices, that may not necessarily mean the erosion of that culture’s inherent beliefs and values.  Despite all the fun and comedy, it’s a nice turn by Hickman and made me wonder if he was at all inspired by the current situation in Egypt, where after rebelling and gaining democracy, they look to be on their way to electing either an Islamist regime or electing to bring back the military-authoritarian regime they just got out of.  Who knew that cosmic insects and the Marvel’s first family could be so relevant?

There’s a lot else to like about this isssue; once again, we get to see Franklin flex his cosmic muscles, which is always a treat.  The final page is also an excellent cliffhanger.  While the twist could perhaps be easily predicted, Hickman does it in a way that at least is guaranteed to get a laugh.

Secret Avengers #27 – Review

by Rick Remender (writer), Renato Guedes (art), Bettie Breitweiser & Matthew Wilson (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Mar-Vell, Noh-Varr, and Ms. Marvel deliver a beatdown on a Hala gone mad.

The Review: This is an issue where in many respects, the script plays second-fiddle to the art.  Much as was the case last month, Renato Guedes is cranking out some of the best work of his career here.  Seriously, this is miles above the work he put out on Wolverine not too long ago.  It’s clear that Guedes excels at drawing outlandish, alien, science fiction environments and narratives.  His work is incredibly detailed, almost uncomfortably so.  His work on Secret Avengers has felt almost as much a comic as some kind of European sci-fi artbook.  Bettie Breitweiser and Matthew Wilson really do a lot to enhance this feel, with a very unique palette that furthers the European aesthetic.  This is particularly impressive in the case of Breitweiser, who has clearly completely changed up her game for this series.

Unfortunately, unlike last month, this issue feels somewhat forgettable insofar as the plot.  I love the fact that Remender is telling a cosmic story, but I’m sort of non-plussed that we’re ultimately just getting yet another “mind control” story in a comic.  It always feels like an “out” when writers do this, a way to cheat by having heroes double-cross each other or do bad things, without having to deal with the consequences or ramifications, without Marvel actually having to commit to the swerve.  It leads to stories and characterization that doesn’t really have he significance that it would otherwise have.

As a result, when you see Ms. Marvel and Mar-Vell romancing and rekindling a flame and taking their relationship to a new level, should we really care?  What could be a significant moment for the two characters is undercut by the fact that it’s probably not for real and could very well just be part of their being mind controlled.

Fantastic Four #602 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Barry Kitson (art), Paul Mounts (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Review:  This issue of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four reminds me of those really badass episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that I totally geeked out over as a kid…and then rediscovered years later in college, only to geek out over again.

It’s a gigantic space battle with tons of ships and multiple participants.  The result is epic, large scale combat that is everything a cosmic book should be.  Better still, like those great DS9 episodes, Hickman knows how to ratchet up the tension by bringing in new sides/participants to the conflict.  When the tide seems to be shifting one way, someone else shows up to the battle to change the dynamic entirely.  All told, it’s massive stuff with lots of action and, despite being a gigantic scale space battle, it feels emotionally meaningful.  In a medium full of hollow action scenes, that’s pretty significant.

As usual, Hickman does a great job of hitting his narrative high-points.  There’s a sense that he continues to up the ante and there are enough moments that, individually, will either make you smile, inwardly cheer, or, in a couple instances, give you chills of awesomeness.

As far as the cheering/smiling bit goes, Hickman does a great job with Sue this month.  As he has done throughout his run, Sue is nothing less than a badass and Hickman never shies away from her very high power level and the unique uses her powers can be put to.

Fantastic Four #601 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (writing), Steve Epting (pencils), Rick Magyar & Mark Pennington (inks), Paul Mounts (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: Johnny brings the cavalry.

The Review:  This past summer, Marvel and DC both put out company-wide events that were pretty underwhelming.  Truth be told, however, I haven’t really, really enjoyed an event from Marvel or DC since Civil War.  Blackest Night was all right, while everything else since has ranged from “sucked” to “disappointing.”

This arc of Hickman’s Fantastic Four, and issues like this one, show that Hickman succeeds where these events have failed.  In this issue, for instance, he manages to tell a story with universe wide implications and a fairly large cast, but at all times, there is an emotional core to the story that makes it all meaningful and gives the story heart.  Hickman balances the large-scale events with personal emotions in his characters, and the result is what I’ve been waiting for: an event that actually has a soul.

Of course, that’s the irony, isn’t it?  This isn’t an event at all, it’s just a story-arc set within Fantastic Four and FF.  That alone shows how impressive this issue is.  Despite being highly centralized, it feels massive in scale and effect.  The battles are immense, the stakes are enormous, and there is a substantial number of moving parts in the story.  The result is something that feels downright epic and, moreover, it all feels like it has been built up accordingly.  A lot of events are promoted as having been built up to for years, but in the case of Hickman’s Fantastic Four, that’s actually true, and one can feel the narrative weight of that.

FF #7 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Greg Tocchini (art), Paul Mounts (colors), and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: The return of Black Bolt from the fault is detailed.

What’s Good:  Really, the best thing I can say about this issue of FF is that it’s not as bad as the last one.

For starters, it’s far more intelligible.  It’s easier to tell just what the hell is happening, especially given that there are fewer flashbacks and less Supremor babbling.   Ultimately, Hickman tells a much clearer story this month, and also one that’s a lot of more relevant.  We get something a prophecy and a hint of things to come courtesy of Supremor that actually manages to tantalize more than it confuses.  At the very least, the ending of this issue ties right back to where we left off in FF before it became an Inhumans comic, which should ground it a bit more for a lot of readers.

And hey, you know what?  Black Bolt is a total badass, in case you didn’t already know.  Hickman makes really awesome use of his uber-powerful voice and has a firm handle on how best to use the character’s concept, with his words being few but powerful in content as well as tectonic force.

FF #6 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Greg Tocchini (art), Paul Mounts (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: The birth of Black Bolt is revealed.

What’s Good:  There are some really bold literary themes in this one and some of its certainly really, really cool.  As we delve into the birth of Black Bolt, Hickman makes allusions to Jesus Christ, comparing the births between the two.  One simply can’t help but make the messianic connections when a Zordon-looking supreme intelligence called Supremo orders mass murder to eliminate a soon-to-be-awakened threat in Black Bolt.  Pile that up with all the epic talk of destiny and such, and it’s quite striking.

As Supremo compiles data, he also confers with a religious figure about the prophesied troublemaker, and it’s a nice intersection of faith/religion and science.  The result is a discussion that leads to an end that feels like a hybrid of the two that could only really occur in a science fiction comic book.  Certainly, between this and the religious allegory, Hickman delivers a rather high-brow, literary feel to the issue.

What’s Not So Good:  That said, this comic almost completely alienated me.  It is in every way a Marvels cosmic issue and does not feel at all like a Future Foundation or Fantastic Four-related book.  Certainly, no member of the Future Foundation is even referred to, but the real problem is that the events of this issue are so far distanced to those of the story that we’ve been reading so far, that it ends up being almost incomprehensible.