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By Jason Bourgeois
Happy April, Greymatteers! Just a quick addition to last month's Point One rant. I got a few more issues, notably Thor and Captain America. The Thor issue is still frustrating for interupting a story in progress, but the issue itself was not a bad story. It covered the basic Thor concept, although maybe a bit too quickly, and a bit too much like a clip show, but it also had a very solid fight against the Grey Gargoyle. A solid done in one story, but has nothing to do with what's going on at the moment in the rest of the issues, but it's a good story that does Thor well. Nothing wrong with that.
Captain America is probably the best Point One so far, though. It has the audacity to come out in between storylines, and is another solid one issue story. It does fail on not really cluing the reader in on what Cap is all about, but most people know that, you could argue. It begins to lay the groundwork for getting Steve Rogers back into the Captain America identity, as well as leaving enough questions for the future that would make readers want to stick around. But then, Cap is always a solid book, even if it can be a bit slow once in awhile. It's almost always a well written slow book in those cases.
But enough of the past. It is time to look into the future, and what better book for that, than FF? No, not the Fantastic Four. They are so 1961. That title has ended, and they've renamed the book FF, and started from number 1. And there's arguably a solid reason for that, as well.
Fantastic Four ended after 588 issues, and the death of the Human Torch. I picked up the much hyped issue where Johnny died to check things out, and while the overall storyline was way over my head, since I was coming in with the final issue of a multipart storyline, writer Jonathan Hickman sold it pretty well.
I've ranted before on death in comics, and they managed to write Johnny out with some style. The stakes were made pretty high, and he went out like a hero. Not like a Martian chump for the distinguished competition. There is more than enough wiggle room to bring Johnny back believably, but thinking he's dead is more than a reasonable assumption to make, so it works. And most importantly, his death has propelled the book into its ending, and the rebirth as simply FF.
The title change signifies three things; first of all, it makes it very clear this is a whole new era, and shows that Johnny's death does mean something in the short term. It's also still applicable to the core team of the Fantastic Four, made up of the original three, and Spider-Man taking the Human Torch's place, at Johnny's request.
FF also stands for the Future Foundation, the big sciency think-tank Reed has been slowly building in the original title. It moves more to the *ahem* fore with this title, and that makes sense. Having this other group taking up precious Fantastic Four space becomes more palatable in a book that it can lay some claim to the title of.
The first issue mostly serves to put the pieces in place; bringing in Spider-Man, introducing the cast, and setting up future stories, but that's mostly just background stuff and a brief action scene so something other than talking happens.
Hickman is a solid writer, and he's got a good handle on the voices of the various characters. He's also shown he loves to build grand storylines with lots of intricate pieces. He's been building his FF mythology for some time, and this is the next logical step. It's a good setup issue that works to showcase the main characters, and keep the plot bubbling in the background.
Longtime Avengers artist Steve Epting is on art, and his work has only gotten better in the past 15 plus years. This stuff is top notch, and so well laid out. He's good at humour, action, and pacing. Epting is an underrated artist, even when he's on a high profile book, and it's great to see him being used on the FF. He does get a bit samey with the faces, but most artists do that, just to save time. FF #1 is well written and drawn, and ends with a twist that makes perfect sense, yet you might not see coming, which is the best kind. It really sets the bar high for this series, and I look forward to seeing where things go from here.
If you're a fan of the Fantastic Four, this is a great time to check out the book and see if it is to your liking. Who needs Point One issues?
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