Two months ago, I picked up a bunch of random comic books and I thought it would be fun to give my thoughts/recommendation on a few of them. This week, I will be giving my thoughts on Marvel’s Fantastic Four.
Marvel’s Fantastic Four - Volume Two Issue One - November 1996 - Created by Jim Lee, Brandon Choi, and Scott Williams.
The one that I found was an origin story of the Fantastic Four. I was actually quite unfamiliar with Fantastic Four’s origin story and this was the first Fantastic Four comic book I had ever read. This comic book (Volume Two, Issue One) is from November of 1996 and it was a little exciting to read a comic during the decade I had spent a portion of my childhood in.
Spoiler Warning: If you don’t know the origin of the Fantastic Four, you may want to skip ahead as I spoil the whole issue….then again, you had like over 20 years to get to this particular issue so if you haven’t read it yet, will you really read it now? Anyway, onwards and upwards!
STORY:
The story starts with Ben Grimm piloting the Excelsior prototype in a training simulator for Dr. Reed Richards. The training simulator is collecting data that was going to be used to test the Excelsior Spaceship’s new Quantum Drive. The Excelsior Project is intended on advancing human space exploration and making contact with alien life. Meanwhile, Susan Storm is heading out to meet with Reed and Ben to watch the Excelsior launch and provide PR tie-in for their casino. Before Susan leaves, she is confronted by Special Agent Wyatt Wingfoot of S.H.I.E.L.D. Wyatt Wingfoot, by orders of the President of the United States, takes over the Excelsior Project in light of news from NASA that an unusual energy fluctuation with the Stellar Anomaly.
Jumping back to the Excelsior Project location, Ben is making his way to the Central City airport to pick up Susan when he runs into Johnny and his girlfriend driving a black Lamborghini Diablo (which really puts a stamp on the date). After some witty banter, they engage in a game of chicken that ends in Johnny’s girlfriend rightly turning the wheel to avoid certain death. Ben continues onward and picks up Susan, along with Special Agent Wingfoot and his team.
At the launch site, Dr. Herbert informs Reed that he has been taken off the project by Washington. When Dr. Richards pushes to learn more, Ben, Susan, and Special Agent Wingfoot arrive and Wingfoot takes over command. After some argument and resistance, Reed and Ben are locked up. Then, Wingfoot instructs Susan and Johnny to input the final launch codes though the use of a bio-metric scanner. They both comply, but Susan and Johnny refuse to help and further. Susan and Johnny are swiftly subdued and escorted to their holding cell.
From the prison, Ben and Reed watch Wingfoot’s team fuel the Excelsior and arm it with nuclear weapons. Johnny and Susan, while being escorted to their cells, cause a diversion and disarm their guards. They make their way to Ben and Reed’s cells, break them loose. Just as the group escaped, Wingfoot launches Excelsior heading straight for the Stellar Anomaly. The group quickly found spacesuits and chase after Excelsior in the Prototype spaceship. They successfully escape make it into space. Before they could get to the Excelsior, Wingfoot fired the missiles containing the nukes. The Stellar Anomaly starts to expand and radiation levels rise, causing the group to abandon ship through the escape pods.
The escape pods land on an island in the Caribbean island and Johnny Storm lands while on fire. In fear, he dived into the water trying to put himself out. When he resurfaces, he finds a long string of flesh that he pulls onto the land. What comes out is Reed, a real-life Stretch Armstrong. Reed concludes that their exposure to cosmic radiation had changed their bio-molecular structure giving them superhuman powers.
On another part of the island, Ben starts to slowly morph into a rock creature “Thing.” Susan, separated from everyone, finds the Quantum Drive and starts to look for the others to help her fix the core’s reactor before it explodes. As Susan travels deeper into the island, she finds Ben completely changed into the rock creature. The two are immediately attacked by an unknown source before moving back to Johnny and Reed, who had just fallen into a tunnel and were surrounded by weird alien ape like creatures. The creatures take Johnny and Reed to their leader.
Once they make it to their domain, Reed and Johnny watch as Ben and Susan, both chained to an odd altar, face down what I could only describe as a boney, Alien/T-Rex love child. The monster lunches toward Susan, but before it ate her, she turned invisible. From Ben’s perspective, the monster had just dinned on Susan and that made Ben more than a little angry. Ben broke from his chains and clobbered the monster to death. Johnny and Reed quickly joined the fight and cleared out the remaining alien ape creatures.
Then, the classic villain reveal. A green, staff wielding menace self-proclaimed as Moleman approached the group, ready to fight and ultimately destroy mankind. That is where it ended.
IMPRESSION:
I am going to start off by saying that Fantastic Four had not really interested me from a comic book standpoint and the latest movie did not exactly increase my desire to seek it out. Regardless, I gave it a shot and I was impressed with the comic overall. The characters had great chemistry and the dialogue was light and witty at times. It definitely shows some age, but it is not off putting.
My favorite part of the comic was the art direction. In the newer comics, the artwork and design is cool and sleek, but I liked seeing this “older” style that felt more like a comic book and less like an graphic novel.
I give this comic a solid 4/5. I would definitely recommend it to people who have an interest in the Fantastic Four, but are just starting out. Some may so go for the older ones, but I thought this one was pretty good.
Now you know what I think, but I would like to know what everyone else thinks. Which Fantastic Four comic would you recommend to a friend or fan of comic books? Leave a response in the comments below. Also, let me know what comic books (or movies) that you would like me to read/watch next.
Oh, before I forget, the giveaway. This September's newsletter will detail when the giveaway it is starting and what it will be. So, signup for the newsletter if you want the inside scoop!