Waid/Wieringo Fantastic Four, Strangers in Paradise, Spider-Man

I’ve noticed that I write an awful lot in the passive voice.  While Word by Word, written by Kory Stamper, teaches me that much of the grammatical doctrine taught to me when I was in school is the arbitrary construct of random people, I still want to see if I can do less of it.  It’ll be a struggle, and I’ll probably fail multiple times in just this post alone, but let’s give it a shot.

Only two new comics this week.

Strangers in Paradise XXV 2

Meh.  This issue focuses on the Parker Girl side of the SiP world, always the most uninteresting part of this universe for me.  Katchoo narrates the entire issue, and it reads a lot like a high schooler’s attempt at creative writing. It’s harsh, but I get the strong impression of someone trying too hard to sound ‘literary.’  Maybe I’m not used to reading this type of writing in a comic book setting.

I just realized that this issue only contains word balloons on the last pages.  It really consists almost completely of narration, effective making it an illustrated novel.  The final result is fair, but it takes someone of Neil Gaiman’s caliber to really pull this kind of thing off.  

Not to knock Moore’s abilities as a writer.  I really do love his characters, the things they say, and the stories they live.  But this type of storytelling does not play to his strengths.

Also, there’s no Francine in this issue.  Crime.

Spider-Man 238
Only two issues of Miles Morales remain.  I don’t currently see how Bendis plans on ending his truly epic run on this title in an emotionally satisfying way.  There are too many threads to tie up to allow for the amount of talking that I crave. At this point, I’d be fine if he dispensed with the plot altogether, and had everyone talk around a campfire about their feelings for the forty pages he has left.

Fantastic Four 512-524

I bulldozed through the last 13 issues of the run over two days.  They never returned to the heights of Waid’s first Doom arc, but acquitted themselves nicely after a brief slippage in quality there in the middle.  Unsurpisingly, the weaker issues coincide with the non-Wieringo pencilled issues. Paco Medina does a fine job here - He’s a passable Humberto Ramos clone, and he certainly outperformed Porter’s stint - but it’s just not the same.  I do love the Gene Ha covers.

The stories follow a nice progression: Johnny struggles with the FF’s precipitous drop in public opinion following the Latveria fiasco.  Their reputation is further tarnished in their loss to the Wizard’s latest incarnation of the Frightful Four. (Where it’s revealed that he has a daughter.)  Their popularity is restored when they rescue New York City from alien invaders. Reed’s solution, which involved swapping Johnny’s power with Sue’s, leads to Galactus making the Torch his new herald.  This leads to Galactus learning (once again) that the human spirit can not be denied, leading to his departure from Earth (once again). The final issue gives one last illustration of what makes the Fantastic Four a family, as Mark and Mike leave the title with everything neatly wrapped up and 34 issues worth of fond memories.  Not shabby at all.

Random comments:

Ben usually plays the punching bag to Johnny’s tricks, so it’s nice whenever he lands a few blows of his own:

I’d be horrified IRL, but “Is parenting a science?  Then I don’t care” is one of the stronger arguments I’ve heard to justify calling for your daughter’s murder.

Ending with some Wieringo art, perhaps my favorite drawing of Sue ever.  Absolutely badass, and a far cry from John Byrne’s depiction twenty years ago.

Pinup.

Hero.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes (No for 514-516)

Rating: Nice (Fine for 514-516)