Waid/Wieringo Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 503-511

Marvel keeps starting new volumes of classic titles, then renumbers back to volume 1 whenever they get close to a milestone issue.  What a pain in the ass. Just stay with the original numbering, classic is best in this case.

If I needed proof that this isn’t Mark Waid’s Fantastic Four, but the Waid/Wieringo Fantastic Four, Authoritative Action provides it.  Howard Porter can’t hold a candle to Wieringo, and it was apparent from the start.

So ugly.

To be fair, it’s not just Porter.  This arc suffers from a few flaws: At six issues, it’s drags a little longer than it needs to.  Also, the team is clearly fractured here, with Reed acting uncharacteristically opaque with regards to his intentions.  This comic really does succeed when the team is acting in harmony. (As opposed to something like the X-Men, where a Cyclops/Wolverine fight is usually a highlight.)  

I found my enthusiasm pick back up immediately with the following story.  Wieringo returns, and once again, I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.  Reed’s idea to build Doom’s failed college experiment to rescue Ben is the latest in Waid’s amazing ability to incorporate old continuity into his stories.  And of course it works when constructed with Reed’s updated calculations. Another F.U. to Doom.

So Reed finally tells Johnny off for being the unheeding idiot that I’ve been screaming about for the past month.  And despite how much I wanted this scene in theory, I was stunned at how brutal it was.

When I saw the following splash page, I thought, “Hey!  It’s a Kirby photo-collage homage!” (Heh, rhyme.)

Reading Lee/Kirby FF may have been painful, but at least let me get the reference.

How Kirby did it.

And then they meet Jack Kirby on the next page.  

I think I like this scene.  It’s really sweet, and the Marvel Universe can hardly have a better God.  (Even better than Stan Lee, for reasons that I can’t quite explain.) I’m all on board with Kirby ex penicillus.  But the concept of the FF meeting God just feels a little off.  I think I’m uncomfortable with mixing God and superheroes. No complaints when God’s in something like Preacher or Sandman, but mainstream Marvel?  Just doesn’t work for me. Worth exploring in more detail.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice