ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #3 REVIEW
My faith in this series has already reached the shaky point. It’s not any one thing, but a combination of factors that has already resulted in my knowing that I won’t be buying past issue #6. Let me be clear that it isn’t a question of quality, but more of consistency.
When any new series starts there’s a certain expectation on both the creator and reader side of things that an enjoyable story will be told and will last the expected duration. Millar and Bendis have already been revealed to be jumping ship after issue #6 along with artist Adam Kubert in favour of the new team of Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen. Even though I rather like Ellis as a writer, I’m not really a fan of having two different sets of groups essentially create the same book. It was already odd having two of Marvel’s major writers paired on a book, but not it seems as though a third has been brought in. It’s going from the Fantastic Four to the Fantastive Five, six, or seven if you assemble all the artists.
At this point I’m left to question why Bendis and Millar are leaving at all and how much I really want to continue a series that already feels abandoned? Much of Marvel is like this now, in some ways, with creators getting fired, series being cancelled and other odd things going on behind the scenes. While I’m still a tried and true Marvel Zombie in love with the company and the characters, I’ve reached a point in my life where I can no longer afford to love all the characters equallly. So while I’m enjoying the series thus far I think it wise for me, personally, to jump ship before it essentially re-launches.
The whole first arc is, after all, a huge prologue to the team we saw established in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up (with one or two changes thrown in for good measure). Like everything else in the Ultimate universe this is the same FF we have come to know and love but their origin and backgrounds have been changed to reflect a more modern and realistic approach to the world of heroes.
This issue finally gets to the super part of heroes. The FF have truly arrived, though some hundreds or thousands of miles from the others, bringing with them a whole world of possibilities for new and old readers alike. Done particularly well are scenes with Reed and his traumatic new abilities as well as Ben Grimm’s emergence as the Thing. How they’ll cope after they really get a chance to see who they are now and how the world will treat them is a completely different matter. I’m especially curious about Ben as he wasn’t part of the intimiate little ‘think tank’ group the rest were a part of. Not only is he an outsider now because of his appearance, but his lack of experience and friendships may be a huge hurdle to overcome.
The rest of the book goes by in a blur. We get to see each of our heroes waking up to their new realities and the appearance of the first major villain. While a good read with amazing visuals by Adam Kubert (who, in my opinion, can really do no wrong) add up to an enjoyable but fleeting experience. As with all stories in the Ultimate universe, this is one really for the trades so that a reader doesn’t have to wait three months for the first bit of action and appearance of powers.
But that’s just me.
What I am extremely confident of is that this is going to be a great first arc and a wonderful introduction to the first family of heroes. Where it goes after this once it is in the hands of Ellis and Immonen is a complete unknown. I’m sure it will be just as good if not better (and lord knows we as readers could certainly do with more perspectives and styles than Bendis, Millar and Austen who collectively write half of Marvel’s books) than what is going on now but alas, I must think of my unborn children and their university tuition.
Reviewer: Brian E. Wilkinson, bewilkinson@comixfan.cjb.net
Quick Rating: Great
Story Title: The Fantastic, Part 3 Boom. The birth of heroes! And a truck full of chickens goes wild!
Story by: Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar
Cover by: Bryan Hitch
Pencilled by: Adam Kubert
Inked by: Danny Miki
Colors by: Dave Stewart
Letters by: Chris Eliopoulos
Assistant Editors: MacKenzie Cadenhead & Nick Lowe
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
