Scott's Take: Fantastic Four by Ryan North Vol. 1: Whatever Happened To The Fantastic Four?

Fantastic Four by Ryan North Vol. 1: Whatever Happened To The Fantastic Four? is the best Fantastic Four story I have read all year. Something has happened and all the Fantastic Four have separated into groups. They all are off having their own adventures.  

Ben (The Thing) and Alicia (the Thing’s wife) get stuck in a time loop after they arrive in a small town.

Reed (Mister Fantastic) and Sue (The Invisible Woman) also arrive in a different small town and quickly figure out the all the people are Doombots. They think they are human, but they are all robots. Why would Doom build a whole army’s worth of Doombots and just leave them there?

Johnny (The Human Torch) has created a new identity and is attempting to live a low-profile life in New York City. But, Johnny being Johnny, low profile for him is not something he can do. 

Can the Fantastic Four their way back together? Can they get out of their various predicaments to even do that? Of course, they will, but how they go about it is the story. In fact, that is only part of the story, as once the band gets back together, things get even more chaotic.

The incident that broke up the Fantastic Four is very well handled. All the main characters are exceptionally well written and there is plenty of science, exploration, and great artwork. Ryan North is an author with a science background so he is able to write the science in an interesting and informative way.

The art is spectacular. The cover art is done by Alex Ross with the interior done by Iban Coello and Ivan Fiorelli. The interior art is exceptionally good. The art displays the individual powers of the Fantatsic Four really well. This is especially true with Reed, when later in the book, he does some very uncomfortable things to his body to figure things out. The ending is really interesting.

I am really looking forward to the next book, Fantastic Four by Ryan North: Vol 2: Four Stories About Hope.  That read is currently scheduled to be released in early January. I really hope that Marvel gives this creative team a long run that goes on for years. 

 

My reading copy came from the Central or Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2023