Fantastic Four Vol. 4: The End is Fourever

James Robinson has done what he is best at in this final volume of the Fantastic Four.  He has mined the Fantastic Four mythos to get at the themes that made this title great to begin with.  All four volumes in this series have been great & tell a cohesive story.  It sucks that this is the final series of the Fantastic Four that Marvel has published.  This series ends just before the start of Jonathan Hickman's Marvel Comics swan song Secret Wars.  Currently Marvel isn't publishing any Fantastic Four comics, why is up for speculation but when the title does return it will be with a bang & a celebration.

Fantastic Four Vol. 3: Back in Blue

In this third volume of the Fantastic Four answers start to come to light as to who is behind all of this trouble. First and foremost the substitute Fantastic Four from Matt Fraction's run break Ben Grimm out of jail. Spider-Man and Wyatt Wingfoot snap Johnny out of the terrible funk that he is in and get him back into uniform.  But most importantly is the fact that Reed has finally come face to face with this illustrious villain who dates back even before the Fantastic Four became the Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four Vol. 2: Original Sin

The Fantastic Four has disbanded can they ever come back together now the some of their deepest secrets have come to light.  The biggest of which is the fact that Johnny Storm interfered with one of Reed's experiments to reverse Ben Grimm's condition.  Then the Thing goes down an even darker path where it looks like he is the murderer of Alicia Masters father.  Once in prison he is put fact to face with an old rival.  Meanwhile the Richards family is split in two the children with the original Human Torch while Reed & Sue are in New Eden right outside Chicago.  Reed goes off alone to take on the Wizard's new Frightful Four.  The real question at the end of this who is the mastermind of this tragedy & how can the Fantastic Four come back from this one.

Fantastic Four Vol. 1:The Fall of the Fantastic Four

This is start of the last Fantastic Four series to be published by Marvel Comics to date I am a firm believer that this series will be resurrected in time for a new generation to enjoy.  James Robinson after being over at DC Comics has jumped ship & come over to Marvel to guide the Fantastic Four on their final set of adventures.  This first volume is a little tedious at times by overall it is an excellent start.  Marvels first family is settling back into the lives at the Baxter Building after the craziness that they called a vacation in Matt Fraction's previous run.  But like any family cracks are starting to form as old habits start to emerge such as Reed not being able to see the forest through the trees while doing research, Ben trying to rekindle a past relationship, Johnny trying to leave is mark the world & all the while Valeria has run away from home to spend time with Uncle Victor Von Doom.  Something happens in which part of the Baxter Building is destroyed & hundreds of people are injured, not to mention that Johnny Storm has lost his powers.  The Fantastic Four is put on trial basically for negligence throughout their super-heroing career.  Part of the verdict brought down in this volume is that the students are removed from the Baxter Building & the Future Foundation shut down, the students are sent to Camp Hammond & put under the charge of Jim Hammond the original Human Torch.

Fantastic Four Omnibus

This collection combines both of Matt Fraction's runs on Fantastic Four & Future Foundation.  This is a disjointed run compared to the previous one by Jonathan Hickman.  I for one loved Matt Fraction's run on Invincible Iron Man but this was a let down until I got to the dozen or so issues where the two teams were taking on Doctor Doom.  I was really gung-ho for this series when it was first announced that Matt Fraction would be taking over the two titles; Fantastic Four is by far the stronger title.  For some reason Future Foundation just didn't have that hook that made me want to read those issues.  The Fantastic Four title sees the Richards family along with Johnny Storm & Ben Grim traveling across time 7 space while their powers deteriorate.  While the Future Foundation series sees Scott Lang, Medusa,  Jennifer Walters & Darla Deering become the new Fantastic Four for what is supposed to be four minutes of time.  However in true Marvel fashion something goes wrong & they essentially are the Fantastic Four on earth for about one years time.  I found the connection between the to books to be a little jarring partly due to the art.  I am not saying that the art is bad mind both artist are fantastic (pun intened) but they don't complement each other well.  I am really looking forward to James Robinson's run which follows this one.  I like many of the concepts that where used in this run such as the time travel & I would really like to see a new Fantastic Four series take on Marvel's first family as they travel across time & space post Secret Wars.

FF Vol. 4

The other final volume of Hickman's Fantastic Four run is here in FF Vol. 4.  In the first issue of this volume we get an inside look at what a day in the life of Johnny Storm & Peter Parker looks like as roommates.  This was set up in the previous volume but it plays out beautifully here.  When I first heard about this I thought it would be a great turn for Peter since his last roommate was such a bitch but everything that happens makes perfect sense.  They are the ultimate odd couple, anything & everything that can go wrong does from adding a door to the negative zone in Pete’s closet to Johnny putting the moves on MJ, to the final page reveal its easy to see why this wouldn’t work out.  Three of the stories tie in with events that happen concurrently with stories in Fantastic Four Vol. 6.  The final issue of this collection sees Future Franklin preparing his younger self for his destiny.  Due to Jonathan Hickman's spectacular run on this series I am really looking forward to Matt Fraction's run on the Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four Vol. 6

This final volume of the Fantastic Four is just the icing on the cake of Jonathan Hickman's run.  The first issue in this collection sees Nathaniel & Reed travel into the far future to discover that Ben Grimm outlives all of the members of the Fantastic Four causing Reed to realize how much he loves hanging out with his best friend.  Most of the stories in this collection are one & done stories showcasing the various characters.  The team travels to Wakanda in which the return of the Phoenix Force & the flooding of the African nation are foreshadowed; both of those events happen in Avengers vs. X-Men.  Many other things come full circle Bentley confronting the Wizard & Doom's fate & eventual rescue.  What this volume & the accompanying volume of FF do it to establish a new status quo for the next creative team on the world's greatest comic magazine.

FF Vol. 3

Everything is coming to an end in this volume, just like in my previous review of the Fantastic Four this volume should be read back to back with it or concurrently if possible.  The children of the Future Foundation have teleported the top three floors of the Baxter Building to Latvia seeking out the help of Uncle Doom, Other Reed & Grandfather.  After using the Bridge to try & send the Other Reed home they run into the Celestials.  The Other Reed winds up dying from using the ultimate nullifier & it appears that Dr. Doom sacrifices himself to save the children.  The Celestials make it to the 616 Universe looking to destroy Reed Richards they wind up in the middle of the battle with the Kree, Inhumans & the Annihilation Wave.  Galactus arrives & confronts the Celestials who wind up killing him with their combined power.  It is only during the final showdown between the Future Foundation & the Celestials that Future Franklin & Future Valerie show up to save the day.  Not only do they save the day but they Franklin resurrects Galactus as well.

Fantastic Four Vol. 5

With this new volume of the Fantastic Four everything comes to a head.  This collection is best read back to back with FF Vol. 3 as both books cover the same event back with back to back chapters.  First off this marks the return of the Human Torch to the land of the living and it even showcases how he came back to life.  Frankly the Human Torch's return is even grander than the returns of Steve Rogers or Bruce Wayne.  The kids on the other hand have traveled to visit Uncle Doom & move the final chess pieces into position for this upcoming battle.  Johnny Storm has taken control of the Annihilation Wave from Annihilus.  The Kree Armada is waiting to destroy earth in hopes of also destroying the Inhumans.  The battle of the four cities is just the tip of the iceberg as the real battle is between the Fantastic Four & the Celestials.  Even Galactus falls in this battle, it is only due to the return of the Future Franklin & Future Valerie that the Celestials are finally beaten.

FF Vol. 2

This second volume of FF sees the Reed & Spider-Man teaming up with Dr. Doom & company to take on the other Reeds from parallel universes.  The Future Foundation aren't the only ones looking to take of the Forever City & neutralize the other Reeds; Black Bolt has returned to rally the Inhumans.  This volume takes place after the War of Kings event in which Black Bolt seemingly died along with Vulcan.  Not only has he returned but he has left the Kree Empire in the hands of Ronan the Accuser who is married to Crystal.  All is not well in Black Bolts absence from the Kree throne Ronan & the other leaders of the Kree Empire have their own plans to restore the empire to its former glory.  All of these groups start to come to a head at the end of this collection.  By the end Reed Richards has found his humility & called on his friends for assistance.  Nathaniel Richards is aligning himself with an enemy.  Ronan's plan to restore the Kree empire has entered its second phase, all the while there is a looming threat waiting in the Negative Zone.

FF Vol. 1

The Fantastic Four are no more, war is looming in the four cities & the Future Foundation is at the forefront of saving the world for tomorrow.  Valerie has done something terrible, not only has she found the bridge that Reed Richards made but she went through it to the council & brought the four surviving Reeds to her world.  Now to combat this problem of having four different versions of Reed Richards that are looking to get back to their respective worlds by any means possible even if it means destroying this one Valerie has made a deal with Dr. Doom.  Now Doom has put together a council to bring down Reed Richards.  The other Reeds are building a machine & manipulating the four cities towards war for their own ends.  By the end of this volume Sue has found out what dark secrets Mr. Fantastic has been keeping from her.  Johnny Storm has fallen before the annihilation wave at the Baxter Building's gate to the Negative Zone; in his last will and testament he names Spider-Man as his replacement on team.

Fantastic Four Vol. 4

Is this the end, yes it is in a manner of speaking this is the end of the Fantastic Four as a team & the end of the line for one particular team member.  By the end of this volume someone will have died in a death that would make the Spartans of ancient Greece proud.  This collection was all action on every front to say that there was pay off to groundwork that Hickman has been laying would be a lie yes this is the end of the Fantastic Four but the story is still continuing forward.  There are a lot of great moments in this book every character gets to shine I really like the artwork that I have seen in this series so far.  This book feels a lot like an homage to Stan Lee's & Jack Kirby's creation & I am not just saying that because they're in it.  Just look at the characters involved in these stories look at how Hickman has mined the history of the Fantastic Four to bring things back to the forefront.  This book will pull at your heartstrings by the end from the Star Trek II reference before the impending showdown to Spider-Man & Franklin sitting on a rooftop.

Fantastic Four Vol. 3

In this third volume of Hickman's Fantastic Four run we see the initial creation of the Future Foundation.  In fact the Baxter Building becomes a home & a school for several new characters.  This book gives a chance for each member of the Fantastic Four to shine in little one-shot stories.  The over arching story of this entire collection is that a mysterious individual has broken into the building to talk to the children.  There is a nice little flash back story at the end of this volume that goes into Reed's relationship with his father.  I am looking forward to what Hickman is doing with his Multiverse idea & this emerging pocket universe.

Fantastic Four Vol. 2

This second volume of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four run is kind of an odd duck in today’s age of comic books it is a series of single-issue stories that are loosely tied together in the overall plot.  Each of these stories takes place at a different location & showcases one of the each of these four cities that are yet to come into play.  It’s nice to see the Inhumans front & center in a story although now days they are all over Marvel.  The great thing about these four cities are that they harken back to old Marvel Universe events which is really kind of cool the Evolutionary War, Annihilation & Atlantis Attacks just to name a few; although that last one might be a bit of a stretch.  I am looking forward to see how these single issue events build into the big pay off.  Other than that this is still some of the best Fantastic Four I’ve ever read.

Fantastic Four Vol. 1

Reed Richards rebuilds the bridge & connects with Reeds from all over the Multiverse.  As if that wasn't bad enough Reed Richards begins to understand that to solve everything means losing everything.  This forces him refocus his priorities on his family just in time for Franklin's birthday.  Franklin's birthday is awesome its great to see who all of his friends are.  The cliffhanger ending of this volume is great especially when you think of the implications going forward.  I would like to see a time travel story that involves future Franklin & Val.

Fantastic Four: Dark Reign

This is the first Fantastic Four story to come out after the Secret Invasion story-arc.  This is also the first story to officially start off the epic Jonathan Hickman, Fantastic Four run.  I am not really that big of a Fantastic Four fan the only knowledge I had previous to this book was the animated series of the 90's & those two piss poor movies.  This was a fun introduction to the first family of the Marvel Universe.  Reed Richards believes that he is the cause of many of the Marvel Universe's current slate of problems there is even a foreshadowed mention of Marvel's upcoming Summer event Secret Wars starting in May, 2015.  This helps show just how much planning goes into the story-arcs & events that Marvel puts on year after year.  I haven't been able to say the same about DC Comics just yet but I may be able to with these DC weekly collections coming out currently.  There was a lot to like in this volume from Reeds inner conflict to the Richards children taking on Norman Osborn, head of Hammer.  Just the fact that Osborn has the audacity to try & shut down the Fantastic Four with his new found government power is priceless.