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[FF] The Heroes formerly known as the Fantastic Four

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Posts

  • GankGank Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Alrighty, finally got around to reading FF #5 and it was pretty damn cool. They didn't really show you anymore of the SuperVillain Squad, but you did get to see some of the Counil of Reeds plans coming together finally. Plus you get a touching scene with Ben and Alicia Masters, and they're always good.

    And man, I am really liking the Council of Reeds as a permanant FF villain. It's cool seeing what Reed would have been if he didn't have his family to ground him, even while doing supposed "good works". As opposed to an evil Reed, like The Brute or Psychotic Zombie Reed.

    Oh, and this guy rocks up, somehow, with some killer shoulder pads:
    blackagar.jpg

    Gank on
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  • Macro9Macro9 Registered User regular
    So, FF continues being excellent. Fantastic Four #600 is going to melt faces I think.
    Ronan, Crystal and some Kree show up in Attilan. They beat up some Inhumans and kidnap the two Reeds being held prisoner.

    The FF kids are expanding the translocator (teleporter) to cover more floors.

    Annihilus' cult gives birth to more drones, and reports to Annihilus on their progress in expanding the Negative Zone portal. It will cover a large portion of Manhattan centered on the portal in the Baxter Building. They need that portal for it to work, though.

    Reed calls in his real friends this time for help. It's a bunch of Avengers and some X-Men.
    Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Dr. Strange, Namor

    Protector, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, Red Hulk, Spider-Woman, Tigra

    Iceman, Sue, Ben, Spider-Man, Firestar, Araña, Gravity

    Black Panther, Kitty Pryde, Beast, Daredevil, Pym

    And Cap is leading them into the fight I guess.

    After that it goes back to Ronan. He shows up at the creation engine in the Forever City with the two Reeds. They stand accused...and they get judged. He uses the Supremor Seed on the two of them, kicks them into the engine, and Supremor is reborn. He asks how long it has been, thanks Ronan, mentions the new multi-versal knowledge he has, and asks where his armies are.

    Back to Reed and his little army as they are heading off to Attilan to deal with the Inhumans, they're on the roof, they look out into the sky, and shit their pants.

    The sky is filled with Kree ships attacking shit.

    They are going to try to burn this world clean.

    Now you've got the Inhumans doing no good, the Reed in Latveria with slave doom, Annihilus and his cult getting ready to attempt to take the Negative Zone portal in the Baxter Building again, the kids are up to something, and Supremor and his Kree armies attempting to destroy everything.

    It is bananas.

    And #600 being as long as it is may tell most of the story. At least on the Kree front.

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  • ZyrxilZyrxil Registered User regular
    I am so confused, someone explain All The Things:
    So why is Ronan leading an attack on the Inhumans? I thought they willingly accepted the rule of the Inhumans a while back?

    What's up with Ronan telling the Supreme Intelligence he was gone for 300,000 years? Granted my background knowledge is all off Wikipedia, but since he's been featured in comics before, he can't have been gone for that long.

  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    I think that portion of the Supreme Intelligence in Ronan's hammer has been asleep for 300,000 years.

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    man Fantastic Four #600 is November 22nd? fuck this is going to be one long wait

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  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Can someone explain how all this stuff with Ronan and the Kree syncs up with Cosmic Marvel proper?

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Earthfall takes place before FF but after Mighty Thor, it seems.

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    Graphic Violence, I need your help once again. I have never read a Fantastic Four book in my life and they have flatly never interested me at all. However, Thwipster has a bunch of FF books on sale right now, including the three Ultimate Collection volumes of Mark Waid's run for $8.99 each, and I am very strongly tempted because they look fun and creative and character-driven and also because: Mark Waid.

    What do I do, Graphic Violence?

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    You buy them, because they are really good

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Done, because always do what the internet says!

    All three volumes.
    Plus BPRD: Plague of Frogs hardcover, volumes 1 and 2. D:

    Gaslight on
  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    You will not regret it

    Waid's F4 stuff was a lot of fun and is the reason why Reed Richards is one of my favourite characters.

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    I am coming to love Thwipster, but I don't understand why the fourth Hellboy Library Edition volume isn't included in their current sale, though. I already own the first three, dammit!

    Sorry, off-topic.

    Gaslight on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Fantastic Four #600 spoilers (now we can't abbreviate it anymore)

    Johnny comes back looking more battle tested, he was basically doing a Planet Hulk/Nova thing where he was in another dimension fighting gladitorial battles and then rallied support to take on Annihilus, who he's beaten.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    I

    did not expect that

  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    if there was ever a spoiler in my life I have been unwilling to click on it is that one

    nothing can spoil FF #600 for me

    NOTHING

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  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Solar wrote:
    I

    did not expect that

    Kind of lackluster for idea guy Hickman.
    I think we all knew Johnny was coming back (had he not that would have actually been something), but you've got a mimicry of Planet Hulk and what looks like when Nova went from boy to soldier. And really, there's no need for Johnny to become Soldier Storm.

    we'll see where this goes. I didn't realize this is 8 bucks though, ouch.

    TexiKen on
  • AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    TexiKen wrote:
    Fantastic Four #600 spoilers (now we can't abbreviate it anymore)

    Johnny comes back looking more battle tested, he was basically doing a Planet Hulk/Nova thing where he was in another dimension fighting gladitorial battles and then rallied support to take on Annihilus, who he's beaten.
    OMG OMG OMG OMG

  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    So F4 600 was fucking amazing

    like goddamn

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    Blankzilla wrote:
    So F4 600 was fucking amazing

    like goddamn

    Really? I was a bit disappointed. Hickman spent so long starting to spin up plates for it, and only knocked two of them down while still adding more. Like when is all of this going to end?

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  • AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    Arivia wrote:
    Blankzilla wrote:
    So F4 600 was fucking amazing

    like goddamn

    Really? I was a bit disappointed. Hickman spent so long starting to spin up plates for it, and only knocked two of them down while still adding more. Like when is all of this going to end?

    Nothing ends, Arivia. Nothing ever ends.

  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    I'm glad it didn't end!

    The ongoing plot is still really compelling and interesting and the stuff he added freshened it up a bit.

    My only complaint is that I still do not think Steve Epting is a good fit for the title at all.

    The man is a good artist but belongs on a dark, more grounded book like Winter Soldier or Punisher or something. He faces lack expression and his action scenes aren't as wild and crazy as the plot demands they be.

    I mean compare the two shots of
    Johnny:
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    kLEdB.jpg

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  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Epting does draw technology and energy effects and that kind of thing really well though

    Like, compare the costumes and flare effect in the two shots

    The second one is much better

    Anyway I loved the issue to bits, I thought it was truly fantastic, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

    Solar on
  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    I disagree

    the costume is super simple and the two aren't that different? The only difference is the coloring on the second one getting the glowing effect across better, which has nothing to do with Epting.

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    I actually really like Epting's work. When I think of the FF they are really grounded in four-colors and a sense of fixedness in the 1960s, and keeping the faces straight really nails how reliable and reassuring the cast is.

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  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    Arivia wrote:
    I actually really like Epting's work. When I think of the FF they are really grounded in four-colors and a sense of fixedness in the 1960s, and keeping the faces straight really nails how reliable and reassuring the cast is.
    but

    FF hasn't been like that at all

    in fact the entire series is focused on them modernizing and adapting to the times

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  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    I agree with you that Epting doesn't do facial expressions all that well

    I just think that he does super-tech and cosmic super-beings and energy effects and shit like that really, really well

    Whenever Epting does a book I always hope that there will be Nazi super-scientists or giant robots and stuff like that because personally speaking the way he draws them just looks really cool to me.

    And yeah they can modernise but in style the FF have very much got the classic 60's superheroes look going on that I think the Fantastic Four almost pioneered, and it would be a shame to lose that. Reed look's just like the Silver Age scientist he is supposed to be, I don't want that to be any different any time soon.

    Solar on
  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    The dude in that first picture looks like he is about to go Kid Gladiator on someone. The second one sells "everything changes, everything stays the same" quite well.

    Still, I'm proud I guessed the twist before it happened. Not that it was all that surprising.

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  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Arivia wrote:
    The dude in that first picture looks like he is about to go Kid Gladiator on someone. The second one sells "everything changes, everything stays the same" quite well.

    Still, I'm proud I guessed the twist before it happened. Not that it was all that surprising.
    But
    we don't know what Johnny is going to do now

    I mean he has Annihilus on a chain and just murdered like 50,000 bugpeople and killed his way through an alien arena

    he isn't the same guy he was before he went into the Negative zone

    plus that stupid swoopy haircut is dumb and Epting uses it all the time. JOHNNY HAS BEEN FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL AND BEING RESURRECTED DAILY. HIS HAIR SHOULD NOT BE PERFECTLY SCULPTED RIGHT NOW.

    BlankZoe on
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  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Arivia wrote:
    The dude in that first picture looks like he is about to go Kid Gladiator on someone. The second one sells "everything changes, everything stays the same" quite well.

    That's a really good way to put it

    Epting makes them look modern while holding onto their roots at the same time. Which is great! Check out the hair, it's so 60's in style, and the face has a square jaw and looks solid and reliable and handsome. And then the costume has cool energy effects and so on.

    Basically he looks ten times more badass when Epting does it, even though his facial expressions can be a little staid.

    Solar on
  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    but I don't think he makes them look modern at all
    Johnny looks like he is a 60s pretty boy in that picture

    like he could have just walked off of the set of Grease and threw on a TRON costume they had lying around the lot

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    Blankzilla wrote:
    Arivia wrote:
    The dude in that first picture looks like he is about to go Kid Gladiator on someone. The second one sells "everything changes, everything stays the same" quite well.

    Still, I'm proud I guessed the twist before it happened. Not that it was all that surprising.
    But
    we don't know what Johnny is going to do now

    I mean he has Annihilus on a chain and just murdered like 50,000 bugpeople and killed his way through an alien arena

    he isn't the same guy he was before he went into the Negative zone

    plus that stupid swoopy haircut is dumb and Epting uses it all the time. JOHNNY HAS BEEN FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL AND BEING RESURRECTED DAILY. HIS HAIR SHOULD NOT BE PERFECTLY SCULPTED RIGHT NOW.
    All of Johnny's actions are pretty much ascribable to him being a smart, very headstrong hero just like he's always been. Stuff like the arena blow-up, and he rallies everyone because he knows this is his chance to make a difference.

    Also the worms probably gave him back his haircut.

    Speaking of, random body horror was not a thing I was expecting.

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  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Blankzilla wrote:
    but I don't think he makes them look modern at all
    Johnny looks like he is a 60s pretty boy in that picture

    like he could have just walked off of the set of Grease and threw on a TRON costume they had lying around the lot

    Yeah!

    But in a good way

    Epting makes things look cool in a space-agey kind of way, but adds some modernity in there. I think he's great. For books like the X-Men, who are all about being modern teenagers who are really progressive and think old people are boring and so on, he wouldn't work. But for Captain America and the Fantastic Four and Nick Fury and so on, anything where the guys wear shirts and have side-brushed hair, square jaws and athletic physiques, and the woman are classy and mature with long hair and eyelashes, he is great.

    Solar on
  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    Blankzilla wrote:
    but I don't think he makes them look modern at all
    Johnny looks like he is a 60s pretty boy in that picture

    like he could have just walked off of the set of Grease and threw on a TRON costume they had lying around the lot
    Exactly, that's what's so great. They're classically all-American, good folks first and foremost. The guise and complication of that may have changed, but the core of the FF - good people when all else fails, the best of us - is still there, and still relevant, and still needed.

    Especially with Hickman calling back to their classic rogues' gallery so much, I think it would seem really dissonant if they didn't have that same comics-classic tone to them.

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  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    Arivia wrote:
    Blankzilla wrote:
    Arivia wrote:
    The dude in that first picture looks like he is about to go Kid Gladiator on someone. The second one sells "everything changes, everything stays the same" quite well.

    Still, I'm proud I guessed the twist before it happened. Not that it was all that surprising.
    But
    we don't know what Johnny is going to do now

    I mean he has Annihilus on a chain and just murdered like 50,000 bugpeople and killed his way through an alien arena

    he isn't the same guy he was before he went into the Negative zone

    plus that stupid swoopy haircut is dumb and Epting uses it all the time. JOHNNY HAS BEEN FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL AND BEING RESURRECTED DAILY. HIS HAIR SHOULD NOT BE PERFECTLY SCULPTED RIGHT NOW.
    All of Johnny's actions are pretty much ascribable to him being a smart, very headstrong hero just like he's always been. Stuff like the arena blow-up, and he rallies everyone because he knows this is his chance to make a difference.

    Also the worms probably gave him back his haircut.

    Speaking of, random body horror was not a thing I was expecting.
    Johnny is headstrong yes

    but Johnny doesn't normally casually blow up and kill sentient beings while cracking jokes

    I'm not saying he is suddenly a supervillain or anything but I don't think pre-"death" Johnny would have taken to mass-murder, even if they are Annihilation Wave bugs, as easily as he has now. He has changed.

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  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    I mean you can certainly see that with the art

    but to me it just comes across as super wooden and dated and not fitting the story at all

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  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    I dunno, I think Epting's work is a little too buttoned down and rigid, for Fantastic Four. He's a fantastic artist, no doubt. But, when I think FF, I think of Wieringo, and I'd like to see someone with a similar sensibility on the book.

    Like, I think Pasqual Ferry or Juan Doe would be killer FF artists. Ferry did a bunch of UFF work, but I don't know that he's ever drawn the team's 616 incarnation. Likewise, Juan Doe's done some one-shots with the FF, but they were all in his more exaggerated style, rather than his slightly more mainstream/realistic style.

  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    Yeah Ferry would be a monster on F4.

    Epting is too cold and rigid. The expressions aren't there and the coloring is very dark and muddy.

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  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Blankzilla wrote:
    Arivia wrote:
    Blankzilla wrote:
    Arivia wrote:
    The dude in that first picture looks like he is about to go Kid Gladiator on someone. The second one sells "everything changes, everything stays the same" quite well.

    Still, I'm proud I guessed the twist before it happened. Not that it was all that surprising.
    But
    we don't know what Johnny is going to do now

    I mean he has Annihilus on a chain and just murdered like 50,000 bugpeople and killed his way through an alien arena

    he isn't the same guy he was before he went into the Negative zone

    plus that stupid swoopy haircut is dumb and Epting uses it all the time. JOHNNY HAS BEEN FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL AND BEING RESURRECTED DAILY. HIS HAIR SHOULD NOT BE PERFECTLY SCULPTED RIGHT NOW.
    All of Johnny's actions are pretty much ascribable to him being a smart, very headstrong hero just like he's always been. Stuff like the arena blow-up, and he rallies everyone because he knows this is his chance to make a difference.

    Also the worms probably gave him back his haircut.

    Speaking of, random body horror was not a thing I was expecting.
    Johnny is headstrong yes

    but Johnny doesn't normally casually blow up and kill sentient beings while cracking jokes

    I'm not saying he is suddenly a supervillain or anything but I don't think pre-"death" Johnny would have taken to mass-murder, even if they are Annihilation Wave bugs, as easily as he has now. He has changed.
    Yeah I agree

    But I still think he will be in many ways the Johnny we knew, just more mature and with a more tempered confidence.

    I'm really looking forward to seeing how he will interact with the rest of the team now. That should be interesting.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    Ferry is great, but I think he works better on Thor than he does F4. Like I said, when you say "Fantastic Four" to me I think of space-age style explorers, Silver Age heroes who could have walked off the set of Star Trek: TOS, combined with Kirby Cosmic wonder. If Tony Stark builds a machine to teleport him to the other side of the galaxy, it should look ultra-modern with computers and touch screens and code readouts and so on because that is what his style is.

    When Reed Richards does it though, you can be damn sure that it is a big machine that glows with Kirby crackle covered in dials and flashing lights and he activates it by putting on a pair of safety goggles and pulling a big-ass lever.

    Ferry does the former more than the latter, I think. He can pull off the cosmic really well, but he also makes it look super-modern, and I like my F4 with a taste of the old-school.

    Solar on
  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    Pretty much agreed with Solar.

    So, was the Richards backup just explaining stuff from the past or is all that going to be a thing going on again as well?

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