Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Carlos Gomez
Color Artist: Jesus Aburtov
Cover Artist: Alex ross
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Fantastic Four have dealt with all kinds of crazy, wild, and devastating phenomena on Earth and in Outer Space. But killer invisible asteroids? That’s a new one. But what’s more curious is what Franklin Richards has been up to since he and the other kids have returned with the Baxter Building. Read Fantastic Four #18 to see what secret Franklin has, and how it ties back to his heroic family.
Review:
Alright, surprisingly this issue is a lot better than I thought it would be. Even with all of the science jargon, it’s a pretty enjoyable read. Fair warning, there will be some SPOILERS in this comic review.
The issue starts out like it will be this massive exploration of Franklin Richards as a character and the nature of his powers and possibilities. The irony is that while the setup, and certainly the synopsis which looks like it was narration copy and pasted from the comic itself, would give readers that impression, the comic actually isn’t about that for the most part. It’s more or less about the Fantastic Four saving the day despite all the odds against them. Oh, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is back, but they still haven’t done anything yet.
Let’s start with the good before transitioning into the flaws of the comic. First off, Ryan North does a solid job in giving Franklin his own voice as a character and establishing the present status quo for him in relation to his powers. Thankfully, he doesn’t do anything foolish like what Dan Slott did in his Fantastic Four run, the less said on that the better. Here, we see Franklin play the role of the cosmic observer looking for upcoming disasters with his powers, seeing how they play out in relation to his family and everyone else, and does what he can to help. It was also sweet that Franklin still calls Peter Parker “Uncle Pete”.
On top of that, the art from Carlos Gomez is pretty great in conjunction with Jesus Aburtov’s colors. One thing I will give this series is that even when the main artist isn’t working on certain issues, they always pick the best artists whose art styles are good on their own, but above all are similar enough to Iban Coello’s art to maintain a visual synergy, if that makes any sense. Not only does Gomez do an excellent job with depicting all of the Fantastic Four, but he excels with the action and capturing the Armageddon scale that the comic’s story is going for. Speaking of the story, let’s dig right into that as one of the flaws.
Now, I’m not knocking against the scenario of the FF saving the planet against some strange space phenomenon that might end the world, even literally invisible asteroids. That’s standard fare for them at this point. The problem is the oversight of not exploring the origin of the invisible asteroids that could have genuinely wiped out all life on Earth in an apocalyptic scenario similar to the extinction of the dinosaurs, which the comic draws a direct parallel to. I mean, Franklin notes in the opening narration that these invisible asteroids come from outside the solar system, possibly beyond the observable universe. I’m sorry, but that reeks of cosmic super-villainy right there, someone had to have sent those asteroids to Earth. They’re even made of material he doesn’t know about, and the way they were hurtling towards Earth, they were there to destroy it. Yes, a super-villain does show up in the comic, but he’s clearly not the cause of the event just an evil opportunist. If the series doesn’t follow up on this, that will be a bit of a letdown.
Also, what’s the point of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this series? They’re just….there. The only thing they’re doing, as we’ve been shown, is make a list of the Fantastic Four and their abilities to keep track of them in case they go rogue, apparently. While that’s nothing new, it just feels like a waste of time and nothing new, just more of the same with S.H.I.E.L.D. Honestly, if they didn’t get just one page at the end to remind us they exist again, I would’ve totally forgot that S.H.I.E.L.D. was ever back to begin with since they have no presence outside of this series. Clearly, there’s a story building up where S.H.I.E.L.D. has an inevitable confrontation with the FF. My hope is that it’s actually interesting.
Final Thoughts:
Fantastic Four #18 lets Franklin Richards shine in his own way. The issue does a solid job of recounting the more essential parts of Franklin’s life, and establishing an interesting status quo for the character going forward, at least in this series. The scenario the Fantastic Four find themselves in is pretty standard fare for them, despite how ridiculous it is. The interior artist Carlos Gomez does a great job depicting this battle between the Fantastic Four and apocalyptic forces of nature. There are a few issues in the comic, like reminding us S.H.I.E.L.D. is back, even though they don’t do anything. But the comic is still a fun read and mostly self-contained, so you feel like you got a complete Fantastic Four story.