Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Iban Coello
Color Artist: Jesus Aburtov
Cover Artist: Alex Ross
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Fantastic Four are split up. Why? No one knows just yet. But this time, after seeing what Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, and his wife Alicia Masters have done and what misadventures Reed and Sue got into, now it’s Johnny Storm’s turn. Check out Fantastic Four #3 to see what trouble the Human Torch has gotten himself into.
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Review:
So, this time it’s the Human Torch up to bat, and surprisingly the comic is actually pretty fun and feels like an honest-to-goodness superhero comic book story. That might sound like praise but from this reviewer it’s more of they win by default since telling a solid superhero story is actually the priority here for not only this issue but the whole series. Let’s get into it.
The comic starts out with far more action right out of the get-go than the previous two issues, and with a whole lot of narration from Johnny Storm. The Human Torch is taking on a giant tornado, saving lives, and showing off a little for the ladies down below all while making in time for work. Barely. Ryan North definitely doesn’t waste any time in getting readers invested in the action and personal life of Johnny Storm and Iban Coello really nails it with the action, but more importantly the momentum and design of Johnny’s fire when he flames on. More on the momentum part later.
The thing about this story that makes it a genuinely fun story is that Ryan North isn’t trying to be deep or deconstruct Johnny, or make him “learn his lesson” when it comes to being a ladies man. No, North just embraces Johnny Storm as a character and writes for him without making too much of a goof or a hothead but striking a solid balance of the two in his character here. It sounds like a lot, but North actually pulls it off as Johnny juggles having a new secret identity, fighting a new crisis (not the tornado but something else), and worrying about his family and friends.
The story certainly takes a couple of interesting turns here as Johnny is confronted by an interesting choice for a villain. I won’t spoil who they’re not really that well-known but the way he’s written here actually makes him a solid foe to Johnny in a way you can in a superhero story. But when the two are engaged in a fight, Coello’s art really shows the momentum in their movements and makes the action look very dynamic even for the brief amount of pages that they last.
Final Thoughts:
Fantastic Four #3 brings readers another misadventure, this time with Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. Ryan North and Iban Coello give readers an exciting intro to the comic and North really embraces the fun-loving, charming, and mature aspects of Johnny’s character that tend to go ignored in most other stories and the pair deliver a fun story for the Human Torch. The comic also has an interesting ending that sets things up for the next issue to be very interesting.