Fear Itself: Franklin Ex Machina

[proteus_lives]

Greetings True Believers!

Here are a few scans from Fear Itself #5.

Enjoy!



Thor has just put down Ben Grimm/Angrir, Breaker of Souls. Ben might be down for but hold! It's two meddling kids!



Wow, Val is becoming more like her favorite uncle every day.



Wax on, wax off.

Comments

[long_silence]

I swear I thought Valeria was like 2.

[darkknightjrk]

1. She's very smart/advanced for her age.
2. Figuring out the ages for superhero characters is a one-way ticket to madness.

[nomadicwriter]

She's actually supposed about four by now, which means Franklin should technically be eleven. Not that anybody writing or drawing the FF apparently got either of those memos.

[darkknightjrk]

Of COURSE the Richards Kids and the FF would become my highlight for this event. :)

[shadowpsykie]

0_o.... WTF FFRANKLIN! YOU COULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT EARLIER?!?!?!


.... sorry, im okay.... im okay... OMG THAT WAS AN ASGARDIAN LEVEL POSSESSION!

..... no no im okay im okay....


*breathe*

seriously though, i like Franklin, i like that he is a mutant... but really...

[biod]

Uhm, Mjolnir had mortally wounded Angrir (which gets funnier everytime I say it) just as it had Ben? Maybe? Yeah?

[vitruvian23]

You must not have read much Franklin, if this strikes you as out of bounds for his powers. Let's see, some highlights:

1) Temporarily destroying Mephisto by dispersing him across many dimensions

2) Creating an entire duplicate of Earth, including billions of living souls, in an alternate dimension so his parents and their friends wouldn't die at the hands of Onslaught. Unconsciously.

3) Resurrecting Galactus so that Abraxas could be stopped.

[tpsreports]

Ok is this the same Franklin that seemed at least 4 years younger in Dark Reign? Franklin's age bounces around so much it drives me crazy. Besides everyone knows that Franklin's powers are the reason none of the flagship characters ever age.

[fifthie]

Besides everyone knows that Franklin's powers are the reason none of the flagship characters ever age.

This will now be my answer for all comics ridiculousness of any kind.

It's Franklin, just fucking around with things.

[brooms]

Does Fraction dislike Cap or something?

Thor was so badass in this.

[cypherfdp]

If Franklin used his powers on a frequent basis, literally every problem ever would be solved by now.

"Dr. Doom stole the power of Odin, Galactus, and Mephisto? No problem! I'll just vaporize him and spread every individual molecule across different universes! Hey mom, can I have a raise in my allowance?"

[halloweenjack]

It's like the infamous reset button on Star Trek: Voyager, along with the hidden replicator that was big enough to create entire shuttlecraft.

[shadowpsykie]

that's why you build in a weakness. maybe it makes him mentally unstable... maybe the more he uses it the "higher" his consciousness until he becomes ascended (yes i used Stargate language) or something so that he CAN'T use it to be the varitable deus ex...

[bjornwilde]

I had so much glee when I saw Ben was back. Now if there is any justice in the House of Ideas, next issue will be Ben rallying the troops to turn the tide long enough for Tony to do his thing in the Asgard workshops.

Over whelming odds, off the scale power levels? You think I'm impressed? I don't know the means of the word quit, just as the Champion of the Universe.

[shadowpsykie]

One thing (besides Franklin not going on and ending this as there do not seem to be any drawbacks for him doing this from these scans)

Ben will more than likely be forgiven by all and return to the fold... while the Hulk gets SHAT on YET AGAIN!.... im sorry. but that is getting really Damn OLD.....

[darrylayo]

I really don't like Franklin Richards now.


Seriously, what is the point of anything when you've got this kid who is more powerful than god walking around?

I mean, let's keep it real, he ought to just...fix...the universe. People really messed up by creating a character who is basically "do anything, no consequences."

[glprime]

When written well, Franklin is very honest about knowing just what he can do... and it scares him. He knows just enough to know he's too young to see where the line is, where he would stop at "fixing everything."

He probably sees his dad trying to "solve everything" and what a mess that becomes.

Franklin CAN be a good character, but yeah, they have to address it reasonably.

[glimmung]

A good way to deal with that is the moral issues.

Omnipotence would require omniscience. The second he bootstraps himself into godhood his morality from a mortal persons point of view would probably change. Hell if Franklin got strange enough he could destroy the Earth for aesthetic reasons.

[fifthie]

People really messed up by creating a character who is basically "do anything, no consequences."

Yeah it's one of those things that I'm sure seemed like a really good idea at the time.

I mean honestly how does that even work? Stretch powers + invisible force fields = omnipotent god of all reality?

They couldn't just have given the kid like... really stretchy force fields?

[crabby_lioness]

Hickman wrote a good Franklin/Spider-Man story where Spidey counseled Franklin when he was struggling with that.

[nightauditguy]

This came out today? Damn, missed it at the LCS.

[selke]

I love those kids. I really wish they'd have a mini or something the Power Pack. And Beta Ray Bill, because the whole "pony" thing was adorable before.

[eyz]

Yuck :/
I find those FF suits totally unappropriated for the kids...

[nomadicwriter]

The kids don't even wear them in the FF comics. It's only the field team who wear the uniforms, and the kids don't go out on field missions because they're kids. Even when they do get dragged along for some reason or other, they're always drawn wearing ordinary casual clothes. But everybody else who uses the FF characters seems to think the entire class of kids is running around in costume fighting bad guys all the time.

[jaybee3]

Val (who wouldn't even be around if Franklin hadn't made it happen back during the Valeria Von Doom thing) always treats her big brother like he's an idiot. Considering how she's supposed to be super-smart on Reed's level and considering how her brother can easily make and re-make universes on a whim, I'm not sure how "smart" it is to keep calling him names. I know she's a little kid (heck barely past 5 despite how she's drawn as a pre-teen) but considering how Fraction usually has her behaving/speaking like she's a fully formed adult I wish they'd be more consistent in her characterization.

[turtlefu]

Wow, this is very poor. Do writers not realize that obvious Deus Ex Machina s are very, very poor writing?

[crabby_lioness]

This is pretty typical for Fraction. I'm so glad he's off the X-books.