A Family Reunited

[chocochuy]

Greetings, True Believers! (Had to sell the family car to pay for the royalties of Proteus_Lives but I will still use his greeting)

Family and Friendship are elements that must be always treasured and it's always neat to see those elements playing a key role on the modern mythology we call Comic Books (especially on this Ultra-Violent era for our beloved heroes). Today I am proud to give you one great moment from FF # 10.

Ben Grimm has alienated himself from the Fantastic Four/Future Foundation and has been brooding alone at the Avengers Mansion. You could say that the "death" of Johnny Storm and his evil possesion during Fear Itself have left Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew under the control of depression. Let's admit it, folks, the life of Ben Grimm has always been Grim (sorry for the silly pun) with all his personal tragedies. Well, help is on its way for Mr. Grimm, courtesy of certain friendly neighbor.





Personal Note : I love that scene with Spiderman eating his Jarvis Burger and Fruity Drink like a Boss. That and the other panel with him smiling with the Jarvis Burger could be great avatars.

Now this is the Spiderman I grew up with. Always a joker with a heart of gold and always willing to lend a hand to his friends. Ben and Spidey may not have very friendly but they had a link called Johnny Storm and Ben probably knows that Johnny wouldn't give up on hope so easily. Will Ben follow Spidey's advice? I think you might now the answer already but let's carry on, comrades.

Sue and Reed are discussing the current events that have been haunting their heroic family when they suddenly hear their Fantastic Plane (Correct me if that isn't the correct name) and they are about to receive a surprise.





It's funny to see Ben mixing some of his sarcasm with the wise cracks that are usually the territory of Johnny and Spidey. It's good to see some hope on modern mainstream comics. Make Mine Marvel!

Comments

[salinea]

I read the whole of Hickman's run on FF last week - my previous knowledge of the Fantastic Four was pretty low (probably the big Marvel franchise I was the least familiar with from sheer fandom osmosis/pop culture savviness, really), and I didn't find it very confusing. The biggest point of 'what is this thing' was the nu city or whatever's the name, the one with the black hole? Which apparently was something from the run right before. Of course I've read S.H.I.E.L.D. so I was familiar with Nathaniel Richards.
The biggest issue is that because it a lot of plot threads setting up stuff somewhere down the line; it's great to read in one go, but I'm unsure if it works well on a monthly basis. I guess I'll see soon enough.

[jlroberson]

Look, CEREBUS (at least up to about GOING HOME or so) is one of my favorite series of all time, so meandering when reading monthly shouldn't bug me. But for some reason it seems there's a lot of set-up that doesn't seem to go anywhere in particular. Character motivations seem to be not much there--most of what I'm getting about characters' emotions and thus internal lives I seem to really be getting from Epting, not Hickman.

And I understand N. Richards has been set up somewhere else, and all these kids and just why Doom is working with that fool Richards. But Millar lost me long enough ago that I would need reminding in what, after all, was marketed as kind of a fresh start. It's one thing to go in with baggage, but it's recent baggage that needs just a little explaining that stuff seems to depend on in a lot of ways. Not something Marvel usually shies away from.

Considering that Hickman is obviously trying to set up something intricate, at least to him, here, some in-series foundation would have been helpful. There just seems this sense of a monumental weight slowly drifting to it, IMO. I've really been trying to like it--I didn't get ten issues because I hated it.

PS

[jlroberson]

And I'd also admit that much of whatever affection I have for the FF is Lee/Kirby-based, and that only carried over to Byrne(whose work afterward I actually don't care for at all). So I'm not inclined to inherently like a book starring them. It very much depends on who's doing it.

Re: PS

[salinea]

Dude, I wasn't telling you you're wrong for not liking it or something, I was addressing your "it seems intensely dependent on VERY DEEP knowledge of the FF, recent knowledge, and you can't call this book welcoming to new readers" line. I, a new reader with little to no knowledge of the FF, do not find this story confusing.

Do I find the characterisation working? Only so-so. There's a few good moments for each characters here and there, but none as of yet has made it to even my long favourite characters list. It seems more plot focussed storytelling that character driven, but the plot has been intriguing enough that's sufficient for me for now.

Then again I never read the Lee/Kirby run or the Byrne one; or any run with the FF before. So whatever affection I have for the FF is only due to Hickman's take.