Fantastic Four #541

[iamrman]

Ben Grimm doesn’t want any part of the Civil War bullshit, so he seeks refuge in Paris.

‘Ténèbres, pas de parents !’

Comments

[phantomfo]

This whole thing feels like a setup for that one line.

And it was worth it.

[goattoucher]

-SO- worth it!

[agent8]

"There's always time for lunch". And , of course, the Emperor of the Underground World (also being French) would never be so gauche as to attack during lunch.

Have these guys shown up anywhere else?

[beyondthefringe]

James Robinson acknowledged their existence in his Scarlet Witch run a decade later because of course he’d remember an obscure team, but they were temporarily missing at the time. Otherwise… nope.

[petermilley]

Even the sorcerer who cursed Le Vent with his powers clearly made an exception for lunch! You just don't mess with lunch.

[lonewolf23k]

As a French Canadian, I appreciate this utterly french homage to the Justice League on so many amusing levels.

[mazway_75]

I just remember when Ben tells Reed "want to go to a country where the main river isn't crazy" and an editor's note explaining the Seine.

Which had Wizard Magazine pointing out "dudes, you don't explain the punchline."

[cainofdreaming]

The river might not be crazy, but everyone swimming in it would. Because they'd be in Seine.

Oh rats, I did it too.

[beyondthefringe]

Sure, these guys are all thinly veiled knockoffs or shallow archetypes, but I regret we haven't seen them since, to the best of my knowledge. I love foreign heroes and villains.

[iamrman]

I'm surprised Al Ewing didn't dust them off for the USAvengers Secret Empire tie-in where Squirrel Girl ended up in Feance.

[scorntx]

They were obviously in the parts of Ga- err, France that was entirely under HYDRA occupation.
(Either that or the sky fell on their heads or something...)

[numeronone]

Worse. Stuck in the sewers. Another dastardly plot by Jean Maljean!

[scorntx]

They're just crying out the Big Hero 6 treatment.

But then again... who'd possibly be interested in a series about a group of plucky young heroes having weekly adventures in Paris?

[icon_uk]

Indeed, it would be a ratings cataclysm

[arilou_skiff]

The one I love is Le Cowboy. It works on so many levels.

[scorntx]

There's a bit later on in the issue where Ben and Totally-Not-Ghost-Question get into a argument about stuff and Ben accuses him of being a layabout, with the response "the dead are entitled to lay about!" (or words to that effect).

Don't know why, but that line's always stuck with me.

That and how Ben apparently smells of fish.

[cainofdreaming]

Totally-Not-Ghost-Phantom Stranger-Question-Hybrid if you account in the backstory.

[icon_uk]

With more than a dash of the Spectre too...

[violetclm]

There's a line in JLA/Avengers where Hawkeye calls the JLA a bunch of "Squadron Supreme wannabes" and the Thing could get away with the same line here

[icon_uk]

That is still my favorite line out of that whole crossover! :)

[b_i_beast]

I'm kind of surprised they don't know more about the Civil War.

I get that they have stuff going on in their own country, but you'd think that all of the super-heroes in America fighting over a law would get bigger coverage.

[scorntx]

It's not so surprising. Local (relatively speaking) news is going to focus on stuff closer to home, so aside from the one watching CNN they're probably just hearing the news saying that American superheroes are at each other's throats again, before getting right back to twenty minutes on the latest political scandal.

Like in real life. All those Canadian wildfires going on? Didn't hear a peep about them until the skies over New York were turning orange.

Though it is a bit odd that this means the people fighting and losing an intergalactic war are more aware of what's going than those who are, geographically speaking, just over the road.

[windleopard2]

Ben if he could understand Anais: Where have you been all my life?

[numeronone]

This kind of feels like if someone attempted to do "The Boys" without the scathing revulsion and edgy cynicism.

I was tensed up for the ugly punchline of "they're all incompetent" or "they're racist and just got Grimm involved because he's a rock monster" or something, but...no, they're just a nice bunch of French JLA knockoffs who provided Ben an easy distraction from political stuff.

It's nice. I like that it's nice.

[scorntx]

Sometimes it feels like the idea of "hero meets gang of new heroes who actually turn out to be unpleasant and / or evil" is so commonplace that any subversion of that idea is more shocking and innovative than actually playing it straight.

[zachbeacon]

This always bugged the heck out of me.

Ben is a character that seems hard to get wrong. Even most bad F4 runs do okay by Ben. Heck, Millar handled Ben better in the main CW book and his use of pretty much every other character was terrible.

Running from his problems seems really out of character for Ben.