Logistically (ha) at this point in the timeline, Franklin should be ten, and Valeria should be three approaching four. Complicated by the fact that the powers-that-be have this mysterious determination to keep Franklin eight, even though he was stated to be seven in the storyline where Val was born, and 99% of superhero comic artists can't draw pre-teen kids anyway.
eesh, yeah. FF should be really awesome, but it's turning to be enough little disappointments in the art and story that I find myself anticipating the next issue less and less.
Which is sad, because I love the idea of Doom allied with a Richards against other Richards, and Bentley 23 is a cool character, but it's all dribbling away in little bits of poor execution and OOC choices.
Supersmart villains being reduced to grr-arg brawlers is the least of it.
I actually like her being drawn at this age, rather than her canon age. (what's that supposed to be, four? Five? Just doesn't work for her character right now)
She's obviously still a young kid, even if she's edging toward tween years, and really, I feel like it works better that way than having a preschooler running around doing what she has been doing.
If only they would age Franklin they way they age her. Sometimes it seems like they're drawn as the same age group when he should be AT LEAST five year or more older. But there seems to be an unwritten (or maybe it is written) rule that Franklin Richards will forever be 12 or less.
Ideally, I'd like to place Valeria at around 10ish and Franklin at 13-14. I know that this would age the original FF, but really, if anyone can be pushing the 40+ age range I feel like it should be the original Marvel family.
See, Johnny Storm was sixteen when the F4 got their powers, and since we all know Peter was fifteen when he got his, that makes him fairly solidly anchored to being one year younger than Johnny. Which means that if more than fifteen years are allowed to pass for the F4 - and we've almost hit that bungee-cord limit already, with thirteen and a half years gone and Franklin around ten - Peter Parker will be zomg-no thirty. (Cue mass fainting of Marvel execs at the very thought.)
They've cunningly escape-claused Johnny's thirtieth birthday by making him temporarily dead, but ain't nobody in this universe aging more than one more year until there's a similar plot device to reset the clock on Peter. Because allowing Peter Parker to become a mature adult who can change and grow? Unpossible!
I don't think Epting is that bad an artist - he did great work on Captain America, but for me, he's not suited to what I feel is a less realistic book like FF. As it is, his Val looks weirdly like Sharon Carter, which... Isn't a good thing.
I quite like Epting's art, problems drawing child-like kids aside, but I've always felt that the F4 work best in a bright and bold cartoony style. I really couldn't stand Bryan Hitch's run on the title, despite loving his work on Ultimates. The F4 is just not a book that fits with muted tones and gritty realism, no matter how dark the storylines happen to get.
Putting people like Hitch or Epting on FF is like putting a 'realistic' artist like JG Jones on Final Crisis. These kinds of highly imaginative science fiction and fantasy pieces require people who can channel that Kirby energy into something astonishing, not ground it in realism.
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And I still haven't figured out how old Valeria is supposed to be. It changes from artist to artist. Is she 3? Is she 6? Is she 8?
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Which... doesn't actually help much!
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Which is sad, because I love the idea of Doom allied with a Richards against other Richards, and Bentley 23 is a cool character, but it's all dribbling away in little bits of poor execution and OOC choices.
Supersmart villains being reduced to grr-arg brawlers is the least of it.
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She's obviously still a young kid, even if she's edging toward tween years, and really, I feel like it works better that way than having a preschooler running around doing what she has been doing.
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Ideally, I'd like to place Valeria at around 10ish and Franklin at 13-14. I know that this would age the original FF, but really, if anyone can be pushing the 40+ age range I feel like it should be the original Marvel family.
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See, Johnny Storm was sixteen when the F4 got their powers, and since we all know Peter was fifteen when he got his, that makes him fairly solidly anchored to being one year younger than Johnny. Which means that if more than fifteen years are allowed to pass for the F4 - and we've almost hit that bungee-cord limit already, with thirteen and a half years gone and Franklin around ten - Peter Parker will be zomg-no thirty. (Cue mass fainting of Marvel execs at the very thought.)
They've cunningly escape-claused Johnny's thirtieth birthday by making him temporarily dead, but ain't nobody in this universe aging more than one more year until there's a similar plot device to reset the clock on Peter. Because allowing Peter Parker to become a mature adult who can change and grow? Unpossible!
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Bah!
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This puts the whole segment under a completely different light...
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Franklin - Steve
Valeria - Sharon
Bentley - James
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