Fantastic Four #601

[spikespeigel]

Huh. I'm kind of surprised no one's posted this yet. I know someone posted the preview page, but here's what's going on around the view in the sky. This was the second best moment in the book. But since I'm out of pages since this is the latest issue, go and pick it up. It's so worth it. Especially when you see Cap's face when he realizes the scope of what just happened. In any case, I picked the personal moment, because I've been waiting for this moment ever since the book went to its FF status. And it was worth the wait.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

... i've got big orange rocks in my eyes.... don't look at me!

[spikespeigel]

It's okay. How could you not shed a tear at this moment? I know I did ;)

[shadowpsykie]

also i love your icon. where is it from... the art looks familiar eith Jon Cassady or.... the person who does the Dark Tower books...

[spikespeigel]

Yep. It's John Cassady from his Planetary run. If you haven't read it, you should. It's stellar stuff. I posted a lot of Planetary stuff at the old SD, but alas, those posts are no more :(

[shadowpsykie]

i LOVE Jon Cassady, he drawns a BEAUTIFUL and POWERFUL Emma Frost.

[spikespeigel]

I like to think his work on Jakita translated to his interpretation of Emma. The glares are uncannily similar.

[shadowpsykie]

i see some kitty there too.

but yeah. he could make strong powerful sexy women without making them pin ups!

i THINK i read the Planetary arc where they were looking for...drummer? in gotham and they were going through the different permutations of Batman (THAT was AWESOME) something out of a Grant Morrison wetdream

[spikespeigel]

Yep. That was the Batman/Planetary crossover. And funny you should mention Morrison, because it was written by Warren Ellis before he went the Neil Gaiman route.

[shadowpsykie]

really? eeeew he did the Astonishing X-Men arc i really hated.... wow... that's quite a difference... but his work always seemed more early moore (teehee) and a little bit of grant morrison

[spikespeigel]

Yeah, he's not that good at superhero comics. But if it's sci-fi, he can write the hell out of it. Hence his outstanding work on Planetary and Transmetropolitan.

[shadowpsykie]

he seems to understand batman though, that's hard to do

[spikespeigel]

Depends on the superhero. He had a pretty good run on Thunderbolts when Osborn was running the Marvel U.

[shadowpsykie]

That was him?!.wow

[spikespeigel]

See what I mean? If it's a superhero book rooted in reality, he's aces. If it's something like the X-Men, no chance. Still, his hits far outnumber his misses, so I'm okay with Ellis trying something different every now and then.

[icon_uk]

His Excalibur run was excellent IMHO.

[spikespeigel]

I've heard that, but that was during the time I was pulling away from all X-books because of their reliance on incessant crossovers.

[captainbellman]

Er...no he didn't. The Thunderbolts during "Dark Reign" were a team of nondescripts written into dull adventures by (I think) Jason Aaron. Ellis' Thunderbolts were run by Osborn, yes, but only while he was director of the Thunderbolts alone, answerable to Tony Stark and SHIELD. In fact, Brian Bendis got te very idea of Dark Reign FROM Ellis' politically-charged social-behaviour-experiment Thunderbolts stories.

Apart from NEXTwave, Ellis' run on the T-Bolts remains my favourite of his Marvel work, and certainly some of the best comics Marvel has published. For one thing, having Venom, Penance and Bullseye on the team, along with the numerous crosses, double-crosses, and political allegories, made it the only time I was actually interested in the Thunderbolts...

[espanolbot]

His work on Doom 2099 looked pretty good from what I saw of it.

[spikespeigel]

No love for Kurt Busiek's run on Thunderbolts? But yeah, you're right. Ellis's run was after Tony's Civil War run. Still a great Thunderbolts arc from Ellis though. I was sad to see him leave the book.

[q99]

I think Marvel brings back people too fast.


Mind you, I don't *mind* Steve coming back after Bucky's got the slot for awhile, or what have you. But when you have a cool temporary status quo that's doing well, it'd be nice if they stayed a bit longer.

[spikespeigel]

Well, they haven't brought Jean back yet. That's got to count for something.

[shadowpsykie]

she's on her way :D

[spikespeigel]

Ahaha! Stop it. She's the new Bucky/Gwen Stacy for Marvel. They gotta keep someone dead.

[shadowpsykie]

come now, if anyone SHOULD come back, it's Jean Grey of all people, we still have uncle ben :D

[spikespeigel]

But then we wouldn't have AOA Jean/Logan angst anymore in Uncanny X-Force!

And I've got to ask. Whose rear is that?

[kamino_neko]

Wait...they brought Gwen back? In 616?

[spikespeigel]

I can't speak personally, but I recall a story with Osborn/Gwen making the beasts with two backs, and they had kids that tried to kill Spider-Man. Might have been from JMS's run, but I haven't read 616 Spider-Man ever since Ultimate hit the shelves.

[filkertom]

JMS has kinda disavowed that monstrosity. Kinda. That, and a few other things around the same time -- can't even remember -- put me off buying any comics first-run. Since then, I bought a couple of Thor collections, the Doc Savage omnibus, and not much else.

[kamino_neko]

That was Sins Past, which was set before she or Norman died, IIRC. (I haven't read Spider-Man with anything resembling regularity since the Clone Saga, and never read Sins Past, but that's how I understand it.)

[blackruzsa]

I recently read that in a TPB, yup, it wasn't a resurrection but supposedly set around the time Gwen was leaving for Europe?

[biod]

It's the reason she left for Europe; she was pregnant.

[thefiretonight]

Normally I'd agree with this but I totally make an exception for Johnny. XD

[spikespeigel]

Seconded. Because Johnny went out like a pimp. Or a hero. Whichever one you prefer :p

[thefiretonight]

At the end of the day, I prefer to think of him as both.

[lultam]

Johnny being "dead" was part of the overall ongoing story though, so I'm actually ok with this one for a change! Really epic comeback as well, Hickman turned up the emotions to 11.

[jaybee3]

I think it was fairly clear that Johnny was coming back (especially since a. they're rebooting the movie series and b. there was no body) from the beginning. I have no problems with it. I love what Hickman has done, everything from his first issues onward and seemingly obscure plot points or character moments seem to be part of a larger picture. Johnny's "death" was part of that.

And if they can bring Bucky back - no one is off-limits (except maybe Uncle Ben). I fully expect Gwen to come back some day and we know Jean is coming back...again.

[q99]

-I think it was fairly clear that Johnny was coming back (especially since a. they're rebooting the movie series and b. there was no body) from the beginning. -

Oh, agreed. I just wish they spent some more time with Peter in his place before doing so.

[silverzeo]

Wasn't Ben with someone else besides Alica?

[spikespeigel]

I remember Ben dating a schoolteacher at the beginning of Hickman's run, but she went away pretty quickly.

[stubbleupdate]

You mean th beginning of Millar's run...

[spikespeigel]

D'oh! You're right. My bad :(

[silverzeo]

Okay, but who is she? I rember that Marqui of Death guy killing her mother or was it Aunt Petunia?

[bruinsfan]

It was supposedly Petunia, but I think subsequent writers are ignoring just about everything from Millar's run except the extra Galactus corpse it left laying around.

[espanolbot]

Yeah, like how Doom is now billions of years old and literally godlike in power by the end of the Marquis storyline.

[crabby_lioness]

I had trouble swallowing about then. And seeing clearly. And not smiling.

Say what you will about the Hickman's long and complicated setups, the man knows how to deliver a payoff.