Saturday, 31 March 2018

The Return of the Fantastic Four

So yesterday (well I think yesterday, it might have been Thursday. The days just bleed into one at the moment) I learned, via a Facebook group I'm a part of, that the Fantastic Four are returning!!!

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the Fantastic Four. Ever since picking up issue 551 way back when for the beginning of Mcaduffie's final arc the beginning of the end (or was it the end of the beginning?), I've collected every issue since and even gone backwards, finding back issues ranging from Lobdell's Heroes Return run, Waid, Kesel and Beyond. The FF are without doubt the backbone of my comic collection and I was gutted by the title's cancellation nearly three years back.

Therefore, it stands to reason that I'd be excited as all hell for the return of Marvel's first family.

However, I'm not. Instead, I find myself oddly concerned by the return of arguably my favourite comic.

So, what is it that has me hesitant about the FF coming back this August? A few things I suppose. First of all, I guess I'm still a little bitter about the comic's cancellation in the first place. Fantastic Four ended back in May 2015, just in time for their awfully bad rebooted movie (which, admittedly, I still haven't seen) by Fox and the rumour at the time was that it ended because Marvel didn't want to advertise a 'not one of their' movies. I thought it was stupid then and the fact they waited until they got the rights back irks me.

There is the the fact that I've kind of reached acceptance of the book being gone. It is said that time heals all wounds and that does seem to be the case here. I watch a series of videos on YouTube by a Professor Thorgi (watch them, they are good), where he has mentioned on a few occasions that he is glad the FF are gone and how they went was such a great swan song for the characters. Now, having thought about this, I think he's actually right and that Reed, Sue, Ben, Johnny, Franklin and Valeria received a fantastic (pardon the pun) end to their story. Therefore, not only have I made my peace with their cancellation, but I fear that their return will destroy what could have been a great end to their story.

This then brings me to me last concern; the creative team. With the announcement of the Fantastic Four's return was the news that their new series would be by Dan Slott writing and Sara Pichelli on art. Now, Pichelli on art I have little to say about. I know that she worked on Ultimate Spider-Man with Bendis, creating Miles Morales, and I think she received a lot of praise for it. However, I know a little bit more about Dan Slott's past work, which is what really worries me. This is because, while Slott wrote a well praised run on the Silver Surfer (which I also didn't read), I know a few people and have heard some other opinions around the Internet who weren't happy with some of the things which happened on his incredibly long Spider-Man run. As a result, while I do think he could do some good cosmic level stories befitting the Fantastic Four, the things which have happened on his Spidey run, along with the longevity of said run, makes me worried about what may happen to the title under his tenure and if it will be equally polarising.

Of course, these are all just my concerns and so they will turn out to be unfounded, with The new series being as good as (if not better than) I last remember it. However, I can't help but be worried given what I know/believe/understand about everything surrounding, not to mention that I've been finding Marvel books to be a little off putting for a while now.

That said, the release of issue 1 is still a few months away and so maybe, between now and then, more information (like the solicits) will come to light which will give me more confidence about the return of the Fantastic Four.


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