macmcentire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. In vol. 4 #12, we’ve got dinosaurs, dinosaurs, and more dinosaurs!

Recap: Reed has taken the family on a year-long expedition through time and space, which is a front for him seeking a cure for a molecular disease of some sort that’s slowly killing him and his teammates. As the disease started to affect his teammates, Reed came clean with them. On the utopian planet Celeritas, the heroes were flung forward in time and separated by steampunk-ish time travelers the Preservation Front. Also, the future version of Johnny, known as Old John Storm, has shown up in this timeline as well.

Sue, Ben, and Franklin arrive at the “end of time” with the P.F., searching for the rest of the Fantastic Four. They manage to fix the time machine so it goes back and not forward in time. They arrive in the past, with the P.F. musing about how things were so better in the past. Turn the page, and we see the others have arrived in Celaritas’ distant past. They’re attacked by an alien dinosaur and fight it off. The Preservation Front and the family arrive just in time, and everyone’s reunited.

Ben asks for an explanation of where Old John came from, and the Preservation Front uses that an excuse to make a run for it. Sue is about to stop them, but her powers go haywire thanks to the molecular disease. The Front’s ship disappears, stranding the FF in the past. Old John promises the team they’ll get out of this, but he doesn’t remember how. The group starts work on setting up camp in this wilderness.

More dinosaurs attack, for several pages of fighting. The molecular disease affects Ben, causing his rocky hide to fall off, revealing the fleshy part underneath. Outnumbered by dinosaurs, everyone huddles under Sue’s force field with no way out. They’re rescued by their own time ship, now fully repaired and looking brand new. A bunch of futuristic-looking children come out of the ship, announcing themselves as the grandchildren of the Preservation Front. The original P.F. is there, now in old age. The kids are the ones who convinced their grandfolks to come back for the rescue. Before the FF return to their original timeline, one kid tells them, “Good luck in the doomed universe!”

Later, Valeria is bummed about her idea of finding a cure in Celeritas didn’t work, and Reed tells her not to worry about her parents because it’s their job to worry about her. Nearby, Old John tells Johnny he can’t reveal anything about Johnny’s future, even if he could remember it. Then Ben discovers that the last of his rocks have fallen away, leaving him a bumpy, fleshy Thing.

Unstable molecule: Reed promises to think of something incredible to rescue everyone from the dinos, only for the future kids to rescue them instead. Does this reflect his inability to find a cure?

Fade out: Sue turns partially invisible when her powers freak out. The comic only suggests this also affects her force fields, but doesn’t outright say it.

Clobberin’ time: Ben wears white gloves throughout this issue, another result of the molecular disease making him lose his rocky exterior.

Flame on/Foundational: The most interesting part of this story is the back and forth between Johnny and Old John. Johnny assumes he can’t be killed not that he’s seen his future self, while Old John continues to dodge questions about the future.

Four and a half: Franklin helps the Preservation Front rewire their time machine so it can go back in time as well as forward. It’s suggested that his reality-bending mutant powers are making this possible.

Our gal Val: Despite Valeria’s genius, she can’t think her way out of the dinosaur attack. It’s a rare moment of her dropping the smart kid act and being vulnerable.

Trivia time: This is the final appearance of the Preservation Front. I guess the world just wasn’t yet ready for steampunk time-traveling thieves. The grandkids have no entries in the Marvel Wiki. Only one of them gets a name, Monica.

Fantastic or frightful? After a confused and overstuffed part one, part two is one big dinosaur fight scene. I’m not complaining, as I love a good ol’ fashioned Marvel slugfest, but I wonder what this two-parter was for. The Johnny/Old John stuff was the best part, and it’s the part that keeps the main plot ongoing.

Next: Color palette.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer Matt Fraction’s dual comics experiment continues with FF vol. 2 #11. With all these characters and storylines going at once, why not have Impossible Man pop up?

Recap. The Fantastic Four went on a journey throughout time and space, leaving behind a replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – to run the Future Foundation in their place. They disappeared, leaving the new team on their own. An older Johnny Storm, now known as Old John Storm, arrived from the future with a tale of an all-powerful Dr. Doom, called the Conquering Doom, who killed the Fantastic Four in the distant future. But then, present-day Dr. Doom has made a deal with Alex Power to spy on the new FF, holding Alex’s parents hostage. Doom wants Alex to kill Old John. For help with this, Alex and some of the other kids consulted Maximus the Mad, only to accidentally set him free.

Plans are under way to rescue the Fantastic Four, with help from immortal alien who met the Four in distant past when disguised as Julius Caesar. Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and Darla are in Caesar’s time ship with a plan to go back to the day the Fantastic Four disappeared and stop them. The ship has a bumpy takeoff, and then it disappears. At the new Baxter Building, Alex, Bentley-23, Onome, Ahura, and Tong sneak Maximus through the place, all while Caesar gives a lecture to the other kids on the subject of conquering (!). He catches Alex’s group while they try to sneak past.

The replacement four arrive in the past, only to find NYC turned all green and purple, and seemingly abandoned. Everything gets all twisty-turny until the face of the Impossible Man appears on the side of a building, asking “Did you miss me?” There’s a brief fight, after Impy says he pulled them there as soon as they were unmoored from time, because he has request. He’s heard they run a school now, and he has a kid who needs help.

The heroes dismiss the idea, saying the Future Foundation is not a conventional school, but one with a specific curriculum for specific types of students. Impossible Man says his son needs help because the boy is “entirely too possible.” He offers to help them find the missing Fantastic Four in exchange for meeting the kid. They go to this New York’s library and they’re introduced to the impossible boy, who is impossibly named Adolph.

At HQ, there’s some comedy bits with Maximus disguising himself as a H.E.R.B.I.E, robot to sneak around. In the library, Adolph is a brainy scientist type, who’d rather read books than go to New York. The four make their case for how great the Future Foundation is, and how much fun it is to live in New York. Adolph freaks out, using his Impossible Man powers to trap the heroes in grey boxes. Medusa manages to reach him, saying that the Future Foundation can help him understand and control his volatile emotions. She says that, as a mother, her job is to protect children.

Later, Impossible Man tells Ant-Man that the Fantastic Four are about to be pulled into an alternate dimension where no one can look. We warns them that bad things are coming, and that the replacement team must focus on protecting themselves from “the doomed future.” The timeship takes off with Adolph. On Earth, Caesar finds Maximus in the Baxter Building kitchen, stuffing his face. They shake hands, as Caesar introduces himself as “in the business of conquering worlds.”

To be continued!

Fantastic fifth wheel: Ant-Man pilots the timeship, while also admitting this is the first time he’s ever time-traveled.

She-Hulk is very abrasive to her teammates throughout this issue, so the fight between her and Medusa a few issues back is still unresolved.

Medusa claims that having the city of Attilan floating in the sky over New York makes New York safer than it’s ever been. I don’t know if that’s true.

Darla tries to convince Adolph to come to NYC by describing the great music there. She adds that when she was a child, one of her babysitters was a member of the Strokes.

Multiple H.E.R.B.I.E. robots patrol the hallways of the Baxter Building wearing “hall monitor” sashes. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Impossible Man says he likes the Fantastic Four and wants to help them. This calls back to the time he was part of the short-lived “Fantastic Seven” team lineup in the ‘70s.

Foundational: Welcome to the Future Foundation, Adolph Impossible! This is his first appearance… maybe? In Marvel Two-In-One #86, he fathered a whole bunch of children, the Impossible Kids. It’s unclear whether one of them eventually became Adolph, but it doesn’t look like it.

Bentley suggests that some of the girls in the Future Foundation have a crush on Alex Power, singling out Onome in particular. She shushes him before he can go further.

Trivia time: Who is Adolph’s mom? That’d be the Impossible Woman, who shows up briefly at the end of this issue. Impossible Man created her from his own essence (!), back in Marvel Two-In-One #60, and they’ve been on-again/off-again ever since.

Fantastic or frightful? His name is Adolph, is it? I don’t know. I guess the joke is that it would be impossible for someone to name their kid that. Fortunately, we’ll see him become an interesting addition to the Future Foundation in issues to come. Beyond that, Impossible Man is no one’s favorite character, but Matt Fraction does right by him in this issue. He’s funny and wacky, but also a genuine character.

Next: You old fossil.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. It’s off to a distant planet for more time travel action in vol. 4 #11. Also, an Arrested Development crossover?

Recap: Reed has taken the family on a year-long expedition through time and space, which is a front for him seeking a cure for a molecular disease of some sort that’s slowly killing him and his teammates. As the disease started to affect his teammates, Reed came clean with them. In the parallel series FF, there’s a lot of mystery as to what’s become of them, but the main series hasn’t gotten there yet.

This issue begins with Reed apologizing to Valeria about deceiving everyone. Further, he asks for her help. He says he’s stared at the problem for too long and needs a fresh perspective. He agrees to let her choose where the family goes next, no matter what. The then arrive at planet Celeritas, a utopian world that harvests energy from star clusters to rebuild their world. They’re greeted by two hosts, Titor and Michio, who not just know who Valeria is, but are in awe of her presence. She asks for a few hours in their most advanced laboratory… and a sandwich.

Valeria, Reed, and Johnny take off for the lab, while Sue, Ben, and Franklin tour the main city in Celeritas. They ask why the city has what appears to be old Earth buildings, but they’re told not ask questions. Johnny and Valeria bicker for a bit about the kids leaving Legos on the floor, after which she requests a full diagnostic from the aliens.

Then we see a ticking clock, followed by images of the city all twisting and turning around. Titor says “time terrorists” have set off chronal explosives to force history back into the present, hence the old buildings. Then Michio reports that Reed, Valeria, and Johnny were taking forward in time because of the explosion. Titor says only the Preservation Front knows where or when they might be. Then we meet this Preservation Front, a steampunk-looking crew of high tech gear and old-timey style. They spot Sue, Ben and Franklin in the city via their monitors, and their leader, Thunder, plots to steal the heroes’ time ship.

Reed, Johnny, and Valeria find themselves on a version of the planet that’s about to fold in on itself due to all the time disruptions. There are portals all around that Valeria says are dangerous, acting like miniature white holes. Reed wants to figure out a way of fixing things to get back, but Valeria is more concerned about the sense that something else is there, stalking them. Johnny then sees something flying overhead, confirming they’re not alone. He chases the figure, only to discover it’s Old John Storm from the concurrent FF series – Johnny from the future!

With the other group, Titor explains that the Preservation Front are driven by nostalgia, wanting to drag everyone back to the good old days. The P.F. then attacks, on modern-day cars and motorcycles. They fight, with the P.F. throwing bombs that make crazy time-stuff happen, like a tree growing under Ben within seconds. In the other scene, Valeria and Reed can detect the battle happening through one of their portals. The two of them reach a large structure with a glowing globe on top. Valeria declares, “We’re going to build more future and save everything.”

The fight continues, and Franklin’s eyes start glowing. Energy surrounds him, and Sue urges him to focus and control his powers. He shouts, “Stop!” and sends out a wave of energy that knocks out the Preservation Front. Valeria, meanwhile, deduces that the globe is a sort of time capsule, containing all of Celeritas’ history, punching holes in spacetime whenever it is activated. To create more time and repair the machine, Valeria says she needs a lot of heat. Johnny and Old John show up, with Johnny vouching for his future self. Reed has thousands of questions, but they have to get to work on the machine.

Sue negotiates with the Preservation Front, who she’s keeping held in force fields. She demands her family back, just as Ben’s hands start crumbling like they did at the end of last issue. Big Sky, another P.F. member, says he knows what other team is doing, and it will be their undoing. As he says this, we see cutaways to the two Johnnys heating up the machine. He asks Sue to let them go in exchange for saving her family.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed taking a back seat to Valeria in this issue is about him being contrite about not revealing the truth to his family. He tells his daughter, “You can be mad if you want. I deserve it.” He adds that the only way to make it up to her is to find a cure.

Fade out: Sue tries threatening the Preservation Front, but they know all about who the Fantastic Four are, and they know Sue is overall nicer than that.

Clobberin’ time: Ben spends the whole issue wanting to punch someone, only to be undone by the fast-growing tree.

Flame on: Johnny tells Old John Storm that he’s never really measured just how many degrees of heat he can generate, saying he just pushes it and sees what happens.

Four and a half: Franklin’s mutant powers are reestablished in a big way with him gaining some control over it. Him using energy waves to take out the enemies is reminiscent of how he defeated Mephisto that one time during the John Byrne years.

Our gal Val: Valeria takes on the leadership role in this issue, something we’ll see more from her as time goes on.

Foundational: Old John Storm crosses over from FF to this series, but without his cybernetic limbs and no mention of the future threat of the Conquering Doom. Readers are continuing to wonder what the bigger picture is.

Trivia time: The members of the Preservation Front are Thunder, Phenom, Starstruck, and Big Sky, along with three unnamed members. They have no entry in the Marvel Wiki, despite coming back for more next issue.

This issue’s letters page states that, following the events of Arrested Development season 4, Marvel’s lawyers cracked down on Tobias Funke’s unlicensed FF musical. Editor Tom Brevoort says it’s a shame, because “that theme song is kinda catchy!”

Fantastic or frightful? This is a bit of a confusing one, throwing all kinds of sci-fi concepts at the reader at once, hoping we’ll keep up. I wonder if this was meant to be multiple issues of story condensed into one. I do like the Preservation Front, though, as a quirky group of villains/antiheroes. I can totally see somebody at Marvel bringing them back.

Next: Don’t box me in.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Things get wackier than usual in FF vol. 2 #10, when the comic’s own creators show up as characters.

There’s so many plotlines happening, it’s getting harder and harder to recap. The Fantastic Four went on a journey throughout time and space, leaving behind a replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – to run the Future Foundation in their place. They disappeared, leaving the new team on their own. An older Johnny Storm, now known as John Storm, arrived from the future with a tale of an all-powerful Dr. Doom, called the Conquering Doom, who killed the Fantastic Four in the distant future. Plans are under way to rescue them. But then, present-day Dr. Doom has made a deal with Alex Power to spy on the new FF, holding Alex’s parents hostage. I think that covers it for now.

We begin with everyone around the dinner table at, as John Storm says he can sense Dr. Doom’s presence in Alex. A fight almost breaks out. In the bathroom, Alex contacts Dr. Doom, who tells him John Storm has to be killed (!), reminding Alex that Alex’s parents’ lives are in the balance. Cut to the Franklin Park Zoo, where the new team and some of the kids are having a PR meeting with three representatives of Marvel Comics, writer Matt Fraction, artist Mike Allred, and editor Tom Brevoort, the same ones making this issue. It’s meta! The heroes are taking the Marvel guys on a trip through the microverse in Ant-Man’s shrinking ship. Ant-Man assures everyone the trip will be safe, but then he seems unsure of it.

At the Baxter Building, Alex hangs out with a bunch of the other kids on the roof. He asks if any of them know anyone who’s killed someone. Ahura says he does. In the microverse, the ship is the size of an atom, with Ant-Man showing off other atoms. Brevoort is impressed, but he says the Marvel team is more interested in the team’s monthly capers. Ant-Man gets a message stating that a tiger has gone missing from the zoo. Artie and Leech, who’s with everyone on the ship, reveal they used “Pym dust” to shrink a tiger and sneak it on board. The tiger gets loose inside the ship, causing it to spin out of control.

The heroes and the Marvel guys venture outside the ship, looking for the tiger, who has run off. The find it, only to discover it has grown to giant size, or at least giant from their perspective. They fight the tiger while keeping the Marvel guys out of harm’s way. Ant-Man says this will be a fine ending for the comic, but Matt Fraction doesn’t buy it. He says there has to be some sort of unseen surprise at the end. Ant-Man responds, “We’re the FF. Something will come up.”

Ahura takes some of the Foundation kids to the floating city of Attilan. Specifically, it’s him, Alex, Bentley-23, Onome, and Tong the Moloid. They meet with a mystery man whose eyes are hidden behind a metal blindfold. He seems to know about each of them. Ahura reveals this is his uncle, Maximus the Mad. He’s in a cell, and Maximus engages the kids in a game of twenty questions in exchange for them letting him go free.

Maximus confounds the kids with his subject, as they whittle it down to not an animal, mineral, or vegetable, but a concept. Their twenty questions are up, and he gives the answer just as his cell opens. He says, “I am free.”

To be continued!

Fantastic fifth wheel: Throughout this issue, Ant-Man communicates with a place and/or organization called A.N.T.H.I.L.L.1. We get one glimpse of this, an entire team of people wearing black and white Ant-Man gear. The Marvel Wiki has no information on A.N.T.H.I.L.L.1., except to note that this is its first appearance. I’ll assume this is also the last appearance.

Similarly, Darla’s publicist Durante joins the heroes on their micro-adventure. The Marvel Wiki has no info on him except his name.

Medusa is unimpressed with the tiger’s size, saying she’s faced bigger beasts. I’m feeling a little tired this week, so I’ll let you comb through all of Marvel history to find out what giant beasts she’s fought in the past.

Foundational: Who has Alex Power met that’s killed somebody? The Power Pack kids befriended Wolverine on multiple occasions, and we know he’ll kill if he has to. And they certainly saw murder first-hand during the Mutant Massacre crossover and the Snark-Kymelian war. None of those suit his purposes in finding a solution to John Storm, however.

Trivia time: Fictional characters meeting their own creators is nothing new. The trick has been done since way back in Dante’s Inferno (1321), if not earlier. In Fantastic Four, the characters previously met Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Steve Englehard, and now Fraction, Allred, and Brevoort. There are probably others I’m not thinking of.

New York’s Central Park Zoo, a real location, has been the site for many Marvel tales over the years, too many to list here. Interestingly, the Scarlet Spider, a.k.a. Kaine, has had multiple adventures at the zoo.

Fantastic or frightful? Of course the Alex/Maximus storyline is the good stuff, moving the plot forward, while the microverse stuff is, as the comic admits, a caper. We’re now in the second half of Fraction’s two-series-at-once experiment. It’s been fun, but by now I’m sure readers are antsy to get to the bigger picture.

Next: It’s not Margaritaville.  

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. History comes alive (sort of) in vol. 4 issue #10, in which characters named Ben and Franklin meet… Ben Franklin!

Recap: Reed has taken the family on a year-long expedition through time and space, which is a front for him seeking a cure for a molecular disease of some sort that’s slowly killing him and his teammates. In the parallel series FF, there’s a lot of mystery as to what’s become of them, but the main series hasn’t gotten there yet.

We begin in Philadelphia, 1776. Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and John Adams are debating slavery (everyone start nervously tugging at your collars now). Then we cut to outer space, aboard the FF’s time ship, where Sue’s powers are glitching, causing her skeleton and other innards to show through her skin. Reed finally admits to the whole family that their own powers are making them sick. Johnny and the kids are upset Reed didn’t tell them sooner.  Reed goes over the events of this storyline so far, explaining that he collected molecular samples from the various worlds and timelines from previous issues, only to conclude that this disease is not natural. Someone deliberately infected them. In 1776, Ben Franklin follows a glowing green device to a hole in the ground, only to reveal he’s really a Skrull in disguise. Reed continues that the disease is not just an attack… but an invasion.

Back aboard the ship, Reed and the family brainstorm for some sort of conclusion, only for a still-angry Valeria to deduce that the Skrulls are behind the disease. This is followed by more drama from Johnny, who accuses Sue of being no worse than Reed in this secrecy. There’s a page of Jefferson and Adams still debating slavery, and then it’s back to the ship, where Reed wants to go to 1953 and meet scientist Rosalind Franklin. But then something goes wrong, and the ship gets blasted down to Earth in 1776.

Reed’s computer reveals that a Skrull is somewhere nearby, and that the “chronal-anchor” Reed planted on the Earth is gone, which could be a huge problem. The Skrull impersonating Ben Franklin joins the others, hinting that he’s up to something. On the ship, Reed figures that the Skrull has “phoned home” and other Skrulls are headed for Earth. He wants the FF to stop their rendezvous, while also helping themselves to some Skrull tech to repair their own ship.

Sue and Ben confront the Skrull ship as it lands, for a few pages of fighting. The Ben Franklin Skrull tries to leave while the others debate the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. Reed, Johnny, and the kids, all dressed in 1776-times clothes, show up to confront him, with Reed sneakily speaking some Skrull language to Franklin, and showing off some future tech, so Franklin knows he’s been caught in the act.

Later, Reed reveals the Skrulls’ plan was to be pro-slavery, in hopes of enslaving all of Earth someday. After taking the Skrulls’ molecular samples, Sue reveals to the kids that Reed turned the Ben Franklin Skrull into a cow! (Reference to way back in issue #2.) Reed says he had to do this to restore the timeline, but Valeria doesn’t like it, rushing off in another fit of anger. Reed starts talking about needing another chronal anchor, because they can’t get home without it. Meanwhile, Ben looks down and sees his rocky hands are starting to crumble.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: The woman mentioned by Reed, Rosalind Franklin, was a real person. Her famous work, Photo 51, was crucial in establishing the double helix model structure of DNA.

Fade out: Reed gives Sue a special harness that can control her invisibility temporarily. She undoes it to frighten the Skrulls at the end of their fight.

Clobberin’ time: After the FF’s ship crash lands in a lake Ben swims it out of the water. Reed calls him “our outboard motor.”

Flame on: Johnny is now the only member of the team who has shown no symptoms of this mysterious disease, but he’s angered at Reed for not telling he’s potentially dying.

Four and a half: Franklin and Valeria are given a chance to talk to Thomas Jefferson at the end of the issue, only to be disappointed by him.

Our gal Val: When Valeria is mad at Reed, he claims she has “become a teenager.” I prefer to think this is not her actual age, but a mere aphorism by Reed.

Trivia time: As of this writing, Marvel is currently publishing the 1776 miniseries from writer J. Michael Stracynski. It’s about a bunch of Marvel heroes teleporting back to the American Revolution to stop a plot by the villainous witch Morgan Le Fay. It’s a bit more comedic and Back to the Future-ish than this serious story. I don’t see anything in the first two issues that reference this Fantastic Four storyline, but you never know.

Fantastic or frightful? I’m sure writer Matt Fraction meant well with all this slavery talk, but it comes off as more uncomfortable rather than having a grand moral center. The issue doesn’t have enough pages to have any real fun with an alien impersonating Ben Franklin. The true story is Valeria and Johnny both being ticked off at Reed, It feels genuine, and it’s something we’ll see carry forward in future issues.  

Next: Fourth wall? What’s that?

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.