It is amazing how Jonathan Hickman has been telling one huge story for almost three years. For a while I did avoid this title because I wasn’t so sure about how Hickman could write a mainstream, ongoing comic. But now Fantastic Four and FF have become some of my favorite Marvel titles being published. So when Hickman announced that he is going to leave the title this Fall I was a bit depressed. I can’t imagine anyone could do what Hickman has done: Making the Fantastic Four relevant again. It is also puzzling considering how he has several months to go and yet this issue in particular feels like a finale…

This is the ‘final’ issue when it comes to this sprawling epic Hickman has wrote himself. What I love about this issue the most is that it sums up all of the themes he has wrote into the run. It has been about Reed dealing with his family and how he tries to balance them and his scientific work. It’s a little ‘dues ex machina’ on how that part of the story and the Celestials story are resolved but this is a Fantastic Four story so it fits. I wouldn’t say this issue would make me ‘tear up’ but it is a sweet message and ending when it comes to the father/son dynamic. Then of course you got some great sci-fi battles involving the Celestials and a great Galactus moment which I won’t spoil. It’s funny how when Hickman is sort of tamed when it comes to his writing (Marvel clearly didn’t want him to go that far out with this like in SHIELD) that he seems to be a ‘better’ writer. I know that might sound stupid or controversial but his writing seems to work when it’s either far out (Manhattan Projects) or in this series.

It’s nice that Steve Epting gets to do the ‘final’ issue of this storyline. But I will admit that some of his art is the reason I don’t rate the book much higher. Don’t get me wrong, there is some beautiful stuff in this issue. Anything involving the battles of the Celestials or just with the ‘Kirby Dots’ is top notch. But some of the faces in this look really off at points, especially towards the end. It might not help that there are two inkers (Epting doing some himself) so that could be the cause of some of the inconsistencies. Also, I really think Epting had some issues on how to address certain moments of the script. Whether that’s a fault of the script or the artist is up to debate; but moments like Future Franklin fighting the Celestials early are a bit awkward when put together.

For a ‘finale’, this certainly is a strong one for such a great run by a great writer. While Hickman is not done with the team this certainly felt like an ending, and it was an emotion one at that. Steve Epting does a pretty good job helping with the finale but unfortunately some of the designs and lay outs hurt what could have been a perfect way to end the Fantastic Four. I don’t know what Hickman has planned with only a few short months, but let’s hope it is good and not ‘padding’ to set up the next creative team.