Unlike the last Hickman book I reviewed this week, I know certainly well what to expect with a FF book. So far Hickman has written himself a damn fine Fantastic Four run. Every issue that comes out is full of drama and action you would come to expect from Marvel’s first family. Last issue ended a bit weirdly though with Reed, Nathaniel, and Spider-Man seemingly walking into a portal to go to where they are needed. I was curious on just what Hickman was going for with that ending and I thought it was going to go somewhere big. But I was wrong.

It was quite obvious that portal for the three characters purpose was to get them where they need to be (A mini Deus Ex Machina if you will) and Hickman had no idea how to get them there in the first place. So the issue has this weird feel to it because the time gap between issues is a bit big and sudden. Reed is talking to his Sue about getting Ben back into the family, Nathaniel is with the evil Reed and Doom, and Spider-Man is just….well ‘hanging’ around (pardon the lame pun). Considering we just had two issues of these three going full out postal against the evil Reed’s it is a bit weird to see the tone of the book switch gears. Mind you that doesn’t mean it is a bad issue by any means. It is quite fun to read and Hickman does have a great voice for the Sue/Reed romance and Ben is as lovable as ever. The only problem I had again is that Spider-Man seems to have no purpose in this title. He is literally used as a joke machine or, in this issue’s case, a character to use to push the story along. It’s cool to see Spidey dress in FF colors and fight along side them; but it is obvious Hickman has no real use for him.

Once again we do not have Steve Epting to do an issue, which makes me very sad. But at least he is replaced by the much more competent Barry Kitson then the horror that was Greg Tocchini. Well ‘competent’ is a bad thing to say to the guy, Kitson is actually very good in this issue (as in the previous fill-ins). He certainly has the style of Epting which keeps the pencils looking somewhat consistent. Plus he is very good at acting with Sue in the garden a prime example of that. His layouts though aren’t as impressive, even if they are good for the issue. The one sequence of the evil Reed about to attack Nathaniel is a good example. While that particular panel looks good, the next panel of an extreme close up of Reed seemed to be a bit awkward. Especially since he indicates Nathaniel is looking at him in a weird way. If he added another panel of Nathaniel looking smug then it would’ve been fine. Stuff like that is peppered throughout the book and while, again, it’s not a bad looking comic you can tell Epting brings a lot to each issue and it’s noticeable.

This is a solid issue all around for the series. We’re getting close to ‘the’ Fantastic Four coming back into print so it’ll be interesting to see where this title is gonna go. There is a lot of good characterization in this issue as always by Hickman even if Spider-Man seems a bit pointless. Kitson also does a great job too filling in for Epting even though both styles are night and day in the end. My only big problem with this issue is the ending, which I’ll try and avoid to specific spoilers. But the way it ends is a bit confusing in that Hickman has clearly made this a ‘family’ book. It’s all about the Fantastic Four, their kids, close allies, and enemies. To suddenly add a mix of other Marvel Universe character to the mix seems to contradict the overall theme of the book. It’ll be interesting to see where Hickman is going to take it and see if it’s a swerve.