With the Fantastic Four somewhat, kinda not really, back together as a team there is only one questions to ask: What to do with FF? ‘Why not turn the focus onto the kids?’ Hickman must have thought and quickly made it so with Marvel. So now this book is going to focus on the younger members of the Future Foundation and probably some of their wacky adventures…..Oh and apparently ‘All Hope Lies in Doom’.

What makes me so excited for this new run is that Doom is going to be the big plot point. If you’ve read any issues beforehand with Hickman and Doom you know how awesome this prospect is. Considering Doom says he will ‘burn the meat off the bones’ of evil Reed and you know some badass things are gonna go down soon. While I admit the kids wasn’t my favorite part of Hickman’s run; I do admire how well he writes them. Whether it be regular, alien, or super geniuses he’s able to blend a great mix of smart talk and kid like elements in the script. Franklin Richards giving us this techno babble one minute and then saying Doom’s fortress is great for paintball is really fun to read. The ongoing mystery with what Nathaniel is doing with Evil Reed and Doom is also fun to read. Also, there’s yet another subtle hint that Hickman’s other book, SHIELD, is going to be big in the near future.

The thing that stood out in this issue was the art by Juan Bobillo. It’s….tough to get into, that’s as rough as I’ll put it. Considering I’ve been used to Epting and Kitson for so long it is a bit of a jarring adjustment. While I’m not going to say his style is as ugly as Greg Tocchini *shutter*, it can get quite fugly at times. At certain points, eyeballs are so small that it looks like the kids eyes barely fit into their skulls. Other times, faces will go in and out of being detailed to sketchy to the point where their faces morph into new creatures. I do like his designs for other characters though such as the fish kids and how Doom’s facemask resembles Iron Man. Plus he has some really nice panel layouts from using empty space when their in the snow landscapes to giving us massive detail in the buildings. Overtime I did get used to this style but I’d be lying if I’d say it could look a hell of a lot better.

Basically if you’ve read the previous eleven issues of FF with the kids, you get more of the same here. That isn’t bad though as Hickman is delivering an intriguing mystery with Nathaniel Richards and the Evil Reed Richards. Also, Hickman writes the kids in a nice blend of adult and kid like obsersations that it’s too entertaining to pass up. But if you expect the kids (and dragon) to look the same inside the book as on the cover prepared to be disappointed. Juan Bobillo definitely has the talent when you see his panel layouts and detailed backgrounds. But when you look at the characters they become so off model that they literally look alien (the one’s that aren’t anyways). Overall it’s a solid issue and I’m confident that this new run of FF is going to be fun as always. I just hope that Bobillo’s art can be a bit more tighter the next go round.