Who Dies in Fantastic Four #587? It’s…

Spoilers ahead! If you have somehow accidentally ended up on this page and you don't want to know who dies in Fantastic Four #587 then close your browser now! Begone! Run! This is your last warning!
 


The death that has been teased and speculated upon for months has finally arrived.

We've known for a while that one of the members of the Fantastic Four was going to die in Fantastic Four #587. We've known that in order to protect the secret of who was going to die, Marvel was going to ship the issue in a black polybag so that people in their stores wouldn't be spoiled. (More on this later.) We've known that in order to get out in front of the mainstream media push that Marvel were going to engage in on Wednesday, Marvel were going to allow retailers who are participating in Tuesday delivery to sell Fantastic Four #587 on Tuesday.

Hell, Ron got so excited about the death that he ran his predictions for the death an issue early!

So now the day has come. To be honest, we weren't going to post about the death so soon but the mainstream media broke the story shortly after midnight on Tuesday on the east coast and since it was out there already it would be negligent of us to not cover it.
 

Jonathan Lowell Spencer "Johnny" Storm
AKA The Human Torch
(1961-2011)

That's right.

It's Johnny.

Poor, lovable, man-whore Johnny Storm.

How did he fall? Was it a nasty case of syphilis that finally snuffed out The Human Torch? No. Apparently, like any true hero would want, he meets his end in battle. Sadly, I can't give you the details because I haven't read the issue yet and won't until Wednesday.

I am among friends here so I can plainly state that this is comic books and Johnny will be back picking up drunk Bridge and Tunnel girls in no time. We all know this. The funny thing is that Marvel CCO Joe Quesada had to acknowledge this in the Associated Press story, saying "Whether The Human Torch comes back or not is really a question that will be answered in time. While I will never discount that a character can come back from the dead because it is one of the staples of comic book story telling. I'm not going to tell you if he will, or when he will and if he does, how he will, but I can assure you that it's going to be very, very interesting and not what anyone expects."

Methinks the mainstream media is finally catching on to this comic book "death" thing.

How long will The Human Torch stay dead? No one knows. The last major Marvel Comics character to die was Captain America and he stayed dead for only two years. On the other hand, Jean Grey has been dead for seven years and counting.

To me the death of Johnny Storm is not the most interesting part of this story. I was, of course, appalled when Marvel announced that they were polybagging Fantastic Four #587. But as appalled as I was I could at least respect their commitment to try to keep the secret of who was going to die as long as possible. But because Marvel Comics is a business, and because they have done it with all of their big stories — Cap dying, Spider-Man unmasking, etc. — I knew that there was going to be a major mainstream media push. So then I wondered how long they would be able to keep this reveal under wraps when the story would undoubtedly be all over the internet and television news. So when Marvel announced that they were going to allow readers to get ahead of the story by selling Fantastic Four #587 one day early, I thought to myself well, okay, that kind of makes sense. But then wouldn't selling the issue one day early just cause the story to break one day early? And so it did.

So here are my questions: Why would Marvel polybag the book "to protect the surprise" if the surprise was going to be spoiled anyway by a major media push initiated by Marvel a day before the official release? What's the point of protecting people in the store if the story is all over the news a day before anyway? And unfortunately those questions bring me back to my original reaction to hearing about the polybagging which is that it seems like this whole thing is just a ploy to get the more collector-minded among us to buy two copies.

Regardless of the motives, I'm looking forward to reading Fantastic Four #587 because Jonathan Hickman has been doing some fantastic (sorry) work on the book, one of the highlights being the relationship between Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm.

Man, I should have taken Ron's 48-1 odds on it being Johnny.
 

Comments

  1. That’s sad.

    And too easy. I think Sue would have been a better choice, just from a story point of view. To see how Reed would react to the loss of his wife, and Johnny to the loss of his sister…could have been crazy.

    Well, RIP indeed. See ya in what..23 months?

     

  2. Oh The Humanity!!!!!!!

  3. I see why Johhny is the one that needed to go, he was pointless.  A character like him is fun and amusing from time to time, but when did he ever do anything memorable as a hero or character.  I agree with Mr. Romo, I would have loved to see Reed deal with loss on such a level.  The only thing now is that Reed has to deal with his wife, that has little faith in him as a husband as it is, who just lost her brother. Hell even Ben just lost one of the only people that treated him like a man and not a monster.  Poor Sue just lost her brother, that cant be easy on anyone.

    His death will affect the team as a whole more than any of the other character would have. 

    I loved Johhny, I’m sad to see him go, but it was his time. Hopefully when i read the issue it will be a death worth remembering.

    FLAME ON!!

  4. @mikeromo  I give it 18 months sir!

  5. 587+13=600.

    I give it 13 months.

  6. @mikeromo  you know how much crap they would have gotten from feminist groups if they killed off the only female on the team? 

    Like all comic book deaths… this won’t stick for long. 

  7. Spoiled (not that I read FF) for me on Twitter just after midnight. Gone are the days of being surprised at a major death.

  8. I called this. The Amazing Spider-Man April cover has him mourning the death with a flaming 4 in the background, and to be perfectly honest, there’s only one member Spidey would actually get upset about. 

  9. a friend of mine pinged me to tell me that the death had been spoiled for him by the iFanboy RSS feed – apparently it shows up there without having to click on it. might want to look into that, guys.

    anyway, he then proceeds to warn me away from ifanboy…and a few minutes later forgets who he’s talking to and just blurts out ‘well, i suppose it had to be Johnny…’ 😉

    anyway, no big deal. if it’s a good story, it’s a good story. A bad story wouldn’t be improved by a twist ending.

    From the business perspective, it finally dawned on me that Marvel is using the old Disney trick of putting characters into ‘The Vault’, only to bring them back when demand is high again.

  10. Honest UQestion: Is anyone really interested in that storyline/stunt?

  11. @Bendrix  I am, but I’m not sure why; it’s been good, but from the prior issues it feels unnecessary – still not read the latest one yet, though, so I can’t really say.

  12. Shouldn’t we be careful with spoilers in the comments? The comments do show up on the main page and all.

  13. I really really disappointed becasue I think the potential for storytelling was higher with either the death of Reed or Sue.

    @AlanMac : Good call, I guess we wait and see.

  14. Yeah this already got spoiled for me by a friend who read about it and assumed I had read the issue already.  Oh well, I was pretty sure it was going to be Johnny since they already had an Ivisible Woman death story in Hickman’s run, the Thing is in the New Avengers, and Hickman really likes to write about Reed…..still excited to pick this up tomorrow.

  15. I don’t read this title and have no interest to, but still, I’m glad it’s not Reed Richards.

  16. Damn, I put my money H.E.R.B.I.E.

  17. I would be annoyed for the spoiling that’s all over the place, but he’ll be back by the time I get the trade anyway.

  18. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    Bumping spoiler off main page. 

  19. Not surprising, it was who I figured it would be. For me the idea of “death” in Big 2 comics is transient, so ultimately I’ll judge this on what I think of the story versus the actual notion that Johnny is a goner.

  20. This had been the direction of my thinking from the beginning.  Johnny is the only one not in obvious danger (Sue with the fish, Ben being depowered, and Reed with Galactus) and it ultimately makes for some very compelling stories in the future.  Ben chose to depower himself and “on his watch” Johnny is killed, which leads the question for Ben: if he hadn’t been “selfish” and depowered could he have prevented the death.  Sue of course loses a brother and Reed with the compelling decision presented him by the Council of Reeds and then by Galactus, will likely be distracted by all that he feels he is responsible to do for the future of humanity and therefore will not be there for Sue in her grief, making for stress and strain in the family.  All in all, it is a fine jumping off point for a number of stories that further explore the family dynamic that the book has been working through of late.

  21. I spoiled myself so i didn’t have to live in fear of being spoiled through twitter or a site, though the sites that have been posting have been doing a good job so far as giving spoiler warnings.

    i have read though that this seemingly invaluable death will no doubt Franklin, who Johnny has had the most interaction with during Hickman’s run.  

  22. Ron was right from the beginning it was always going to me Jonny– mayyybe Sue.

    Both characters need a tear down and a rebuild.

    And that’s what this will be- hopefully Jonny will come back badass Cyclops style it’s about time.

  23. Just for fun: Please don’t say the name or use a pronoun in your first sentence. Lead up to it if you can so we don’t spoil anybody on the main page. 

    Thanks! 

  24. hah- oh man- this site has been active for 10 years and we are really worried about Spoilers?

    It’s The place for spoilers.

    It’s like asking espn not to thell you the score of the game.

    Very considerate but is it a factor anymore? 

  25. @ericmci  Yes. We always give people warnings, and the option to avoid when we can.

  26. @Josh

    Sure- nothing wrong with that- but to the point of worrying about using names and pronouns in your first sentence to avoid being shown in the comment feed on the side of the page that will probably be prominnent for 10 mins ?

    That’s a tad more extreme than just not putting in the main article title.

  27. @ericmci  I don’t think it’s asking a lot. Itty bitty favor, yeah? 

  28. It’s fine-

    I was just raising the question – that really no other interest discussion sites really ever do anything like that.

    Interesting – no?

  29. Meh…jonny is irrelevant. Marvel Took the easy road…now if sue died we’d see a crazy reed…reed vs marvel-now that’s good stuff. And since marvel leaked the news early I won’t have to buy the issue today-nor tomorrow.

  30. Pushing spolier

  31. I don’t know the ins and outs of Marvel’s relationship with retailers, but I’m suddenly imagining the look on my shopkeeper’s face when Marvel announced he was selling this book today. “Oh, am I? Guess I’m scheduling another couple shifts for everybody.”

  32. So has everyone/anyone read this yet?

    Was a great issue, sadly spoiled by another “major” comic book site who put it on twitter, (assholes) but I wanted a bit of clarification on one bit of the story to be honest, was hoping someone here could give me there view on it.

    If you’ve read it, let me know!

  33. How many times has a member of the Fantatic Four died? I don’t believe this is an infrequent occurrence.

  34. There’s only one way to replace a character like this.  And it will take the power of A MILLION EXPLODING SUNS.

    (Please no.)

  35. I hope Johnny and Dr. Doom fell into some weird death thingy, like how they killed reed off in the 90s.

  36. I hope H.E.R.B.I.E. replaces the fallen team member.

  37. What a wonderful issue. Just read it and loved it. Very emotional moment and Epting captured it perfectly. Bravo Hickman and Epting.

  38. @JimmyF1982  I was just going to comment that no one has actually commented on the issue thus far, but you just did.

    The death aside, the issue was great. The pure emotion that you felt during that last sequence was amazing. Epting did a great job capturing the character’s emotions; I really don’t see how it could have done it any better; and that last page…WOW! I was moved.

  39. So… Being that I am mostly an X-kid, I wonder if they will have Daken respond in his new title. I mean, he just recently visited the FF, and he was pretty close with the recently deceased. I think that would be pretty interesting. 

  40. Well clearly they wanted to kill the character off before the Avengers movie so Chris Evans wouldn’t have to play two parts.

    🙂 

  41. no don’t speak name they might notice and bring her back.

  42. ive now read the issue and i feel that it was really a heroes death

  43. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S NOT BUTTER!!
        *buffering message*
    Oh wait, I mean, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the THREE!!
        *buffering message*
    Okay, okay, look everyone The Doctor will just regenerate, and we can look forward to all sorts of new episodes!
        *buffering message*
    Okay, I think the front iFanboy page is safe. I have to be honest here, I had put this issue on my pull list because I was curious what was going to happen, but as soon as I found out it was Johnny all the wind was let out of my sails and I’ve already deleted it from my list (I can read it in trades via the public library).  I’m surprised both by how much I was taken up with the hype (meaning as soon as I know the outcome, I really don’t care anymore), as well as the fact that a Johnny death means so little too me.  Frankly, if they had killed Sue it would give Johnny’s character a chance to become a more meaningful and serious one and a new direction — kind of like Booster Gold has become in his current serious in which the death of the Blue Beetle weighs on him so much. I mean, Johnny’s character is the one with the most room for growth, verse Sue, Reed, and Ben.

    But at the same time, I’m sure they’ll do a good job with this.

  44. This whole thing is ridiculous. My LCS has every copy of this issue bagged and board and is selling it for $14.95. (even if you had it on your pull list) No variant or signed…just regular. Glad the 90s are back. 

    Time to find a new LCS. 

  45. @wallythegreenmonster  Yikes. I haven’t seen that happen since the death of Superman.

  46. @conor  –yeah thats what it reminded me of. Back then i was a kid, and my LCS owner gave a special “kid discount” aka cover price to the 3 or 4 of us regular kids who were paying with allowance and skimmed lunch and bus money. I just remember all these adults buying 5 copies a piece at markup thinking they were getting bearer bonds or something. 

    can’t fault a guy for trying to make a buck in this economy but still…makes me wonder if i want to spend any money there anymore. 

  47. I’m really surprised by how much this death bums me out.  I didn’t consider myself a big fan of this character — I guess it’s a testament to Hickman’s writing…and  the fact that I’m a long time lover of FF.  My only gripe is that Johnny looks like Mark Wahlberg in this issue.

  48. Spoiler alert.

  49. what I’m curious about is if anyone’s noticed mainstream media covering this.  anything interesting about it?

  50. yep i knew it would be johnny storm i heard it a while back as i wrote in the last comment i wrote its sad too just looking at the tital it came out today but i havent gotten my issue yet but its comics and it will be instering to see what happens along the road to theothers recovery..

  51. Bumping spoiler off the main page. Try not to reveal teh spoiler in your first comment line.

  52. Dammit.  I was doing so good not seeing anything about it…and then at the bottom of a page about the Oscars is a picture of Johnny Storm from the FF movies and a tag about his death.  So annoying.  Anyway…I won’t look at anything about how it happens.

  53. @jjkish7  The only way to remain completely unspoiled is to avoid the internet (and possibly television news) altogether.

  54. I wonder if DC had sent out a giant press release discussing how [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] were killed in BRIGHTEST DAY #18, would there have been a similar media frenzy around that story. I suppose not since the most recent thing these characters have been in is SMALLVILLE, which is fairly small potatoes. Still, they’re fairly major character, at least in terms of name recognition.

  55. @WallytheGreenMonster – Dude, time to find a new LCS.  That’s cold.

    You know, from a purely storytelling standpoint… if it were me writing the FF, I would have killed off Reed.  The storylines that come from Johnny’s death seem sort of been there/done that… but watching Ben, Sue, and Johnny try to get over Reed’s death, AND trying to untangle all of the loose ends from Reed’s side projects… that would have been fun to read. 

  56. @JeffR  Way to spoil Brightest Day #18 for me. REDACTED and REDACTED were my favorite superhero characters.

    Actully, I think this might have been one of those married spies detective shows in the same vein as HEART TO HEART — REDACTED and REDACTED

  57. I had Sue in the pool.  

  58. Bump.

  59. Nice job guys in bumping the spoilers off the main page. Very considerate of y’all.

  60. Making sure I don’t say anything at all spoilerish in the first couple sentences to avoid posting spoilers on the main page. Is this enough? Still not sure. I think that’s good. Hey, anyone check out Parks and Recreation this week? What a show!

    Ok, so the book. Eh… I liked the last couple pages at the end of Thing tearing up and witnessing what went down. But other than that, I was very underwhelmed. Most likely due to knowing what was coming and being way too on alert for a death. I had it figured out at least halfway into the book. We all knew that Thing wasn’t dying due to his presence in the Avengers books. And neither Reed or Sue’s prediciments seemed all too threatening on a mortality level, as hard as Hickman tried to make it seem. I was way too aware of what was going down to even begin to be all too interested in the little sub-plots that the book tried to engage. For me, it was nothing more than a, “ok, let’s get this out of the way” read. Which for me, isn’t why I like reading books.

    The more I thought about it, the more Johnny made sense. Marvel has already stuck Thing on one of the 8 Avengers squads. Off Johnny and we now got a mostly Reed and Sue book. As much as I agree with others on the site that killing either Reed or Sue would have made for more dramatic and daring storytelling. It just makes sense if Thing is gonna have other things to do, that the remaining 3rd wheel holds the least importance.

    And I’ll add the prerequisite, “How long does this hold?” If Marvel has any stones, it should be for a good while, at least. This isn’t Cap or Batman, where everyone knows the character has to return in a year or so at the least. Make it count, Marvel. You already took away the shock and impact of the death by promoting the hell out of it. At least allow it to resonate for a while.

  61. Oh, and as far as “death’s” go. Yeah we see “the member of the F4 who dies” get attacked and supposedly eaten alive by the demon beasts. But did we really get comfirmation????? Last I saw, he was being engulfed by the masses and about to meet a grizzly death. Not being buried and eulogized. With movies and tv shows, I usually have a rule of if acharacter doesn’t die on screen, to be suspicious until proven otherwise. Not saying I don’t think he died, or that Marvel is gonna pull a fast one. Not at all. Just saying I could see how they could if they wanted.

  62. @wallythegreenmonster Umm, $14.95 ? Drop that LCS!What a D-BAG!
    Ok, I’m not buying this issue on principle, but I NEED to see that climactic panel on your “Best Panels of the week” article.

  63. I picked this up and read it over lunch.  I thought it was a great issue.   I feel that Hickman brought the three story threads together nicely at the end.  Well done.  The Future Foundation kids are just great.  I’d take a comic about just them.  Oh, wait..

  64. I wasn’t trying to avoid this as I haven’t been reading, and it felt to much like a marketing stunt. If I’m wrong and Hickman pulled a good story out of this, then that’s great… maybe I will read a trade. I try not to be jaded or overly analytical, but I occasionally I fall into the trap of trying to rationalize stuff in comics. (I KNOW.) And, in cases like this where we’ve already seen it established that death is just another plane of existence in the Marvel U and people can come back… shouldn’t they plan a rescue operation instead of a funeral? (I KNOW.)

    Anyways… just glad it wasn’t Sue.

    PS: @justincresswell  “I had Sue in the pool.  ” NICE! But try to stay on topic!

  65. I made it almost all day without being spoiled. Stupid G4 ruined it for me. I was just sitting down to read my issue too.

  66. this was kind of predictable to be honest, he’s not done anything note worthy in a while, just looked after kids and pissed off ben! will be interested to see what the outcome is and how long he’s dead for?

  67. @wally

    Drop that store. I peeked at your profile and saw that you are not pulling enough to make DCBS worth it, but maybe move to trades if you don’t have another store nearby. Picking up one trade a week is pretty satisfying.

    It’s really shitty that people live in areas where they are stuck with crappy stores (as opposed to the Bay Area or New York where you can just go to another store if you don’t like yours). 

  68. I am incredibly happy to say I managed to read this completely unspoiled. It only took me completely avoiding the internet, never turning on my tv and making an extra trip this week to the shop for only a single book. Sigh.

    But, it was worth it. Felt so great reading the issue and feeling that sense of tension, mystery and discovery at each page turn.

    Anybody else manage to keep their spoiler virginity through out all this?

  69. If Marvel didn’t announce the death, I wouldn’t have thought anything of that panel.  Maybe its just because I’m conditioned at this point, but it seemed a lot more like a last page cliffhanger than a death.

    I liked the issue.  Not nearly as much as the Nightcrawler death issue, but a solid 4

  70. @360Logic, I felt the same way, avoided media, special trip to the store, etc. It felt cool to be getting something unspoiled for once. Comics are the one thing I really try to participate in on time every week. I tend to watch tv shows in complete seasons on DVD, and I’ll wait to play video games way later so prices really drop.

  71. I guess this means we’re in for another insane funeral one-shot.  You know what’s funny?  If you replace the Sentry with Johnny in “Sentry: Fallen Sun”, some of the ridiculous retcon flashbacks actually kind of make sense.

  72. boring

  73. there is only one way to avoid being spoiled: I do NOT WATCH TRAILERS (INCEPTION was AMAZING!!!!!!!!), do not read solicitations and definitly do not read past the title of an article if i feel the slightest chance of being spoiled. The last that time that happened to me was when Ennis was against the Russian in the welcome back frank maxiseries and the jackass butchered me sixth sense (I was waiting for a good time to watch it)… DAMN YOU ENNIS!!!! Up to this day I haven’t seen it, and suppose I never will.

    As for the FF, I’ve been really enjoying Hickman´s run, and this storyline was no different. My only question regarding this is: Is Hickman getting us ready for a second Anihilation? Loved that book. Besides, this time it’s personal.

    Miraclelad

    BTW, I live in Argentina, so it’e easier to avoid being spoiled

  74. I picked this up because of Hickman and the possibility of it being a good story, but I am not a regular FF reader.  What I don’t understand is that Marvel knows a ton of new people are going to pick this book up, but they did not use their recap page for that purpose at all.  I had no idea what was going on in the story.  The book seemed ok, but Marvel editorial failed to offer a good intorduction for the new reader. 

  75. The politically correct choice…meh

  76. The Human Torch, in addition to being denied a bank loan, has fallen.  RIP Johnny Storm.

  77. Bump.

  78. Technical question: when something like this post comes up, wherein the comments are likely to be spoiler-riffic themselves – thus necessitating bumps to get it off the main page – is there a provision in your code to hide said comments from the main page?

  79. Having read the issue, it felt it was a pretty lame death scene.

    We see Johnny get swamped by the creatures, and then the portal closes.  It so obviously leaves room for some sort of deus ex machina contrivance to bring him back at a later date.  Really “meh.”

  80. I avoided twitter for the most part yesterday because my local retailer wasn’t selling it a day early.

    In the evening, I fired up twitter to follow reaction to the State of the Union; I hoped by then the talk had quieted. I glanced over at my feed, saw something w/ the name “Obama” in it and….

    HICKMAN HIMSELF SPOILED IT!!!

    I’ve thorougly enjoyed his FF run, and also SHIELD…. 

    But this just shows – until distributors go day and date digital, it’s going to be impossible to both be a news follower and also avoid spoilers.

    I did my part. The retailers, and the @#*&^@%ng writer himself let me down.

    Good issue, for the most part – but – it was architected to hinge on a question, but that question was already answered going in.

     

  81. @Risible  It’s definately not a “death”, especially with Fantastic Four #600 about a year away.  It actually reminded me of the Tyreese scene in The Walking Dead when they were clearing out the prison

  82. Read it & I’ll give it a thumbs down.

  83. Screw Marvel. They took something like this and told the fans fuck you, we want the media who doesn’t give a damn to talk about it. We’re releasing it a day early, even though many stores won’t have it or won’t be opened then, and let the cat out of the bag.

    Yeah, I’m done with this series after it’s fake final issue and I can’t say if I’ll ever pick up another new issue of the Fantastic Four again. 99 issues and this is the thanks I get.

    Also dropping Avengers and Deadpool…I’m choking my way through the crap that’s passing for Thor then I’m done with it.

    Once the dust settles the ONLY ongoing title I’m getting from Marvel is Amazing Spider-Man

    Marvel: Your Universe…unless we want publicity from people who don’t read comics.

  84. @Zarathos81  Good grief, dude.  You sound like a raving lunatic, calm down.  If you don’t like the books, don’t read them, sheesh.  Definitely vote with your dollar, but I really don’t think Marvel screwed you over on this at all.  The problem is the instantaneous news and the media trying to push news every second of the day with 24 hr news feeds, scrambling for topics and attention.  Sometimes it’s hard to step away from viewing the news/media but there are days where you sometimes just have to shut it off. 

  85. @Zarathos81  Marvel is running a business, and a struggling one at that.  Have some perspective, I promise you that they care about their fans

  86. dead! …and never called me mother

  87. I personally don’t think he is dead. I think that he was taken prisoner and we’ll see him again during some big crossover to bring Annihilus back into the fold.

  88. @TexasZombie99  Actually the problem is when Marvel ‘leaks’ the story to the media before it’s even released. The problem is Marvle polybagged this issue so that someone couldn’t walk into your LCS pick it up, flip to the final page and announce it ruining it for everyone else.
    Makes no sense for Marvel to polybag it to prevent someone from reading it in store if they are just going to blab to the media and let them ruin the ending for everyone.
    Business is one thing but these stories actually mean something to us readers. Those fools at the AP don’t give a damn. They report it without warning us they are giving away the ending of a story and move on to the next thing. Meanwhile, the moment WE’VE been looking forward to has been ruined.

  89. @csama  Very good point while the Annihilation Wave isn’t known for taking prisoners, they will infect certain useful enemies. Next time we see Johnny he will have bugs crawling under his skin and out of his mouth and ears.

  90. @Zarathos81  Yeah I hear you but we all saw it coming.  They gave a warning shot, I made sure to stay away from comics or general news sites on Tuesday

  91. To be upset about being spoiled is normal. But to drop a series because of what the publisher did is asinine.

  92. Voting with your dollar is perfectly reasonable… but it’s not like they’re going to know why it’s being withheld.

    That said, I stopped reading ALL comics in the 90s because I got fed up with all the BS Marvel and Image were doing.  6 covers, polybagged, chrome, blah. It was enough to drive me out for about 5 or 6 years. That was less about voting with my dollar than it was escaping what felt like an abusive relationship. heh 

  93. Okay, turns out I’m a total liar.  I was in the comic shop, saw the FF issue, and purchased it after all. Only read a couple pages so far, and those were enjoyable.

    I was thinking of something like what RobAbsten mentioned above.  Either (1) perhaps if you provided a way for the author of an article to flag/indicate that this article could contain spoilers and thus don’t list any of the comments (just the username and a datetime) on front-page of the iFanboy site  you wouldn’t need to bump so much; (2) a link/button for a commentor to indicate if their comment contains a spoiler, and thus the main/front page won’t show it. 

    Yes, just that simple!  Just find the free-time to completely change your system!  What could be easier! 😉

  94. *BUMP* (Okay, my previous statement didn’t have a spoiler, but it just feels fun to do the bump!)

  95. not going to spoil in first comment line so im going to fill some space. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. ok, i think that’s good. i think johnny makes sense but i wish it was ben. that would have been more tragic.

     

  96. Darth Vader is Luke’s father!!  Oh no, I spoiled it!! Oh I’m so sorry to those unfrozen cavemen who haven’t had a chance to see the Star Wars movies yet.  (I feel so bad.)

    Okay, I finished the issue, and I was surprised how the “death” felt more like a “cliffhanger” for the next issue. I mean, if I wasn’t told Johnny had “died” I would have just expected to open the next issue and see the resolution of how he blasted the bug dudes away and the rest of the FF had open a cosmic boomtube to get him. The fact that I’m being told he’s dead is really my only indicator that he “died”.  (Yes, “boomtube” is my little DC joke.)

    Anyone else have that impression?

  97. @powerdad  Yes, you expressed it perfectly.  If I hadn’t known this was a supposed “death” issue, I would have just assumed it was the usual comic cliffhanger.  You nailed it.

  98. It was obvious. Hickman wasnt using him anyway. No big loss to the current storyline.

  99. *bump*

  100. @Risible  Hey, thanks!

  101. This week’s comics were an embarassment of riches.  It hit the wallet hard, but I had a great time with pretty much every book I pulled.  Very nice.

    I asked my LCS proprietor if they sold out of the issue because I didn’t see it on the shelf.  He said he only ordered copies for customers who had it on their pull list (like me), in a rather dickish tone too.  I then asked if anyone had come in asking about the issue, trying to gauge any public interest.  He said no, in the same dickish tone.  I quickly ended my attempts to have a simple conversation, paid for my books and got the hell out of there. 

    Agreed that the promotion of the death is what makes the ending “definitive”.  The ending on its own screams of cliffhanger (and I would have taken it as such).  Still, pretty powerful stuff between the two characters.

  102. I didn’t pick up my books until late last night, and I’m proud to say that I managed to keep myself in the dark until I read the issue! Spidey and Cap were spoiled for me, so ever since then I’ve been very careful with which websites I visit, and who I chat with online, etc. I even warned my parents that this was coming and told them that I wouldn’t know until last night, and that if they came across it online or saw it on TV or whatever, that they shouldn’t tell me. Of course, I gave my fiancee the same warning and she immediately looked it up online and then proceeded to tease me that she knew something I didn’t.

    All that said, I agree that the mainstream media is probably catching on to comic book deaths and the inevitable return to the status quo. There was virtually no coverage that I saw, and I suspect I was being a little TOO cautious with my media black out. Even comic sites (like this one) and nerd oriented blogs seemed to respect the readers who might not have known until a few days later. Headlines on posts and articles all read similarly to this one, with the death not being revealed until you clicked to read the full article. So kudos to you, internet!

  103. It would have made more impact had Marvel not said anything, and just killed him off, but everything these days, has to be a media blitz (marketing ploy).  Too bad, that’s one of the things I miss about the old days.  I guess the thing is to quesiton how they’ll bring him back.  I’ll guess the obvious:  Reed Richards & Dr. Strange team-up?

  104. S/He had to go. They were like the Fantastic Fourskin.

  105. Decent issue but the supposed big impact had none whatsoever for me, partly due to my lack of interest in the character but mostly due to all the pre-hype. Yawn…

  106. I’m curious about the difference in how this read for people just jumping on to see who dies, and those of us who have been reading the run.  I thought it was awesome, especially when I went back and re-read it. 

    I absolutely love the annihilation wave.  I’m guessing next time we see Johnny, he’ll have bugs crawling out of his nose, eyes, and mouth

  107. I knew Sue Storm was going to die. It was obvious that this was going to be the choice. Put some women in the fridge and call Gail Simone.
    **Buffer**

    See what I did there? Isn’t that so brilliant?
    /sarcasm

    If he’s not back by issue 600 I’ll be shocked.

  108. bump

  109. now that was enjoyable.
    Hickman again displays his chops.
    cheers.