Comic Books

FF #6

The Return of the King.

Black Bolt is back and is determined to reclaim his throne.

Story by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Greg Tocchini
Cover by Mark Bagley

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.0%
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Avg Rating: 3.0
 
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    1. I like Greg Tocchini in last days of American Crime, but his art was bad in Batman & Robin. I’ll flip through in the shop. If the art doesn’t gross me out, I’m getting this.

    2. Greg Tocchini!?

      Noooooo!!!!! 

    3. Favorite Marvel book right now but the preview of Tocchini’s art looked abominable.

    4. Why is it impossible to keep one artist consistiently on a book?

    5. This issue will probably make or break my enjoyment of the rest of the run. I was a huge fan of the recent Marvel Cosmic and if this is just going to skip what happened in War of Kings and aftermath I’ll be very disappointed.

    6. FF has been going downhill for me. I may leave this one on the rack and wait until Hickman actually gets back to the storylines that I care about.

    7. @froggulper: This Doom and Return of the Reeds shit has felt very slow.

    8. @USPUNX One major reason is because Marvel has been double shipping all its best books that happen to also have their best artists. Welcome to watered-down Marvel storytelling. So far I have not dropped a book because of this, as Marvel cleverly usually does it with its best books, but I am getting damn tired of paying twice as much for decreased quality. But, for instance, I am loving Hickman’s work so much there is no way I would drop FF. Sigh.

    9. that cover is really,really bad

    10. @conallgil  – That cover is the sistine chapel compared to the interior … trust me.

      I feel like Tocchini’s coloring should reminice water color. The previews look really bad.

      @USPUNX  – it’s expensive. From what Ive heart, they don’t get paid that much. Specially the unknowns, they get like $100 per page and it takes 1-3 days to pencil a whole page. So for 20 pages, the artist gets paid from 2000 to 3000, which is not enough money when you spend 40-60 hours a week. They end up getting better, higher paying jobs outside comics, like movie story boarding or graphic artists at big companies.

    11. I give credit to any artist who can pencil a comic page and get paid for doing something they love.  Tocchini has some talent and a style all his own which is probably better suited for a different type of story like Last Days of American Crime.  However, I didn’t feel his style worked with Batman and Robin and doesn’t look like it is going to fit with FF.  I’m leaving this one on the rack this month.  I have had no problem with Hickman’s storyline thus far but I am getting tired of the constant artist rotation.

    12. Yeah…..let’s not have Mark B—I mean ‘Architect’ Mark Bagley do covers for this series anymore.

    13. Hrrm, I checked out Tocchini’s work since so many said they don’t like it, and I actually kinda do, based just off of a Google search.  Preview pages for this on Marvel.com look good to me too. *shrug*

    14. I like the cover. Of course, that’s probably because Bagley is fantastic!

    15. Greg Tocchini! , oh man thats great. Not sure if his style works for this though.

    16. This will be my last pull on this stink fest. The death of Johnny storm issues got me hooked but this FF has been a letdown from the begining. 

    17. So many complaints yet so many pulls.

      I continue to enjoy FF, I’ve been on board since the beginning of Hickmans run. And the preview art didn’t look that bad. 

    18. Why so much hate for Tocchini? His art in Batman and Robin wasn’t that bad and the preview pages for this look good.

    19. Seriously, I don’t know what all the complaints are about.  Perhaps a bunch of people jumped on with the death of Johnny Storm issue, in which case you may not understand that nothing has changed in terms of the art and storytelling.  If you have been reading Hickman’s run from the beginning, you would know that the qualty and the pacing of the story has not changed.  

      To touch on the art, the only consistency, in terms of the art team, has been Paul Mounts, the colorist.  Tocchini is the fourth penciler Hickman has had on F4/FF ((Eaglesham, Edwards, Epting), or the fifthe penciler if you include Chen from FF: Dark Reign.  Fortunately, I think the art has been more than servicable for the entire run.  YMMV, of course.  

      In terms of story, Hickman’s FF run has been marked by the fact that he jumps around on story points.  As a result, some moments are bigger and more bombastic than others, and admittedly, we are in a slow period right now.  But, this is not unusual for this run.  People might like some story beats better than others, but you are guaranteed that Hickman will come back to everything he’s touched on.  

      Personaly, I love what Hickman is doing.  This may be my favorite run of any comic ever, and I am not even a huge FF fan.  Hickman is dealing with such high-level concepts and fantastical elements, such as Galactus, the Negative Zone, the Council of Reeds, etc., and yet, he has managed to provide real character moments, with a strong grip on characterization.  As a reader, you feel for what Reed, Sue and Ben are going through.  Hickman is managing a huge cast, deftly moving between scenes, and shuffling characters on and off stage.  And, he’s doing it all with mastery.  This book is at the top of my stack, and I am enjoying the hell out of the ride!

    20. hear hear!

    21. This is my favorite book right now and I respect Mark Bagley immensely for his Amazing Spider-Man run, but that cover is terrible. The coloring is really bad. Last month’s cover was really bad as well. Oh well, I don’t buy this book for the covers anyways.

    22. But wasn’t Black Bolt dead?  I’m confused.

    23. @TheNextChampion  is there a new list of architects or something

    24. @ctrosejr  Hickman is absolutely killing it.  And I don’t mind the artist rotation if the art is good.  The first 4 artists have been good.  The Tocchini preview I saw however was disappointing.  That being said I will continue to buy the book.  It is possible to love a book and have it disappoint you at the same time.  (See the last issue of Fables for example.)

    25. @CAM  Yeah, he died in War of Kings, now if only the FF could bring back Nova and Starlord…

    26. @RoiVampire  Couple of weeks ago Marvel put an ad on their books to show their ‘Artist Architects’. It includes:

      Mark Bagley
      John Romita Jr
      Mike Deodato
      Stuart Immonen
      Salvador Larroca
      Humberto Ramos

      …..Other then Immonen there would be A LOT of changes I’d make on that list. But that’s for a different time and topic. 

    27. @kmob181  I didn’t think the preview art was bad.  Different, but not bad.  And, it was even drastically different.  It was just different.  I think I could very easily get used to it.

    28. @ctrosejr  Tocchini is the 5th/6th(if you count DR). Don’t forget about Kitson:)

      This run is epic and I do wish it was Epting every issue. I actually enjoyed Eaglesham on this run quite a bit too. Also, if Tocchini was painting this like he did in Last Days of American Crime I think it would look awesome. I’d really like to see that actually…

    29. @TheNextChampion  Damn i totally missed that

    30. @Funcrusher  D’oh!  Good catch!  And, I second your desire to have Epting on every issue.  He’s been my favorite penciler to-date.

    31. That list horrible in my opinion. Wish there was an Architects article to comment on….

    32. Now that I think about it the whole Architects this is really fing dumb. And in attempt to stay on topic I really miss the Acuna covers. They were usually my favorite covers every week I got them.

    33. Why dose yea look like he was on an all night steroid binge w/ Hulk Hogan lol????

    34. I’ve been enjoying this run. Hoping I continue to do so.

    35. I’m going the ‘Josh Flanagan route’ and say that this issue was ‘fucking garbage’.

      Seriously, Tocchini should never be allowed to go near a comic every again. He’s a shit artist and he made this boring and downright confusing story more of a chore to read. Just awful

      1/5 

    36. @TheNextChampion  – that’s harsh man. He was good in “the last days of american crime”. Just not right for superhero comics. He needs a colorist that will make it look painted.

    37. @AmirCat The colorist cannot change the fact that:

      A) His pencils looked unfinished
      B) Anatomy is all over the place
      C) Faces looks like shit (the eyes are a dead give a way)
      D) The layouts and flow between each panel makes no sense

      The colorist for this book for 6 issues now is Paul Mounts and he is a great colorist who has worked on a lot of big books. To blame the colorist for a glaring problem that is Tocchini is a big shame on you.

      Maybe Tocchini does better work outside of superheroes. I don’t know, quite frankly I never want to know after all of this shit work he’s done and still another issue he’s got to do with FF #7. 

    38. Art isn’t nearly as bad as TheNextChampion says it is, but it does not fit with the pre-established style set forth by Epting, Kitson Eaglesham and Edwards at all.  It’s a bit jarring, though I don’t think I minded as much since the events in this comic were detached from the current overarching storyline.  Interesting info dump for this issue, though it was far too padded out for my tastes.

    39. I thought the art style for this issue was fitting for the story being told. Essentially it’s a recap (although everyone is seeing it for the first time) so the hazy, quasi-painterly style works.

      As for the story itself, it read a bit dense. I’m still on board but trade waiting is becoming more and more enticing.

    40. I’ll agree that this art wasn’t up to par with the amazing work I saw in Last Days of American Crime. I think a lot of that had to do with the inker and colorist he’s been paired with here. That being said, I can’t believe we’ve left the compelling Reed/FF story that had been building since issue one for this. The story was pretty boring and convoluted and I was disappointed to see the next issue we’ll be staying with this storyline. They need to get back to the main story and fast

    41. Turns out the art was actually pretty good but the story was a stinker.  No FF anywhere to be found.  And, farnkly, I just didn’t get it.  No action, no mystery, no suspense, no fun.  Should have left this on the shelf.

    42. I am thoroughly enjoying this FF run with Hickman. Bringing Johnny back would make it much better. It’s my second favorite comic right now behind Detective Comics.

    43. @TheNextChampion  –sorry dude but i think you are full of dog poop as far as the art criticism goes. Your points are completely off base. No disrespect, but yeah….chill. I swear any time something on a comic book page looks just half a percent different than mainstream generic the interwebz freaks the f@ck out. Sometimes i think some of you want the same brand of bologna every time.

      I thought the art was pretty nice. The linework was interesting and expressive, and the halftoning gave interesting textures…the art was more ethereal than usual, but it fit the “recap memory” style of the issue. 

      Story…well…that was something else. Kinda missed the FF in this book. This story actually showcases the biggest flaw with serialized comic book storytelling…you have these 22 page chapters which are supposed to have all your main characters, and when you don’t, its kinda weird. Even though you are weaving a larger story, there isn’t room to build anything for more than a few pages at a time. I dunno…i was left unsatisfied…kinda felt like i picked up the wrong book. 

    44. I really dug the art on this, it worked well with the cosmic univers and I think Mounts did a beautiful job on the colors. Apart from The Thanos Imperative I haven’t read much Marvel Cosmic stuff, but it’s pretty cool seeing Hickman bring it in to one of the biggest titles at Marvel. In my opinion this was a really cool issue and the Bagley cover was the worst part. 

    45. Sorry, you’re right I got a bit over the top there.

      But Paul Mounts is a very good colorist who’s worked on: Power Girl, The Ultimates (the good Millar work), Wednesday Comics, Brubaker’s original Captain America run; and a hell of a lot other fantastic books. Last time I check I don’t remember anyone complaining about the coloring in those books.

      Plus Tocchini likes to ink himself judging from this issue and the Batman and Robin issues. Maybe THAT’S the big problem right there. 

    46. i wasted 3 bucks.  the quality of this title has been waning for a while now.  every time the pace picks up and it seems like we’re going in a really cool direction we run into a brick wall.  it took everything i had to finish this book and when i finally did, i had the urge to shred it to pieces, set it on fire and then piss on the ashes.  im dropping this title asap!

    47. I was excite to jump on with BB coming back, but as soon as I saw it was Tocchini I sat the issue back down. A few second flip through was enough to let me know i dont like his art. It may be unfair because I didnt examine every panel, but everything I’ve read that his name is attached to has been miserable. I wasnt a fan of LDAC either, but everyone grabs onto it like that’s the reason he should be considered good. He did a well received 3 part story over a year ago…so what. It was like it revolutionized comics or anything. I’m sure he has done good work through his career, but now, it’s bad.

    48. I can’t believe This is a Hickman issue. I also can’t believe that he wrote a fill-in issue. Seriously? Black Bolt comes back after 2 years, and we immediately get a fill-in issue that doesn’t tell us anything.

      Let DNA write the Inhumans again, Marvel, before you ruin everything.

    49. Honestly didn’t mind the art very much, but the story was not entertaining or compelling at all. Could not care less about it. Dissappointed this is a two issue arc.  

    50. I didn’t mind the art, though I found it to be the weakest so far. I’ve really enjoyed Hickman’s entire run, but thought the story for this issue was dull, even for the plot point it is intended to be.

    51. @TheNextChampion  – no one is saying Paul Mounts is not awesome. He is one of the best. Toochini’s art just needs to look painted.

    52. Man this was a total shit fest. I dug the art tho

    53. Comment deleted. If you want to troll and bash a book you have to pay for the privilage by buying it.

    54. I don’t mind this artist’s work on Batman and Robin, but it looked really rushed in this issue.  Very rough, and almost unfinished.

    55. The art was poor, and the story matched it. This was such a departure from the last few excellent issues. I honestly couldn’t finish it, as I couldn’t care less about what was happening.

      Oh well, hope it gets back on track soon.

    56. Really? A two issue arc? That is no good

    57. I didn’t hate this as much as I thought I would, but man I really don’t like this artist. Just looks sloppy. I also did not follow War of Kings/ Realm of Kings so I’m not clear why the Inhumans rule over the Kree, but good for them.

    58. Mmmmmm….Hickman. Now remeber kids, good writing always trumps bad art.

    59. I LOVE Greg Tocchini’s artwork. Very fluid and beautiful…couldn’t believe it when I came on here and saw so many disparaging remarks. To each his own, I suppose!

    60. Everyone seems to hate the art. I can’t even remember it. My brain was working too hard trying to make sense of the damn story. I closed the book and said “what just happened? I guess I should read it again….nah.”

    61. I didn’t mind the story, but like DikBallistik, I could not understand the dang story. I might skip the next issue simply because I just didn’t “get it”.

    62. There should be some kind of warning before you take the story line off the deep end like this one. Not only was it confusing, but pulling a story line from months ago and expecting people to get it is wishful thinking at most. Gonna give it one or two more issues before this one gets the boot from my pull list. 

    63. I meant to say I didn’t mind the art in my earlier comment, I hated the story.

    64. I am a pretty big fan of anything Inhuman related, but I just cannot stomach the FF. I have really found this series, as well as the characters appearances in other titles completely boring.

    65. @kitsunedreams: what story?

    66. I will add my voice to the chorus of people saying the art was acceptable but there was no story there.  Not Hickman’s finest hour.

    67. I messed up and chose to start reading the series with this issue. It was confusing and downright
      BOOOORRRIIINNGGG

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