Pick of the Week
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Art by Nick Dragotta & Mark Brooks
Cover by Alan Davis
Size: pages
Price: 3.99
In a week when the comic book industry is racked with the kind of intense grief that comes from a sudden and unexpected death of a well liked and respected member of the community, it comes as no surprise that the most emotionally resonant comic book this week was the one that dealt with the fall-out of the death of Johnny Storm. Jonathan Hickman is on a roll here at iFanboy, scoring two Picks of the Week in a row and three out of the last five, and he has done it by telling the important stories in the right way. The death of Johnny Storm is a big deal and the intense grief that just about the entire Marvel Universe feels is palpable in Fantastic Four #588.
Last month was the death itself: Johnny Storm sacrificing his life to stop an overwhelming invasion by Annihilus’s forces. This month picks up moments later when The Avengers — those reinforcements who were called in but were too far away too arrive in time — finally arrive to find a devastated Ben Grimm, Franklin and Valeria. And just as Ben Grimm falls to his knees and the news sinks in with The Avengers, in walks Sue Storm and you just know that the heartbreak is only going to get worse. It was at about this point when I realized that there was no dialogue in Fantastic Four #588. All of the heavy and intense emotion had been conveyed through masterful storytelling by artist Nick Dragotta, who I will get to a bit later. When I realized what Hickman was doing, “Perfect,” I said to myself. “He already nailed this.” That’s how good the opening sequence was. At that point I knew that, unless Hickman and Dragotta dropped the ball, that Fantastic Four #588 was going to be the Pick of the Week. And they certainly didn’t drop the ball, the issue only got better and more heartfelt from there. I haven’t had a Pick of the Week choice this easy to make in a long time.
Nick Dragotta. Wow. I’ll admit that when I first saw on the cover that Steve Epting wasn’t the artist on this issue I let out a disappointed sigh. For my money, Epting’s art is just as important as Hickman’s writing in the success of the book. Hickman’s high concept style mixes perfectly with Epting’s gritty realism. So when I saw that Epting wasn’t the artist “closing out” Fantastic Four I was bummed. I was bummed for all of the 2.5 seconds it took me to read the names on the cover, sigh, and then open the book because Nick Dragotta blew me away. He’s not a name I’m familiar with. I looked him up afterward finishing the issue and found out that he’s done a ton of work at Marvel, just not much I’ve read, it seems. I don’t know if this is his normal style, but there was so much of a Jack Kirby influence in the way that he drew this issue that you couldn’t have picked a better artist to draw the “final issue” of Fantastic Four, especially one that deals with the aftermath of the death of one of its members. Dragotta’s characters acted so well that I didn’t need any dialogue from Hickman. I’m not surprised that it took me a few pages to even realize that I hadn’t read any dialogue — that’s how well Dragotta conveyed the story and the emotions through his art alone. I’m still haunted by the dead look in Sue’s eyes on day three.
This issue is titled “Month of Mourning” and that’s exactly what it is. The death of Johnny Storm is day one, and Hickman then proceeds to take us through the next 30 days of grief in the Marvel Universe, with particular attention, of course, paid to the Fantastic Four. There are so many wonderfully emotional and intense scenes: Sue’s dead eyes of grief on day three, Doom showing up for Johnny’s funeral on day eight, Valeria’s plan of action on day twenty, Ben venting his rage and pain on Thor and The Hulk on day twenty-six. I could go on and on. If you’re talking about a text book issue on how to deal with the death of a long time and beloved character, Fantastic Four #588 is it. This is why I read comics. This is the kind of issue that makes it all worthwhile.
I should mention that the entire story isn’t silent. There is dialogue on the final page cliff-hanger in which a character appears that may or may not tie Hickman’s two big Marvel books together. I guess we’ll find out in FF.
As if all that wasn’t enough, as if putting us through the emotional wringer wasn’t enough for Hickman, he does it again with a back up story that expands one of the scenes we saw very briefly in the main story. On day fourteen we saw Spider-Man swing onto the roof (of what I assume is the Baxter Building) and land next to a very sad Franklin Richards. In the back-up story we get the full scene in which Spider-Man attempts to cheer up Franklin by relating his own story of his loss of Uncle Ben. And it actually wasn’t until the title of the back-up was revealed at the very end — “Uncles” — that the full weight of the scene got me. Franklin lost his beloved Uncle. So did Peter Parker. And now they have this intensely personal and painful shared experience. It’s a wonderfully quiet and emotional (and yet hopeful) scene, featuring art by Mark Brooks, that caps off the entire issue perfectly.
Jonathan Hickman plays a long game. He doesn’t introduce concepts and then wrap them up by the end of a six issue arc, his stories take a long time to unfold and he rewards patience. Right now, he has created a scenario that I am finding incredibly exciting. I can’t wait to see how things unfold, not only from the plot points introduced in this issue, but those that are as yet unresolved from previous issues. If Hickman is allowed to have his story unfold in the way he intends, we could be looking at a truly epic run of Fantastic Four, the likes of which we haven’t seen in over a decade.
Conor Kilpatrick
Kill Annihilus.
conor@ifanboy.com
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Dam thats an early pick. I guess that when Hickman’s involved, its a no-brainer. The man is a master.
Haven’t read the issue yet and already got a little emotional reading the part about the uncles backup. Can’t wait.
Great stuff Conor. Good job.
Truly great issue. But Amazing Spider Man shocked the Smurf outta me. Dragotta also did the art for that Cap digital comic about suicide,which was also silent. Does he only do silent books?
I was trying to decide if I should start picking up Hickman’s FF run in trades. This article just made the decision for me. Damn you ifanboy and Marvel, you keep sucking me into books that I would not normally read. (I mean that in a nice way)
Man, this week’s ASM and FF made my read pile a bit of a downer. Both were completely fantastic though.
@Canucklehead77 Just picked up the first Hickman trade and finished it in one sitting. I can noot wait for the next trade. Highly recommended.
Nice review Conor. Unfortunately Annihilation showed that as yet killing Annihilus is impossible. He was dead for all of 6 pages before the negative zone spawn simply birthed a new one. This will take a really clever killing. Maybe Galactus can consume the Negative Zone.
Nick Dragotta is great. Loved to see some more work from him on this book. Or Future Foundation,
I don’t want to be that guy, but i have not liked these last few issues. I don’t know if it’s the way marvel sold the death and spoiled it, or if I just didn’t like the way it went down. I understand the silence in this issue and what its supposed to do, but I felt like someone hit the mute button during some important scenes when I would have loved to see some dialogue, especially during that thing fight scene. It didn’t have to be a lot of dialogue, but it looked like Ben was saying something that would have been worthwhile to say.
I did like the “back up,” it made a lot of sense for spidey to consol Franklin and was a great scene. I wish it had of stayed with the scene during the main story. And mark Brooks draws a great spider-man.
I’m sorry to see Fantastic Four end, I won’t be joining the future foundation for their adventures. Not a fan of how and where things are going, which makes me sad as a big FF fan.
My POTW too and great review conor. Everything about this issue was so perfect about this issue from both the main story and backup.
I cannot wait for FF!
Kill Annihilus indeed.
He is one scary little bugchild.
I cried. There. I said it.
I thought this was completely outclassed by the Amazing Spider-man.
For me, it’s a tie between this issue and ASM 655 for my POW. Hickman sure brought the emitional thunder but ASM was just so damn trippy and Marcos Martin was for the lack of a better term Amazing.
Can’t argue with the pick though
It’s funny how people seemed to hate the silent issue Hickman did before, more or less anyways, while this issue people adore.
I guess it’s all about timing and execution.
(Although I thought the previous ‘silent’ issue was pretty good too)
i can’t imagine the future run on “FF” going that long before they change it back to the original name and numbering since they’re coming up on 600
that being said, this issue was great and i cannot wait until FF comes out!
yeah, I cried too.
Oh, look at that. fantastic Four is the pick this week, huh?
Welcome to Hickmanville!
Cash the Hickman checks!
jk
The past few issues of Fantastic Four was really good, and I’m not even a fan.
ACROSS THE BOARD!
BTW, who was that character at the end of the main story?
@Xeno Reed’s father, he went missing in the timestream a while ago during that Franklin from the future story. We all thought he was dead
@RoiVampire Thanks..I didn’t know that since I only read since the Three storyline.
Liked this book, but can’t agree on Dragotta. Hated the art and if Epting had done it would have been my pick. But art is subjective so if it gets Connors gears going, nuff said.
Doom, at the funeral: “Johnny Storm cured my alcoholism.”
Favorite scene was Thing smashing things and collapsing in sorrow.
I really dug the art in this one. Dragotta has a nice Gabe Hardman/Chris Samnee vibe.
I, too, was initially disappointed when I saw Dragotta’s unfamiliar name instead of Epting (even more disappoint it’s not Eaglesham, but that’s an old wound!). But 3 pages in I was totally thinking “Whoa! This Thing looks like classic Kirby,” and I was sold.
This was an amazing issue. I too was initially disappointed to see the Epting wasn’t on this final issue, but i think that Dragotta did a great job. His sequential storytelling was masterful. Not once did i get hung up on a panel and was able to form my own dialog for the characters in my head.
I’m really excited to see where the next installment of The Fantastics go.
@wallythegreenmonster That should’ve been the title, “The Fantastics”
I’m with WeaklyRoll, I wanted to hear what was being said, especially in the Thing/Avengers sequence – why were Tony and Bruce offering Ben a mini-memorial, for instance?
A few pages of initial silence would have been fine, but these are comics – words and pictures working together. It felt to me that after the death issue, someone deemed that just one more gimmick was necessary. I admire the craft in this issue’s first story, but it’s not something I’ll be coming back to, unlike Dan Slott and Marcos Martin’s Spider-Man funeral and dream tale.
I loved the Franklin/Spidey back-up. It was ridiculous, and Hickman and Brooks killed it (I think that’s how the kids are talking these days! )
@NathanNicdao —The Fantastics is the name of the music group the 3 have to form to sing and dance their way out of the doo-wop dimmension….i’m sure thats coming in a future arc. ha =p
‘Try to remember, we need a fourth member …’
This is what so many comics lack after a major character dies – the emotional after effects. This issue and this week’s Amazing Spider-man did an excellent job. An though we all know Johnny will return, this is a great issue that will easily be remembered.
Afterthought [Ya think Disney wanted the pro-fire character out of the group? Seems the Torch has been altered or opted out so many times in the past. (Can you say H.E.R.B.I.E.?) ]
POTW by far!!!
Matthew
Conor, I totally agree that Hickman’s run on FF is going to be a classic for the ages, but when you say ‘the likes of which we haven’t seen in over a decade.’ are you referring to the Waid/Ringo run? If so, yeah that was some fun comics but it was not even a patch on what Hickman is doing here. Much like Morrison did over on Batman Hickman is creating the definitive run on FF right now, taking the characters and more importantly the storytelling itself to levels it’s never even dared approach before.
I’ve read a lot of FF comics and IMO comparing this to any of them is selling Hickman and co short.
@JedeyeSniv I was not referring to Waid and Wieringo.
As I posted elsewhere on the forum this issue had me choked up by the second page, and tears welling by the time the scene where we see Sue use her forcefield. I’m in awe that so much was conveyed without dialogue (or mostly without). My one quibble for the issue was the art. I appreciate most of Dragotta’s style here, however there were a couple pages that were difficult to differentiate between a couple of the characters. Minor nitpick though, as it was Dragotta’s art that really told the story.
The art was really bad. Felt like one of those really cheap indie comics from the 90’s. Now the backup story with Spider-Man and Franklin was WAY better than the main story (though the main did have a few moments)
Overall, not a very interesting fake final issue. Looking forward to Storm’s return in February 2012’s Fantastic Four #600
Too late too post on this? I picked up this issue just yesterday and I loved it. I had two questions though.
What was going on with the scene where Reed is presented Johny’s torn uniform. Was Reed going on a revenge quest?
What do we think Thing got so mad about with Thor and Hulk. Like what were they talking about. (That scene was FANTASTIC by the way… i loved how they both showed up as their alter egos and then changed. I also loved the image of Thing collapsed in Hulks arms. Would have been a panel of the week for me).
Just listened to the podcast, where Connor said it was the ultimate anhialator. Not a big FF reader, so no idea what that is (i can assume some sort of game changing weapon). At least I sort of know what he was doing now.
@mikedwarner The Thing was mad about Johnny dying. He was just venting his rage at two people who could take it.
The device Reed had was the famous Ultimate Nullifier.