The issue that Hickman has been heralding as his mission statement on the Fantastic Four, is exactly that. There isn’t any crazy fights or giant cities rising from places, this issue, it’s all about Reed and the set up for what seems to be at least a year and a half of stories. And I’m so excited about these stories I was pacing around my house for an half hour just thinking how fun this is all going to be.
        
Hickman does a miraculous job here of seeding things to come as well as entertaining now. It is clear from this issue that things Hickman has been seeding in his previous issues are all going to be amazingly linked as these stories start colliding.
The only downside to Hickman’s writing is not much is done with the family together as a whole, but this seems to be a Hickman thing that might later pay off.

Neil Edwards is an artist who 6 issues ago on this book stunk. While this time around he isn’t that bad, he still isn’t anything to marvel at. He’s an imitation Bryan Hitch and the only way he gets by is the amazing color job of Paul Mounts who saves his butt by providing the Hitch style without the Hitch substance that Edwards should provide.
To be fair to Edwards his opening pages on this are great and very stirring to hook you in to this issue, and the art is never jarringly disappointing enough to make you want to put it down.

This issue, to me seems to be pretty new-reader friendly. It doesn’t explain every detail, but if you know who everyone in the Fantastic Four are, and how they interact, you can probably fill in the blanks as well as enjoy this story.