There are things I expect to find when opening an issue of a Jonathan Hickman comic: science, social commentary, science, lots of narration referencing historical events, science, nifty graph looking things.  Also, science.  I do not expect to find misquoted Killers’ lyrics.  But there they were on the title page.  Sometimes people surprise you.

Delving further into the book, I got all of the things I did expect. I even thought I saw a Hickman graphic, and flipped back to see what I’d missed.  It turned out it was an ad for BVDs at JC Penny.  It did not teach me anything about science.  But it’s a very well-designed, very well-placed ad.  I’d give it four stars.  Five on a happy day.

The story revolves around time travel.  Futures, pasts, presents.  Alternate dimensions.  Familiar territory with anyone who’s read any of Hickman’s F4 run.  And I am enjoying it, but it’s not shattering my Earth, or any of the parallel Earths that affect the Earth I’m standing on.

Edwards’s art is filled with interesting choices.  There’s a scene where Doom addresses his college classmates, and absolutely everyone is looking away from him for no discernible reason.  Some of the perspectives feel very off, too.  While I wouldn’t say his art is stylistically similar to Guillem March, they both try and shoot scenes from odd angles, and they don’t quite work.  There are a couple of pages that are catchingly great.  But many of them hit me the wrong way.

Still, I’m on board, if only to see what Hickman has in store for Franklin Richards.