Well this is it, the final issue of Jonathan Hickman’s run on Fantastic Four. While we still have technically one more related issue of the family to go with FF, this issue does make me very upset. In my life time, or I should say my ‘comic book’ lifetime, I have never read a great run on these characters before. Hickman and his army of artists were able to craft one hell of a story and even branch it out into a separate series. But all things must come to an end and if it has to end I am happy to say I was there from the very beginning for this fun ride. Which is why is it super depressing that this finale issue does not live up to expectations.

Well that last sentence is a bit unfair, Hickman certainly doesn’t bring down this final issue. He resolves one of the best moments of his run with Dr. Doom and I was very happy to see it come back. (It is also a relief that Matt Fraction will not touch that aspect of Doom come next month.) This issue delivers on the basic tropes you’ve seen from Hickman. It’s got crazy science, some action packed moments, and some humor to balance it all out. All I know is that from this run alone I want Hickman to do a Doom ongoing in the worst way possible. He is able to write him perfectly and probably better then any other writer at Marvel. But Hickman also writes some nice, tender moments for the finale with Reed and his Father. It is nice to see that this run started on Reed with his Father issues and seeing it be resolved at the very end. Kinda weird that this issue doesn’t have anyone else involved in the family for the finale, but I’m fine with it considering how Val and Reed’s interactions was crucial for much of this run.

What disappointed me the most about this was Ryan Stegman’s art. Now I am a fan of Stegman’s and I’m sure if he reads this review he’s gonna nail me for this critique. But for some reason none of this gelled with me from beginning to end. I think it is because with him inking his own stuff his pencils look rougher then they are. His art has always been ‘cartoony’ but some of the character models in here just look over the top. I know this is an older Valeria but she looks like something out of the series ‘Empowered’ instead of what we’ve seen in other issues. There are some nice moments with Doom and I love his use of ‘DOOM’ when it comes to his slaves. But the inking in this was too rough and it just was too over the top for me to enjoy it.

It’s a shame that the art just couldn’t work for me because this is a nice issue to end Hickman’s run on this series. It has everything you want in a final issue including some heartfelt, family moments we’ve seen for the last couple of years. We all know who is taking over this series and I am not going to be around to see how Mr. Fraction is going to do with these characters. But man, even if you are a fan of him you gotta admit it is going to be mighty difficult for him to even come close to the level of perfection Hickman brought to this series.