It’s funny how Jonathan Hickman is able to tell two different stories with the same premise. Instead of just having an ‘A’ and ‘B’ story for one, he is able to make a compelling story with very little. For example: This issue has a fantastic story that might be better than what ‘Fantastic Four’ showed.

First off, Hickman is amazing at writing these kids. It took a while for me to grow on them but now I’m so upset we’re almost at the end of showcasing them. The Moloids are funny, Bentley is a perfect smart ass for Hickman to write, and Dragon Man is a nice balance of proper (he’s the ‘Sam the Eagle’ of the group). In this issue though, he makes me wanna have a Valeria ongoing. He’s always written her well but here I get why she is such a perfect voice for Hickman. I do call bullshit on her age though. She’s only 3? There’s no way, even if she is a super genius, that she’s three. Also, more humor from A.I.M. agents getting their ass kicked would be nice (maybe we’ll see it from his Avengers issues).

We get yet another artist on this book and he is just as great as Nick Dragotta or the rest. It’s hard to describe Andre Araujo style especially since this appears to be his first mainstream work. He’s only done one issue of something called ‘Isis’ and that’s hardly a way to judge someone. I can sense a ‘manga’ influence with his character models. Especially with the kids and their huge eyes (sometimes too huge) and some of the action here. Actually, I do sense some Seth Fisher in his work and you can kinda see it with Reed Richards or Ben Grimm. Finally, if Araujo gets more work I hope it involves Spider-Man. The little bit of action we see of him is really cartoony and it fits well for him.

Another great issue of FF and it makes me sad we only got one more issue to go. These kids are fascinating to read and Jonathan Hickman should be the only one allowed to write for them. Considering we’re going in a whole new direction with ‘FF’ for Matt Fraction I think that’s a safe bet. Anyways, go read this issue just for Andre Araujo art because this might be one of Marvel’s (many) great finds. I would love to see more of these two work together in the near future.