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A review by lanternatomika
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus, Vol. 1 by John Rauch, Rick Magyar, Scott Hanna, Paul Mounts, Jonathan Hickman, Paul Neary
4.0
Before he was tasked with revitalizing the Ultimate Marvel universe, before he was asked to destroy the Marvel multiverse, and before he took on the challenge of ushering in a new era for the X-Men, Jonathan Hickman was just the latest writer to take a crack at the Fantastic Four. And this is the run that cemented him as Marvel's top talent. That was a long time ago, of course, but this run has aged pretty well.
In classic Hickman fashion, there's a question at the heart of this story: how can Reed solve everything? And, again, in classic Hickman fashion, he takes his sweet time in answering it. Most of what's collected in volume one of the omnibus sees the F4 going on seemingly unconnected adventures, with the occasional flashes of the conflicts to come. There's a turning point where everything locks into place, though, and like Hickman's other books, it's totally mind-blowing when that point hits.
As cool as the sci-fi adventures of the F4 are, stories like these are carried by the characters, and I've gotta say, Hickman's Fantastic family is endlessly charming. In contrast to the morally grey characters of Krakoa or even the Avengers, you can allow yourself to fall in love with any of the characters in this run, even though Hickman is mostly interested in Reed (ps: I think I have a crush on Sue now).
The disconnected nature of the early stories has its downsides. There's a major character death in the last quarter of this omni - I'm being vague, but y'all know who I'm talking about - and his death honestly feels a bit unexpected. If I reread the book, I might see how it was foreshadowed throughout, but on the first go, it sure felt like it came out of nowhere and didn't hit as hard as it could have.
Marvel cleverly closes out this volume of the omni with the sort of rising tension that'll make you want to start volume two straight away!
So far, I'm really enjoying his take on the Fantastic Four. As someone who's returning to comics after a long time, my perception of this franchise had been tainted by their awful track record on the big screen, but I'm digging this run! I will say that it's lacking a level of intrigue or excitement that his Avengers run was dripping with, but hey, it's a different flavor of story.
In classic Hickman fashion, there's a question at the heart of this story: how can Reed solve everything? And, again, in classic Hickman fashion, he takes his sweet time in answering it. Most of what's collected in volume one of the omnibus sees the F4 going on seemingly unconnected adventures, with the occasional flashes of the conflicts to come. There's a turning point where everything locks into place, though, and like Hickman's other books, it's totally mind-blowing when that point hits.
As cool as the sci-fi adventures of the F4 are, stories like these are carried by the characters, and I've gotta say, Hickman's Fantastic family is endlessly charming. In contrast to the morally grey characters of Krakoa or even the Avengers, you can allow yourself to fall in love with any of the characters in this run, even though Hickman is mostly interested in Reed (ps: I think I have a crush on Sue now).
The disconnected nature of the early stories has its downsides. There's a major character death in the last quarter of this omni - I'm being vague, but y'all know who I'm talking about - and his death honestly feels a bit unexpected. If I reread the book, I might see how it was foreshadowed throughout, but on the first go, it sure felt like it came out of nowhere and didn't hit as hard as it could have.
Marvel cleverly closes out this volume of the omni with the sort of rising tension that'll make you want to start volume two straight away!
So far, I'm really enjoying his take on the Fantastic Four. As someone who's returning to comics after a long time, my perception of this franchise had been tainted by their awful track record on the big screen, but I'm digging this run! I will say that it's lacking a level of intrigue or excitement that his Avengers run was dripping with, but hey, it's a different flavor of story.