Honestly where to begin? Some may call my psychic (or just psycho) but I sort of called this last month. After thoroughly enjoying 2 issues of Inhumans, I suspected that once we got back to the Future Foundation, the storylines would be a bit lackluster...and lo and behold! ::sigh:: OK lets break it down...
The Bad - I typically do the good first but I'd rather get this out of the way. This book all but requires you to know your fair share of Fantastic Four history. I thought that with Spidey and Doom joining the group and a whole slew of misfits to focus on, that this wouldn't just be a new Fantastic Four book, but alas it is. I just tuned back in Reed and the gang during Countdown to 3 so I don't get the backstory of Forever City, Nathaniel (last I saw him, he was an old man with a cybernetic eye and Dr. Doom's armor), or Valeria's cold demeanor, and I would think that they could give us a little more to work with. I also just recently started to regularly collect the new Avengers books during Heroic Age, and even with them pulling out some old storylines from the vault (like Korvac and the Infinity Gems) these stories didn't require me to have read the old storylines the way that FF has. Also, did I really just watch Dr. Doom get taken out by DIABLO? Boo! Hiss!! Are you for real? First of all, not only should Doom have been expecting a double cross, but Reed flat out said that it was "statistically significant" so shouldn't everyone have been watching extra closely? And really, when was the last time Doom got snuck up on... And where is Ben Grimm?? I get that he's on the Avengers now, but Wolverine manages to be in all places at all times for all his books so I expect the same from the Thing, and if a choice has to be made as to where he goes, then he definitely goes to the FF before the Avengers. At the end of the day, part of me feels like I don't even get the story enough to be disappointed in it, but I definitely am...disappointed that is...
The Good - All is not lost! There were some gleaming moments in this dismal showing! First of all, yeah we all know that Reed "leads" the team...just like we all know that Susan is the backbone. When a foot needs to be put down or some needs putting in their place ::coughNathanielcough:: She's truly the strong woman behind the man and nobody best forget that! Another printed gem was the scene with Franklin and Valeria. Or really any scene with Franklin and Valeria. Franklin used to be such a little goodie goodie, so its nice to see him getting his sneaky-on. And Valeria, well shes just hilarious. She's definitely an older woman (like her parents age) trapped in the body of a little girl and I get the biggest kick out of watching this superbrain getting super-timed out by her parents (my other favorite Valeria moment this week came in X-men (Vol. 3) #16 when catastrophe strikes and they ask if she caused it and she replies, "No! But that does sound like me."
Overall, Marvel screwed up a great book...they added a slew of new characters and then didn't use them and instead made this just a continuation of Fantastic Four (even counting the issues numbers towards this Fall's Fantastic Four #600. Maybe they should have tried to show us Alex Power working without his siblings, or Artie and Leech worried about all their friends across the country on Utopia, but no, instead we got characters acting as wall paper while we get page after page of science babble from Reed, Nathaniel and now Doom. I'll almost certainly be dropping this book after issue #11 and I doubt I'll be picking up Fantastic Four again until the next big event. Unfortunately the brilliant snippets we get of the kids aren't enough to warrant $3.99 a month from me anymore.
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