Fantastic Four #7

Fantastic Four #6 review, Original Sin tie-in! Following on the lines of the last issue; thisissue still follows Marvel's blockbuster summer event, Original Sin, with the Fantastic Four (mainly the Thing and Johnny Storm) dealing with sins from their past!

The Good

Still riding on the tail of Marvel's Original Sin summer story arc; The Thing has to deal with the fact that, Reed and Johnny lied to the Thing's face for years, after not telling him the truth about a sabotaged experiment to turn The Thing back to Ben Grimm. And with the Original Sin's M.O. being, "Secrets revealed!", this is the perfect time for writers, like James Robinson, to throw in their creative juices to add to a story that partakes in a particular series. (Like this one for example.) The story isn't anything to be greatlyimpressed with, but if anything, it moves Robinson's Fantastic Four story forward. We know, from reading the first issue of the series, that one of the reasons the Fantastic Four "disbanded" was the Thing's imprisonment. (Among other reasons that haven't, fully, been revealed yet.) Now, with this issue, everything is slowly getting up to that point. So even though this Original Sin tie-in story was weak; Robinson still used it to his advantage to add to his story.

The Bad

While James Robinson strengthened, his,Fantastic Four story; he didn't do a a great job with the Original Sin tie-in. Lets face it, these so called, "sins", aren't really sins. (They're fake.) They are 100% original, without a doubt, but if Marvel is going to call them "sins", the real sin are some of these stories that have come out from most of the tie-ins. For example, this Fantastic Four story. I don't know how many years have passed between Marvel Now! and when the Fantastic Four used to wear blue, but I'm sure it can't be by much. Anyway, this entire ordeal of The Thing being lied to, and how Johnny and Reed should've never kept the information a secret from him; is now coming back to haunt all the characters. And it's haunting readers as well! First of all, the story was greatly amusing. I'm not going to lie, the sheer thought of, this,being the big secret looming over the Thing's head for X amount of years is just really stupid. I mean if you look at some of the other characters, like Spider-Man or Thor, the former finds out that there is another Spider-person with similar powers running around (a girl if you were wondering); and the latter has a sister. Pretty interesting am I right? So compare those two with Thing's, and it is kinda underwhelming. James Robinson could've amped things up a bit by making the secret be, Alicia pregnant by Johnny Storm. Hey! It could've happened! But I guess James Robinson had to think short term, instead of long term, in terms of this Original Sin tie-in and also Fantastic Four continuity. But still, it would've made a better story than this.

The Verdict

So in the end, Fantastic Four #7 is a ok issue. James Robinson does an excellent job at moving, his,Fantastic Four story forward; but does a poor job at the Original Sin tie-in as he thinks too short term, instead of long term. The artwork by Leonard Kirk, Dean Haspiel, and Nolan Woodard all did a great job, and made looking at this issue an enjoyable experience for the eyes, all while reading the story. I recommend this issue if you are a die-hard Original Sin fan that picks up every single issue, to strengthen your experience. But, if you aren't into the entire tie-in idea, then just stick with the main Original Sin series, as you aren't missing out anything reading this issue. And if you are a FF fan, then you might want to check this out! 3 out of 5! FF#8 review.