A two fold question, what’s next? In the first context, what’s

next for the Fantastic Four and FF? In the second context the question is what’s

next for Hickman at Marvel?

I’m a long time Fantastic Four fan, the first superhero

comic I remember buying was Fantastic Four #49 “If this Be Doomsday” and it

blew my mind! I fell in love with the characters, it wasn’t a team… it was a

family. It spoke to me. I don’t know why but it did.

It was so sad for me to see how the title had fallen on hard

times in the 90’s, and there seemed to be subpar stories that didn’t live up to

the tagline “the world’s greatest comic” recently JMS’s run was solid, McDuffie’s

run was above average, Millar’s run was okay. But Hickman’s run was amazing,

probably the most I had enjoyed the book since John Byrne wrote the book. But what’s

next?

I mean who wants to be the guy to follow Hickman on this book,

expectations are so high, there will be some people that will complain no

matter what happens next but who do you get that can keep the majority of expanded

fan base that Jonathan Hickman added to the book? I work in a comic shop, and

there were people who never read the Fantastic Four that were buying the book

because of Hickman.

If Marvel is smart, (at times I have a lot of doubts if they are) they’ll do what they did with Hickman

and find a younger writer that has something to say, that can build on the rich

history the book has, but not feel constrained by that past. While I love Doctor

Doom, the F4 fighting him for umpteenth time it loses some of its luster and just

becomes common place. Hickman’s use of Dr. Doom as a character was so great, so

fresh, it made me want more. They need someone that can push the envelope yet maintain

the balance that makes the comic so great.

I’m not sure who I’d like to see take over the book but with

Avengers vs. X-men seeming like it’s going to shake up the Marvel Universe both

figuratively as well as creatively, it looks like a whole host of new creative

teams will be taking books over. I’m willing to bet that Marvel might be placing

Matt Fraction on the F4 comic, the next question could be what happens to the

FF book. Not sure if Fraction falls in to that category that I described, I’ve

liked what he’s done on Iron Man, and I loved Immortal Iron Fist. It just seems

like a move that Marvel would make.

As far as what’s next for Hickman? He said he got offered a

job that he couldn’t refuse. To me, at Marvel that means one book The Avengers.

Seeing how the movie is out this summer, the huge cross over event with the X-men,

all eyes on the Avengers seems like they want to put one of their hottest

writers on the book. Jonathan Hickman seems to be juggling 4 books really well,

there is his 2 creator owned titles, The Avengers book (I hope) and some other

title, with a lot part of his story with F4 being cosmic maybe, something with

Nova Corps

I don’t know what do you guys think, who will take over the

F4 title? And what book(s) do you think lured Jonathan Hickman off of F4 &

FF?

Okay, I’ve tried blogging before but had difficulty keeping up on it regularly… but it’s worth another try.

I’d really like to thank everyone here on comicvine.com. in the short time I have been coming here, this site has gone from being a place I checked ever now and then, to some place that I check in regularly and have started to venture out and posting comments.   I don’t think I have come across a warmer & welcoming place online. A healthy exchange of ideas of a wider variety topics, no one slamming another’s point of view… or as I like to say no geek on geek crime.

The wiliness to share knowledge about something we are all intensively passionate about is beyond amazing. I manage a shop for a comic retailer and there have been many times at work I have come to comicvine.com for things as simple as “how many issues are volume one of ghost rider?” or recommend the site to others by saying things “like what do you mean you haven’t see the Captain America trailer? You need to go to comicvine.com to check it out.”

I’d really like to thank brvermee for following me, I hope to pay your help forward to other new members. That’s about all for now, thank you each and everyone of you!!!