We've been hearing about Marvel NOW! for a while now. In October, we're going to see several new creative teams taking over books and characters. We're going to see new series and lots of #1s. Jonathan Hickman is currently wrapping up his runs on FANTASTIC FOUR and FF. Taking over both titles is none other than Matt Fraction.
Mark Bagley will be joining Fraction on FANTASTIC FOUR and Mike Allred on FF. We took this opportunity to ask Matt some questions about what changes we'll see and what we can expect.
Comic Vine: How closely will the two titles be connected?
Matt Fraction: Tightly at first, but after the first arc, not explicitly until the end.
CV: With the roster shown for FF, is the whole structure of the team changing? No more adventures in babysitting with all the kids running around the Baxter Building?
MF: No, I just didn't know how to explain what the Future Foundation was in a way that was glean-able and clean for USA Today. The Ant-Man led group are the replacements for Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny as the Fantastic Four. But they, like the Richards family, are the heads of the Future Foundation as well. So the FF will see this group not just struggle with being the Fantastic Four but... y'know, Bentley and stuff.
Also the Moloids will shift their deification of The Ben to... The Jen.
== TEASER ==CV: You've been reading a lot of the classic FANTASTIC FOUR issues, besides the obvious Stan Lee/Jack Kirby run, what others did you dig?
MF: The Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway stuff with Buscema and Buckler; Byrne, of course; Walter Simonson's run (which I realize I've subconsciously homage somewhat); Waid and Ringo, of course; I think Millar and Hitch's bit gets maligned unfairly sometimes but I love how assertive it is from jump street; and, look, I'm friends with the guys and obviously on the company payroll and all that but I swear, we're going to look back on now as being a time when Jon's F4/FF and Gillen's JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY were being published at the same time with awe and wonder, and demand that somebody, somewhere, answer why so much attention was being paid to so much mediocre garbage.
CV: Will the F4 adventures be on Earth, space, multiverse or all of the above?
MF: All of the above -- and across the entirety of infinite time, too. This a year of home schooling. Think of your, say, sixth grade year of school, think of all the things you studied. Then imagine Reed Richards was designing your curriculum.
CV: Do you write your scripts the same way? I'm not talking about with paper and pencil or on a laptop. When you send out your scripts to artists with different styles, like Bagley and Allred, do you tailor your scripts to who your artist is?
MF: Of course. Of course.
CV: Does the Thing's rocks regenerate? For example, if he chips his elbow or something, will he forever be chipped there or will it heal over?
MF: I wrote him punching the shield wall over San Francisco in UTOPIA so hard it broke the rocks off and we saw this, like, pink stuff underneath. I suppose he'd regenerate it, then.
CV: What can you tell us about Miss Thing?
MF: What if Katy Perry got a superhero suit just because Johnny didn't really look for a replacement? She's our everyman, our regular person -- the lens we'll view the FF through.