Time Enough At Last
FF #1 snaps, crackles, and pops. If I were to condense what this issue is about in to one word, it would be time. The Fantastic Four are heading out to help find a cure in the space-time continuum for Reed's ailments. In the mean time it'll feel like a year for our new FF.
First things first. I really dig Mike Allred's art. Thanks to G-Man's praise, I was enjoying I Zombie and tuned in for any work the master of comic book pop churns out, the complimenting color work by his wife Laura, also excellent as usual. I like the team selection for the most part. She-Hulk is my favorite from the lineup and given her past with the FF I understand her selection. Medusa is another pick I like because I've always found the Inhumans to be intriguing and I'm hoping Fraction will give us some good insight in to her character as the series goes on. I've been hearing some complaints about Ms. Thing and frankly I do not understand them. I'm really glad that the creative team introduced someone new into the fold because it will make for good storytelling watching this rookie fight alongside seasoned superheroes. And while I realize her selection was used to highlight Johnny's devil may care attitudes, I hope that in time we see that he had a good reason for choosing her, or that the Fantastic Four was a bit more careful in their screening process. Ms. Thing is a character I'm more than ready to welcome and enjoy, but I'd hate to think that she just stepped into the team roster so easily and without any kind of test (it's early though and I'm sure Fraction will explain this). Scott Lang is a character I never found particularly interesting. For me, Pym was the brains, and Eric O'Grady was the sleazy ne'er do well. Lang just seemed a bit dull to be quite honest. I'm guessing the folks at Marvel realize this too because they're playing up the apparent death of his daughter. So in essence, we already know that Lang's deal for the duration of FF's tenure is going to be coming to terms with his role as patriarch of this FF incarnation.
What I did not care for, is that Lang is leading the team. Why do we need a patriarch? Medusa is royalty and She-Hulk is a nice blend of brains and brawn. As such, I think either of them would have been better candidates for the leadership position. Even though I consider myself to be a feminist, I don't go around reading into "conspiracies"and what not, but I can't help but notice that in a team that is majority female, it is still a man giving the orders. I'm not going to be upset by this or throw stones yet, because this is simply a first issue and there's plenty of time for things to change and for justifications to be given by the creative team.
The issue itself is standard introductory fare. The characters are each presented and invited to join the team. Fraction does this in a non-linear way which is fairly entertaining. It's this non-linear approach to storytelling combined with the aforementioned plot elements which led me to sum up this comic with a single concept: TIME.
