THE PINE BARRENS PART 1 Reed, Sue and Ben take Franklin and a group of his friends camping in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Their weekend getaway takes a terrifying turn, however, when the campers realize that something otherworldly might be stalking them in the woods. Could it be the mysterious Jersey Devil?
This issue is a good look at how entertaining this book can be when its freed from the constraints of the ill-conceived premise of the opening arc, as this is very much a Fantastic Four adventure, where the family concept of the team is very much front and center, as they attempt to enjoy a family camping trip with a group of Franklin's friends from school. Now of course travel to any wooded region of the United States comes complete with horror stories about Big Foot, or banjo playing pig lovers, and since this is the Pine Barrens of New Jersey the Fantastic Four naturally have a run-in with the Jersey Devil, who we discover are a group of alien invaders who have made a regular habit of abducting people camping in these woods. Now this issue does a wonderful job of playing this story pretty straight, as one has to smile when Ben points out his encounter with a plot clich, and there's a great little moment where Reed and Sue allow themselves to be impressed by the simple beauty of nat Read Full Review