Is it a super-hero book?
Is it a humor book?
Is it a teen/YA book?

Pick one will ya?

So much potential for these characters - but it's just wasted here.

Zombies and Archie worked.
Poison Ivy & Harley Quinn worked.
Even Archie meets Punisher kinda worked.

But Jay & Silent Bob? It's lewd and crude and utterly unfunny.
All the Archie tropes are there which is nice but there's little else.

Dan Jurgens hasn't had a good book in years, maybe a decade or more. He's told everythng he can about Superman, why give him another chance.

Well, because of this book perhaps.

A lot of it is just a variant of yet another Black Mercy story, but it's Clark's spirit that breaks the spell and Clark goes on to do what he does best - he becomes not a hero, but "the" hero.

I'm pretty sure this is an Elseworlds story, so I'd like to see this universe return - if for no other reason than Jon Kent is a kid again (something that should never have been changed).

Jurgens art is pretty much the same, but Redondo - niiiiice! more

Young Clark dealing with his powers, high school and secrets - all handled quite well by Mark Waid (as usual).

But lets forcus on the art - Prior to last issue I never heard of Skylar Patridge and I had to check the credits to even get his name. At this time, I don't see him as the next great artist. His style is a bit simpistic but what he excels at is faces and emotions therein. He's not as good as Kevin MacGuire but just comparing him to Kevin is a big compliment.

The high point of the issue's art is definitely Lana's entrance.

Cute use of the Superboy logo in the water tower scene.

The only real downer is that I immediately knew who the 'new' teacher was (and a mistep by Waid for calling him a 'new' teacher. It's a brand new high school, all the teachers are probably new. more

A unique story-telling device. Great art by Buckingham. A foursome that is somehow more Fantatic Four than any FF book that Marvel Comics has produced in years.

Yeah, I liked it.

Only two downsides...
1) Enough with all the different magazine names.
2) That Fraction isn't writing the real FF over the stuff North has given us for far too long.

Spoilers!

The writers sum this issue up best on the last page when Wasp #3 says "Nobody cares about swimsuit issues anymore".

They're right, because apart from a couple pages of decent art (Copiel & Hughes), this book stinks.

Minus points for any Avenger ever recruiting Punisher for a swimsuit photo instead of a mug shot. Ugh.

The Fantastic Four is supposed to be a team, yet North immediately splits them all up putting them in different time periods that affect each differently.

North insists on Johnny having the stupid mustache Why? Because it makes Johnny look and act like an idiot. Anyway, Mustache Boy is sent back to early lava spewing Earth where's there's very little oxygen.

Ben is back in the time of dinosaurs that can somehow damage his rocky skin (which shouldn't be possible). As it turns out, he's also apparently the only food source on Earth as all the T-Rex's are gunning for him.

Reed is back in medieval times where he is hit perfectly by a catapult rock, travels the European landscape, crosses the entire Atlantic while shaped like a small sail boat and can chisel solid granite with his pointy finger (someone needs to remind North, Reed doesn't control his density like the Vision does).

Sue (who is suddenly leader of the team 2 weeks away from the Sue led movie team) is lost to the impossibly far future and the end of the Earth. There she must endure the blistering heat that would kill her instantly were it not for her force field and light bending powers. Let's not tell North, that if the sun boiled away all the oceans, then the atmosphere (oxygen) would have drfited away into space. By the way, she stopped being 'Sue Storm' SIXTY years ago!

Their only hope is the Forver Stone - a plot device created just for this issue, Oh, and it's mighty covenient that the 4 all have a new wearable computer - just in time for this issue and BONUS - it can track the Forever Stone too! What super luck! It's like, if this story happened 1 month ago, there'd never be a need for a second (or 728th) issue. Too bad Reed couldn't just squeeze in a time machine too.

There's a missive from North on the fan page trying to sell the idea that renumbering is about saying "Come in and make yourself at home". We all know it's about the movie and that #1's sell better than #34's.

Someday North and his mustache will be over and the greatest team in the MU can be the greatest team again - with decent stories and writing.
But until then, because they are my favorite team here, I'll be getting it and waiting, ever waiting, for something some good story-telling.

Typically not a Ramos fan, but at least he made Ben closer to the right height and he is getting a bit better drawing feet. more

Poor art. A poor story. And another silly issue where the Thinker calls him Captain America rather than Falcon to throw him off his game.

And Storm - ugh. That she gets front and center on the cover and inside (yet does aboslutely nothing) - I guess I'll just never accept her as an Avenger.

It feels like something really happens this issue! Love that the traitor bit is finally over.

And we dinally get to see an old favorite back again (JT)!

Another issue - another gem. One of the best books out there.

Hope they don't forget Moosh!

I feel like I’m the only one still reading this title, even the reviewers seem to have given up — but man, it’s so boring… Still, I guess it must be selling well enough since we’ve made it to issue 26. Probably thanks to the artists, who’ve been pretty solid throughout, even the guest artists.

Before I point out the absurdities of yet another banal issue, I wanted to know how much Marvel pays its employees? For PKJ to be insisting on this bubble until now, he must only be needed for this by Marvel's editorial team. This guy clearly doesn't know how to give direction to the character, he's more lost than Cates, a guy who got along well with Superman, and doesn't know how to write the Hulk? Does he really not know, or does he not want to write because he's angry that the character is too serious for him to give a solid approach. If I were in his skin, I would be ashamed to do this for a mainstream, because he's only fooling himself, and not the people who distanced themselves from it.

While Joe Bennett reigns eternally with his art as the Brazilian who revitalized the Hulk by working alongside a progressive writer but with both focused on a complex approach, this writer only shows how boring he made the character, and even if he leaves, which he established, it was with this intention, so that others will do the same and the Hulk will never again become an interesting character. What a shame, this could have stopped, if it had been a problem with the art, like it was with Aaron's run near the end, but Aaron took it upon himself to make the narrative interesting, but even with that PKJ didn't learn. Pathetic and absurdly despicable!
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Another issue long science lesson that falls apart easily. The team are at the nano-micro-minisecond in the big bang - a place that is beyond an instant, yet Herbie has time to narrate the entire issue, where the comic rays have time to irradiate Ben, where there's time for sound effects upon thier arrival and departure.

And it's just 'any' cosmic rays that can do the job? If so there's plenty of astronauts and cosmonauts that should have powers then (not to mention all the people living/working in the numerous orbital satelites the MU has - and not to forget all the MU characters that have gone up, or that even ground based people get slammed with tens of thousands cosmic rays every day).

Am I making too much of this? Don't care - I'm allowed to :)

And they surving careening back to Earth at high velocity? Sue never tried to make an aerodynamic shape like she did in FF #279? They just land without breaking any bones? And before that, Johnny flames on in her force field while in space which would have burned up the O2? For someone who spent TOO many issue doing science, these are big misses.

And Ben, wearing an outfit of unstable molecules, rips it to shreds when he changes?

North's run has been horrible. If it were anything but the FF, the Marvel team I love the most, I'd have been gone ages ago. Thank Grodd this is the last issue!



Uh-Oh. more

Doom finds out about a mystical knife - he wants it.

Sister Sorrow has it and instead of taking it, he blabs on and on about what the knife is (giving the lady info she probably shouldn't have - way to go Vic).

Doom fails in getting the knife and Sis Sorrow gives it to the surprise villain (that everybody will see coming so it's not really a surprise) Mephisto.

Mephisto needs 4 more knives to energize his gauntle... oops I meant soul forge.

So, this is a Doctor Doom special issue - and he loses. LOL. more

Story one: Movie Night - Never been a Hickman fan, this story didn't change anything. Using Psycho Man's device to enter other worlds that are just films being watched by FF zombies - it's just a confusing mess. I rate it a 2.

Story two: Reed's Week - What starts out as an interesting plot, devolves into a tale that could have been told with a lot less than the 10 pages it takes. And I will forever roll my eyes at anyone allowing Doc Doom into the FF's home. I rate it a 2.

Story three: The Seeker - Whoa nelly! They saved the best for last! A great tale os something that happened between the panels fom the mid 1970's. The writing and art captures that old time feeling very well. I rate it an 8.

2+2+8 = average 4. more

It all goes wrong by Page 2 – no flippin’ way does Spider-Man lead the heroes on an assault against Dormammu. He’s experienced enough to wait back and let the heavy hitters go at it (as he did in FF #242 against Galactus).
And why just DD, Avengers & X-Men? Where are all the other heroes not on those teams?

Anyway, from here, somehow Carol breaks Domammu’s jaw (he’s an energy being, physical attacks are anything). And then Doom quickly does a spell that gets rid of him ‘forever/eternal’ as long as Vic rules the Earth. Joe Public loves this – failing to grasp that Doom has a long history of losing and dying which means Dormy will be back in thier lifetimes.

Last issue, North went out of his to say Vic prepped three spells. Turns out it was four (to protect civilians).

A handful of heroes debate if Doomsie is a good thing or not because of what he’s done and defeating Dormammu (whom Steve Strange has done a multitude of times without any thank you’s).

Switch to a full page pinup of a forgotten Bendis character who says she knows what Vic is up to.

And Bendis is what this issue feels like. A page or two of action and the rest of the book nothing but characters talking.

The story is so bad it lessens the score of what the art deserves.
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This is the kind of book that makes you feel sick when you see the positive reviews it gets on the internet just to attract the attention of an uninformed person who would spend money on such crap. I see more and more the deconstruction they're doing to Hulk and the limitless attempt to bring Planet Hulk back.

The more I see the interior art, the more I ask for Joe Bennett's return. If you make videos ripping this book to pieces, count on me to engagement.
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This story starts out on a good note and the artwork is petty good. Back to Planet Hulk storyline..again. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because I find it a cool concept. Though after the first few pages the story becomes convoluted and boring. When I find myself skimming over dialogue boxes because nothing is relevant I know my interest is waning. Sometimes I wonder if Hickman even knows what he is writing. It could be cool, but I don’t think I will be back for the next snoozer installment. more

What could have been a fun and wacky story crumbles apart when Ghost Rider kills with his penance stare. I get he's "vengeance' but Benjamin J Grimm, is standing right there! and has no problem with Blaze. Zero "justice" which is what Ben was trying to do before thsi murder happens right in front of him.

The subsequent scenes with Ghost Rider hitching a rocket ride, somehow finding Galactus in the depths of space and thier 'battle' all un-funned because of Ben's mischaracterization.

Adding in that this issue had two scenes that felt too much two John Byrne bits.
1) Doctor Strange successfully shut Galactus down using his version of a penance stare in FF #243 (so why did Blaze's fail?).
2) That it did fail is just too reminiscent of Galactus being shocked that he couldn't eat Apokolypse in the Galactus/Darkseid crossover.

The art is great but this book should have been called a What If because there's no way it can be canon. more

Hickman has a way with words - a lot of them and that's good because this book took more than the 5 minutes most issues do nowadays.

But, I have to groan and roll my eyes at things such as She-Hulk ignoring a small alien being pummeled by a larger one, and worse yet, she watches Hulk murder someone and she doesn't blink an eye - so much for her being labeled "Lawbringer".

And then there's Hulk himself, last time I checked, he was a spaceship (yeah, a spaceship lol). apparently he got better.

I've never been a fan of aged-up characters (i.e. Jon Kent, the Wally West twins, Valeria Richards, Mar-Vell's kids, etc - and not to forget, Hulk's twins); so I could only applaud that one of them is now gone.

If I had a farm, I'd bet that Wakanda is being set up (and on a related note, Space Wakanda has always been stupid).

Obvious too was Nova not being a by-stander, or that it would take Quill's dad's death to strt the plot.

Art is decent enough and it was nice to see some Legio... uhm, Imperial Guard characters.

Lastly, if this council is as big as they infer it is, there's a number of races not present that should be like Dire Wraiths, Badoon, Ovoids, Toadmen, etc.



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Lost in the time stream, the JL can't do anything, but the Legion of Doom sure can (poor Ralph).

The art isn't to the standard the book has had, but Waid's writing compensats for it. The Luthor twist was well done.

My only complaint with this storyline is that villains like the Joker, Cheetah, Captain Cold, etc haven't done much of anything and they could easily have been replaced with simple henchmen. One issue left to correct that (maybe).




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Another fine issue in both story and art.

Pranky is out of control and needs to be stopped, but who would dare?

If Mr X-Ray wasn't my favorite resident of Hyde Street before he is now.

Miss Goodbody has been fun too (unlike in the Devour special (not written by Johns)).

Johns is always great and it's nice to see Portela again - I've liked him ever since he made the New 52 LSH kind of readable.

Hyde Street is building up to something and I wanna be along for the ride (unlike the bus passengers in this issue). more

For the second issue in a row, Sam single handedly takes on people much more powerful than himself and somehow survives because he has help from a talking city that flies.

This is just silly.

And how the Thinker and others never once referred to him as Falcon (to rile him up) was the writers mistake.

The art was decent enough though.

Somehow.

Last issue left off with Sue losing her powers and the FF ceasing to exist. This issue begins with Sue somehow rescuing the kids (not her husaband, brother or friends) into force field bubbles that somehow exist when Sue doesn't. Doesn't matter because the kids end up not existing anyway.

Somehow, Valeria is alive on Earth but she looks different and the FF are powerless. Somehow Franklin is alive too but he's a giant dressing like Galactus, has unlimited power and behaves like Anthony Fremont in the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life".

Franklin attempts to mindwipe Valeria when an EXACTLY PERFECTLY timed event in Europe distracts him. Somehow this allows Jean Grey and Namor to rescue Valeria and somehow they figure out how Franklin was able to control everything.

Somehow Valeria knows how to fix everything and somehow creates a device to reset things. Franklin attacks and rather than get rid of the device and Valeria, he for some reason goes after Namor first and then the Valeria whom he then mindwipes.

Somehow this gives Valeria her original appearance and she talks with Franklin in a void they somehow were sent to. Somehow Franklin loses his powers and the two siblings then somehow cease to exist.

And yet, somehow, everything returns to the last page of last issue except now Valeria somehow knows how to fix everything.

Somehow, Ryan North has come up with a story where everything that happens, happens solely because the writer says it does. The characters don't move anything.

The art is just okay. There are a couple panels that seem to riff on Keith Giffen which makes them the only interesting things about this issue. more

Boring, strangely paced and full of bad ideas. North can’t write. The art is not very attractive either.

We've read this story a thousand times. The ending in particular. North's retarded dialogue and clumsy pacing doesn't help, and neither does the mediocre art.