So, since I’m impatient, let’s start things right off. First, I’ll begin with the first comic I ever read, and the only comic that I have continually read since then.
I have always had a very special place in my heart for the Fantastic Four, and I greatly enjoyed the now legendary Waid/Wieringo run a few years back. The Straczynski and McDuffie runs were fun but mediocre. When I first heard that Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch were going to write the title, I was quite skeptical. I was not a fan of Hitch, and I thought that Millar’s radical changes to the title, beginning with the new costumes, would destroy what made the F4 so great.
Fortunately, I was wrong. The first arc, World’s Greatest, was only minimally better than the McDuffie run, so it didn’t change much of anything. I found the giant Galactus robot to be a bit unbelievable, though I did enjoy the revival of Alyssa Moy, a character who deserved a lot more exposure. In addition, I found Millar’s treatment of Johnny Storm, a character who had partially become more than his previous, immature self in the Waid/Wieringo run, to be regressing. There was plenty that worried me.
Then came Death of the Invisible Woman. This arc immediately scared me, since I love Sue Storm, and I didn’t want anything to happen to her. But with this arc, Millar and Hitch hit their stride. The characters of the New Defenders, especially Psionics, were intriguing, and their agenda was actually something I wanted to see more of. Sure, finding out that they were from the future was a bit scary, since time travel is overused, but Millar managed to salvage that by tying that into the world dying plotline, which is something that I find quite important. Hitch’s pencils have also improved compared to even the last arc, to the point that I can see why he’s considered one of the top artists of the day. Add to that the subplot about Valerie’s intelligence, the Wolverine appearance, and the pitch-perfect Thing characterization, and this arc soared above the previous one. New and old elements combined together helped save a comic that hasn’t seen great writing in a while. So now, despite news that Dr. Doom might be replaced, which does bother me, I’m optimistic.
Plot: 8.6 Art: 9.0 Dialogue: 8.9 Overall: 8.8
