Fantastic Four 10, FF 9

Fantastic Four 10
Fraction (w) and Bagley and Farmer (a) and Mounts (c)

The news is breaking now amongst the family that their powers are killing them. Sue is the newest member of the F4 to see her powers breaking down as her invisibility is on the fritz, making her skin invisible but not her internal organs and the like. Reed explains what's happening and what he's been doing and why he hasn't told them. As expected, it's not met well. Reed doesn't exactly have time for that, though, as he's decided that the breakdown of their powers isn't natural; it's an attack. The F4 end up in 1776 on the trail of a Skrull messing with the Declaration of Independence (oh, Skrulls). Now they have to deal with in-fighting, Skrulls, and power breakdowns all while trying to figure out how to save themselves.

Fraction has been pretty phenomenal at making this team feel like a family, which is at the heart of what makes the Fantastic Four different. It's not unlike what he's doing with the FF but this team is actually a family so it resonates a bit more. He's had them face petty squabbling, he's had them ignore one another, he's had them focus too much on one another, he's had them fight, he's had them love, and it all feels like a real family (to an extent, assuming your real family is headed up by the smartest man on Earth and he's maybe not that good at human emotions). That makes it particularly palpable when Val tells Reed that he's a jerk and she hates him. Of course, it's not all Fraction, it goes back to series past where we've built this relationship that Fraction inherited and, I think, improved on, but it's well engineered and it's the cornerstone of what makes this book interesting. Granted, we have an interesting plot all by itself with the degradation of their powers and with the added intrigue of it being an attack rather than the natural progression of their molecules, but it's firmly held together by the family itself. A Fantastic Four book can't work any other way.

FF 9
Fraction (w) and Quinones (a) and L. Allred (c)

The FF has been restored to the way it was at the start (with new additions to that team in Ahura and Luna of the Inhumans) for the first time since Alex ran off and Medusa was mind controlled. The entire group is invited to a pool party at Julian Enterprises by CEO Charles Cotta and, despite the strange circumstance, decide to find out what it's all about (and go swimming). Meanwhile, Bentley-23 is making a documentary in what he's decided is the style of Werner Herzog for an assignment She-Hulk gave them that required they understand another culture by talking with fellow FF members. He's chosen the Uhari, Vil and Wu. He decides that there's something dark and sinister to them and he wants to get to the bottom of it. While he makes his documentary at the pool party, Charles Cotta reveals to the adults of the FF that he's actually the alien who posed as Julius Caesar back in Fantastic Four 5 and he'd like to help the FF the way the F4 helped him.

It's another very entertaining issue. The kids of the FF are wholly interesting and well personalized but Fraction has clearly realized that Bentley-23 is the spirit of the group. He's essentially Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes but he's not ready to classify himself as a hero the way that Calvin instantly has. Here's the thing though: Calvin and Hobbes is great, so it's hard for Bentley not to be great. Add to that the previously hinted re-emergence of Caesar to the story and what options he brings the team with the F4 gone long past what they had assumed (we learn why in F4 10) and we have ourselves a solid story. I've liked Michael Allred's art in this book and Joe Quinones has done a great job whenever he's had the shot to fill in. Quinones emulates Allred's style well while also adding his own touches and flair to the story. I'm also a little biased towards Quinones as my girlfriend went to the same school he did and, guys, that's pretty cool, you know?

Fantastic Four 5, Alpha Big Time 2

Fantastic Four 5
Fraction (w) and Bagley and Farmer (a) and Mounts (c)

For me, love of comic books comes largely out of the writing. Some of my favorite comics are based on the art, some are based on the story, but most of my favorite comics and my favorite runs are driven by the writer. Of course, that's unfair to say; the writer, as I've learned more and more throughout my time reading comics, needs his artist and colorist and letterer and editor and assistant editor and everyone else to succeed for sure. But when push comes to shove, I tend to prefer comics written by my favorite writers. For me (and this is all personal opinion, obviously), art doesn't typically ruin a book. It can hurt a book, it can lift a book and even save a book, but it can't ever ruin the book entirely. Same with colors. I think writing absolutely can. By that same token, writing can save the book faster than good art can. If the art is really great on crappy writing, you're still reading a crappy book and looking at great pictures. If you're reading a comic with bad art and great writing, there's still a ton to be gained (this is all coming from a writer's perspective, not a huge art critic's. Have I qualified this enough yet?). The point I'm very long-windedly getting to is that I think Marvel is succeeding so strongly in the last couple years because they've head-hunted some of the best writers available.

I didn't like the Fantastic Four at all when I started reading comics. I thought they were boring and isolated and formulaic and oftentimes annoying. I started to pick them up (when I was beginning to delve more heavily into all Marvel) when Hickman started writing them a few years ago. I had liked Hickman's stuff and I'd just finished reading his Secret Warriors book when I decided to take a chance on his F4. He won me over to the point where I was saying "well, maybe they're not SO bad." With Matt Fraction, I've gone to the next step, which is actively looking forward to reading their book. With five issues released, I'm looking forward to Fantastic Four books, after six hundred-odd issues. I never relished hating Marvel's first family. It felt like I was missing out on significant Marvel history. So I'm pretty thrilled to be onboard now.

Anyway, this issue is another solid one. The family travels through time to visit Caesar on the Ides of March to watch his assassination (Fraction is in a groove with writing comics that match up with certain dates; Hawkeye had a holiday issue and a pseudo-Valentine's Day issue, F4 has now had a Valentine's Day issue and the rarely seen Ides of March issue) only to find that he had died years previous and been replaced by a seemingly near-immortal Watcher-esque alien who had been following Caesar for years and whose appearance in his timeline had apparently altered time enough to kill Caesar before the Ides. The quick thinking alien, knowing Caesar's history, assumes Caesar's form and plans to die on the Ides of March so as to not ruin Earth. The F4 complicate things again by showing up but manage to work a plan out for this Caesar to live while appearing to die. The issue ends with "Caesar," in modern times, reading up on the new F4 (the F4 that isn't time-traveling, featured in Fraction's FF book) and deciding to aid them because "Caesar repays his debts." Also, some interesting stuff in this book about Thing freaking out while in a gladiatorial sort of battle with a monster. Thing seems to Hulk out on it, which is something to keep an eye on going forward and, I would speculate, ties into Fear Itself. Plenty to see here, folks. Stay tuned.

Alpha Big Time 2
Fialkov (w) and Plati (a) and Sabino (c)

Not too too much action in this books. Hot off of Alpha having his power restored only to almost kill a mugger in his first attempt at heroing, we find out that the man is alive enough to be rushed to the hospital, which Alpha does. He comes clean to the cops, who wave his story away knowing he stopped the mugging and whatever else might have happened. Alpha also decides to come clean with Peter Parker but, before he has the chance to, he spots a headline that says the mugger has pulled through and is expected to make a recovery in time for his court case. Relieved, Alpha leaves Horizon and heads back home, able to more easily work through his teenage angst now that he hasn't murdered someone in his first opportunity. He visits the man in his hospital bed and apologizes for the whole ordeal. The man is wrapped in many bandages and is still clearly in bad condition but grabs Alpha's wrist with newfound power and new colored lettering (the sign of evil changes) and swears revenge on the new teen superhero.

I'll admit, the end rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. I guess I should have expected it and the reveal of how this man got powered up could be interesting going forward, especially if it comes down to "Alpha's powers can turn low level bad guys into higher level bad guys," which would be an interesting twist on his suddenly crappy powers (and would also fit with the idea that he accidentally kept making a monster he fought in this issue bigger), but it felt a little bit like a stretch. The more I think about that theory, though, the more interesting it becomes. Hopefully it goes that way. Otherwise I'm enjoying this book, unexpectedly. I didn't particularly care for Alpha when he debuted late in the Amazing Spider-Man series and I wasn't really looking forward to this book but Marvel seems to be winning me over at every turn. Hopefully this book keeps up and, though it's a limited series, creates some new interest around a new teen superhero with near-limitless potential. No idea how they'll solve that issue eventually, but whatever. We're here now, not then.