Fantastic Four Visionaries - Walter Simonson, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

by Walter Simonson (Author), Rich Buckler (Author), Ron Lim (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
After a string of successes with Thor, X-Factor and Avengers, it's sensational Simonson storytelling for Marvel's First Family - starting when the FF's Congressional hearing is disrupted by dozens of vengeance-seeking villains! After the famous foursome - plus Ms. Marvel - deal with the Capitol chaos, a time anomaly sends them to find the future's fate! But while Kang and Nebula take up their time, will the universe fall to Galactus? Guest-starring Thor, Iron Man and Death's Head! Collects Fantastic Four #334-341.

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics; illustrated edition edition (May 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785127585
• ISBN-13: 978-0785127581
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #562,409 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simonson's unique vision on FF, May 19, 2008

By	"extreme_dig_cm" (Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan!) - See all my reviews

Walt Simonson did about 20 issues, 334 to 354, of the FF starting in '89, and his unique, graphic style is definitely appreciated.

Highlights here for me...
*Issue 335- Acts of Vengeance. C & D-List villians keep attacking the FF as they present a case against the Superhuman Registration Act in Washington. I didn't know this concept, which eventually leads to Marvel's controversial Civil War, went as far back as the eighties, and maybe even earlier. Interesting stuff.
*Issue 337- First Simonson pencils here. His graphic style changes the FF's visuals immediately, as he brings in Iron Man & Thor for the remainder of this TPB. These great characters, and the She-Thing/ Ms. Marvel conception, make this run feel especially unique.
*Issues 338 & 339- Non-stop action! Involves Kang, Death's Head, Gladiator, Galactus, and the Black Celestial.

This run on the FF is not limited to TPBs- we can get 44 Years of the Fantastic Four on a single disc, which is a great way to preview this material before we buy it. I was already a fan of his visionary work on Thor, so it didn't take much for me to give this a shot. I consider this to be the best of his 20-issue run.

Included in this volume:
*Issue #334- Walt Simonson writes; Rich Buckler pencils; Romeo Tanghal inks
*Issue #335- Walt Simonson writes; Rich Buckler pencils; Romeo Tanghal inks
*Issue #336- Walt Simonson writes; Ron Lim pencils; Mike DeCarlo inks
*Issue #337- Walt Simonson writes, pencil & inks
*Issue #338- Walt Simonson writes, pencil & inks
*Issue #339- Walt Simonson writes, pencil & inks
*Issue #340- Walt Simonson writes, pencil & inks
*Issue #341- Walt Simonson writes, pencil & inks
*Marvel Age #80 excerpt- an interview with Simonson circa 1989

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun take on the FF, May 15, 2007

By	Dave "babytoxie" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I've been reading comics pretty much continuously since I was five years old, the only break coming in college. That late `80s - early `90s period did contain some neat developments in the world of comics of which I was only peripherally aware, one of them being Walt Simonson's writing and drawing The Fantastic Four.

After you work the kind of magic that Walt Simonson did with Thor, you can pretty much write your own ticket. Walt branched out on X-Factor and Avengers, but I never got much satisfaction from his work on those titles. Now that Marvel has published the first trade paperback volume of FANTASTIC FOUR VISIONARIES: WALT SIMONSON, I finally get the chance to catch up on Walt's FF run, and boy is it interesting.

This trade collects FF # 334 - 341. Simonson starts off with writing duties only, basically conceiving of Marvel's recent Civil War event 16 years before it happened. In this fun storyline, an offshoot of Marvel's "Acts of Vengeance" crossover, the FF is attacked by every third-rate villain you can think of as they travel to Washinton DC to testify at a senate hearing, the purpose of which is... you guessed it... to determine if super-powered beings should be required to register their identities with the US government. What's crazy is that a situation that took Marvel umpteen-diddly comics to only partially resolve in 2006-2007 takes Simonson a mere 3 issues of one title. But what's absolutely beautiful is that Reed Richards DEFENDS the rights of superheroes quite eloquently and never once deviates from his long-established character (are you listening, Bendis, Millar, et al???). Art for this storyline is provided by Ron Lim and Rich Buckler, who both do excellent jobs. The remainder of the trade is dedicated to a story in which the FF, accompanied by Thor and Iron Man, must race between times and dimensions to prevent the destruction of the universe at the hands of Galactus... but who's really to blame here? This story heavily references several Avengers issues that you might want to scan in preparation, as I had no clue as to what was going on. Still, it was an entertaining story, full of hair-raising action, time-paradoxes, and more tongue-in-cheek physics than you can shake a stick at. The trade concludes with several pin-ups from the Marvel Swimsuit Special and an article on Simonson.

Simonson's FF stories are very entertaining. They combine the spirit of Lee and Kirby with that of John Byrne, while adding Simonson's own distinctive touches, and while it might seem that his particular style of artwork might not work with these characters, you only need to give it a look to see that he has it under control. One thing to note is that this version of the Fantastic Four includes a human Ben Grimm and his love interest Sharon Ventura, aka Ms. Marvel or She-Thing. This always struck me as an odd period for the FF, as I could never quite come to terms with a female Thing. Still, Simonson handles it well enough. As Marvel is approaching the end of their run of John Byrne collections in the FF Visionaries line, it looks like Walt Simonson is their next candidate, and I think it's a great move. I'm looking forward to more of Walt's volumes.