Customer Reviews

Ultimate Fantastic Four, Vol. 1

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow.
I am well familiar with the "Ultimatizing" of the Marvel Universe. And I like it. It won't keep me from reading the original lines, but the fresh approach and undeniable quality of these Ultimate titles means they're simply good comics. Often great comics.
They work just as well for those well-versed in Marvel's mythology as those who confess ignorance.

Having said that, this "Fantastic Four" blew me away. I loved the story, the art, the characters, the ideas, the images...you can tell by reading these twelve stories that the creators love the characters so much, they've put every creative impulse of their being into them. The four key characters are suffused with love and respect.

They've unleashed genius comic geeks on Marvel's oldest saga, and come up with something startlingly fresh and new. They've tangled with some of the most stale and staid characters in the Marvel Universe, and derived phenomenally interesting and intriguing people out of them.

First, the tweaking of the origin works. Oh Lord does it work. You got Reed, Sue, Johnny, Ben, Victor Von Damme/Doom, Mr./Dr. Storm, the Baxter Building, the Negative Zone...even the freaking Fantasti-Car. I do not in any way want to hint at what their "new" origin has to do with, as discovering it for yourself will prove to be sheer delirium. I got this fizzy glee reading the first few issues...

Oftentimes, I found myself seeing scenes I had always goofily joked about as a young child. Does The Thing go to the bathroom, for example? Does The Invisible Girl go invisible in layers or all at once? This story has you seeing your old favorites in a new light, and it's wonderful.

Dr. Doom shows up, and his 'reimagining' is a bit more bold than the others, but it feels authentic. His physical appearance, including one drastic alteration, perfectly fits the new origin.

These twelve issues read like one solid arc, and this "Ultimate" hardcover just became "essential" in my estimation.

This is bravura comic-book-making.

I suppose I would class myself as a "Fantastic Four" fan - I loved the original Lee/Kirby run as well as some of the modern takes on the heroes like the "Unstable Molecules" storyline. So, I came to this with high expectations which were met....eventually.

The "origin" story arc represents everything that I hate about Bendis and Millar - turgid dialogue, pointless spectacle, paper-thin characterisation and eyes always on the lowest common denominator. It was like watching some of my favourite characters pushed through a wood chipper.

Thankfully on the second arc, Warren Ellis takes over on writing duties and teaches us all how it should be done. The dialogue zips along with energy and his reinventions are with an eye firmly on the modern world. His Doctor Doom is not just a genius in the realm of academia, but a tech, culture and political savvy manipulator. While the bourgeois FF concern themselves with sci-fi indulgences, Doom connects with the real world to gain power and poses an all-too probable threat that is truly chilling.

This volume looks gorgeous on the shelf, sadly only half of it actually warrants the space.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby struck magic when they created the Fantastic Four. Not only did they reinvigorate the superhero comic for Marvel, but they moved the bar for the rest of the comics industry as well. One of the greatest things Lee and Kirby did was make the Fantastic Four a family in the truest sense. Still today, they love each other and strive to get along, but they fight and argue over personal issues as well as political ones that took place in the outside world.

There's no discounting the familial ties of Batman and Robin, Superman and his cousin, Supergirl, and even the Captain Marvel family. The Legion of Super Heroes was even a family. But the Fantastic four was just unique at the time.

Over the years, fans have wondered what the Four were like as kids. Except for Johnny Story, because he was presented as a teen from the beginning and only starting aging the last couple of decades. There were limited mini-series that kind of touched on these missing years, but it wasn't until Marvel became successful with its Ultimate Spider-Man relaunch that the Fantastic Four was given a relaunch as an Ultimate title.

The Ultimate line is really reader-friendly. Basically each of the characters in the Ultimate universe gets a reboot while still staying, more or less, true to the roots of the originals.

Mark Millar (writer of the ULTIMATE AVENGERS) and Brian Michael Bendis (writer of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN and ULTIMATE X-MEN) teamed up to write the first six-issue arc. Millar provided the plot and Bendis turned in the finished scripts.

The beautiful thing is that they started out with Reed Richards as a newborn and quickly followed him throughout his life. I loved the fact that he didn't fit in as a kid, which was what I'd always imagined for him instead of the pipe-smoking college graduate we were treated to. When he was getting a swirly in the bathroom, I was dying of laughter. Reed Richards suddenly became more human and more sympathetic than I'd ever before known. Then when Ben Grimm, football jock extraordinaire, strides through the door and puts an end to all the torture, my heart swelled with pride. THIS was how the two of them knew each other, and how they built this lifelong relationship that has gotten them through everything they've dealt with.

One of the best things about this new series is the science that's built into it. In the regular Fantastic Four series, Reed is an acknowledged master of nearly everything. Peter Parker was bright enough to concoct his webbing and web-shooters. And don't get me started on Bruce Banner.

The fact that Reed was exploring the nature of the universe was totally awesome. The writers worked in a new explanation of the Baxter Building as a think tank, and Willie Lumpkin (the postman) even became a recruiter and special ops soldier in his reboot.

Susan Storm, Reed's love and guiding light, is depicted as a scientific whiz-bang as well, specializing in biology. Johnny is regulated to the role of tag-along troublemaker, which fits the character perfectly and makes him a great foil for when times get way too serious. Her father is the director of the Baxter Building think tank and provides parental authority/resistance as well as the adult voice to balance the young people about to embark on fantastic adventures.

The first arc is somewhat slow in development of plot, but it is rich in the development of character and exploring this new world where everything long-time fans know is taken and twisted, shaken and stirred. Yet it remains remarkably true to the spirit of Lee and Kirby's initial vision of the team. They have to deal with the Mole Man and a rampaging monster that breaks up from the underground into the city street. And they have to learn how to accept their changes and reinforce their relationships with each other.

I love these books for their sheer sense of adventure. But it's also the feeling of nostalgia and familiarity, of being in a safe place, that I relish as well. While I was reading this book, I was eight years old again, discovering the Fantastic Four for the first time. Only this time so much of the characters was more accessible and understandable.

Warren Ellis wrote the second six-issue arc included in this book, and it centers on Victor Von Damme, who soon becomes Dr. Doom. As it turns out, Van Damme was also transformed during the N-Zone experiment that changed the Fantastic Four, and his changes are even creepier than the original.

Ellis drives home the science edge to the series as well as plays with some of the political maneuvering that Dr. Doom eventually went to in the original Fantastic Four series. I enjoyed the fact that Doom was not an infallible villain, but that he was a very good one and highly motivated. And there's no question about him being the victim in this series. Even though he was affected by the same radiation that changed the others, he was evil before his changes.

The artwork this time is by Stuart Immonen and there is a drastic difference between his and Kubert's pencils. You can't help but notice it if you read the two arcs fairly closely together. However, Ellis spins his story out in different ways and Immonen gets to flex his muscles in different parts of the world, providing for a very different look.

The Mole Man gets beaten back in the first arc, but his menace isn't ended. And Dr. Doom is definitely going to get even deadlier.

Long-time fans may have trouble transitioning to this new Fantastic Four, but it won't be because of the storytelling and the art. They're decidedly different, but I'm really enjoying that. The older issues can now be picked up in trade editions as well, so fans can dig into either era.

But it's the young fans that are going to find the most to love about this series. It's so much more of a Spielberg world and something they've grown up with. I tried reading these comics initially on the month-to-month basis, but I finally gave up. As graphic novels with whole stories in them, though, they're gems.

1. i don't like the ultimate universe idea at all. i dislike the infinite earths dc junk also. when you have iconic characters i don't think it's good to confuse the average non-comics fan (or even the average comics fan) with earth-2 superman, superboy prime, ultimates nick fury, etc. they water down the legacy and the impact of the great classic storylines and characters.
2. this is nowhere near as good as the lee/kirby fantastic four.
3. despite the above, this is a pretty good comics collection. it's not mindblowing like the lee/kirby ff, and it's a totally different ultimate universe take on the greatest team in comics. it's still a good read though. but just don't confuse the alternative ultimate universe with the real 616 universe.

Thanks to Brain Michael Bendis, and . . . Mark Millar, The Fantastic Four gets a the long expected upgrade it needed for those who never had the chance to read the various recreations of the "Greatest Super hero [family]" created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The characters are thankfully teenagers around my age, so I suppose I could connect a lot better with these carnations as opposed to the original. Reed Richards, a character I could never bring myself to like in the original FF, is humanized by Bendis and Millar with a background story that resembles to a point, Peter Parker's. While granted it is the usual stereotype-character story, I didn't mind it at all. Richard's father this time around his a big hairy-armed brute and his mother is typecast as the mother who would no nothing to oppose her raging husband. Thrown into the mix are two ignorable younger sisters; Enid and a nameless baby girl. Reed is basically the misunderstood family member and longs for the fatherly affections his father gives his best friend Ben Grimm.




After a mishap at home with one his experiments, several years later Reed is inducted into a "Think Tank" program in which the government enlists the brightest children ever to grace the earth and put them all into the Baxter Building. There he meets Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Victor Von "Damne" (Doom if your wondering) a bit later. In the usual Bendis style, the writer takes his time introducing you to the characters before throwing them into their life changing event, crafted in an interesting way. When they do of course get to this point, the drama and action really pick up in the final pages of the TPB. The Fantastic Four are nicely developed in "THE FANTASTIC" story arc. From Reed to Ben, they are very reminiscent of their counterparts to a point, only younger, much less mature and knowledgeable in other things aside from their specified field of expertise. The introduction of the Mole Man as the villain was a nice starter, you could really detest this man and not feel sorry for him. Victor Von "Damne(?)" was nicely characterized, and is even better in VOL. 2.




To make a long story short, Bendis and Millar craft an intelligent retelling of the fantastic four. To be frank it won't please everyone, especially not the HARD-CORE Fantastic Four fans. There are indeed glitches in the writing concerning the age of Reed and Ben, but it something that's gonna have to be looked over. The artist, Adam Kurbert I believe, was an excellent choice for this starting of the series (better than Jae Lee). Each frame of action is described excellently and art in and of itself (most of the time) is a splendor to behold. His description of facial expressions (I.E, Johnny discovering his arm is on fire and he tries to put it out) are priceless and genuinely funny to boot. There are some problems in the drawing, such as the constantly pointed out size difference of Ben Grimm and Reed Richards during their childhood. Another gripe: Reed doesn't have the trademark gray sideburns in his hair (sighs dejectedly). All in all ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR volume one is a great way to start up the series and in my opinion a good way to introduce these "superheroes" to a younger audience. Highly recommended. ------ [a 5 out of 5]

Marvel's First Family gets the Ultimate treatment. With minds like Mark Millar, Brian Bendis, and Warren Ellis crafting the new origin for the Ultimate Fantastic Four, you can expect great things. They didn't disappoint. This deluxe oversized hardcover collects the first twelve issues of this series. The extras include some concept art and designs. The plot outlines for the first five issues and the script for the first issue are also included. Adam Kubert does the art for the first arc, with Stuart Immonen for the second. The Fantastic Four are presented as being teenagers in the Ultimate universe, like most other characters. I love this concept.
"The Fantastic" is a six issue arc written by Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis. The arc opens up with Reed Richard's childhood. He has a near abusive father and parents that don't understand his genius level intellect. Ben Grimm is his only friend and often saves him from school bullies. The only problem is that Ben is simple-minded, and often doesn't understand what Reed's inventions. It's until a school science fair where Reed shows off his teleportation project that the government finds him. His life quickly changes. Recruited into the Think Tank, a government sponsored program designed to help fledgling genius level intellect teenagers come up with inventions for the American government. Reed meets Sue and Johnny Storm, and Victor Van Damme. Tragedy strikes during their first test of Reed's full scale teleportation device, which leads to them being powered. They have to face an old teacher known as Mole Man, who has kidnapped Sue. Then, while they learn how to adjust to these new powers, these four newly superpowered teenagers are attacked by their once scientific partner Van Damme.
Millar and Bendis manage to create an interesting new origin for the Fantastic Four. While the dialogue is heavy and the characterization isn't in-depth, it is definitely worth reading if you aren't a fan of the mainstream (616) Fantastic Four. I've never cared for Marvel's original Fantastic Four, but I'm now a fan of the Ultimate version. Kubert's art is good, nothing spectacular. Mole Man made a less than "cool" villain to me, he worked though.
"Doom" is the second arc in the Ultimate Fantastic Four series. This six issue arc is written by Warren Ellis with art by Stuart Immonen. These are two of my favorites in the Marvel's corner of the comic industry. Ellis's pseudo-scientific approach to writing and stories worked perfectly with Stuart Immonen's unique art style in Doom. After a tragic scientific accident, five teenagers were left with amazing superpowers. Four of them; Sue and Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm, and Reed Richards, have fended off an assault from their old friend Victor Van Damme. Van Damme holds the key to reversing the effects of the accident, and he won't give it to them freely. They travel to Europe to confront him. Little do they know how much power Van Damme now holds.
Warren Ellis spends the first two issues of his run explaining their powers and helping them prepare for their assault on Victor. I loved that Ellis took the time exploring how they truly got their powers. I didn't expect Millar or Bendis to do this, so it was an unexpected treat. I also enjoyed that Ellis makes this teenagers behave like teenagers. That's something Millar neglected to do with the Ultimate X-Men in his run of that series. He did the same with the first arc of Fantastic Four. Ellis corrects that. For example, Reed reveals the "fantasi-car." This promptly leads to Ben and Johnny mocking the "fantsi" name. Reed and Sue get serious with their relationship and the showdown with Van Damme was awesome. His dialogue is perfect and the plot moves at a steady pace. Stuart Immonen is one of my favorite artists. My reason is that he doesn't sexualize his art. There are no exaggerated proportions or riske poses. It has an animated feel to it.
Ultimate Fantastic Four is off to a fantastic start. It's fun, witty, and interesting. Overall I give this a 3.5/5. Even if you aren't a fan of the Fantastic Four this is worth looking into.

I love the ultimate Fantastic Four. These characters take all of my favorite aspects of the regular Fantastic Four - the weird powers, the way the relationships are what define the characters, the sense of wonder, the quirky sci-fi stuff - and present them in a way that feels fresh.

This hardcover collection has the first twelve issues of the series, and the pacing suffers from a trend (popular at the time) toward decompressed storytelling, where actual plot development was supposed to be spaced out to allow for more character moments and rich dialogue. So in the first issue, for example, the reader meets Reed, sees Ben, and catches a glimpse of Sue and Johnny, but the characters won't even get their powers for another issue or two. I'm happy to read Bendis dialogue in just about any setting, so I'm fine with the decompressed first arc, but it also helps that the second arc, a 6-issue story introducing Doctor Doom as a major threat, has a higher action content to make the decompression less obvious.

I heartily recommend this collection to any comics fan, and I have already started loaning it out to friends who think they don't like the Fantastic Four.

Can it be that someone actually made the Fantastic Four cool? Before reading Ultimate Fantastic Four, I would have said that it was an impossible feat. Characters like Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and the Punisher are cool, but the Fantastic Four? With those outfits, the out of this world science and Reed's graying temples? Aside from the Human Torch (who's cool due to the fact that he's on freaking fire), Reed Richards and company have always seemed like the reigning dorks of the Marvel Universe.

Enter Marvel's Ultimate line, where the best writers and artists in the industry are allowed to throw decades of continuity out the window and reinvent classic characters. Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men were huge hits, and the Ultimates is probably the best comic on the market right now. So when Marvel announced plans for an Ultimate Fantastic Four series, I had to at least consider the possibility that it might not suck. When I heard that Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, and Warren Ellis were all involved, I knew I had to at least give it a try. After all, they are collectively responsible for almost all of the best comic storylines of the past decade.

Following the Ultimate trend, the writers made the Fantastic Four quite a bit younger than their regular Marvel Universe counterparts, with Reed Richards and Sue Storm as a pair of science prodigies. This development works surprisingly well, and it gives the writers plenty of opportunities to work in younger dialogue and pop culture references. Johnny Storm trying to convince a girl that he is Justin Timberlake is one priceless example. Adam Kubert's artwork is excellent as always, and while I'm not a huge Stuart Immonen fan, I will admit he has a very distinctive style.

The bottom line is that this is a good book. Fans of Marvel's Ultimate line will no doubt love Ultimate Fantastic Four, though it is bound to give some traditional FF fans fits. FF skeptics (like me) should take a chance on this one. Look at the creative team involved. They don't often let readers down, and Ultimate Fantastic Four is definitely no disappointment.

I opened the Ultimate FF with trepidation...I've loved the original characters since their inception and was loathe to see them tampered with. But tampering like this I can certainly live with! I would never want to see the originals replaced, but this newer version is also fun to read. The dialogue is up-to-date and geared towards a more adult audience (did they remember those of us who were reading in the sixties, after all?). The art work is stunning, and the "how the Four got their powers" story works better than the original; their reactions as each of them discover their new found abilities is a hoot. I like the interaction between Sue and Reed in this version, and, as in the originals, Torch and Thing baiting one another is a great deal of fun. My one bone of contention: Did they HAVE to make Reed look like Harry Potter?? Tsk.

Since the launch of the Ultimate series of Marvel, I've been anxious to see how they were going to represent the Fantastic Four.

As the ultimate universe is more "humanitized" and controlled in time terms, the stories and the events of the two paperback stories (The Fantastic and Doom), pictured in the Hardcover version are excellent and not time consuming.

The artwork is really good, proving that the "Ultimate" universe has something valuable to show. Also the hardcover version is very detailed and loaded with the extra script, a must have for those who want to study comics in their free time.

In general, it's worth buying both as a collector's item, or as a fan material.