Customer Reviews

Ultimate Fantastic Four, Vol. 3: N-Zone

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

 

 

In the original fantastic four, the members of the group achieved their powers by being bombarded by cosmic rays while on a space flight. In the new version, their bodies are altered by a physics experiment that went wrong. Furthermore, in the new version, Victor van Damme (Doctor Doom), was also involved in the experiment. Finally, instead of being an independent group of superheroes, the fantastic four are under military "protection" in the Baxter Building. The soldiers are under orders to shoot to kill if any member of the group tries to escape and when they leave the building, it is only with a significant armed escort.

The personalities of Reed Richards and Susan Storm are dramatically different from the original characters. Sue is aggressive and somewhat domineering, (a bit of a sexpot), and Reed is no longer the supremely confident scientist. In many ways, Sue is now the leader of the group. While I approve of the changes in Sue, I think the changes in Reed are too extreme. He is of course still an incredible genius, so he should act more like one.

The best part of the story is the asides regarding the changes in their bodies. Susan is also a scientist and she is tasked with examining the changes in their physiologies. For the sake of politeness, Reed interviews Ben Grimm and asks him if he still goes to the bathroom. Ben responds in the affirmative and so Reed says that Sue may need to witness it. Ben responds with, "Sue can bite me", to which Reed replies, "She'd break her teeth." That was hilarious and is a continuation of the humor track that was such a delight in the original stories.

Despite some reservations, I enjoyed this story of what I have always considered the best superhero team of all time. The cartoons are artwork and the story is well written and entertaining.

February 21st, I picked up volume two of "Ultimate Fantastic Four," sufficed to say that I was wowed by volume one. The story picks up here just a little more, revealing more about our genetically altered teenage scientists. The writer, Warren Ellis basically picks up where Bendis and Millar left off and adds more personality to the foursome and a nice conclusion to Reed's "estranged family backstory" melodrama. Reed is practically beating himself over what happened to himself and his friends, more in particular Ben Grimm, and wonders still where Victor Von Damne has vanished.

Sue basically tries to deal with Reed's determination to run himself into the ground, while trying to drag him into the Bio-scanner, Ben mopes in quarantine area and Johnny flaunts his good looks to girls and impersonates Justin Timerlake (without acting like him). We discover during Sue's bio-scan that Reed has no internal organs and his body utilizes another way of supporting itself (Reed is promptly freaked out by this discovery). The story progresses when a back story of Van Damne is introduced along with himself, quite affected by the mishap of Reed's giant machine. On the sidelines he gathers a group of people, willing followers or curious friends of followers, in an abandoned part of town in his own homeland. Enraged by his transformation "Doom" unleashes a horde of android insects to take care of Reed, unaware of his own changes.

The book's storyline is nicely played out through all collected issues #7-#12, the focus being much on Doom's plot to kill Reed and Reed's determination to change his friends and himself back to normal, as the old lore goes. There are defiantly funnier things in this TPB than the "Sue wanting to see Ben use the toilet" joke; For instance the revealing of the "Fantasticar" and Ben and Johnny's reaction to it was hilarious, Johnny's need to give himself a superhero name and Ben intimidating one of the soldier's posted at the Baxter Building got a sure giggle outa me. However, once in action, the fantastic four really shine as immature would be heroes. Sue and Reed take initiative as leaders, while Ben and Johnny's usual "muscle" and background banter shines in this volume. Doom basically shows that he's not afraid to kill the Foursome (perhaps borderlines on "gone-mad" just a bit) and with some measure of impressive "firepower" to say the least. He ends up getting a good time Beat-down by "Mr. Fantastic" when he touches his girlfriend. One small character problem: Dr. Storm has went from slightly interesting to "annoying adult" in a span of six collected issues, truly sad.

It took some time to get used to Stuart Immonen's style of artistry, but all in all his style does fit the chosen storyline if anything. The action is described nicely in each frame, the emotions of each character are displayed greatly in the frames as well. And the action that takes place throughout the issues is better than its predecessor. But all in all The "Doom" Trade Paper back turns out to be a winner in my book also. Highly recommended reading. --- [a 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure what's up here; the other reviewers seem to be writing about volume 2, but this, my friends, is volume 3.

I'll admit, writer Warren Ellis didn't snag my attention with his treatment of Doctor Doom in the second Ultimate Fantastic Four story arc, Doom, but he got it for sure with arc three, which takes the young team into a whole 'nother universe. There, in a ragtag city in space, they meet Nihil (the Ultimate revamp of Annihilus), whose universe is dying; cue the supervillain soundtrack, as Nihil spies a route to a younger universe to sustain him.

Granted, Nihil's spaceship looks like a giant, bony pterodactyl and his minions are basically fierce Jawas. But the story is sterling, with the inexperienced heroes dealing with multiversal issues even as they struggle to grasp the extent of their new powers. The dialogue is quick, fresh and witty, and the fights are epic. The Thing in particular does some clobbering on a mighty scale.

Adam Kubert continues to wow readers with his art, which in this book includes numerous one- and two-page spreads that are simply breathtaking.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles editor

Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1 Review
The second volume of Ultimate Fantastic Four begins Warren Ellis's run. With Stuart Immonen on art, this is a great combination.
"Doom" is the second arc in the Ultimate Fantastic Four series. 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.
Ellis's first arc is fun, witty, and interesting. Overall I give this a 4/5. If you like the first volume, this second one is even better.

After Marvel Ultimate universe vets Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar introduced readers to the Ultimate version of Marvel's first family, both writers departed to make way for a new ongoing scribe, and that writer is none other than comic legend Warren Ellis. Ellis, who gave comic fans classic stories with his Transmetropolitan, Orbiter, and Planetary series, writes these four young heroes as they are still learning their new found powers. We see Reed go through trials and tribulations as he copes with becoming the reluctant leader of the group (his revealing of the Fantasticar is hilarious), and we also get to see just what happened to Victor Van Damme. When Ellis finally reveals the Ultimate version of Doctor Doom, it will send chills down your spine. The story is excellent, and the art by Hulk artist Stuart Immonen is great as he has much improved over his previous works. Ellis seems to be a perfect fit in Marvel's Ultimate universe, as his current mini-series Ultimate Nightmare is amazing, and his upcoming mini Ultimate Secret looks even more promising. All in all, it looks like Ultimate Fantastic Four is shaping up to maybe be the best the Ultimate line has to offer, and with Warren Ellis at the helm who knows what heights the title will go to.

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.
in vol 2 the FF find their missing fellow classmate van damme, who's started a mind control cult in europe. in my opinion, the ultimate ff books are the best of the marvel ultimate universe.
in vol 3 the FF go into the N-Zone and meet up with Annihilus, who follows them into Earth. A big battle ensues.

Let me clue you in, just in case you're of the uninitiated - Warren Ellis hates superheroes. Warren Ellis hates writing super hero comics; or as he calls them, Fight Comics. Warren Ellis' disdain for the genre shows bright and clear through this collection of the already amazingly bland Ultimate Fantastic Four. The ship not even Bendis could save, this series has been genuinely bad since day one. Warren Ellis took the book over as what he said was "a favor" to his friends Bendis and Millar who both left the book to pursue other writing endeavors.

Granted, its not ALL bad, hence the two stars. Some of the dialogue is funny (example: Reid asking The Thing if he can still go to the bathroom and Ben Grimm's reaction to the question, though the layout of the panels is really what makes it funny as you as a reader can see the awkward silence) and the art is TOP NOTCH. Stuart Immonen is amazing, and as soon as Marvel keeps him on Ultimate books, I feel his talent is wasted.

All in all, I'd say skip this book and check out The Ultimates, which is the Ultimate universe's Avengers, and is pretty much the best book of the entire Ultimate line, though fans of Spider-Man might disagree. If you want to see Warren Elllis write superheroes he actually cared about, go check out The Authority.