Ff #554

I enjoyed it as well. Curious as to why not more people are talking about it. Not even on the Marvel boards...anyway, i heard it sold out, so THAT'S a good sign....

 

Not impressed, really. Hitch is the Emperor's New Clothes to my eyes. Photorealism and the FF just don't go together in my book. The female faces in particular, are often lifeless and look to be redrawn from fashion magazines.
The "real" Ben Grimm would NEVER sex talk a school teacher right in front of her students. Give me a freakin' break. Way to go, Millar. Real "cutting edge." (Take a look at some of those "kids" he's holding up, by the way. The one in front looks over 60!)
Ah, and then there was Johnny's reference to Reed's "copyrights." Millar meant PATENTS, of course.

Pretty to look at, some interesting concepts, but not all that.

For crying out loud, DAN SLOTT is the man to write FANTASTIC FOUR. He did a terrific job on the recent THING series, writing some of the most in-character stuff I've seen in decades. And now all his work is being ignored. Most troubling to me is the careful groundwork he laid for the reunion of Ben and Alicia. Just gone now, swept away by the "hot" new writer.

Just counting the days til this latest big shot creative team is gone.

 

Very good points, Mal.

 

Thanks, Captain. I really wanted to like Millar & Hitch's FF. I really did. And the book has seen far worse days, that's for sure.
But I want to read a Fantastic Four that feels right again. Like the Fantastic Four that Dan Slott wrote so effortlessly in pages of THE THING a few years ago. Giving Ben Lockjaw for a companion was just brilliant, as was the slow and thoughtful way Slott had Ben and Alicia find their way back to each other over the course of the series. And Ben's Bar Mitzvah scene in the final issue...wow.

Even though the other FF were relegated to supporting status, I thought Slott wrote them better than any writer in decades.
I think Mark Waid is the only other writer since Byrne that seems to "get it." And I enjoyed his run, except for his reducing Dr. Doom to a murdering psychopath. (That still needs retconning as far as I'm concerned.)