| Comic Review | Paul Milligan |
Fantastic Four: A Death In The Family #1
Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciller: Lee Weeks
Inker: Rob Campanella & Tom Palmer
Colorist: J. Brown
It’s
spring-cleaning time at the Fantastic Four’s headquarters
and the Invisible Woman is on the Human Torch’s ever-untidy
case. One thing leads to another and when the Human Torch
accidentally uncovers the hidden mess in Mr. Fantastic’s
laboratory, unleashing a terrible monster in the process,
things go from light hearted to deadly serious.
Before I begin the review why don’t we take a look at the
solicitation copy for this “not to be missed” special issue:
The Invisible Woman is dead! As Reed cradles his murdered
wife, lost in grief, and Ben rampages after Sue's killer,
Johnny defiantly decides to do whatever it takes- no matter
the cost or consequence- to see his sister alive again. What
he does will change the way the Fantastic Four look at him
forever. "A Death in the Family"-- not a dream, not a
hoax... and not to be missed.
So this is pretty big right? I mean they’ve been talking
about it for months… it’s got to be important. A story too
big for the regular Fantastic Four series, deserving
of it’s own one-shot! Even the mighty Editor in Chief, Joey
Q, sang the praises of this book, telling us that not one
but TWO members of the FF bite the big one! “No, no kidding
really,” said Joe in
week 38
of Joe Fridays, his weekly Q&A session on Newsarama, “these
people actually die. I even went into Tom Brevoort’s office
to double check on this; we’re talking some dead FF folk.”
And Joey Q, he wouldn’t lie to us, would he? Sure he would.
Maybe lie is too strong a word. Mislead is more like it.
Marvel has taken what is, at best, a fill-in story, added
some extra material (and reprint material at that) to
justify bumping up the price and packaged it with the most
overblown case of hype I have ever witnessed in the
industry. In short, this book is nothing more than four
dollars better spent on something else. Oh sure, Sue dies.
But by the end of the book she’s fine. And Johnny’s
character is no deeper on the last page than it is when the
book starts. As for this idea that more than one member of
the FF bites it? Doesn’t happen. Hmmm, maybe lie isn’t too
strong a word after all.
Now, it’s not a bad story really. Karl Kesel certainly knows
the Fantastic Four well and does a good job conveying the
book’s unique family dynamic. And Lee Weeks is definitely a
solid artist. This is not his best work, but even so he
still draws circles around some guys in the industry. But in
the end it’s just a decent story. It’s not special, it’s not
one of a kind and it doesn’t change anything. Like I said
before, it’s nothing more than a forgettable fill-in issue,
hyped up to be something it’s not. Do yourself and the
industry a favor - don’t buy into the hype and don’t spend
your hard earned cash on this waste of a comic.
Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of
Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance
preview books for review purposes.
