Fantastic Four #564 Review- 'The Christmas Monster'

Fantastic Four #564

Writer: Mark Millar

Artist: Bryan Hitch

Colouring: Paul Mounts

Editor: Tom Brevoort

Ah, and FF is back on its monthly schedule, having missed the equivalent of two months during the Millar/Hitch run. The internet, being the internet, has decided this constitutes absolutely ludicrous ridiculous delays- by curious coincidence, proving the internet's predictions absolutely right. Isn't twisting things to meet your predetermined view oh-so-fun? :D

FF 564 is both the weakest issue of the HitLar run so far and one of their strongest. But mostly weakest. Which is a long way from saying its bad, just not that distinguished.

This issue has its strong points and weak points and, paradoxically enough, they're the same. The beautiful spreads Hitch gets to draw are very easy on the eye, but after a while- at least six pages in this book are spreads- you do kind of wish for more. Make no mistake, what story we do get is a charming enough little tale. It has some really good character moments, does a good job building tension as we wait for the 'secret' to be discovered, and has some wonderful "Only in Fantastic Four" touches like the Christmas presents. 

Iron Maiden commented, and I think its accurate, that the story baears resemblance to the early Byrne issue (Around 240, if my mind serves me correctly?) where the FF visited Aunt Petunia, and I think that's a fair comparison. Both of them have a similar air of sinister brooding, although this probably has more character moments and that was far from Byrne's best. The Scottish setting is a nice departure from normal,. even if it is a little cheeky from Millar.  The art, as ever, is excellent and detailed- particularly in the aforementioned splashes. My only other real problem with the issue is that it does to some extent break up the momentum of the 'Masters of Doom story', and you can see that it was not originally at this point in the storytelling order.

I do think that could have been fixed just by a few extra lines and a panel or two, but it seems it was pretty much unedited to fit into its new place in the line, weakening the story quite a bit.

Rating: Six and a Half out of Ten. Not the best from HitLar. 

Fantastic Four #563 Review- 'Mr and Mrs Thing'

I now return you to your regularly scheduled FF with a review of the latest issue of Millar/Hitch's Choose One: Critically Acclaimed / Critically Spurned run which has been Choose One: Fantastic/Terrible thus far. 

Fantastic Four #563: "Mr. & Mrs. Thing"

Writer: Mark Millar

Artist: Bryan Hitch

Coloring: Paul Mounts

Editor: Tom Brevoort

And here we are again, another issue of the book which never fails to split the fans. This issue had two main functions; advancing the subplots of the book such as SmartVal and of course the Thing and Debbie, and laying the foundations for future plots, such as the upcoming 'Scottish vacation story' and above all the 'Masters of Doom' that now looms over us on the immediate horizon. All things considered, Millar/Hitch FF seems to work best in between the big beats and this issue is no exception.

The Thing/Debbie plot is a strange beast. All things considered, we haven't seen a great deal of Debbie, nor has she really been delved into. Which is a pity, because everything AROUND her in this plot works brilliantly; the Thing's proposal last issue, Sue's talk here, the general way this plot is being handled... everything except Debbie herself, who remains largely a cipher. Her conversation with Sue here is a great character moment for Sue but we still don't know a heckuva lot about Bens' Bride To Be. Johnny also has some great characterisation as his genuine concern for Ben is clear beneath the posturing. And as always, Reed and Ben are the two Millar has nailed down to a tee. The conversation with Tony is nice in both simultaneously grounding this in Marvel, setting up what is to come while remaining low-key. And I continue to enjoy SmartVal, who serves *far* more of a purpose in the family than the old Valeria ever did and actually feels like a part of this wacky dynamic. 

And of course, we see the Masters themselves- the Marquis of Death and his mysterious partner. The scene of them in their alternate Earth is quite chilling. Millar reminds me of Morrison in the way that he created an entire backstory and whatnot for this world (As he's noted in interviews) only to utterly destroy it- and the ruin of this world's New York is chillingly rendered by Hitch- though not as chilling as the destruction of the Sun. The sense of menace that pervades these scenes is palpable, and our Earth is quite screwed when they arrive. And the very last page only added to the chill. As I presume Millar intended, the sense really is that if this is something Doom answers to... hohboy.

Oh, and though I'm not sure it was Millar, the intro page was very well done, and continues a tradition of inventive Marvel intro pages I've seen in recent years in 'Hercules', and 'Damage Control' among others, a trend I really like.

That said, I did have problems with the issues. As mentioned above, the Debbie plot is far too fast when we scarcely know her. Moreover, the Defenders are forgotten just a little too easily to me, and the fact that half the issue is spent in an alternate worlds means many characters- noticeably Johnny and Ben- don't get as much time as you might expect. The art is also a tad rushed in places, generally early on, although it's Hitch's typical phenomenal standard in the Masters scenes.

Score: Eight out of Ten- Pretty Good, but this team have done better

Scheduling

Well, it has become quyite evident that any number of factors mean that for the foreseeable future, it's going to be impossible to keep this updated with anywhere NEAR the regularity I had initially hoped. With that in mind, I'll going to chug on anyway, but I'll try and focus more on thoughts and reviews and skip the solicit run-downs. I'll also make the Dark Reign updates more infrequent. I may only be able to post once a week or so, but dammit, this blog will live!

Anyway, wow, since this blog started, we've had three important FF issues and not yet one review. So let's get a-retcifyin' that!