Ultimate Fantastic Four #24 (SPOILERS)

DIrishB

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Re: Buzzscope previews Ultimate Fantastic Four #24

ProjectX2 said:
Am I the only one only getting three pages and one is the cover?

Crazy. Why are Sue and Johnny wearing their suits that they get later on?

Good point, hadn't even thought of that. Maybe they designed the newer suits with these in mind or something. Or it could just be the artist screwed up.

nigma said:
nigma you all keep saying physics isn't sues things? how many times have you started out doing one thing, only to end up doing something else. it shows shes somewhat 'human'

maybe the reason she went into bio was cuz of here mother, or maybe it was where she finally found her niche.

But from the other UFF stories we know Physics isn't Sue's thing. She probably has a better grasp on it than most normal people, but her field of expertise is biology. Therefore, her building an anti-gravity machine is much more unlikely than her building some type of biological component or machine. But either way, both require a large amount of engineering and technical knowledge, something else I'm pretty sure Sue isn't a professional in.

Point is, its a friggin' comic book, lets relax, realize that, and enjoy the story.
 
Re: Buzzscope previews Ultimate Fantastic Four #24

ProjectX2 said:
Am I the only one only getting three pages and one is the cover?

Crazy. Why are Sue and Johnny wearing their suits that they get later on?

I assume it's part of the whole, "Everything is weird" thing that we saw in #21 as soon as they returned from fighting the chrono-bandits.
 
Re: Buzzscope previews Ultimate Fantastic Four #24

nigma said:
you all keep saying physics isn't sues things? how many times have you started out doing one thing, only to end up doing something else. it shows shes somewhat 'human'

maybe the reason she went into bio was cuz of here mother, or maybe it was where she finally found her niche.

Good point - she said something to the effect of having tried getting into physics, but didn't have the head for it. I think it was at the beginning of the Doom arc.
 
I thought this issue was ok. Again, not Millar's best (apparently he's focusing more on Ultimates 2, though I can't blame him), but a decent enough issue. It begins with the flashback to fifteen years earlier (which we saw in the preview pages) to young Sue and Johnny playing in an anti-grav field. Dr. Storm walks in and tells them that their mother died, cut to a quick funeral scene, then to present time. Mrs. Storm explains she faked her death to pursue a research project aimed at uncovering Atlantis. Several mentions of Dr. Molekevic are made (since he apparently knew about Atlantis...see the first arc), then Sue freaks out breaking a bunch of stuff with her powers due to her being upset with her mother's decision to leave Johnny, her, and Prof. Storm behind to pursue Atlantis (its a bit melodramatic in my opinion). Reed and Thing go down to pay a visit to the Zombie FF, who are being held in a containment cell originally designed to hold the Hulk. This may or may not back up my early UFF issue placements on the timeline, as either Reed helped develop it before he got his powers, or afterwards, meaning they had to get their powers first, before the formation of the Ultimates...or at the very least before Hulk was captured in the first arc. Technically it could have been before the teleportation accident, but I figure Reed was probably mostly limited to working in the Baxter Building before the accident, not being out-sourced to SHIELD, etc. The notoriety they gain after the accident (not public until after the N-Zone arc, but SHIELD and Fury surely knew about them) would probably help in bringing Reed's abilities (scientifically speaking) under SHIELD's notice. It can really go either way. Anyway, back to the issue. Reed and Thing go to visit the Zombie FF (which leads me to believe more and more that their recurring presence will lead to them being the Ultimate Frightful Four), Reed and Zombie Reed converse a bit, then we cut to Sue and her mother conversing her motivations for revealing herself as still alive. We find out they're purely selfish, and next the FF (minus Johnny since his flame powers won't be any good underwater) are being lowered in a submarine to the ocean floor, with Sue using her forcefields to protect against the crushing pressure. They find an underwater version of Ancient Egypt, complete with advanced key-pad door systems. Reed, Sue, and Ben enter a tomb and find it belongs to one Namor. Next thing we know their mics go dead, cutting off communication to the boat above. And something else is headed right at the boat according to their radar...you guessed it, Namor.

Like I said, an ok issue. Cool to finally see Ultimate Namor, and can't wait to see him in action next issue. It also offered a bit more characterization into Sue especially, which was good in my opinion, though I still think Johnny and Ben need to be developed more and not solely used for comedy relief and ***-kicking. I give this one a 3 out of 5 stars.
 
Wait a sec, wait a sec. All other things can wait, I'll discuss them after I get the issue later this week. What I want to know though is how zombie Reed was talking. Didn't Sue pop his brain, or a portion of it at least? Is he like an idiot now or something, or can he no longer use his powers? Gah, fill me in on it, what was the jist of the conversation. This is vitally important!:D
 
He seems to have completely recovered and seems awfully confident that he'll manage to escape an Hulk proofed cage.

I don't understand why they don't just put the zombie down. I can understand how Reed could be soft hearted, but the military?

The only explanation is that they want to study the virus. Resident Evil style. Considering Millar politics and the fact that the real US government indeed possess the largest biowarfare pool of virus on the planet, I can imagine that somewhere down the line Millar intend to touch that subject.

---

Funny, in the preview thread I half jokingly said that Sue's mom left a super secret project (Baxter building) for an even more secret project. Uber secret, I called it. And indeed, she was chasing Atlantis. And is an incredibly cold ***** to boot. Her behavior makes most of the dialogue we see in the preview a lot more plausible. Not perfect, just plausible.

But between me and you, I think you'd draw less attention by publicly stating you intend to look for Atlantis. Everyone would have a good laugh and just snicker when they see you move lots of diving material around. If you do it in secret, you'll attract the attention of all kind of intelligence agencies who will wonder if you are planning some kind of terrorist attacks or crap like that. Of course, in a comic book you can just dismiss the thought that a massive archeological endeavor would draw any attention and swipe that detail under the carpet. Hide in plain sight would have worked wonder in a situation like this.

---

Overall, it's got promise. I want an explanantion for Namor popping out of nowhere after 9000 years, though. I'm guessing we'll see a flash back next issue of how Reed somehow released him and now he's rushing toward the boat where the rest of the crew is. Which is a weird thing to do unless you have completely neutralized the three superheroes down near your tomb. I'm guessing he bust their divers suit or something.

Looks like Johny will have a chance to shine because he will be the only super hero available to run interference in the first pages of next issue.
 
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Plain and simple... this arc needs to be longer and Millar rushed this. He wanted so bad to just emphasize and characterize Mary Storm that it was mostly just forced dialogue involving her. Sue's whole, "Yeah, I'll do it but only cause you gave birth to us." was stupid. There has to be more to Mrs. Storm too not just yeah, I love my work more than my childrem. Though, I can see that playing a primary role in any stress between Reed and Sue now that everyone Sue loves just loves working on science so much more.

The best part was definitely with the "Frightful Four". I know it's not them and I said I didn't want them to come back but I really enjoy them and hope that's who they become. Millar definitely wants to use them and has too before the X-Men/UFF crossover with Carey.... because Mad Thinker + Zombie FF = no good for anybody.

The whole at sea... Namor pops up at the end was pretty weak. I'm looking forward to more Namor though. USM was better IMO.

3/5
 
Entropy said:
Wait a sec, wait a sec. All other things can wait, I'll discuss them after I get the issue later this week. What I want to know though is how zombie Reed was talking. Didn't Sue pop his brain, or a portion of it at least? Is he like an idiot now or something, or can he no longer use his powers? Gah, fill me in on it, what was the jist of the conversation. This is vitally important!:D

Nope, he's completely normal. I guess having your brain popped isn't fatal or permanent to the zombies. Kind of weak, but oh well. Like I said, seeing them in this issue all but confirms them as the Ultimate Frightful Four...or not. Maybe Millar is setting us up to pull the rug from beneath our feet again, as he did with Crossover. Maybe he's building it up to look like the zombies will be the Frightful Four, when in fact it could be completely different characters. I doubt this, but with Millar you never know.

But to answer your question, Zombie Reed is just as he was before, not retarded or slow or anything such.
 
DIrishB said:
Nope, he's completely normal. I guess having your brain popped isn't fatal or permanent to the zombies. Kind of weak, but oh well. Like I said, seeing them in this issue all but confirms them as the Ultimate Frightful Four...or not. Maybe Millar is setting us up to pull the rug from beneath our feet again, as he did with Crossover. Maybe he's building it up to look like the zombies will be the Frightful Four, when in fact it could be completely different characters. I doubt this, but with Millar you never know.

But to answer your question, Zombie Reed is just as he was before, not retarded or slow or anything such.

It would be rather anti-climactic if they were the Frightful Four. They were the villians last arc and they were defeated rather quickly. I don't want a rehash of Crossover. Haven't read the issue, but I hope to by this weekend.
 
Lynx said:
It would be rather anti-climactic if they were the Frightful Four. They were the villians last arc and they were defeated rather quickly. I don't want a rehash of Crossover. Haven't read the issue, but I hope to by this weekend.
That's how I felt too until I read the issue. They're definitely a great cast of characters. Imagine if the virus simply doesn't work in this world. It could happen.
 
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Lynx said:
It would be rather anti-climactic if they were the Frightful Four. They were the villians last arc and they were defeated rather quickly. I don't want a rehash of Crossover. Haven't read the issue, but I hope to by this weekend.

Actually it would be kind of anti-climactic if they weren't the Frightful Four, as if they're going to be in the custody of the FF in the Baxter Building for nothing else than to be studied by them, with no story spawning from it. Millar is building them up for a reason, were he not to use them that would be anti-climactic. I agree on the rehash of the Crossover arc, but I honestly don't think it will be anything like that. I see the Frightful arc as the zombie FF escaping the holding cell they're in, wreaking havok in the Baxter Building, but not escaping. After all, were they to escape the building into public, the Ultimate universe is pretty much over. Unless Sue comes up with some miracle-cure for it or something, but given how quickly the virus turns people into zombies I don't see a cure being very helpful. I'd like to see the story from the Frightful's point of view as they try to escape the Baxter Building to spread the plague. Kind of take a look from their point of view (however simple it is), and make the UFF out to be the "bad guys", since its from the zombies' viewpoint. Either way, I'm 99% sure these will end up being the Frightful Four, and the 1% is only due to Millar and his hype tricks, as I talked about above.
 
You know what they better ****in' be because if Millar takes more characters and ultimizes them I'm gonna be pissed. I mean at least Bendis waits for different arcs Millar's about to ultimize what like 12 616 villains if they're a totally different group than the zombies on top of that crap in Ultimates.
 
DIrishB said:
Actually it would be kind of anti-climactic if they weren't the Frightful Four, as if they're going to be in the custody of the FF in the Baxter Building for nothing else than to be studied by them, with no story spawning from it. Millar is building them up for a reason, were he not to use them that would be anti-climactic. I agree on the rehash of the Crossover arc, but I honestly don't think it will be anything like that. I see the Frightful arc as the zombie FF escaping the holding cell they're in, wreaking havok in the Baxter Building, but not escaping. After all, were they to escape the building into public, the Ultimate universe is pretty much over. Unless Sue comes up with some miracle-cure for it or something, but given how quickly the virus turns people into zombies I don't see a cure being very helpful. I'd like to see the story from the Frightful's point of view as they try to escape the Baxter Building to spread the plague. Kind of take a look from their point of view (however simple it is), and make the UFF out to be the "bad guys", since its from the zombies' viewpoint. Either way, I'm 99% sure these will end up being the Frightful Four, and the 1% is only due to Millar and his hype tricks, as I talked about above.

I still think it would be anti-climactic to use the same villians twice in one run (Unless that villian was Doc Doom). Plus, we know that "Frightful" is Ben's arc and it introduces Alicia masters. I don't know how'd that work if the entire story were contained to the Baxter Building, and I don't know why fighting these zombie FF would have anything to do with Ben outside of what was explored last arc.

Now, I'm not saying the zombies won't become the Frightful Four, I'm just saying it'll be dissapointing if that is what happens.
 
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Lynx said:
I still think it would be anti-climactic to use the same villians twice in one run (Unless that villian was Doc Doom). Plus, we know that "Frightful" is Ben's arc and it introduces Alicia masters. I don't know how'd that work if the entire story were contained to the Baxter Building, and I don't know why fighting these zombie FF would have anything to do with Ben outside of what was explored last arc.

Now, I'm not saying the zombies won't become the Frightful Four, I'm just saying it'll be dissapointing if that is what happens.

I can agree with that.
 
i liked the coldness and get out of my life thing that sue has going on when talking to her mother. but what the hell is up with the pink ??eel??
 
Although I was planning on tradewaiting this, I got sucked in by the cover - last time I make that mistake. I'm not even sure I'm going to pick up the trades. The writing is lackluster and I really dislike Land's art, where the women look like Suzy Cheerleader about to hold up a product for an ad layout. Sue's mother looks younger than she does in several panels. And telling the children their mother was dead and staging a mock FUNERAL to avoid telling them she left? I'm sorry, but that's almost sick. Or, at the very least, incredibly unbelievable.

Nice cover, though. And I like Reed's character very well. I even kinda like zombie Reed.
 
Oh ****. Forgot what I was going to say.

If I remember, I'll edit it in later...
 
I hope the zombie FF arnt the frightful four. Id much rather see Wizard, Hydro Man, Sandman and Trapster :D or whoever. I want 4 ultimized 616 villains!
 
Rhyo said:
Although I was planning on tradewaiting this, I got sucked in by the cover - last time I make that mistake. I'm not even sure I'm going to pick up the trades. The writing is lackluster and I really dislike Land's art, where the women look like Suzy Cheerleader about to hold up a product for an ad layout. Sue's mother looks younger than she does in several panels. And telling the children their mother was dead and staging a mock FUNERAL to avoid telling them she left? I'm sorry, but that's almost sick. Or, at the very least, incredibly unbelievable.

Nice cover, though. And I like Reed's character very well. I even kinda like zombie Reed.

I agree with those points. I'd have given this issue a 2/5, except for Namor's appearance. That garnered it a 3/5 in my opinion. I know thats a bit over-simplified, but what can I say?
 

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