Ultimate Fantastic Four #39 discussion (spoilers)

bluebeast

bluebeast

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The issue starts with Sue and Reed talking about how he's been working too hard on the cosmic cube. Then it cuts back to 1483 Milan where these 4 magicians are trapping Diablo and his servent in a tower. He kills one of them but they are trapped there. Cut to the future Ben finally gets to meet his mom since after his transformation. They have a talk and she doesn't seem to be bothered at all by his appearance. Cut back to the past and Diablo has found a way to see into the future. He says he needs the 4 elements to get free. Ben (earth) Reed (water) Johnny (fire) sue (air). Cut to the future and Johnny is talking to his girlfriend as they are watching an old movie. She gets worried they're being watched and tells him that she might cheat on him. Cut back to the past and Diablo has spent 16 years finding a way to get the FF to come back to his time. Back in the present Ben's mom, Reed's sister, Dr. Storm and Johnny's girlfriend all dissappear. Diablo's servent tells them that they must complete a challenge to get them back. Reed's apprehensive but the FF take a lot of BAxter Building security with them to the past where it's obviously a trap.

Not a bad issue, kind of a slow start but I think it'll pick up a lot in the second ish. (Is this 2 or 3 issues long?) This has a very silver age feel to it and I think it's a good filler arc after God War. The Ben parts were the best, especially when he said how he wasn't as strong as Colossus Thor or the Hulk. The Mark Brooks art was great but I didn't really dig Kolins so much. I did like how they changed styles with the present and past parts. The one question I have is that they never let Ben see his mom for what a year? Those government types are pretty rough.
Overall 4.5/5 It would be 5 except for the slow parts.
 
Re: Ultimate Fantasic Four #39 discussion (spoilers)

Issue was great. First Carey takes this sci-fi almost Hellraiseresque story with Thanos and now he throws us into all magic. Ultimate Fantastic Four is hot with Carey on. The art was really great too.

Introducing Ben's mom was really touching but I think Alicia would've made for a good substitute in the kidnapping since she's been introduced. Johnny's date? Seriously, who cares?

Diablo seems like a really cool villain.

5/5
 
Re: Ultimate Fantasic Four #39 discussion (spoilers)

DIrishB said:
There was a lot of set-up this issue, but it feels like its going somewhere worthwhile. I like how Carey included Reed's family in this story.
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Me too. We didn't get much of that at the beginnig. Also we got to see Ben's mom, whitch was kind of a cool bonus.
 
Re: Ultimate Fantasic Four #39 discussion (spoilers)

I thought Ben's mom was a lot cooler than Reed's family. Both were needed but since we've never had anything from Ben's family's background, this was a huge surprise and a good one. Reed's dad crying though... made an impact.
 
Re: Ultimate Fantasic Four #39 discussion (spoilers)

I liked the issue but I'm a little peeved at a few things---mainly the artist change from Ferry. His art was beautiful and I was really looking forward to it.

The 2 artist thing bugged me. I know it was done in order to show which time frame was what----but that could've all been taken care of with a dialogue box that read either: "Now" or "Then". It was horribly executed. It worked during the annual when Immonen did it....but he can do very different styles and it just worked. Here...not so much.


I guess they should've involved Alicia instead of Ben's mom....but I guess we're saving her troubles for a possible Puppet Master in the future. I loved the inclusion of Reed's family again and thought it was perfect that they used his sister instead of his parents since it was noted before that they wanted nothing to do with him except the govt check.


4/5 for the writing.........2.5/5 for the art. All in all: 3.5/5 for the issue.
 
Re: Ultimate Fantasic Four #39 discussion (spoilers)

This issue was freakin' awesome. Best Ultimate book of the year so far.

The stuff in the past had a great "feel" to it that I can't even explain, and the stuff in the present was really emotinally involved on a level that this book hasn't really seen in the past Even with the Storm family mama drama.

Both artists were great and I was actually a fan of utilizing two different styles.
 
Re: Ultimate Fantasic Four #39 discussion (spoilers)

I liked this soooo much more than the previous arc. 4/5 easy.

Oh, and Fantastic is misspelled in the thread title :wink:
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
Doom, good thought on Alicia = Puppet Master
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Word. It's only a matter of time.

Does give me a good idea for another ultimization round though.



I guess I'm still getting used to the new pacing of this book. I'm not sure how long this arc is supposed to be, but the pacing for this issue felt "off" to me.
 
You didn't see the recap page? It's three parts, VVD. :wink:

But there isn't much else to say besides giving more praising. Superb issue and I agree with everything MWF said. Especially having Ben's mom being better than seeing Reed's dad again since we haven't seen any part of Ben's family.

We didn't get much, but we got enough to see about his past at home.

Awesome job.
 
The review from IGN:

"In response to events in the course of this issue, Johnny states that "This is the stupidest thing I ever heard." Don't you just love metaphysical statements that aren't intended to be one? I knew this issue was in trouble when it stated the reason for having two artists on the recap page. It's not a good sign when one writer has to resort to Formulaic Comic Book Story #43 on his second arc. Also, just to make matters worse, it violates what I consider to be a pretty basic understanding about the Ultimate Universe. Mix in the fact that Pasqual Ferry is no longer doing the art, and this title is no longer the necessary read it was less than a year ago."

Aside from the fact that i disagree and enjoyed this issue,what does he mean by the violation of his basic understanding? We're obviously all familiar with the UU here, and none of us have cried foul. I can't figure it out.
 
Dancanread said:
Aside from the fact that i disagree and enjoyed this issue,what does he mean by the violation of his basic understanding? We're obviously all familiar with the UU here, and none of us have cried foul. I can't figure it out.
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It's IGN. They hardly ever know what they're doing.
 
All I could figure is that he means the Marvel Universe isn't supposed to have fill-in artists maybe? Or more than artist per issue for some reason?

I guess he doesn't read Ultimate X-Men.
 
The guy on comiXtreme who loved USM's Clone Saga hated the last few issues of UXM. :?


Back on topic.....?


I'll give the issue a 3.5/5.
 
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I think the dude at IGN was saying that this story was bad because it follows a traditional formula without any twists. A bad guy captures the friends and family of the heroes and then forces them to fight him to get them back, because he wants their powers.

And they're idiots.

Carey's setting up something good here. He's establishing the raw power of the Fantastic Four. They harness the four elements and are essentially raw forces of nature. And it brings the supporting cast into the center of the picture, which is something that this book has needed for a LONG time. The FF is supposed to be a surrogate family, and bringing in the actual families of the characters is a damn smart move. God forbid we have a story that doesn't throw in absurd twists every which way.

I'm loving Carey's work, and I'm excited to see some magic in the UU. This is shaping up to be the best Ultimate book around.

Also, I don't think anyone's mentioned it, but we have dudes flying around and spitting out "enlightened magic" right in the middle of the 14th Century, which I think is a precedent. Up until now, I've got the impression that Captain America was pretty much the first publicly known super-power. So the real question is, how flagrant have magic users been in the past, and how much of that history are people in the modern UU aware of?

Also, Ben's mom reminds me of Charlie's mom from Everything's Sunny In Philadelphia.... Anyone?
 
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They are fools. This isn't a hostage taking only situation, and Carey has admitted himself that they were taken for a reason on his site.
 
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