What is the best F4 arc ever?

[fenway]

I asked a similar question about all major Marvel heroes (maybe a year ago?). My own choice for F4 was a story I could remember, but couldn't find re-printed anywhere. It was just put out recently:
'In Search of Galactus', #204-214

http://store.thecomicboard.com/inde...137343&x=Fantastic_Four_In_Search_of_Galactus

(I'll put in a plug for the book, through this site's store! )

What is your favourite F4 arc?

 

[ProjectX2]

Fantastic Four: 1234

It's probably not the best but I think it's my favourite. And it's a mini-series.

Fantastic art by Jae Lee and proof that Grant Morrison should have written Ultimate Fantastic Four.

 

[E]

I still haven't read 1234. Weird.

2 books got me back into comics a few years ago, after I had stopped reading them 10 years before. One was Ultimates. The other was Fantastic Four by Mark Waid and Mike Weiringo.

I'm biased because of that (and the fact that I loathe John Byrne and wouldn't consider any of his run), but everything Waid did up through Unthinkable was brilliant. Especially the first couple of arcs. He lost me when he had them go to Heaven and meet Jack Kirby and Kirby erased Reed's scars, but up until then it was just so great.

JMS did a single arc which was also very good. I thought so anyway - I seem to remember it was not so popular with other readers.

I also loved the recent Millar/Hitch run too, and so far Hickman has been brilliant.

But yeah - those first few arcs by Mark Waid were just gold.

 

[fenway]

Was it Mark Waid that did the "Doom' arc that portrayed him as quite 'mystic'? (I don't know if that's much to go on, but I remember it being received quite well... it may have been issue 500?)

 

[Zombipanda]

I haven't read much F4. 1234 and Hickman's arc are both brilliant, the latter more than the former. Millar's was pretty awful. Ultimate was sort of mediocre all around. Ellis' stuff was enjoyable and could have been a great direction for the book if other writers had followed his direction. At various points in Millar's run I was expecting greatness. There were tons of potential, elegant ways he could have tied his story together. but just like Kirkman's Cable arc, these little pieces never properly came to fruition.

 

[E]

Was it Mark Waid that did the "Doom' arc that portrayed him as quite 'mystic'? (I don't know if that's much to go on, but I remember it being received quite well... it may have been issue 500?)

Yes. It started about 4 issues or so before that and came to a head in #500. It's a pretty terrifying concept - Doom and all of his scientific knowledge now embracing and mastering the mystic arts. And boy was he a pain to deal with, too.

One thing I really liked about it was how the "big event" in #500 was handled. Too many times, Marvel would take those anniversary issues and use them to needlessly kill a character for shock value - having Reed's face scarred (and his change in character after that) was a much better climax. There were also a couple of issues about Franklin's issues with being stuck in Hell that were really well done. That's another reason I hated the Kirby/Heaven story - it undid all of that too soon and too easily. Plus, it was a ridiculous ending in book with roots in science and exploration like this.

 

[E]

I just tried to read the Search for Galactus and Trial of Galactus stories and couldn't even get through the first issues. They are just unreadable.

In the first issue of Trial Sue uses a "little known" power which lets her make invisible things visable, and uses them to show energy fields. It's just so stupid and the dialogue so banal that I can't even give it credit for charm like some silver age books. It's just crap.