Fantastic Four #570-572

Fantastic Four #570-572

Originally released in 2009

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Dale Eaglesham

Jonathan Hickman is, by my understanding, a superstar writer at Marvel, being responsible for 2015's Secret Wars, the reinvention of the X-Men, and the recently-released Ultimate Spider-Man which has Peter married to Mary Jane and the two of them having kids. (something that Spider-Man fans have wanted to see for the main universe Peter Parker for decades)  However, I'm not as familiar with his work as I'd like to be (having only read the House of X and Powers of X series, along with a few issues of the aforementioned X-Men reinvention), so I'm looking to change that with Fantastic Four, which seems to be the first part of his saga that builds up to Secret Wars.

Even though this book is called the Fantastic Four, it's clear from the beginning that these first few issues are very much Reed's story.  From his talks as a child with his now-absent father to his interactions with the team, spending time with his children, and his worries about the future, Mr. Fantastic is the main focus here.  As someone whose main familiarity with the team comes from the Lee-Kirby era of the 60s, I liked seeing how the team developed over the years.  Ben's more at peace with his appearance, Sue is now the backbone of the team, Johnny... is still Johnny. (some things never change)  It was touching to see Reed spending time with his children, the reality warper Franklin and the very precocious Valeria. (she's only three years old, and she's about as smart as Reed is)

Reed is mulling over his ultimate goal - how to solve everything - when a group of interdimensional travelers show up proposing to help him with that very problem.  They call themselves the Council of Reeds - a group of Reed Richardses from various universes who have banded together to fix the multiverse's problems, and they're offering membership to the Reed that we're familiar with.  The artists get to show off a wide variety of alternate Reed Richards designs, though only a handful of them are plot important.

After the Council shows Reed the best and worst sides of their group, being completely open with him (on one hand, they turn barren worlds into massive food supplies for the universe; on the other hand, they capture and lobotomize every version of Doctor Doom that they can find, just to be on the safe side), Reed is tempted to join their cause.  However, an offhand remark leads to him discovering that this quest to solve everything is an all-consuming beast that dwarfs even Galactus - Reed will be forced to spend every waking moment dedicated to solving it, and like so many Reeds before him, it will cost him his family, friends, and all other personal relations.  For Reed, that's no choice at all; as his father once told him, the smartest brain in the world means nothing without a heart to guide it.

Even without any familiarity with Hickman's other work, I can still tell that he's planting seeds for stories to come.  It seems like the Council of Reeds will almost certainly pop up later, though I'm not sure if they'll become a threat to the Fantastic Four.  The council's lobotomized versions of Doctor Doom can only say "Doom", and given how much Doctor Doom likes hearing his own name, I have a feeling that he's going to free those copies purely so we can have a panel where a bunch of them chant "Doom" over and over as he frees them.  I'm going to set a goal for myself - while I'm not going to focus on it exclusively (variety is the spice of life, after all), I'm going to try to read his runs on Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and New Avengers, all leading up to the 2015 Secret Wars series. (looking into it, there's also a Secret Warriors series that predates those and focuses on SHIELD and Hydra, though I'm not sure if that's required reading)  I'm looking forward to seeing where this journey will take me.