FF #12-23

FF #12-23

Originally released in 2011

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Juan Bobillo (#12-14), Nick Dragotta (#15-18, 20-21, 23), Steve Epting (#16), Gabriel Hernandez Walta (#19), Andre Lima Araujo (#22)

To properly finish up Jonathan Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four, I'm finishing off the FF series, which picks up during the events of Fantastic Four issue 600. Valeria teleported the top three floors of the Baxter Building to escape Annihilus's cult, which took them to Latveria, where Doctor Doom, Nathaniel Richards, and the final alternate universe Reed Richards from the Council Of Reeds are located.

This ties back into the main Fantastic Four series by showing how the Mad Celestials arrived to Earth for the final battle, and how Doom was trapped in the universe that the Council of Reeds used as a base and got his hands on the pair of Infinity Gauntlets.  The issues after that are more episodic in nature.

Due to the series being focused on the children who live at the Baxter Building, it's lighter in tone for the most part, though it's not without its creepy moments.  At one point, the last Council of Reeds member attempts to use the Ultimate Nullifier to kill the Mad Celestials, only for it to fail as he is burned into a skeleton.

Still, after the battle with the Mad Celestials, the series generally stays on the lighter side, wrapping up remaining plot points from Hickman's Fantastic Four run.  There's something of an emphasis on returning to the status quo - the Inhumans return to Earth, and as part of the negotiations over the leadership of Hala, Ronan the Accuser is forced to stay on Hala, while his wife Crystal is forced to return to Attilan on Earth's moon.

Meanwhile, Johnny Storm's rule over the Negative Zone comes to an end, as its inhabitants demand free and fair elections.  Unfortunately, they vote for Annihilus as a write-in candidate in such overwhelming numbers that he returns to his role as leader of the Negative Zone. (though minus the Cosmic Control Rod, which Johnny keeps)

The Future Foundation expands with an orbiting base of operations that stays directly above the Baxter Building at all times (which is convenient, but seems like it wouldn't end well if a supervillain gets on-board and decides to drop it straight down - then again, Reed, Valeria, or Nathaniel likely anticipated that something like that could happen and took steps to prevent it).  Meanwhile, Johnny Storm moves in with Peter Parker.

It doesn't go well.

After the climactic battle, the future versions of Franklin and Valeria get more focus.  Franklin gets the lion's share, but the future version of Valeria has some fun moments, particularly when interacting with her three-year-old self.

As evidenced by the sheer amount of artists listed above, the artwork changes a lot throughout these issues, with mixed results.  I wasn't a fan of Juan Bobillo's art; the series places a large focus on the children, and his designs for them (particularly Valeria) are kind of unsettling.

The writing is solid, though from reading this, it's clear that Fantastic Four and FF were meant to be read as they were coming out month by month, rather than grouping them by series like I just did. (after Fantastic Four 600, an issue of Fantastic Four leads into that month's issue of FF, or vice versa depending on which one comes out first)

Still, with that, I'm finished Hickman's Fantastic Four run and ready to move on to his work with the Avengers. (I feel like it's safe for me to skip his comics set in the Ultimate Universe, though maybe I'm wrong) I don't know much about his Avengers or New Avengers runs (I think one of them establishes the existence of the Illuminati, though I'm not sure), so I'm looking forward to going into them somewhat blind.