Fantastic Four #5
Dec. 28th, 2018 02:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nomadicwriter posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
doomfansDoctor Doom gets a brief cameo in this issue. Which is apparently also the 650th, but at least they've just written that on the cover rather than renumbering yet again this soon. It also includes a rather nice understated tribute to Stan Lee in the form of black end pages and a sketch by Phil Noto, plus a reprinted Stan's Soapbox in the back.
So, anyway, despite the fact there's already been a separate Wedding Special, this is the even longer 650th issue special where Ben and Alicia actually get married. (Which is a relationship I must admit I have zero emotional investment in, not least because Slott dropped us straight into the wedding storyline with zero buildup after X many years since I last remember reading much about their relationship. Sorry, folks!)
There are three stories in the issue. The first one is Sue helping Ben practise dancing as an excuse to recap the backstory, the second is predictable superhero bachelor party shenanigans (though you do get a shirtless Thor and Doctor Strange if that's your thing), and the third is the actual wedding. Which does have a few nice touches, like bringing back the rabbi from Ben's belated Bar Mitzvah and his Uncle Jake and famous Aunt Petunia. (Thus proving that this new universe has retconned out Mark Millar gratuitously killing her off to be edgy and hopefully the whole stupid Master of Doom storyline with it. Next can we do the same with original Valeria's death in Unthinkable, please?)
As they come to the vows, the wedding is interrupted by a giant image of Doom projected onto the atmosphere. (Zero reaction from Ben or Johnny to the fact that Doom is now back in his classic armour and sounding supervillainy, which is extremely irritating. I will accept Reed's reaction of being curious about how he's transmitting the sound as a minor consolation.) Doom warns that Galactus has returned and tells everyone to stay out of Latverian airspace on pain of death until he's dealt with the problem. The F4 prepare to rush off to Latveria, but Reed has packed a portable time bubble in preparation for this inevitable sort of interruption, so they at least get to finish the wedding first.
So... this did not exactly make me optimistic about Slott's handling of Doom. Pros: at least it's classic villain Doom in "arrogantly believing he can vanquish a threat better than the F4" mode rather than outright doing anything villainous himself? Cons: it looks like Slott really wants to write him in the classic Silver Age-y OTT style and he doesn't exactly seem too fussed about bothering to have anyone acknowledge that this is a change from his recent behaviour.
The art on this story is by Aaron Kuder, who does some good expressions - I particularly like his depiction of Ben's aunt and uncle. The splash page of Latveria is nice, too. His Doom is, uh, very Doomy? As in the panel choices are, like, such familiar clichés of supervillain Doom poses that I almost wonder if the script specifically asked for that. Also, the colourists have given him green eyes again. Does nobody out there know how to use Google?
Anyway, this has not filled me with confidence for the next issue. We might get not-doing-anything-outright-evil Doom but I don't think we're going to get nuanced-human-being-with-emotional-reactions-to-recent-events Doom, and honestly I'd prefer vice versa. Maybe Slott will surprise me and acknowledge Doom's hero phase more when he's got a bit more time next issue, but I've got a nasty feeling that the backup story in issue #1 might be all the transition we're going to get and the reset button has now been thoroughly pushed. Sigh. We'll see.
So, anyway, despite the fact there's already been a separate Wedding Special, this is the even longer 650th issue special where Ben and Alicia actually get married. (Which is a relationship I must admit I have zero emotional investment in, not least because Slott dropped us straight into the wedding storyline with zero buildup after X many years since I last remember reading much about their relationship. Sorry, folks!)
There are three stories in the issue. The first one is Sue helping Ben practise dancing as an excuse to recap the backstory, the second is predictable superhero bachelor party shenanigans (though you do get a shirtless Thor and Doctor Strange if that's your thing), and the third is the actual wedding. Which does have a few nice touches, like bringing back the rabbi from Ben's belated Bar Mitzvah and his Uncle Jake and famous Aunt Petunia. (Thus proving that this new universe has retconned out Mark Millar gratuitously killing her off to be edgy and hopefully the whole stupid Master of Doom storyline with it. Next can we do the same with original Valeria's death in Unthinkable, please?)
As they come to the vows, the wedding is interrupted by a giant image of Doom projected onto the atmosphere. (Zero reaction from Ben or Johnny to the fact that Doom is now back in his classic armour and sounding supervillainy, which is extremely irritating. I will accept Reed's reaction of being curious about how he's transmitting the sound as a minor consolation.) Doom warns that Galactus has returned and tells everyone to stay out of Latverian airspace on pain of death until he's dealt with the problem. The F4 prepare to rush off to Latveria, but Reed has packed a portable time bubble in preparation for this inevitable sort of interruption, so they at least get to finish the wedding first.
So... this did not exactly make me optimistic about Slott's handling of Doom. Pros: at least it's classic villain Doom in "arrogantly believing he can vanquish a threat better than the F4" mode rather than outright doing anything villainous himself? Cons: it looks like Slott really wants to write him in the classic Silver Age-y OTT style and he doesn't exactly seem too fussed about bothering to have anyone acknowledge that this is a change from his recent behaviour.
The art on this story is by Aaron Kuder, who does some good expressions - I particularly like his depiction of Ben's aunt and uncle. The splash page of Latveria is nice, too. His Doom is, uh, very Doomy? As in the panel choices are, like, such familiar clichés of supervillain Doom poses that I almost wonder if the script specifically asked for that. Also, the colourists have given him green eyes again. Does nobody out there know how to use Google?
Anyway, this has not filled me with confidence for the next issue. We might get not-doing-anything-outright-evil Doom but I don't think we're going to get nuanced-human-being-with-emotional-reactions-to-recent-events Doom, and honestly I'd prefer vice versa. Maybe Slott will surprise me and acknowledge Doom's hero phase more when he's got a bit more time next issue, but I've got a nasty feeling that the backup story in issue #1 might be all the transition we're going to get and the reset button has now been thoroughly pushed. Sigh. We'll see.
