Fantastic Four: Solve Everything

This read was fascinating to me. While the themes of personal choice and the consequences are pivotal themes in this story are executed well, the cohesion of the story never came together. I wish we were able to see more of the Fantastic Four team fight together more rather than have them go on their separate journeys. The whole point of the Fantastic Four is to have them work together as a family dynamic, similar to The Incredibles and the fact that we had everyone going there separate ways didn’t feel necessary. I do wish they could’ve separated the different storylines with Susan and the Atlantis scenario be the focus in one issue, have Reed and the Nu-world regarding Silver Surfer and Galactus be another issue, and finally Ben Grimm and the storyline where he finally has the opportunity to be human in another issue. The separate storylines coming together didn’t add up and at times felt hard to keep up.

Also something I wish they established more was the age of Val. In the beginning, she is three years old. However, as the story continued she was older and think there could’ve been a place where there was a year later scenario (minus the Nu-world where Alyssa Moy’s new body was being made). Otherwise, I wish there was something that indicated that we were in a different year where the children were getting older. The final issue I had with this issue was some of the issues regarding Reed and Sue never got resolved. While they did show healthy signs of communication at times, nothing was resolved and I wish they had spent less time away from the action/multiple storylines and more on the intimate relationships of the core team and the children.

For the positives, the themes of personal choice/consequences are well executed. Every choice that the characters made (particularly Reed), we got to see the consequence of that choice. We got a deeper insight into why Reed is the way he is, diving into his childhood and taking in what his father told him and apply it to his life down the road. While I wish we got to see more interaction with his family (aside from the Future Foundation), I do like how we explore this character without making him the scientist that he is setup to begin with. I also love the climax as the relationship between Ben and Johnny shined in this moment. The fact that despite all of the jokes Johnny makes about Ben, they care for each other and when Johnny sacrificed himself in order to prevent Annilhus from taking over, I did choke. The whole circle coming around of who Johnny wants to be and stand for was the highlight of this graphic novel for me.

Also love how we got multiple interactions of other Marvel character (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, and Spiderman) They didn’t feel out of place and love seeing other characters interact with the main characters as we see the scope of Marvel universe somewhat come together. Only think we could’ve gotten more of those interactions (exception of Namor).

This is a good read, but not my favorite so far this year!