Empyre: Fantastic Four #0

When I put this comic book down I had a big smile on my face. It was a great journey in itself, but it puts in place important pieces as we enter Empyre #1 on July 15th. That makes it a joy to read, but also an important puzzle piece to the larger story. It also seems to be adding to the wider Marvel universe. By my count, that's three big reasons why this is a must-read comic book if you're a Marvel Comics fan. Read Full Review

This second prelude to Empyre brings The Fantastic Four handily into the action and sets up the opening sequence for the first issue of the main miniseries. You may question the propriety of The Invisible Woman helping her kids cheat at gambling, but it gets them out of immediate trouble and helps The FF win the day in the end, and we must assume this sort of thing will not get to be a habit. The alien kids now in The FFs custody are a wait-and- see. And with that, on to the main story. Read Full Review

Empyre: Fantastic Four #0 is a strong Fantastic Four One-Shot, but it doesn't offer much for the upcoming event. Still, it's a fun read that's worth checking out if you are looking for more Fantastic Four.  Read Full Review

Looking back on it, I enjoyed my read of Fantastic Four: Empyre #0. It provided me with a fun space faring adventure with the Fantastic Four. Its ability to achieve this, while also working to setup Marvels next big crossover event is a commendable achievement. Read Full Review

Empyre: Fantastic Four #0 is a pleasant surprise. It dials down the historical event exposition much lower than its Avengers counterpart, concentrating instead on a fast, fun family adventure. This gives it considerable crossover appeal. Even if you're planning on giving Empyre a pass, FF #0 is worth picking up if you're a fan of the World's Greatest Comics Family. Read Full Review

Busy artwork filled with flashes and dramatic effects during clashes makes the pages feel full even during the quieter moments and ties back into the never-sleep qualities of the setting where this opening story takes place. Read Full Review

What we don't really get to see in this issue is what role the Fantastic Four will play in this conflict. I like the idea of the galaxy reacting to this new empire forming and destabilizing the ecosystem but we never get what was teased at the end of Empyre #0: Avengers. It's basically just another day for the Richards family, which is not a bad thing. The issue is still lots of fun, and we know the Fantastic Four are due for an encounter with the Kree/Skrull army. Unfortunately, we just don't know what that encounter will be. Read Full Review

So, nice art, decent story, but not really the kind of shocking turn of events you might expect for the kickoff to the latest "Event." Read Full Review

An all-around solid issue, featuring good character dynamics, plot progression, and artwork. Read Full Review

While Empyre: Fantastic Four doesn't quite have the excitement of Empyre: The Avengers, it does add in some more details about the current state of the cosmic Marvel Universe and how things are shifted. It's a transition to get the team into the action without using up an issue of their main series. But, as is, this is a prelude issue that's more interesting to read than a must get. Read Full Review

Side stories are fun, but events can be incredibly expensive for the reader if they feel compelled to follow everything that happens. Accordingly, Empyre #0: Fantastic Four doesn't really "need" to exist because the Avengers issue succeeded in setting up expectations for what's to come. Read Full Review

Dan Slott gives readers a goofy Fantastic Four issue that did nothing to get me excited for the Empyre Event. Fans of the Fantastic Four may have fun with it, but I can't see anyone talking about this after a week or two. If this is what Empyre is going to be like, count me out before it even starts! Read Full Review

Because Slott has to spend so much time explaining the Kree/Skrull history, he doesn't have enough page real estate to tailor this conflict to his central characters " and the pages he is able to use feel a bit wasted on Franklin and Valeria. Here's hoping that once Empyre really takes off, the FF will find a more organic role in the coming conflict. Read Full Review

Dan Slott and R.B. Silva make a book that Marvel promises something will happen in, into a book that detours away from almost any point related to Empyre. Good artwork, some fun dialogue, and character interaction, but overall pointless with all plot points better covered in the first four pages of Empyre #1. Read Full Review

KittyNone

Jul 12, 2020

Fun story, great art, I loved this one. It didn't really seem to have much to do with Empyre, but given that Empyre is looking pretty dull that's another point in its favor.

Kalaoui

Aug 10, 2020

It's a FF book that was enjoyable and made me smile just like the current run so that's it. Some misses here and there keep it from being great. No need to read Empyre based on this book alone. Silva, Izaksee and Gracia did well!

DrTracy

Nov 12, 2020

Fantastic art. Questionable references...

Prodigalson16

Jul 09, 2020

Overall, I thought it was a fun issue with some typical Slott cringe here and there.

Psycamorean

Jul 11, 2020

Yeah, this is just a Fantastic Four issue with hints of Empyre in it. And luckily for me, I like the Fantastic Four, so I had a fun time. Unlike the Avengers issue, however, this doesn't seem nearly as relevant. Also, I don't mean to be that guy, but The Profiteer doesn't fit with how the Elders of the Universe are said to work. They're all supposed to be the last member of their race. Meaning, none of them should have siblings. But here's the thing, I trust Al Ewing wholeheartedly, so I'm not dissuaded by this issue. I know that Dan Slott can be hit or miss and I expect his solely written tie-in issues to be about the quality that his comics usually are. Al Ewing, however, can spin pretty much anything into gold and I have no fears about t he co-written main series. I think a lot of the reviews for these prelude issues are slightly misplaced. With Avengers, we got a ton of expositional information, something necessary for an event like this, in my opinion, and that issue got shit for that. This issue, we get a fun adventure that is just *literally* what happens to the FF before the main event. A prelude in the most literal way possible. Yes, it ties into the conflict of the event, but it doesn't serve a real purpose. And this issue is getting shit for that. So hopefully people will like the main event more, unless it doesn't constitute what an event should be... Whatever that is? This is a fun issue but not a necessary one. If you like Fantastic Four, you'll enjoy it. more

CrazyforRAMU

Dec 17, 2020

A cosmic out-of-gas detour throws the FF through a casino/arena caper where they pick up a Kree boy and Skrull girl forced to fight each other. And Reed puts together the pieces of recent cosmic history, deducing that the Kree/Skrull war is over. It's got fine art and I really appreciate the ample role given to Franklin and Val, in contrast to the norm of the current volume of FF. The story's fun, but this issue's Empyre stage-setting is a lot less essential than that of the Avengers #0.

TheHyruleElf

Jul 08, 2020

Artwork is incredible, but the story is just kind average. Fun, but nothing stand out. Not like the Avengers issues.

allenquanobi

Jul 08, 2020

This story really baits the reader into thinking the Fantastic Four are going against the Avengers huh? The end of the last issue reads why are the Fantastic Four part of the Kree/Skrull Fleet? Oh, turns out they were just trying to go home. The story in this issue is admittedly cute, it's nice fun and such, but the by the end I just found myself asking myself is this must read? No, not really. I would recommend the story for people who love the Fantastic Four. The art is also a little distracting since it shifts between 2 artists, so the faces look different page to page sometimes. I guess I can wait for the X-Men event later this year to get my Marvel event fix; it's such a shame b/c last year had War of the Realms, Absolute Carnag e, HoX/PoX. Such a rare year where Marvel events were consistently good to great. more

Swanktub

Jul 07, 2020

While the Avengers: Empyre #0 was fairly essential reading for the main Empyre book, this book does not really add anything for anyone who hasn't already been following Slott's run on the Fantastic Four. The only thing that really made this book stand out was Silva's incredible artwork.

Spacey Medicine

Jul 12, 2020

This was fiiiine. My favourite characters were the murderous children.

Liem Duong

Jul 09, 2020

Yeaa pfff. The Avenger Prequel was definitely 1. better written and 2. more important than this one. You can skip this and go right ahead to Empyre. Reading this will give you some set up, but you can really piece together yourself or just read the Avengers version. Dan Slott's writing is becoming more and more mundane and boggy. Its not even that its verbose, its just boring. Silva's art was nice, but its not enough to lighten to load of reading this book. The story itself was fine, just some death match between a kid skrull and kree that the FF abducts. Overall though, its a whatever issue.