Jul 04, 2022
The "New Fantastic Four" arc by Walt Simonson and Art Adams is well-written, well-drawn and a lot of fun, both literal and meta (as it pokes fun of the crass commercialization Marvel was facing in the early 90s). This arc not only works well, it probably works better than it should at being both a rousing adventure romp with ties to Marvel history (Skrulls! Monsters! (FF (1961) #2 and #1, respectively)) as well as a marketing gimmick featuring some of Marvel's "hottest" early 90s characters (Spider-Man, Wolverine, "Grey" Hulk and Ghost Rider).
Aside from the fun, action and humor/silliness, there's also some great characterization work done with the FF (in particular Mr. Fantastic) as well as some interesting continuity explorations (Is
this the first time the Deviants, monsters and Skrulls were connected?).
I originally purchased these from the spinner racks and read them when they were first released. I believe I liked them at the time, though I was disappointed in the direction that both the FF and Marvel appeared to be going post-Shooter. Having just re-read them now, I think they're a blast and definitely worth revisiting (particularly given the New Fantastic Four reboot).
On a bell curve scale of 1-5 with 3 being an average comic (3 would still be green for me! 2 is yellow and 1 is red), I would give this a 4. On Comic Book Roundup's 10-point scale, it's really tough deciding between 8.5 and 9. I'm going 8.5 only because this is somewhat throw-away in the sense of the FF's serial storyline at the time, but, if these were standalone, 9 for sure.
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/347.jpg "Fantastic Four #347")
