‘Fantastic Four Vol. 2: Four Stories About Hope’ is must-read comics

That interesting structure makes this 38-or-so-page chapter do a few different things. It starts with the heroes on the run, has them hunker down in a key Ben Grimm location, weaves in a ghost story that ties into science (a staple of this series), and eventually gets to show us Doctor Doom’s true ultimate nemesis.

Coello is a big reason why Doctor Doom comes off as so powerful and impressive here. That includes a massive punch given to Reed with blood spraying and quite a bit of force. Throw in the montage of him trying to do his best to beat Reed, and there’s a lot of visual evidence of his abilities.

Next up is the first chapter in a two-part series and another great example of how North has explored different dynamics of the FF family in each issue. This time, Alicia and Invisible Woman bond as they head out to get supplies. Seeing these characters bond and slowly uncover something weird in the town is a nice change of pace. It makes their adventure seem more realistic.

Time to solve a problem.
Credit: Marvel

It takes a bit of time for the story to get going, but when read in tandem with the second part of Fantastic Four #9, it’s less frustrating than waiting a month when the single issues came out. What puts this two-parter over the top for me is its commentary on comics and art. As North puts it, “comics are the juxtaposition of words and pictures,” as told in a caption by Alicia, and “comics is a medium–like all media, like all art–where our brains mediate.” Alicia’s plan is, by extension, what we, as readers, do to put the words and visuals together—a beautiful sentiment.

Closing out this collection are two one-shot style sci-fi stories that get real weird. Fantastic Four #10 deals with time, and it’s also a haunted house story. Surprisingly, though, the monster isn’t a threat to the Fantastic Four. This issue opens with a society of aliens zipping through space on their way to a new planet. An alien is awakened to find the person on watch dead, and on the wall is scrawled a familiar-looking enemy.

Much of this issue jumps through time in hundred-year chunks, focusing on the aliens trying to make sense of the threat outside their spaceship. The ship is stranded, and the aliens think they are in danger. North frames the story nicely from the start, making you question along with the aliens what is going on. Something that works so well in this series under North is how you’ve led along and get to piece things together as you go. As you do the detective work, you’re drawn into the tale.

Closing out the collection is a Thing-centric story. He’s falling fast down some kind of hole and needs to use his noggin to save the day. Customary of the series, North cleverly throws in a bit of science–Thing shows off some pretty impressive skills of his own and some good deductive reasoning. At the end of the day, this issue shows Thing isn’t just a clobbering lunkhead but a thinker when he needs to be. Of course, most of the family is absent, but that shows Thing relies on them when thinking is in order.

Easy to pick up and read thanks to its done-in-one adventures, Fantastic Four continues to excite with new ideas, clever perspectives, and a series that never holds back with solid characters. If you love superheroes, this series feels elevated as it builds on what makes this team so great and unique.