Since the end of Blood Hunt, Doctor Doom has been Sorcerer Supreme of Earth – a fact that hasn’t sat well with his longtime nemesis Reed Richards. But that doesn’t mean Mister Fantastic is going to give up. For months, Doom’s country of Latveria has been sealed in a magical metal dome nobody can get into. Although the Fantastic Four has tried to get into the dome before (resulting in their ending up on a pre-moon Earth, no less), the magic of it all has continued to stump Reed. Luckily, Sue’s there to be a loving partner and get Reed out of his own head in this issue.
For six months, Reed has been trying and failing to figure out the magical barrier Doom erected around his country. Eventually, Sue comes up with the idea to visit Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, since he knows magic and has a background in physics. Although they’re hoping to use Whitman’s Ebony Blade as a magical weapon to break the barrier, it turns out that he’s melted it down (with a few other items) into a throne. This ends up with our leading couple taking a trip through time to search for another magical weapon Dane knows of. Traveling back to the front of World War I, Reed, Sue, and Dane search for a weapon called The Fated Blade – a sword that can cut through something for all time (whatever it is can never be mended). Once the trio find this magical weapon, things take a turn for the disastrous.
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Dane suddenly calls Reed “Richards” as his mood shifts and he throws Reed and Sue back through time. If you’ve read a lot of Fantastic Four comics, you may be able to tell where this is going. It was all a plot by…Doom (because of course it was)! This isn’t a critique, by the way – I love that dastardly villain. Turns out this weapon was the one thing that could have stopped Doctor Doom from taking over the world. Too bad Reed and Sue handed it to him. Once they get back to the future, Doom has labeled himself Emperor Doom and the One World Under Doom event has really begun.
One thing that stuck out to me in this issue is how Whitman comes off as a bit off his rocker. I never really know what to expect with the Black Knight, but I’m not questioning just how weird he is/how much was Doom’s influence on his actions. Either way, I like his weirdness here. Something that’s always bugged me about Reed Richards is how he absolutely refuses to acknowledge magic. The dude knows Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, has fought vampires, and has even been to the afterlife to save his best friend. Yet he’s constantly saying how magic doesn’t exist/won’t take it seriously.
Ryan North continues to hit it out of the park with this new issue. It’s episodic (which some haven’t loved about his run) while also building into the bigger narrative of One World Under Doom. We got to see Reed struggle, Sue be an amazing partner, the Black Knight be weird, those three time travel, and Doom be Doom. This book has everything you could want (minus, you know, the usual rest of the supporting cast).
Steven Cummings is back on art duties after last issue and I’m happy to see his work again. His work doesn’t have the same cartoony expressiveness as Fiorelli’s from the beginning of the run, but there’s some great work done with character expressions here. Seriously, look up at Dane’s eyes in that last panel and try not to see a wily guy who made his own enchanted throne. Wayne Faucher on inks and Jesus Aburtov do a great job of taking Cummings’ line work and elevating it – a great balance was found with this team of artists. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing them again.
Fantastic Four #28 is an interesting continuation of North’s run while also setting up how Doom’s actions will affect the future of not only this book, but the larger Marvel universe.
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