If you’ve missed out on Ryan North’s Fantastic Four thus far, you’re in luck; Fantastic Four #6 is the start of a new story arc. It also features a science problem worth unpacking, two fights, and a cliffhanger for the ages. Oh, and Humberto Ramos files another issue of a series that features weird, wacky, and heartfelt.
Fantastic Four #6 feels jam-packed with content, opening in the middle of an attack on Earth. Some aliens from a lava planet plan to stop Earth from spinning, so one side is cold, and the other is hot. Enter the Fantastic Four, with all their powers on display, from Reed slingshotting Thing to Invisible Woman scooping Thing up out of the water. For a story arc titled “The Invincible Woman,” North and Ramos come up with a clever use of her powers to win the day.
But that’s not all: the story then shifts to a plot-thickening meet-up with Maria Hill that has been set up for some time, the creative team squeezes in a family moment, and then an attack on the Baxter Building kicks into gear. In the span of four pages, we get almost more than most comics! The confrontation is well rendered by Ramos, keeping each team member busy and fully utilizing the entire family.
Teamwork makes the dream work!
Credit: Marvel
It’s surprising how much the creative team stuffs into the issue, yet they manage to advance the larger plot while offering mini battles and conflicts to keep readers interested. Maybe it’s easy for a superhero team to have mini-fights since they’re the primo science team fighting aliens and whatnot, but it’s a testament to North always to pack these issues with a lot of entertainment.
Closing out the issue is our big cliffhanger for the story arc, as well as an explanation of how encryption works. It might sound like a brief side lesson ala Bill Nye the Science Guy, but Mr. Fantastic knows how to use his powers in a weird way to capture your attention. Not only do we learn something, but it also helps convey just how impossible it was for someone to break into his lab.
With so much in the issue, North and Ramos find a way to spend three whole pages setting up the cliffhanger. It involves a major supervillain that’ll get folks talking, as well as a neat secret room we’ve never seen before in the Baxter Building. I call that a win.
Fantastic Four #6 is everything Ryan North and Humberto Ramos fans could hope for: wildly inventive, stuffed with story, visually vibrant, and anchored by a show-stopping finale. It’s a perfect jumping-on point and a reminder that this run remains one of Marvel’s smartest and most joyful superhero books.
You must be logged in to post a comment.