Four astronauts. One cosmic space storm. It’s Susan Storm’s secret origin!
No, not that Susan Storm. Ryan North’s Fantastic Four #8 plays a clever trick, all but assuring it’s a flashback story to our beloved First Family – until it isn’t.
Marvel
Power-scaling isn’t something I’ve ever found particularly interesting, usually dissolving into raged keyboard smashes between strangers on social media platforms. But as has become his passion, North reminds us with a Reed-led science lesson that Sue’s powers aren’t just invisibility or force-fields, but electro-magnetic forces themselves.
To put it simply, Susan Storm is the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four.
The story quickly diverts, showing us just how dangerous Sue can be without control of all that her powers entail, seemingly fighting off a myriad of Marvel villains but instead waking to find she’s killed nearly everyone in the world, save her kid brother, Johnny Storm.
One of the greatest strengths of North’s Fantastic Four run is the character focus, and the attention to the inner monologue of each character. From the moment Sue’s committed this unforgivable act, it’s clear how inescapable her actions are in her own mind. Not only does she think this herself, all the while she’s hearing Reed’s voice, explaining the why and how of the smell of death. Sue is aware of her descent into shame and grief and horror, no magical science-based solutions to undo the desolation of an entire planet.
So much of the series has focused on how there is always a way around a problem, even if it takes longer than one would expect. But in this parallel world, there is no way around Sue’s destruction and even as she trained with Reed in her newfound abilities, he never once made any sort of contingency. Now, one could read this through a lens of unreliable narration, but it’s Susan Storm. Lying to save face isn’t something she does, regardless of the universe.
Marvel
She releases herself from the unintended consequences of her powers, cutting herself from any sort of qualms or hesitance that would limit her abilities. There’s no Fantastic Four, no family and nothing inside her but a malignant sense of joy.
Of course, none of this was our Susan Storm. But instead the Invincible Woman, a version of Sue who has lived out all the events previously depicted, showing us she has nothing left but her own desire for power.
Previously, our Fantastic Four had left to find Galactus, who had transmitted a message out to the universe: find Susan Storm. When a character like Galactus is in trouble, it sets the tone and stakes fairly easily. If the Devourer of Worlds is near death, what kind of danger could the First Family be walking into? And of course, questions are raised: how did she get to this universe? What does she want with Galactus?
Fantastic Four #8 is an action-packed reintroduction to one of the darker facets of the Fantastic Four, all the while keeping the same coloring and aspects of our Fantastic Four’s world, lulling the reader into a false sense of security. Ramos does a brilliant job showing the scale of Invincible Woman’s power, throwing around well-known Marvel heavy-hitters as if they were nothing.
A Susan-focused, character-driven book is sure to follow this flip on the format, hopefully letting us know just exactly what our Susan thinks of the Invincible Woman and the events that led her to go down this path of death and destruction.
Fantastic Four continues to be one of the best on-going books at Marvel – a perfect mix of story, character and action.
You must be logged in to post a comment.