TBDD. Morris! Lawrence Marable! Tim Rooney! Jordan Jennings! George Carmona 3rd! Much like Fantastic Four #1, these brave souls went up to space in the Beat’s experimental rocket in an effort to outrun the DC Roundup team. In their haste, they were bombarded with cosmic rays and gained strange new powers. Upon returning to Earth, each of them vowed to use these new powers to… write reviews on this week’s Marvel comics?
Welcome to this week’s Marvel Rundown! We’re covering the new Fantastic Four #1 from Ryan North and Humberto Ramos. Also on tap, the Marvel Swimsuit Special, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four: First Steps and . Be warned there are MINOR SPOILERS so go to our final verdict if you want to avoid them.
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Fantastic Four #1
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Humberto Ramos
Colorist: Victor Olazaba
Letterer: Vc’s Travis Lanham
Hey folks, if you maybe were not aware, there’s a Fantasic Four movie coming out at the end of this month. It looks great! We should all be excited that there’s finally the possibility of an FF movie that gets the source material. Of course, that means the current Fantastic Four run by writer Ryan North gets a new number one to potentially entice new readers from the movie. Will this be a gateway for those new readers to stick around? If this issue is any indication, probably not.
North’s run has famously consisted of self contained single issues. All you need to know about any given issue is that the Fantastic Four are a family of adventurers with weird powers who get into weird situations. This allowed the writer a flexibility to come up with stories set in alternate dimensions, or from the point of view of aliens. In it all North indulged in his love of real world science applied to the team.
This new number 1 is only some of that. Like most of Marvel’s first issues of the last few years, this new “restart” is merely issue 34 of Fantastic Four. In fact, North even points that out in the back matter. So because it’s issue 34, the opening pages connect with the ongoing One World Under Doom crossover, which North is also writing. So anyone picking up this as their first Fantastic Four book post seeing Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby in lovely blue knitwear, those folks might wonder why Doctor Doom is now calling himself Emperor Doom. Not really that self contained or potentially
Thankfully the book gets that out of the way quickly, we’re now introduced to the new status quo of the book which is new reader friendly. Doom strands each team member at various points in history. Time travel isn’t new to the characters (in fact their first encounter with Doom involved time travel) but separating the team throughout time in issue one certainly is a choice. The book isn’t completely alienating, but it certainly has the potential to baffle anyone who might pick this up in curiosity.
Though what might frustrate is how North writes these stories. There’s an obvious nod to the Silver Age and use of captions but the twist being that he uses them to elaborate on his obvious love of science and how it applies to the Fantastic Four. Did you know parasites and lice can’t penetrate Mr. Fantastic’s elastic skin? That the Human Torch can use oxides to survive in an oxygen poor environment? What a forever stone is? This use of actual science has been in previous issues of the book but at this point, North still can’t successfully make actual science as compelling in a book that thrives on the speculative. If anything it tends to rob any situation of dramatic tension because there’s an immediate solution for it (at least until the final pages).
All of this feels so frustrating because an artist like Humberto Ramos storytelling is so clear and dynamic. You almost don’t need the overly verbal captions because Ramos can sell the drama of the Human Torch running out of oxygen or the danger of the Thing fighting dinosaurs without knowing the science behind it. When the Invisible Woman hits the end of existence, he and colorist Victor Olazaba capture the desolation of a dying Earth. Ramos is such an old hand at Marvel that it’s actually surprising he hasn’t drawn a regular Fantastic Four book before now. North might tend towards overwhelming scientific explanations, but at least Ramos’s art makes the adventure thrilling and fun to look at.
That might be why this issue is so frustrating. The new Fantastic Four film has the potential to maybe convincing some folks that the Fantastic Four is the world greatest (superhero) comic magazine. This opening issue offers North and Ramos’ take on the FF going for a Silver Age optimism, a sense of camaraderie between the team, and that era’s wild thrills. Instead, this comic is too modern and often too eager to show how smart it is to let it be that wild. Also please, get that handlebar mustache off Johnny Storm’s face. – DM
Verdict: BROWSE
Rapid Rundown
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man #35
- “Miles Morales: Spider-Man” Issue #35 is part 4 of the “God War” storyline with Cody Ziglar responsible for the writing, while Marco Renna handles the art. The God arc has been interesting for Miles, the usual street-level hero, to be a part of, but the focus on Anansi, who continues to be a fun character to read about, helps. Especially since among all the gods that appear, Ananasi is the only one that has an interesting design. Ares in particular looks almost too generic for a god character, but that’s besides the point. The conflict between Ares and Anansi, which involves Miles, becomes apparent, and the explanation is sound without making either party appear more guilty than the other. Miles has a great moment where he tells off the gods, but that’s as far as his character goes during this issue. The real focus is on Anansi and Ares squaring off against each other. Unfortunately, besides some panels of interest, neither god’s specific powerset is used in the fight. The banter between the two is fantastic, but I wish Ziglar had managed to nail some more interesting choreography. The issue has a cliffhanger that tees up the finale for the “God War” arc, leaving me wondering exactly how Miles and his group are going to get out of this alive. They’ll be fine, but with the stake so high, just what is Zigler going to do to ensure it’s a believable win for readers? Spider-Man fans are just going to have to wait and find out, that is, if they find “God War” interesting. If they haven’t, this issue won’t change anyone’s minds. – LM
- Marvel Swimsuit Special 2025
- If Marvel Swimsuit Special 2025 is anything like what Marvel has envision for future Marvel Swimsuit Specials, sign me up. This issue was surprisingly fun and good spirited. On the surface, the notion of a swimsuit special is a dated one, but this year’s edition challenges that idea quite effectively. The story features a framing device by the writing team of Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs with art by Nick Bradshaw. The central premise is based around Roxxon producing an AI-generated swimsuit special of all of the Marvel heroes and creating outrage against the Marvel heroes. The Avengers decide to fix this and provide their own swimsuit special created by themselves and in a tasteful fashion. Seeley and Fleecs are a perfect fit for this book as the duo have shown this amazing heartfelt sincerity alongside of self-aware humor as seen in their Image book Local Man. Their narrative is simple but rings ever true in this age of AI-slop all while speaking about body positivity and owning your own sexuality. It’s a bit goofy at times, the moment where The Punisher stares at his infamous Skull speedo comes to mind, but it’s light hearted and fun. Nick Bradshaw’s art for the the central story is solid with tons of visual gags and body language that sells the humor and sincerity. As good as the framing device is, the main star of the show are the swimsuit pinups. The artist Marvel hired for these pinups are some of the best in the industry. We are talkingJosh Cassara & Marte Garcia, Marguerite Sauvage, Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson, Aaron Kuder & Jesus Aburtov, John Tyler Christopher, Ron Lim & Israel Silva, Nick Klein, David Marquez & Nolan Woodard, Olivier Coipel, Mira Andolfo, Rian Gonzales, Ryusei Yamada, Luciano Vecchio, and Adam Hughes. These pin ups are all tastefully done with each artist workin different art styles. There are numerous call backs to past swimsuit specials and the trading cards. Spoiler: Wolverine is grilling a lot of meat and in very little clothing. This art collection is phenomenal and is given the treatment it so deserves. I wish I could compare this to past Swimsuit specials but as of the time of writing, Marvel has yet to publish to swimsuit specials on Marvel Unlimited. I hope this issue prompts Marvel to add these wonderful artifacts of their time to the service. As for Marvel Swimsuit Special 2025, the issue is a delightful read and I hope they continue to make them for the foreseeable future. —JJ
- Fantastic Four First Steps #1
- The only evidence that this MCU tie-in oddity is the Marvel return of former FF scribe Matt Fraction after many years is the distinctively precise use of language and off-kilter humor in the narration that accompanies this recap of the F4 origin. This is a fairly straight forward remix of the original 60s debut, with some literal talking heads interspersed as “oral history” inserts alongside some in-universe promotional material made for the new movie. It’s all in good fun and Mark Buckingham’s art is a funky and effective mix of modern superhero comics realism and Jack Kirby blockiness. Fraction’s scripting is effortlessly enjoyable and makes for light reading peppered with humor and small moments of family realism. The most interesting bit here is how the story handles Mole Man, which makes for an intriguing mission statement for the MCU team and Sue Storm’s role in it that goes beyond a typical superhero group that beats up bad guys. Sue’s desire to use the family’s gifts not just for reactive punching but for political organizing and advocacy totally changes the way we think of the superhero role. I’m eager to see how the new Matt Shakman-helmed movie might spin the retro future to something optimistic and earnest—something the MCU hasn’t been in a while. Alex Sinclair’s colors are a little muted and grainy to give the art a texture that befits the throwback graphic design. For fans excited or curious for the new movie, this is worth picking up for the small thematic hints and it is a good idea for recapping the origin for potential new readers to pick up before or after they watch the movie. It’s weird we haven’t gotten more MCU comics in nearly two decades, but this “in-universe” take is an effective way of offering some MCU synergy without stepping on any storytelling toes. It’s a loving ode to the original Kirby and Lee origin with some modern sensibilities that brings new life to a classic. – TR
Come back next week for more reviews or go through our archives to read past reviews from the Rundown team!
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