The Revolution loved the last issue of Fantastic Four. Millar and Hitch served up a riveting read. I have to admit that I am thoroughly enjoying everything that Millar is doing on this title. I cannot wait to see CAP in action. Fantastic Four #556 should be a highly entertaining read. Let’s hit this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Mark Millar
Pencils: Bryan Hitch
Inks: Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10.
Synopsis: We begin with CAP killing the small platoon of soldiers. CAP then heads off for the Air Force base in Alaska. We cut to Portal Prime, the Earth Trust headquarters, where they are tracking CAP. Alyssa says for them to forget about the Alaskan Air Force base that CAP is about to attack. That it is too late for to save them.
Alyssa says that she programmed CAP to seek out and destroy the biggest weapons he could find. Alyssa says that there is a nuclear weapons base a few hundred miles from CAP. That they have to contact SHIELD and get every super hero they have to go there to take on CAP.
We shift to Johnny’s apartment where the head tech for the new reality TV show tells Johnny that they are almost done setting up all the various cameras. The tech tells Johnny that the only place where there will be no cameras are the bathrooms and bedrooms.
Johnny’s manager then meets with Johnny and tells him that he can’t keep missing brand practice. Johnny apologizes saying that he had to stop a villainess from pulling off a diamond heist. His manager then tells Johnny that he has to start taking his music career more seriously.
Johnny goes back to his bedroom where the blue haired villainess is finished getting dressed. Her name is Psionics. She tells Johnny that she won’t tell anyone that he hooked up with her. Psionics then says that she has to go to work and that super heroes aren’t the only ones with secret identities. Psionics then promises to call Johnny later.
We slide over to the Baxter Building where Sue is contemplating hiring a metahuman as their next babysitter. She asks one of the scientists in the lab if Reed is around. The scientist answers that Reed is capturing a micro galaxy at the edge of the universe and won’t be back for another ninety minutes.
Suddenly, Alyssa teleports into the lab. Alyssa hurriedly asks Sue if Reed is around. Sue answers that he won’t be back for ninety minutes. Alyssa fills Sue in on CAP and asks her to go get Johnny and Ben immediately.
We cut to Sue, Johnny, Ben and Alyssa arriving near the nuclear weapons facility. There they find the unconscious bodies of the Avengers, X-Men, Hercules and other costumed heroes. CAP has already kicked their butts.
Thing then locks horns with CAP. CAP brushes aside the Thing. Johnny then powers up and blasts CAP. CAP shrugs off Johnny’s attack and takes Johnny out. Sue puts up a bunch of invisible barriers between CAP and her and Aylssa. CAP smashes through all of Sue’s barriers.
Alyssa then yells at CAP to remember that she programmed him and for him to remember what she first programmed into him. CAP then recognizes her and his programming to never harm Alyssa. CAP then turns away from Alyssa. Suddenly, all the super heroes have gotten back up and are ready for round two. All the heroes attack CAP and we have a massive brawl.
We cut back to Portal Prime where Ted states that CAP has just found his teleporters and has teleported deep inside of the nuclear weapons facility. That CAP is tearing apart the whole place and deactivating the weapons. Ted then says that CAP is teleporting to Russia and doing the same there. Ted says that CAP is going to go global. Ted orders the U.N. Security Council to be alerted that all bases are no a target and to evacuated them immediately. Ted wonders how they are going to do to get out of this nightmarish situation.
Suddenly, Reed’s voice comes over the radio. We see Reed streaking back to Earth. Reed says “Sit tight, gentlemen…I’m on my way.” End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Fantastic Four #556 was another terrific read. Millar dishes out a well paced issue as he masterfully blends dialogue heavy scenes with some pulse pounding action scenes. Fantastic Four #556 has a nice flow as it shifts between the various scenes. This issue is also strongly plotted. Millar has done a fine job constructing this story arc. The story contains to move with a purpose as each issue nicely builds off the last and ratchets up the intensity and excitement.
The action scenes with CAP are what carried this issue. CAP is a great monster that Millar has unleashed on the Fantastic Four. CAP certainly presents an immense challenge for our heroes. It will be interesting to see how Reed is going to figure out how to stop this juggernaut. And I’m curious to see if this fiasco with CAP is going to be the death knell for Nu-World.
The ending with Reed racing on his way back to Earth was a perfect way to end this issue. I am guilty of often dismissing Reed as a goofy super powered hero. Millar is doing a wonderful job showing the reader that Reed’s greatest weapon is his mind and not his super elastic power. And that Reed’s mind is just as formidable as the raw power of any powerhouse hero like Hercules or Thor. I dig that all the physical firepower of the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and the other assorted heroes is useless. That only Reed’s intellect is going to be able to save the day.
I dig how Millar is handling Johnny’s character. Johnny using his fame and super hero celebrity status to have a rock band and a reality television show actually makes perfect sense. I do believe that if super heroes did exist in the real world that heroes like the Fantastic Four would be treated just like Hollywood celebrities. And that those types of super heroes probably would try and cash in on their celebrity status with things like bands and reality TV shows.
I also like that Millar has Johnny as a stud who likes to party and quite often thinks with the wrong head. It is kind of like how young star NFL quarterbacks act. Look at Matt Leinart and his party photos that created such a fuss a little while ago. Young men who are single and have money and fame are supposed to have fun and do dumb things. Hell, young men with no money and no fame like to have fun and do dumb things. Lord knows I sure did.
I like this budding relationship between Johnny and Psionics. You just know at some point this is going to bit Johnny in the ass. Fraternizing with villains is definitely something that Reed and Sue would frown on. I’m interested to see where Millar takes this relationship.
Bryan Hitch crafts some incredible artwork. This is a fine looking issue. The action scenes in the snow storm were amazing. Hitch manages to get the reader to feel like they were really in the middle of Alaska. The double page splash shot of all the defeated heroes was an awesome and unexpected sight.
The Bad: I have no complaints with this issue.
Overall: Fantastic Four #556 was another fun read. Millar has managed to get me excited about reading the Fantastic Four and I can’t remember the last time that ever happened. Millar delivers a wild ride that will appeal to a large percentage of comic book reader. This story arc is highly entertaining and certainly worth the cover price.
3 thoughts on “Comic Book Review: Fantastic Four #556”
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Another good issue; the last two were mostly conversation, so this was clearly pencilled into the “trade storyline” as “lots of stuff getting punched up”. Initially I thought this storyline was going to be centred on Nu-Earth, but from the looks of it Nu-Earth is going to be an ongoing plot element through the Millar/Hitch run, while CAP is here to give everyone something to fight (so far, he’s taken out three Avengers teams (counting the Young Avengers), plus Hercules, some Initiative types, and 3/4 of the Fantastic Four; he’s more effective than forty years’ worth of Sentinels).
The Johnny plot is the most fun so far; I especially like the idea of a supervillainess with a day job, a trait usually associated with superheroes exclusively (unless the job is ‘billionaire industrialist’ a la Luthor or Hammer, but that plays directly into their supervillain personalities).
A minor nit would be that SHIELD is apparently able to summon the New Avengers, Hercules, and all the Young Avengers apart from Cassie Lang (who is registered) in a couple of minutes. Now, the reason for that is to show CAP laying out all the top teams in short order (although, really, the New Avengers would have trouble beating the Sinister Six; two of them have no powers whatsoever, and everbody else apart from Spider-Man and Cage are only just above that).
Okay, the only problem i have with this issue is the exact same one that hannibal tabu over at cbr has: how could a robot made by one of reed richards castoffs take out robert reynolds aka “the sentry” aka “i throw all my problems into the sun” much less the combined might of people like iron man, hercules, etc. and assuming that reed richards is the smartest person in the world, AND his ex is the second (unlikely, but we will go with it) that would still place the minds of henry pym and tony stark and t’challa in the top ten (at least) with amadeus cho in the sixth position. i think that they would be able to collectively come up with a better response than “lets just throw everyone at it and see if that works”… on a side note, did anybody notice that hitch drew ultimate iron man on the splash showing all the beaten heroes?
-Hobosk8er
CAP hasn’t done anything here that Ultron hasn’t been able to do in the past, so I don’t really see much problem with that (on a meta-level, it’s the Four’s book).