Comic Book Review: Fantastic Four #565

The Revolution is a big fan of Millar’s Fantastic Four. This is a title that I never cared much for until Millar and Hitch came aboard. And Millar has succeeded in making Fantastic Four one of Marvel’s more entertaining reads. I am confident that Fantastic Four #565 will be another enjoyable read. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Bryan Hitch

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Franklin telling Reed and Sue that he got separated from Val and that she is missing. We see Sue and Reed along with Reed’s relatives searching the town for Val. The Thing and Johnny search the forest. Reed tells his cousin, Hamish, that Reed is a magnet for strange things like this.

We cut to the Thing and Deb searching the forest while Johnny looks from the sky. Thing and Deb come to the edge of the forest in front of the water. Johnny flies over and says that whatever snatched Val carried her into the water.

Johnny then dives into the water. The Thing asks Deb how Johnny would know that Val is in the water. We get a bird’s eye view and see that Thing and Deb are standing in between two giant footprints in the snow.

We shift to Johnny swimming in the water and arriving at an underground cave. Johnny comes out of the water and starts yelling for Val. Val comes running from the shadows and hugs Johnny. Johnny asks Val what happened. Val then gets a scared look and stammers that “It’s right behind you.”

We then see a bunch of giant tentacles reach out for Johnny and Val. Johnny blasts them and then notices, to his dismay, that the tentacles appear to be fireproof. Johnny grabs Val and then flies off with her.

We slide over to Reed, Sue, Hamish and some other locals arriving at Rhona’s house. Sue knocks on the door and asks Rhona to come outside. Sue says that Rhona warned them that Franklin and Val where in danger. Sue asks if this has anything to do with Val being missing.

Rhona refuses to open the door and says that she is not allowed to talk to Reed and Sue. Sue then touched the front door and makes it invisible. We see Rhona standing there with a large black eye. Reed asks Hamish what the hell is going on here.

Suddenly, Thing and Deb come running onto the scene and exclaim that Johnny has figured out where Val is. We then see Johnny holding Val and flying out of a sewer grate. We then see a giant monster come busting out of the ground under Johnny. Reed tells Thing to attack the monster with something heavy. The Thing uses a VW Beetle to hit the monster. The small car has no effect on the monster. Ben bemoans the “crappy little cars” that Europeans drive.

Franklin flies over to Johnny and grabs Val from Johnny. Val tells Franklin that she knows that he loves how Val was wrong to venture into the forest. Johnny attacks the monster. The monster is impervious to Johnny’s flames. Reed tells Johnny to melt the road under the monster in order to slow it down. Johnny does so and the monster begins to sink into the ground.

We cut to the Thing looking for something bigger to hit the monster with. The Thing then spies a large city bus.

We cut to Franklin who tells Val that he has an idea. Franklin flies Val over to in front of the monster. Franklin calls out for the monster to come and get his “dream-girl.” The monster chases Franklin and Val. Franklin says that he plans on leading it into the Fantasti-carrier which is the only thing around here big enough to hold the monster.

Franklin flies into the Fantasti-carrier and the monster follows them inside of it. Reed then quickly enters the Fantasti-carrier and pulls Franklin and Val out of it. Reed says that the Fantasti-carrier’s dimensions are too unstable and will not hold the monster for more than another thirty seconds. We then see the monster bursting out of the carrier.

Sue creates a shield around her family. Sue then says that this ends now. Sue then says that she is going to hit the monster with the heaviest thing in the town. We then see Sue dropping the town’s cathedral on top of the monster. The monster is knocked out.

The Thing then enters the scene and says that this is not over yet. The Thing then throws the city bus at the monster. Johnny comments how Ben always has to have the last word. Ben responds “Yep.”

The townspeople are all upset and cry out how the Fantastic Four killed Korgo. The townspeople wonder aloud what they will do now. Reed asks Hamish what the townspeople are talking about. Hamish reveals that Korgo has watched over their town for almost two thousand years. That Korgo made their town a paradise. No one has died since then. All illnesses are immediately healed. There is no unemployment. All of this in return the townspeople offering a child of Korgo’s choice as a sacrifice every twenty-five years on Christmas day.

Hamish reveals that Korgo selected Hamish’s son, Angus, to be the sacrifice this year. Hamish then offered Val instead since her being a child of two super heroes laden with cosmic rays would make her more delicious. Korgo agreed. Hamish comments about what are the odds that the parish that he gets sent to has a monster watching over it. Hamish says that he is a magnet for strange things just like Reed.

Reed then punches Hamish. Deb tells the Thing that they are going to Deb’s parents’ house for Christmas next year.

We zip forward to “months later.” Sue is reading a letter from Rhona. Rhona states how she heard that Reed built a special nature preserve for Korgo. Rhona says that all the townspeople left the town after the Fantastic Four left with Korgo. Rhona says that she is now married and that she is pregnant. Rhona continues that she is writing to let Sue know the difference they made in her life and to hopefully put a smile on Sue’s face.

Rhona says that she is sorry what happened with Doctor Doom and his horrible teachers. Rhona says that she is also sorry about the Thing and “that lovely fiancé that he had.” Rhona ends the letter by telling Sue to remember that Sue’s friends are praying for her. End of issue.

Commentary

The Good: Fantastic Four #565 was another entertaining read. Millar continues to display a deft hand with the handling of this title. Fantastic Four #565 was a well paced read. Millar manages the flow of the story well as it starts off at a measured pace before all hell breaks loose in the middle of this issue and the pacing dramatically increases.

Fantastic Four #565 was also well plotted. Millar delivers a tightly plotted two-part story that moves with a purpose and a clear direction. This was a tightly plotted issue and the reader never got the impression that Millar was simply needlessly wasting time just to take up panel space. Millar also dialed up a pleasant blend of action and drama in this issue.

And speaking of action, we got plenty of kick-ass action in this issue. I loved Korgo. Of course, Kaiju are a weakness of mine. I liked watching Korgo go on a rampage. And having Sue be the one who takes out Korgo was unexpected. Still, Sue takes out Korgo in style by dropping an entire cathedral on him. That was a great ending to the fight scene.

Fantastic Four #565 concludes what was a really entertaining two-issue monster tale. Sure, this two-issue story arc was basically a short filler story arc designed to burn time until the Masters of Doom story arc begins. However, the fact remains that this was still a good monster story.

I wish that all writers would put for this type of effort and would crank out short one or two issue filler story arc as entertaining as this one from Millar. It is perfectly acceptable and understandable for a writer to burn an issue or two with filler stories in between major story arcs. However, in doing so there is no reason that the filler story cannot be enjoyable. So kudos to Miller for entertaining me while he catches his breath in between major story arcs.

Millar whips up his usual great dialogue. Each character continues to possess a unique external voice. The character work also continues to be a strong point of this title. Millar has a fine understanding of each member of the Fantastic Four. And this has enabled Millar to generate some excellent chemistry between the members of the Fantastic Four.

Millar understands that the Fantastic Four has to be written as a family instead of a classic super hero team. It is nice to see a writer adapt his style based on the title that he is writing. Millar does not write Fantastic Four like he does the Ultimates. It would be nice if certain other writers could develop this ability.

I appreciate that Millar continues to employ some nice humor in each issue. The Thing definitely had me chuckling in this issue. To be sure, Millar has given us some dark and serious stories during his run. But, Millar has managed to inject enough humor into his stories in order to keep them grounded.

It must be pointed out that the humor has been used judiciously, properly and consistent with the personalities of the various characters. Millar is not just forcing snappy and witty banter into scenes thereby making them seem awkward and making the characters come across totally out of character. The humor is done with restraint and organically flows from the story. It would be nice if certain other writers could figure out how to do this.

Millar ends Fantastic Four #565 with a solid ending that does a good job of serving as a teaser for the upcoming Masters of Doom story arc. We learn that something happens to Deb. It seems that either she dies or she and Ben break up. And we learn that the Masters of Doom evidently really put a hurting on the Fantastic Four. I am definitely psyched for the Masters of Doom story arc. I expect that Millar has a wild story in store for us.

Bryan Hitch treats the reader to some flat out incredible artwork. Fantastic Four #565 is a wonderful looking issue. Hitch manages to take Millar’s story and make in grand in scope. Hitch is the master of cinematic artwork.

The Bad: I have no complaints with this issue.

Overall: Fantastic Four #565 was another fine read. Millar and Hitch continue to be tacos in the bank with this title. I would certainly recommend giving Fantastic Four a try. It does not matter if you have ever read the Fantastic Four or not. Millar is not getting bogged down in continuity and is making his run on this title quite accessible. Fantastic Four is a nicely balanced title that offers readers good character work, well crafted stories and exciting action.