Up next is Ultimate Fantastic Four. I think that this is the most underrated title in the Ultimate Universe. As always, the Revolution looks forward to this title.
Creative Team
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciler: Greg Land
Inker: Matt Ryan
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Night Girls
Synopsis: Reed went into the past and stopped the accident that gave them their powers from happening. All so he could “cure” Ben from being the Thing. Now, they love in a utopia where Thor is the President and Reed is the Vice President. Everyone on the planet has superpowers. This is due to Reed’s contact with the Skrulls.
Reed used his teleportation device to beam him and the rest of the non-powered Fantastic Four across the universe and made contact with the Skrulls. The Skrulls are a very benevolent and peaceful race that gave Reed a pill that could cure all disease, aging, and poverty and give people superpowers.
The only person on earth who did not take the pill was Ben Grimm. He liked being a regular human. Therefore, he is now a total celebrity in America. Ben says he doesn’t want to take the pill and end up a mutated freak like Victor Von Doom.
We then see Ben hanging out with his girlfriend enjoying his celebrity status when the Super Skrull instantly appears before them and says “I don’t believe it. So that’s what that thing was. Take me back. I need to go further.” With that, the Super Skrull disappears.
We then cut to the White House where Thor tells Reed that he is signing a Presidential ruling tomorrow to destroy Reed’s time machine lest it falls into hands of evil like Doom. Thor and Reed are awaiting the arrival of the Super Skrull and his Skrull diplomats. The Super Skrull appears and mentions his ability to mimic the superpowers of any meta-human within 1,000 miles of him. The Super Skrull congratulates the Earth on its stunning progress since contact with the Skrulls.
We then go to later that night with the Invisible Woman going to give a gift to the Skrulls while they are all meeting in their guest quarters. The Super Skrull reveals that the pills are fake and that they have horrible secondary side effects. That the Skrulls use this type of plan to invade and conquer alien races. They have done this to thousands of worlds.
The Skrulls plan to use Reed’s teleportation device to bring their invasion fleet to earth. Invisible Woman turns invisible and listens to their plan. Suddenly, Super Skrull blasts Invisible Woman telling her that he could sense her there. He then blasts a whole in Susan’s head killing her.
At this point, all the horrid side effects of the pills hit the general populace all at once. People start decomposing. The issue ends with Super Skrull saying “Beware of Skrulls bearing gifts.”
Comments
The Good: First, Millar is doing a great job on this title. Hey Millar, see what happens when you don’t try to shove your politics down our throats? You end up with a really well written and entertaining story. Ultimate Fantastic Four is a fun ride and with Millar as the captain of this ship I can’t wait for the next issue.
Millar has a great storyline going with Reed going back into the past to prevent Ben from becoming the Thing. Initially, it looked like everything was going to work out. Ben was normal and the world was turning into a Utopia. Then the Skrulls pull the swerve. I knew that the Ultimate version of the Skrulls couldn’t be peaceful and benevolent. Now we have to deal with Susan being killed and the world falling apart due to the horrible side effects of the Skrull pill. Millar just keeps the hits coming with this title. He has exceptional talent at blending an interesting story, strong dialogue, and great action.
Second, let’s look at the other reason why Ultimate Fantastic Four is such a great title. The art. The Revolution absolutely loves the artwork. Land and Ryan are phenomenal. The combination of Land’s pencils and Ryan’s inks are just beautiful. These two guys should never be allowed to work with any other artist! They should always be a team. Together, Land and Ryan create some exceptional art. The look is so gorgeous. The scenery, the people, the emotion. Fantastic. The Revolution just cannot praise the art of Ultimate Fantastic Four enough. I would absolutely love to see Land and Ryan provide the art for the Legion of Super-Heroes. I think they do the futuristic Sci-Fi look very well.
The Bad: Usually, the Revolution doesn’t have any trouble finding “The Bad” with an issue. However, this one is the exception. This was just a great issue. I really don’t have any complaints at all.