Fantastic Four #550 (Marvel – McDuffie / Pelletier / Magyar) – Marvel’s synopsis “Reed and Sue team up with the New FF in a desperate gambit to find the source of the disease wracking the fabric of spacetime itself. Only one being can follow such an ineffable trail but a resentful Silver Surfer is in no mood to help King T’Challa. Plus Dr. Strange, The Watcher, and the awesome destiny of Gravity!” The one thing the FF book has not really lacked over the last few years is art… and Paul Pelletier is keeping up the legacy. The stories… well, that is another tale. This should be the last FF story that has the Initiative banner connection… even though Civil War ended a while ago and outside of Reed and Sue trying to save their marriage, the last few months of FF has had nothing to do with the rest of the Marvel Universe or Tony Stark’s Initiative. It’s been an interesting trip, as it always has been, when the FF roster gets tipped… this time Black Panther and Storm replaced Reed and Sue… and that the FF storyline was a completely different story, yet still in continuity with the monthly Black Panther title. The writers did fine with Panther and Storm’s character interaction with Ben and Johnny, but it never really felt right. With issue #550, the FF returns to it’s roots… saving the universe, cosmic guest stars and good old fashioned family dynamics. Fantastic Four was the first thing on my pull list twenty five years ago and it’s never left… unfortunately the quality of the book has been a roller coaster and has sometimes taken a huge plunge (who can forget the media evil of Fasaud… it was the 90’s what can you say?). As far as I am concerned, it looks like the writing team has the book back in a positive direction, and a perfect jumping on point for people who want to follow the exploits of comicdom’s First Family.
Grade: B+
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