Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 3

Amazing is the only word to describe Hickman's Fantastic Four run. Any comic fan has to read this, the introduction of the council of reeds lays the groundwork for this comic masterpiece.

Reed Richards assembles promising young minds and forms the Future Foundation. The Human Torch takes Franklin and Leech shopping. The various versions of Nathaniel Richards, Reed's father, are hunting one another through the time stream until only one remains...Hickman's guiding of Marvel's First Family continues. This time, he plays with B-list Fantastic Four foils like Arcade and Impossible Man. The formation of the Future Foundation sows the seeds for the Future Foundation's own title down the road, as well as giving The Thing something to look forward to every year.By far, my favorite storyline in the collection was Nathaniel Richards snatching college-agedReed, Ben Grimm, and Victor Von Doom for a jaunt through time to combat another version of himself. Maybe it's because I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately but I really dug this story.Still, it wasn't all peaches and gravy. Dale Eaglesham is gone, replaced by the not-quite-as-good Neil Edwards. Just as with the previous two volumes, it feels a lot more like setup than standalone tales. While I know Hickman's got something huge brewing, I don't know if I have the patience to stick around long enough to see it.All that being said, I love the sheer amount of ideas Hickman is throwing at me. Even if the pace isn't as fast as I prefer, the man knows the Fantastic Four. 3 stars.

If you like the FF, then this is for you,,,,,,,, What can I say that has not already been said. I have been a fan since I can remember.

In comic book circles, there is a lot of buzz these days about Jonathan Hickman.I have to admit, until the Fantastic Four, I was largely unfamiliar with his work. Yet, after reading these first three volumes, I will definitely be looking into his other works.This is the most imaginative take on the FF I've seen in a while. Hickman really captures the granduer, the cosmic, the incredible, the hyper-real world in which the FF exists. These characters are explorers first and super-heroes second, and the pseudo-science and mind-bending plotlines are wonderfully in full-throttle in Hickman's work. I say wonderfully because for the first time in a long time, the Fantastic Four fill me with a sense of wonder, of awe, of 'wow'.At the same time, Hickman never forgets that what really makes the FF unique in super-hero comics is that they are a family. Their relationships with each other are always front and center, and the entire plot revolves around the responsibility of parents and children to each other.The balance between the fantastic and the mundane is pitch perfect, and Hickman goes from time-travelling, dimension-hopping murder sprees to trips to the (evil) toy store without missing a step.Man, this book is fun. Best of all, I can't wait to see what happens next. I highly recommend this book.

It resolves one of the first hooks thrown in by Hickman in the first volume but in the end the series suffers from pacing issues, too many hooks and no development for any of them until much later on for no reason whatsoever. Remember four cities that have appeared in the previous volume? Well, you can safely forget about them until the next one.

A lot of the meat of this volume starts to delve deeper into the time-travel stuff that would have a big impact going forward in Hickman's excellent run. The volume kicks off with Reed telling a room full of scientists that he's walking away from the convention he started because they just weren't forward-thinking enough for him (which captures his personality perfectly) before giving Johnny and Ben an adventure with Impossible Man that was a lot of fun. We also get Reed having some fascinating conversations with The Wizzard before getting into the whole "future Franklin and Valeria Richards coming back in time" bit. Personally I think the comic book trope of people coming from the future to change the present gets overdone after a while, but Hickman pulls it off well here.The art is lackluster though. Otherwise this is a great buy.

It is good to see the impossilbe-Man again. He is much taller in this run then he was before. Also seeing reed start future fountain was pretty nice. Also Franklin and Johnny crazy adventure at the toy store. How to see time traveling and a future where Franklin and Val are together, and how it is falling apart.

The art is horrible (I remember as a kid seeing stuff like this when Howard Chaykin or Steve Ditko in their later years would take over an issue for Michael Golden or John Byrne and it was like - oh bummer!!) and the writing is bland and not interesting. I couldn't even finish the drivel and feel misled by all the people who somehow found some value in this. Waste of money.

Awesome book. Awesome writer. Great series.