I am so happy to hear Ryan north fantastic four is good because honestly the last good fantastic four we had was Jonathan Hickman run and that’s about it, everything else what Dan slott did wasn’t good and so disappointing and really boring in my opinion.
I liked the wedding of Alicia Masters and Ben Grimm but it felt like it was constantly trying to up the stakes without the character moments previous runs were known for.
Dan Slott & Sara Pichelli's run on F4 did go off to a good start at first with the team finally back together again, Ben & Alica's wedding then later become parents, Johnny getting a new girlfriend (again) & a few others. However that run eventually came crashing down after what Slott did to Johnny Storm and what led to me stop reading it F4 altogether. Some time later, I decide to give Ryan North & Iban Coello's current run of the series a read and to my surprise it has the best stories I've read so far and it leaves me excited for more.
This run really has family at its core and is also probably the best use of Alicia Masters as a character. It’s also has a really strong use of real world science something my Stem Major self can really appreciate.
Great video Owen! I’m dreaming that we get a new fantastic four video game someday. Maybe in the style of eidios Montreal’s guardians of the galaxy game, but getting to switch between the four.
I’m glad you tackled this topic. The fact that Marvel’s flagship IP fell into relative obscurity has always perplexed me, yet no one ever talked about it.
Owen, I’ve been a fan of your channel for the past 1 or 2 years, and this is probably one of the best video essays I’ve seen from you. Ryan North’s run on “Fantastic Four” is the second comic I’ve officially subscribed to and read issue by issue, the first being Amazing Spider-Man, and I’ve gotta say, I have loved every single issue of North’s run. For a person generally unfamiliar with the team when he was tasked with writing, it seems that Ryan’s portrayal of the team was right on the dot. And I am really excited for next year’s FF movie. The future for Marvel’s First Family seems brighter than ever before. Great video. Keep up the good work!
Honestly it makes me very happy and relieved that the Fantastic Four are returning to their rightful place in the Marve Universe. I will definitely have to read Ryan North's run. Though, as overstated as it is, it seriously pisses me off that an asshole like Perlmutter tried to erase the legacy of the FF AND the X-Men just to spite Fox. That man seriously has not received the proper amount of karma for what he did and attempted to do.
No matter how many times Marvel times marvel tried to knock them down or downplay them. The fans and writers always remind and show them why the first family are so important and integral to the marvel universe and to people as a whole.
It seems like Marvel treats the Fantastic Four, the same way DC treats Superman, portraying them as a bunch of outdated goofballs that can't do anything right.
I love the current run so much I actually sent them fan mail which I've never done before. They actually printed my letter too which launched me over the moon.
It's a shame that this series is losing the ross covers but thank god Brevoort let at least one of his A list books have a 3.99 price point, it honestly shocked me when I learned that considering his track record
LOVE the current ryan north run. Instead of trying to equal or top the blockbuster scope of what hickman did in his run, ryan wisely made the book about the characters and gave everyone time to shine.
I'm loving the current run on FF. It's such a great run. I love that it's kept to one-two issue books. The book is actually fun to read and sadly that is a rare thing in comics these days.
It's really wonderful to see the Fantastic Four's comics going strong again after the rough spot they were in for a while. Great interview with Ryan North, and excellent video Owen!
Due to anticipation of their return in the Slott run, I read from Waid to current. It made me a lifelong fan of the team. North’s run has brought me the same enjoyment that I had with the Waid/Ringo run, while also being completely unique.
Fantastic Four have always been my favourite team and characters in comics, seeing the end of their title in 2015, through corporate rights reasons especially, was horrible. However seeing the team now getting well deserved recognition, along with a wonderful on-going run is so great and full of heart and adventure! Thanks for a wonderful video on the World's Greatest Comic Magazine Owen!
Probably should have covered Hickman's New Avengers (ie Illuminati) in the Wilderness Years Section. At least to get the point across of what the Incursions are.
I must admit I waved goodbye to the FF with Heroes Reborn in the 1990s! But I'm thinking of getting back into them, so this was really interesting and useful. I can't help feeling the MCU would have been a whole lot different if Marvel had the film rights to the characters back in the day.
After an air of uncertainty that surrounded the team for a while, I’m glad to see that with the current Ryan North run and the release of the upcoming film (which I hope beyond hope will be good) the Fantastic Four are back in the limelight and better than ever.
I really love ryan north’s run! I had to take a college course over the summer on writing about temporality, so I picked issue 7 of his run when we got to analyze a piece of media of our choice. It was great getting people in an academic setting to go “wow dr doom is super interesting I should read this”
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the huge controversy around North’s run: the Human Torch’s mustache. For real, this has been a great series. It’s the first FF comic I’ve read issue to issue and every story is enjoyable. Big fan of North’s work. I hope the movie sticks the landing
I’ve seen a couple videos now talking highly about this run and I’m definitely curious in reading it. Would I be able to start with this run or would it be better to start with some previous runs? I have basic knowledge of the Fantastic Four from cartoons and stuff but not much else.
I've actually been reading a bunch of silver age comics recently and realized my biggest problem with modern comics is that for one comic you no longer get one story, you get 1/5 of a story. When I need as much time reading the TPB of Huck as I need to read an issue of Captain Atom from Steve Ditko at charlton the reason is there is less story per comic nowadays. Now I really want to check out the ryan north ff run, as it sounds like exactly what I am missing in modern comics.
I also feel this way, and I think North’s FF is just what you’re looking for. So far, no arc is longer than 2 issues. These days I really believe that if a publisher expects readers to pay for individual issues, that issue needs to be worth reading on its own. Silver Surfer by Dan Slott and Michael Allred is another great run with shorter, more focused stories like this.
As someone who's childhood team was the FF and not JL, Avengers or X-men, the Ryan North run truly feels like a childhood dream come true, every issue take the team and their way of life and say how much more BAZINGA than the previous one I can go with it?
Why does everyone skip over The Walt Simonson run? That was up there with the BEST FF runs and stories! It might be my favorite. Scott Lobdell also had a good (But too brief.) run, and he seemed to have some REALLY good plans for the book (He was supposed to be the regular writer , and hinted at a major Frightful Four storyline.), but he got fired !
I've been loving Ryan North's run on FF. I love how he's using Reed's powers and diving into a bit of the body horror behind the ability to stretch. And I love how he's focusing on the women. My two favorite issues have been issue 17 which shows Sue is just as smart as Reed but has a different area of expertise, and issue 19 which casts Alicia as a 1940s noir detective. It makes me want a comic series about a blind 1940s private detective and her gentle giant muscle/helper/husband. And North finally gave Johnny a bit of focus with his doomed romance in issue 25.
Ryan North has done a great job with his run so far, I was a little upset with how Dan Slotts run went as my first ongoing reading of the Fantastic four, but once Ryan took the reigns I really felt like I was reading the fantastic four story I was meant to read all along. I hope some of the story left over from Dan Slott's run gets covered or atleast doesn't get ignored since I don't like loose ends
Waid's run is the worst "essential" run of the FF, lauded undeservedly much like Whedon's X-men. The run displays a weak grasp on the characters and even basic history of the FF and Doom especially. It also relies on a few gimmicks for memorable "moments". The only saving grace is Wieringo's art.
I’ve always been a fan on the FF since the 70s. The problem that I see is this. When they came out there was a guy that could stretch, a girl that could turn invisible, a guy that could burst into flame, and another guy that while super strong, there are at least two avengers at any given time on their lineup that are far stronger. There’s been no real growth. Sure Johnny found his nova flame and Sue found her force fields but how does that compare to teams like the avengers or x-men who can switch out members and bring in new characters with varying and interesting power sets? Here’s how I would fix the team to make it more interesting. Ben needs to be consistently written as a top three strong man who utilizes the skills he’s learned as. a wrestler, gang leader, and military man to go along with his phenomenal strength. Reed Richards is basically Marvels version of Ralph Dibny; let’s be honest, wouldn’t he be more interesting as Marvels version of Plastic Man? Johnny should be on the same power level of Ice man since the latter’s power upgrade. Sue is good as she is as she’s already a powerhouse. Feel free to disagree but I can’t see how maintaining the status quo is going to increase comic sales or movie tickets
I adore this run and especially love how every member gets time to shine. Too often do runs focus solely on Reed. I really hope that we are in for a new fantastic era for Marvel’s first family!
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the huge controversy around North’s run: the Human Torch’s mustache. For real, this has been a great series. It’s the first FF comic I’ve read issue to issue and every story is enjoyable. Big fan of North’s work. I hope the movie sticks the landing
the only (new) monthly comic that's held my interest recently...which, as a comic book reader of about 50 years now, is really sad, but indeed, the book indeed doesn't suck; it's got some novel approaches & ideas
I'm glad the current run is doing so well and it sounds really interesting. Owen, one thing I like about your channel is that your love of the FF really shines through in your videos about them. Thank you!
I think that the FF are hard to write because you can’t really change the Status Quo. Anything has to be reversed before the next writer takes over . Even Johnny’s marriage to Alicia was reversed. It boxes the writers in too much . Reckoning War didn’t even change anything (It seemed like they were building up to Reed sacrificing himself .).
That’s one of my biggest complaints about comics in general recently, especially marvel. Everything has to be the status quo and characters can never truly grow or change. If reed and Sue got married in the 90s instead of the 60s and Franklin was born sometime after that, they absolutely spilled reversed that by now.
Slott's run wasnt terrible but doing silly things like retconning Franklin's mutant status and giving Reed another sister for no reason keeps it from being a run that I'd recommend.
at which point did I say the new FF books were better than the 60s/70s? Those runs are classics, but that doesn't mean I can't also enjoy the current comics too
