Ultimate Fantastic Four, Vol. 1

Ultimate Fantastic Four (2003) (Collected Editions) #1-2

by Brian Michael Bendis, Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen (Artist)

In The Fantastic, witness the beginnings of the Four - Reed Richards, Johnny Storm, Susan Storm, and Ben Grimm - super-hero icons for the new century When high-school genius Reed enrolls at a secret government-sponsored school for the most gifted minds in the world, he unwittingly embarks on the journey of a lifetime In Doom, Reed and his friends must learn to adapt to their amazing new situation. But before they can even begin to get accustomed, former classmate Victor Van Damme - who was transformed by the same experiment as the Fantastic Four - returns to exact his revenge

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimate Fantastic Four had a lot going for it when it initially launched. This whole new take on Marvel’s First Family was conceptualized by a collaboration of Marvel Comics’ main architects of its Ultimate line, Brian Bendis and Mark Millar. It had Adam Kubert on board for art and this he was able to provide full pencils for all six issues. That was not the problem though.

A concept and plot brainstormed by Bendis and Millar should be gold. The two have had their success when they launched the Ultimate universe with their career defining turns on Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men respectively. The result though is a disjointed reading experience where Bendis’ dialogue doesn’t seem to fit the plot by Millar even if it’s only half-written by the Scotsman. Bendis’ dialogue is colorful and smart, but his strength lies with street-level characters like Spider-Man and Daredevil. His dialogue here hardly be called or evoke the fantastic.

Fortunately, I only had to suffer through six issues of that misguided effort. Warren Ellis comes to save this title when takes over the next six issues. His story is much coherent, and this title plays to his talent and knack for predicting the latest trends in future technology, which suits this title that is more often about innovation and plausible science fiction concepts. He should have been the writer who launched this title. It is surprising that he has not made a transition to writing at least an arc for the regular Fantastic Four title.

This hardcover collection collects the first twelve issues of Ultimate Fantastic Four and contains the first two arcs. The Ellis arc gives the reader something to look forward to in the next hardcover collection.

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Victor Van Damme is alive. And he just tried to kill us."

[Terry Mcginnis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would place this near the bottom of the Bendis list. A pretty boring opening volume for the Ultimate version of the FF, with a confusing ending that only became slightly interesting with the impending "Doom" story arc in volume 2.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. An edgy, modern, retelling of the FF4 origin that was loads of fun. The writing was snappy and funny and the art was beautiful. I am looking forwards to finding more volumes in my local library!

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado bastante más en una segunda lectura, especialmente la parte del origen de Doom. Así que le subo la nota, está bien y deja bien establecido el origen de este grupo, que nunca me interesó demasiado, y cómo liga con el resto.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo leí de los viejos Marvel Deluxe de Panini pero cambio al Coleccionabel Ultimate de Salvat que es donde eventualmetne lo voy a releer, ya que me lo compré en el kiosco.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teniendo en cuenta la relevancia histórica de Los 4 Fantásticos para el universo Marvel dentro y fuera de las viñetas. El que se "hiciesen esperar" en el creciente Universo Ultimate podría poner en sobreaviso a cualquiera. Más cuando, siguiendo el ejemplo de su Ultimate Spiderman, Brian Michael Bendis (en comandita con Mark Millar, encargado de "Ultimatizar" a los X-Men y los Vengadores), aprovechó para rejuvenecer a estos personajes y recontar lo conocido en su génesis en búsqueda de una modernización total.

Ultimate Fantastic Four se esmeró en modificar varios hitos de la historia de origen de la Familia Fantástica y su evento transformador. Lo más relevante está en la situación de Reed Richards con sus figuras paternas. Una relación conflictiva e incluso tóxica que parece definir de forma algo más agresiva e incluso negativa mucho del comportamiento de esta variante del personaje. Quien, actualmente, es una de las grandes mentes antagonicas del Multiverso Marvel al punto de haber redefinido a su voluntad un nuevo Universo Ultimate. La conjunción de los 4 Fantásticos se dará gracias a un programa de jóvenes super dotados en el mismísimo edificio Baxter. En el que los Storm son grandes dirigentes. Con Ben Grimm no será hasta la prueba que otorgue los poderes al grupete que lo volveremos a ver tras presentarlo como ese aliado grandullón que trató de salvar la preadolescencia de Reed de matones (aunque veremos que esto repercute tanto en su autoestima propia como su relación paternofilial). ¿Y tendremos otro viaje espacial con encontronazo de rayos cósmicos? Pues Bendis y Millar vieron en este evento lo que más tenían que cambiar en su "reboot" comiquero. Sobre todo por el contexto sociopolítico de la Guerra Fría. Recurriendo a uno de los grandes elementos de la mitología de la Primera Familia Marvelita, se mantiene este detonante pero sorprendiendo con otra causa para generar los poderes fantásticos... Que aquí se muestran de una forma algo menos maravillosa de entrada. Y así, los Ultimate Fantastic Four se dieron a conocer.

Estos primeros 12 números se dividen en dos arcos argumentales del que el 2º se encarga Warren Ellis y Stuart Immonen para posicionar al Doctor Doom de este Universo. Y la verdad es que esta división se acaba mostrando hasta como un gran cisma. El 1º arco es totalmente necesario, pero en su empeño reformulador, es curioso que Bendis y Millar no se esmerasen tanto en la 1º gran amenaza. La cual es puramente clásica pero llevada a la hipérbole de lo grotesco y gratuito que será mucho del panorama Ultimate en el que Millar acabó metido. La propuesta de Ellis con Victor ("Van Damme"... ) resulta más interesante y refrescante en esta sintonía del Universo Ultimate (aún con sus peros... como esa línea dinástica que enlaza a la familia de Victor con el mismísimo Conde Drácula ). Por otro lado, el tener a estos personajes en sus respectivas juventudes, hacen que sus interacciones sean algo más pasionales y amenas que de costumbre. Si bien es cierto que hace ya mucho tiempo que los personajes se alejaron por completo de esa apariencia grandilocuente de "Grandes superhéroes por encima de grandes individuos". Esto sobre todo se ve con Reed y Sue.

La pegada de Ultimate Fantastic Four se dejó ver en las existentes adaptaciones cinematográficas (por temporalidad, la de Corman no XD). En la primera duología sobre todo referente a la conexión total de Victor con el evento canonico de los personajes y el cómo se muestra su aspecto y habilidades. Pero la versión del 2015 es la que más ha tomado como base esta etapa. Tanto replicando los enfoques más "terrenales" de los personajes en su camino hacia el evento científico que les otorgará sus poderes. Como el mostrar estas capacidades de forma más terrible de entrada. La relación directa del ejército estadounidense con los miembros del grupo... Y el frustrante hecho de que en toda esta génesis, los personajes no hayan asumido aún su nombre de super grupo ni apenas colocado el 4 en sus uniformes...

[RafaCSQ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a 3.5 for me, but I'll bump it to 4 because of how lovely Immonen's art is.

Overall, I had plenty of fun. Had no idea what to expect, I'm not a big F4 fan and haven't read a lot of their comics. It was an interesting ride, what we have here is a younger and more "human" version of the F4. Reed is not as mature and has plenty of insecurities, for example.

The first part of the book, focused on the new origin, felt ok. Good ideas mostly, but because it is focused on the characters and group origin, we don't see much of the chemistry between them. That's where the second part, focused on their pursue of Doom, shines. Great dialogue, funny moments, and you can start to see how their personalities differ from the main universe counterparts.

So yeah, enjoyable. Nothing out of this world, but cool, and got me invested for the next volume.

[Valerio Pastore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sarò sincero, non ho MAI capito a cosa dovesse servire l'universo Ultimate. Era inevitabile che un parco testate per forza di cose numeroso, concepito per attrarre il pubblico più giovane partendo da zero, finisse col diventare troppo ramificato e complesso per mantenere il proprio appeal.
FQU parte, come le altre testate, con delle novità interessanti, nuove prospettive con il cast classico e soluzioni narrative originali. Purtroppo, se pure la nuova genesi dell'Uomo Talpa E' interessante, al Dottor Destino hanno riservato un trattamento assurdo, facendone una figura macchiettistica, e dandogli un nuovo cognome, VAN DAMME, che è cringe puro.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like this book is not sure whether to stop being a bland gee-whiz book or not. There are a couple of dark moments, sure.

The best stuff is probably the personal stuff.

I can't help but look backward from the end of the Ultimate universe and see this as out-of-step with what the story became.

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

No tiene la misma pegada que el inicio de los Ultimates Vengadores, pero es una muy digna actualización de este grupo, así como del origen del Doctor Muerte. Bastante bien.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read them, loved them.

[Red Equis · Rating 4 out of 5]

El mejor inicio para los FF desde Lee y Kirby.

[Stanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buen comienzo.

[Pedro Espada · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 estrellas para un tomo fantástico y super entretenido de orígenes, y si el dibujo de Chen es chulo el de Immonen es fantástico.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collects the start of a 'new' Fantastic Four comic in which the characters beginnings are told from a more 'modern' point-of-view. It collects the first thirteen or so issues in the series and provides more of a backstory to the life of Reed Richards while growing up. We find out his life sucked, his relationships with his parents sucked, he was treated poorly while in school, and his dad couldn't wait to get rid of him to a secret government think-tank at the Baxter Building. His only saving grace while growing up was Ben Grimm.

We also discover Reed was far ahead of his time, having discovered alternate dimensions and attempting to contact the dimension right about 'our' dimension. He even went so far as to send transmit some toys into this other dimension. Unfortunately, his father was unable to understand or accept his son's tremendous intellect and abilities.

The series also takes on a 'Greek' view of the famous group in that it directly ties each group into the four elements [air, fire, water, land]. Doctor Doom takes on a 'fifth element' in terms of becoming metallic in nature, but I am unsure as to which culture views metal as an element.

Reed meets Susan Storm and obviously falls in love with her, but he is too obsessed with his work to realize she is willing to reciprocate his feelings and desires. Johnny is still hot-headed and impetuous in this series. Ben and his friendship is still a source of strength for Reed.

Victor von Doom is still an arrogant jerk, but we also get more of a backstory for him as well. This backstory comes across as an attempt at making him more sympathetic, in my opinion, as well as an attempt to explain his arrogance and why he is such a jerk. As in the original series, Reed finds Victor meddling with Reed's work, but Victor was right and Reed was wrong. Victor ends up needing help with some of his work, so he and Reed begin working together on various projects to help each other out. Everything culminates when Reed attempts to transport an apple from the Desert Southwest to another military base half a world away and the experiment fails after Ben stops in to watch what should have been Reed's greatest triumph. Reed remains onsite while the other four are transported around the globe. Johnny wakes up in France, Ben wakes up in Mexico City, Sue wakes up underground, and Victor has disappeared. Reed discovers that Victor has made last-minute changes to the transporter device, the result of which is that their DNA has been fundamentally altered.

Victor has disappeared for a bit. Johnny and Ben return with Reed to New York. Sue wakes up in the grips of Molekovic, aka the Mole Man. This former Baxter Building staff member and teacher has taken a shining to Sue and tries to impress her with his artificially created life forms. She is appalled. A monster attacks New York City, drawing the attention of Reed, Johnny, and Ben. The trio chase the monster deep underground, only to face off against Molekovic. They discover this mad scientist has been spying on them deep underground after having been terminated from the Baxter Building. He flees as they battle their way to freedom after rescuing Sue.

The next storyline involves Victor. We find out he has turned into a being composed of living metal. He also lives in Denmark, forces people to come under his mental thrall, and blames Reed for what happened to him. He attacks the Baxter Building, encouraging Reed and the others to retaliate for the attack. An American special forces unit tries to arrest Victor but the Danish military protects Victor. The quartet returns to the States after Reed frees those enthralled by Victor.

When the series first came out, I greatly enjoyed it. I thought it was an excellent updating and outtake on of Marvel's most endearing teams. I also liked how they made Susan Storm a stronger, smarter character. She was more than a pretty face. She was as smart as, if not smarter than, Reed Richards. Her specific focus was biology; she was a very smart young woman.

It was an interesting series - I liked how the authors tried to tie their abilities in with the 'real world' and explain things from the viewpoint of science. They also reach the point where they admit science cannot explain some of their abilities. I felt it was well done, even though they kept bringing in new authors every so many issues and changing things up. I think it would have been more interesting if they had authors stay on a series long-term as opposed to a short story arc. But that is my opinion. The artwork is good, for the most part. It helped keep my interesting in the overall storyline.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fantastic Four are re-imagined in the Marvel Ultimate universe but the results fall short of fantastic.

This hardcover collection contains the first two story arcs of the series. The first arc is almost soley the origin story of the Fantastic Four and is written by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar. The second arc is the origin story of Doctor Doom and is written by Warren Ellis. Both stories suffer from the decompressed, "wide screen" comic book storytelling that was popular at the time (and still is to a lesser degree). This makes each individual issue whiz by sometimes without much happening or developing in the 22 pages. The collected editions of such series, like this one, read better without the monthly delay between story bits but it still feels like it drags at points and is intentionally spread out to feel like filler or padding.

There's really no surprises in the updates to the characters. I'm not a Fantastic Four expert but Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben are all pretty close to their original versions. They are a bit younger, which is par for the course in the Ultimate universe. I do like the mythological elements connection made to each character's power: Reed is water, Sue is air, Johnny is fire, and Ben is earth. If that wasn't an intentional point in the original characters it's a fantastic (heh) insight by Bendis and Millar. Ellis creates a family lineage for Doctor Doom back to Vlad Tepes Dracula that is interesting and plays into Doom's goals although it does lead to a little bit of a melodramatic scene when Doom shouts "Can you hear me now, father?" as he anticipates victory over the Fantastic Four.

I enjoyed Ellis' story arc much more than Bendis' and Millar's. Bendis and Millar stretched some stuff out a little too much (the third issue is entirely Reed, Johnny, and Ben waking up and discovering their powers) while dumping too much into other places (the Mole Man's exposition in the fourth issue dragged). Their story arc also felt a little too classic with the big monster in New York City action. Ellis is more of a fit for a superhero team of scientists (well, at least Reed and Sue). His knowledge and handling of current and near future tech is astounding across all of his work and really aids his story arc. Doctor Doom's plots and Reed's intuitions and counters feel very natural and realistic.

There is plenty of humor throughout. Ben and Johnny are pretty much constantly comedic relief. Ben has a recurring joke about coming up with The Thing's famous "It's clobbering time" catch phrase. And while I'm not sure it was entirely intentional, Doctor Doom shooting down the Fantasti-car reminded me of the Joker shooting down the Batwing in the first Tim Burton Batman movie.

The artwork in the first arc is by Adam Kubert and is more realistic than the art in the second arc by Stuart Immonen. Both work well although Kubert's is more in line with the other Ultimate universe titles but I tend to enjoy the more comic book-y art of someone like Immonen. Then again I could be biased because I enjoyed the second story arc more. My biggest complaint about the artwork, and the book in general, was Sue's outfits. Why, oh why, must she have a bare mid-riff all the time? Even in full scientist mode during the experiment she's wearing a shirt that shows off her abs with a tiny jacket. Something tells me that's not covered by the dress code. It's ridiculous how oversexed the females are in the Ultimate universe. I guess these older male authors imagine that's how all younger women dressed at the time, but it comes off as too much nowadays.

I had previously read these issues in monthly format before dropping the title. The next story arc is again by Warren Ellis so I expect to enjoy that smaller volume more without the shackles of origin story telling.

A good start to the series that shows off a lot of talent and interesting bits that hopefully get continued.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why, but I never really got into the Fantastic Four. There's a lot of potential. Something about the characters never hits home for me. This book collects the first two volumes of the Ultimate series. The first volume is okay. It introduces the characters and sets them in the world. Volume two is really good because it focuses on the conflict with Dr. Doom and explores some of the ideas that I tend to associate with these characters.

The FF are younger in this series and are involved in a government program to train the brightest minds in the country. An accident gives the heroes their powers, which is nothing new. Despite some reframing of character origins/ideas the initial story is, or seems to be, mostly a throwback to older FF comics. As someone who hasn't read much of those, it didn't work very well for me. The art is cartoony and bright for the most part. It's not bad, but it's not my preferred style.

The second half of this picks up quite a bit. I could have done without the backstory that is used for Doom. Maybe it seemed cool or edgy, but it just ends up pigeonholing the character. It's like he couldn't even have a chance. Anyway, the effect that the accident in volume one has on Doom is interesting. I feel like the story plays to his strengths in a lot of ways and gives a realistic approach to his situation. The art felt like more of the same from volume one. As much as I enjoyed the second half of the book, I don't anticipate reading more from this series.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quinto tomo del coleccionable Ultimate Edición Integral, primero dedicado a los Cuatro Fantásticos. Creo que no tengo repetido ningún número de ediciones anteriores.

[Jukka Kuva · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is everything Ultimate in Marvel comics, this too is a revamping of an old series. It worked for a long time when Millar and Ellis wrote it and Kubert did the art among other people but Mike Carey who was quite succesful with the comic adaptation of Neverwhere has managed to plunge the comic below mediocrity. And it sure doesn't help that Kirkham's artwork isn't up to the standards of Kubert. I stopped reading somewhere around issue 40 when the silver surfer storyline became so absurdly bad. I suppose three stars is a decent average from the issues I've read.

Millar's issues are worth checking out but I'm warning you, it doesn't stay as good.

[One Flew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of Bendis' writing generally and I only read this volume because I was planning to Warren Ellis' run on the series. I was surprised at how enjoyable this FF revamp was. It works mostly due to the fact that they don't try to follow the original storyline too much. On the down side, if you're not a fan of Bendis' fast paced dialogue then this volume will be sure to annoy. The first half of the book worked more for me, the second half was action driven and slightly incoherent. The absurd action sequences and 'quirky' dialogue stopped me from rating this one that highly, but it is an enjoyable read.

[Matej · Rating 3 out of 5]

This hardcover collects first two volumes of The Ultimate Fantastic Four.
The first story arc focuses mainly on the origin of the Fantastic Four and has a rather quick villain battle, while the second story arc is more villain oriented.
The story features a lot of familiar elements from the original Fantastic Four comics, but it also features a few original concepts, and a few new twists and turns.
The art is pretty good and clean throughout the collection, but I like the art from the first volume better than the more cartoonish art from the second volume.
Overall, an interesting "reboot" that unfortunately is not as good as The Ultimate Spider Man or The Ultimates.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half is a healthy collaboration. We get Millar's plotting without having to resort to his crass nonsense, and we get Bendis' dialogue without having to watch him play with action figures, and their love for the franchise shines through.

The second half is Warren Ellis playing with the science of super-powers. It's such fun that it almost doesn't matter that the plot (or what little there is of it) fizzles.

[Du4 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bendis & Millar-- awesome team-up for a reimagining of the FF. Combined w/ Adam Kubert's art it's a winner. Also contains what I think is the first part of Warren Ellis' take on the FF, which is far more sci-fi (and way cooler) than Bendis & Millar.

[Kesselrig · Rating 3 out of 5]

First arc by Bendis and Millar was quite good with strong art and energy to launch the series. Alone, I'd rate it 4 stars. The second arc by Ellis wasn't able to sustain this and both writing and art were average. I'd rate the second arc at 2.5 stars.

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanta la reinterpretación que Bendis y Millar hacen de los 4F en el universo Ultimate. Los dos arcos que abarca este volumen son realmente interesantes y plantan muchas semillas para lo que está por llegar.

[Kimberlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I really liked meeting the characters as children and following their youths. The banter is really witty.

[Madeleine Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this hating the Fantastic Four and wondering if Millar, Bendis and Ellis could write something I liked with the characters. And they did.

[Cory · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on classic characters. The humor was well executed too.

[Morbus Iff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Grimm and Johnny relationship springs from nowhere, but otherwise, a worthwhile read.