FF, Vol. 2

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman #6

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer)

The War of Four Cities escalates, and we learn what it is that the FF fears most! The Future Foundation is caught in the middle as the war expands to encompass the entire Marvel Universe! Plus: Black Bolt is back and is determined to reclaim his throne. Ben Grimm returns to the pages of the FF as Ronan the Accuser and the armies of the Kree empire invade the earth! A Galactic empire is born as the war of Four Cities comes to a close. What does it mean for Marvel's First Family?

Collecting: FF 6-11

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

144 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2012

About the author

Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

FF Vol. 2 collects issues #6-11. The Kree have been planning their conquest by creating 'seed worlds' where experiments have been ongoing; now Ronan the Accuser is tasked with starting a war that is linked to an ancient Kree prophecy. You get a feeling that it is all collateral damage - that Supremor does not care how many worlds have to be destroyed in furtherance of his objectives. I have reviewed issues #6-11 individually.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the conclusion of Realm of Kings Black Bolt was missing and presumed dead. Guess who's back?


So this volume of FF was hijacked by the continuation of the Inhumans story Realm of Kings. Why Marvel didn't allow the story to finish with its own title is beyond me, but I'm glad the story was told somewhere. I have to imagine FF fans weren't pleased with two entire issues dedicated to Black Bolt's return and the Inhumans.

So Black Bolt's back and he's ready to return to Earth, perhaps because he has more wives awaiting his arrival.

Immediately arriving on Earth the Inhumans rough up some Reed Richards from the multiverse. Meanwhile The Kree with Ronan the Accuser once again leading them have plans of their own.

FF volume 2 wasn't anything special, but it was good to see what happened to the Inhumans after the Realm of Kings storyline.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice bit of mythology Hickman & co make at the start of this book, what with metagenesis as the forebearer of all these weird races that swirl around the Marvel U. (Dunno how much of this has already been thought of and how much is Hickman's invention, but it's the first I've seen of it.)

Tocchini's art in the first couple of chapters is hard to 'read' - not sure if recurring costumes & faces are meant to be the same person or it's just because he doesn't draw all that clearly.

I haven't kept up with Inhumans plots through the Marvel U - is all this grandeur a result of years-long struggles, or is this an instantaneous climax of something we didn't know about? I saw them show up in one of the recent Marvel events, but there too it felt like a hint or fragment of a story that - if it was being told, it wasn't anywhere I had stumbled across.

Overall, this story left me feeling pretty flat on Hickman. Yes, there's lots of universe-threatening movement, and all the big players that Hickman has been amassing over the years are coming out to play. But something about it feels almost...boring to me. Compare it with what came in the early days of Hickman's run - Reed going off to otherworlds to play with big boys and big toys (beyond even his ambitions and imagination), visitors from the future hinting at big destinies for the Reed kids... Maybe the problem is we see all the pieces on the board now, and there's nothing else waiting in the wings. (Not to mention that - with all of the supervillians brought to bear in the big fight, somehow it just felt like they were all standing around waving their arms and emoting their usual catchphrases, but ultimately their contribution could've been exceeded by a small army of Herbies.)

Second reading, Feb 2015: what I *do* like, however, is Sue Reed. In Hickman's run, she is self-assured, operates independently of her family and takes charge - in ways the "boob window" Sue would never dream. Same with Black Bolt's wives (or at least Medusa) - takes no shit from people and creatures around her.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems Marvel are aiming to make more and more of their stories, both on the page and on the silver screen, more cosmic, more spacey and "FF2: The Supremor Seed" is no different. It starts with a lot of mythology about Black Bolt, a kind of cheesily-dressed villain who is nonetheless credited as one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. He lives on the Moon, has 5 wives, and doesn't speak. He's raised an army of Inhumans and is invading Earth along with a bunch of alternate universe Reed Richards.

The problem with large scaled stories that encompass grandiose things like entire universes colliding and so forth, is the loose grip a writer has on making the characters - made small by the events occurring around them - to seem relevant to the story. Here, they not only appear small and insignificant (what are Ben Grimm and Spidey going to do in the face of some kind of space God and an army that's destroyed hundreds of alien races and worlds?) but are also uninteresting and bland to read about. And these are some top tier Marvel characters too!

Even throwing in members of the Avengers didn't do much to raise the interest level. When Jonathan Hickman can't get me interested in the existing cast, introducing even more characters into the mix isn't going to solve this lack of depth to the characters and their plight. If anything, it further underlines the superficial feel to the story. And for all its imagination of universes, worlds, alien races, etc., Hickman never feels in control of all the elements nor does he project any sense of urgency to the events. The overall feeling is of aloofness in the reading experience and a self-awareness of the transience of superhero comics at its most base level.

I enjoyed the first volume and the second is pretty to look at but its inability to connect with the reader at all left me indifferent to the story and cold when I put the book down. I'd like to say it was a fun, fascinating romp but it was pretty much the opposite.

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dull, dull Inhumans hijack this volume of FF. Who likes those guys? I don't. But they show up and completely steal the spotlight from the Future Foundation. Not cool, Hickman. Not cool.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts with the arrival of the Inhumans and we see where they have been, the resurrection of Black bolt and his five wives and then the war with Forever city and so many fall and it's great to see Black Bolt unleash his all at them and how Reed and his new FF is faring against them. Somewhere on Hala Ronan the Regent makes his plans meanwhile the Cult of Annihilus prepare for their masters arrival on earth. Things are getting tense as the big war is coming and Reed will have to Marshall all forces in a final war and so some friends come in maybe 👀

It's such a great volume and expands the scope of other things and ties into other events in Marvel at the time and shows the breadth of these events and the inter galactic nature of it too. Reed surrounded with so many things and learning to not go at it alone is a character evolution for sure. Also the art is just perfect, the lines and the coloring and the way it just pops is perfect.

[Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite volume in the series. Heavy on Inhumans and little FF involvement until the last two issues.

This is probably why I haven't read any Inhumans. Such convoluted mythology. The Supremor, whose metagenesis plan succeeds, destroys nearly all the genesis worlds once he freaks out and discovers that he's fallible and one of his own creations will kill him.

Now there's total war that I can't even keep track of. Inhumans versus Inhumans versus Earthlings versus...?

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bueno, pues seguimos con el repaso a la etapa de Hickman en Cuatro Fantásticos que Panini está editando en los tomitos de Marvel Saga, con una edición muy chula, la verdad, aunque es cierto que el trabajo de Hickman en esta colección no cuadra para nada con el formato de libros... pero las cosas como son, recuerdo que cuando lo leí en grapa era una pesadilla esperar de un mes a otro. Y es que Hickman lo que cuenta es una inmensa historia río en la que prácticamente cualquier interrupción parece arbitraria.

Sea como sea, Dos Reyes lo que nos trae es un nuevo avance en la Guerra de las Cinco Ciudades, además del retorno de un personaje que llevaba algún tiempo fallecido, y que tenía que estar para la Guerra, ya que, ¿quién va a liderar mejor a los Inhumanos que el propio Rayo Negro? El rey de los Inhumanos se había sacrificado para acabar con Vulcano al final de Guerra de Reyes, aunque ahora sabemos que no había muerto sino que se había quedado atrapado en la Brecha. Además, Hickman introduce un nuevo factor en la historia, o uno viejo, según se mire, ya que nos deja ver cómo hace trescientos mil años, la Inteligencia Suprema de los Kree ya recibió una profecía sobre su futura muerte y el alzamiento de Rayo Negro, lo que le llevó a destruir numerosas colonias de Inhumanos en todo el universo...

Y bueno, la verdad es que quizá el tomo haya quedado un poco flojito como unidad narrativa, por eso le he puesto solo tres estrellas, pero la historia que se está contando es taaaaaaaaaaaan grande y tan molona... Que merece la pena.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the weakest volume of this whole run but partially because it has a lot to do with Inhumans and my knowledge of them is limited, at best.

[Peter Derk · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first volume in this series started out pretty good. We have the Fantastic Four, minus Human Torch, plus Spider-Man. We also have a bunch of Reed Richards-ses that come from other dimensions, all of whom decided at some point to abandon their families in order to do what's best for the world, which kind of means they lost any anchor to emotional reality and therefore became a group of dangerous sociopaths.

I can dig it.

Then we have the second volume.

The phrase "a lot going on" can either be really great or really bad.

Examples:

"There is a lot going on in that novel." Could be great because there's cool subtext, could be shit because dragons and man-eating plants just showed up for no real reason.

"She's got a lot going on right now." Could be someone with a career that's on fire or someone who is learning how to live life in a wheelchair.

"There's a lot going on at the office." Could be that business is brisk, could be that the pop machine is out of Brisk Iced Tea, could be that someone briskly shot everyone on a Tuesday. Kind of depends on who is telling the story.

When I say "there's a lot going on" in the second volume, I mean it in the bad, dragons, man-eating plants, wheelchair, office shooting kind of way.

A reasonable, paced story turns into about seventeen stories. No less than SIX other races show up within these pages. Characters I've never seen before duck in and out for no apparent reason. And in the end a war for humanity is fought...by the Inhumans. There's a group of kids who might be scientists, one of whom appears to be somehow related to the devil. Oh, and how could I forget this key plot point: THERE'S A MAGIC SEED!

I have a couple of explanations that could describe how this volume feels.

It kind of feels like your five year-old little brother read every Fantistic Four comic written from 1970 to 1979 and then breathlessly summarized them for you, using character names as though they are people you are familiar with and leaving you feeling like he must have left out HUGE plot points and may need to be evaluated to make sure his schooling is addressing all of his special needs.

It kind of feels like someone came up with eight years worth of storylines, then was told he had 4 issues to write, and then instead of picking one decided to just jam them all in to see if he could, like jamming a bunch of dum-dums in a phone booth.

It kind of feels like I read the first volume, then the eighth volume. Ten years later. With a somewhat alarming fever.

Well, you get it. Which is to say, I don't get it.

But please, if you explain your story to someone and it has a magic seed in it that grows a weird floating head with four eyes



...eh, evaluate whether a genie would be appropriate to this world and use that as your guide.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Inhuman History (6-7). Hickman’s stories occasionally go really big picture, and that’s the case here, as we get two entire issues focused on the Inhumans and pretty big movements by the Inhumans and Kree alike. Even without the actual FF, they're great, because they provide a history for the Universal Inhumans and tie everything in to the War of Kings, where the Inhumans were last used [8/10].

The Big Battle (8-9). And after a bit of downtime, we get some big-screen action as the Inhumans and the FF battle evil Reeds. It's exciting, it's fun, it's crazy, it's got nice details, and it's pretty amazing to see everything come to a head so fast. Not quite up to the greatness of the previous two issues, but this is still good stuff [8/10].

Reunion (10-11). The getting-the-band-back-together issue is great. Having a door that sends you where you're needed is always a terrific way to move the plot along [8/10]. The final issue is the only weak one in the set, and that's because it's mainly setup for the big finale ...

(Overall I liked this book considerably more the second time I read it. I suspect it's not a great standalone volume, but a terrific piece of the ongoing history.)

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars. This was probably the weakest book I’ve read so far in Hickmans Fantastic Four run. The first 2 issues show the return of Black Bolt. After reading the great Marvel cosmic saga, I always wondered what happened to him. Unfortunately, the art in these 2 issues was very poor. So yeah, Black Bolt is back and the Inhumans return to the earth. Black Bolt had multiple wives now. There was a big battle at the forever city. Two of the Reeds from the multiverse were captured and one escaped with Dr Doom as his prisoner. Now Ronan and the Kree army have invaded earth. There’s a lot going on and most of it was losing me. I was barely holding on through this book.

[Myles Likes Tacos and Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feel like the first two issues of this volume were wasted on the Inhumans which could've probably been summed up in half an issue and a fancy Hickman type info graph. Guessing most people who were /are commited to this run, just want the focus to be on the kids and there wasn't too much of them here

Hoping this is the low point in this run, even a Season 8 GOT type ending wouldn't ruin this great ride where Hickman made me care about the F4 and the kids!!!

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the book has fully hit its stride, this trade is a little on the convoluted side.

Make sure you follow along with the correct reading g order of this series; it’s tricky.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Score: 2.50 out of 5
Grade: 50% (D) | Overstuffed

Plain and simple; this volume tried to do too much. The focus veered away from the FF and spent considerable time with Ronan and the Inhumans. Most of this was rather dull and uninteresting. However, the volume ends better than it started, so I'm still excited to see where things go next. If there's one thing Hickman is good at doing, it is keeping me interested.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's not to like? Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four was the first time that the writer's biggest plans was able to come to fruition and this volume is an important component of the story. It proves that the Fantastic Four is the franchise that gave birth to the Marvel universe and that Marvel's plans for its own slate of movies are severely hampered with the FF rights in the hands of Fox.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hickmans run had been swimming along nicely until this volume. We get a few issues purely on the Inhumans and they weren't very strong. It feels a little more like a setup for things to come. Heres hoping this was just a one off.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things are starting to get a bit more complicated here. Still dig the art, but the story isn't as clean and easy to follow as in the last volume. Hickman has this tendency to get far too convoluted in his storytelling and it looks like this book may be headed in that direction. I hope it doesn't.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting twists in this volume, but it definitely requires knowledge of the history of the Fantastic Four, their allies and enemies, for a good deal of this to make sense. That said, these stories finally reveal much of the long-mysterious history of the Inhumans and their Kree creators, along with some rather good fight scenes and character interactions. It's especially cool that not just major characters like Reed, Sue, and Black Bolt get their moments to shine -- we also see characters like Crystal and Alex Power get some great scenes as well. (As a fan of "Power Pack" years ago, it's great to see Alex finally getting to prove that, yes, controlling gravity is a rather impressive and useful power.) And Reed finally calls in the cavalry -- his many heroic allies in the Marvel mythos -- a much better choice than his villain-recruiting plan in the first volume. Ends on a rather dramatic note that certainly makes one want to jump right into volume 3.

Side note: I have to wonder if a lot of the character design of Rick from "Rick and Morty" comes from the portrayal of Reed (and his father Nathaniel) in these volumes -- especially the antagonists being from the amoral "Council of Reeds" and the implication that any significantly advanced genius is not only aware of, but interacts with, their analogs in other alternate realities.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, it’s wonderful to see Hickman employ the sort of ideas he used to make the Manhattan Projects so special to something more mainstream. Amazing stuff

[Timo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring prancing around galaxy with Inhumans. Almost every time I find Inhumans to be just like that. Boring and prancing. I know they are part of what Fantastic Four is, but they just should be left to be in that blue area of moon and forgotten there.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first FF volume was super well done, and while 2 is bigger and more explosive, it loses some of the charm the first volume had.

This one we see a lot of the Inhumans. You know, that crazy bunch who nobody seems to like but Marvel pushed for years to get into the spotlight. So yeah, they arrive to help (?) Reed stop the evil Reeds. At the same time we get a somewhat conclusion for Doom here and his mission. We see that Reed's pops isn't maybe telling the whole truth. We see our Reed finally come ask for help from the friends he knows and loves. And last but not least, we get Sue being a badass mother.

Good: I enjoyed the smaller, quiet moments. I especially liked Sue in this, and Reed finally admitting he needs help, and Spider-man even has a few great lines. I also thought Hickman obviously LOVES Blackbolt because he does this character justice. There's two amazing moments, one a fight, one a stance, and it's great. Last but not least Doom is pretty great in this series.

Bad: This epic feeling of a conclusion to the last arc felt missing here. Nothing surprising really happened, which is a surprise in itself. The plot grows deeper and tus this feels a lot like a bridge chapter.

Overall, still good. The art is great, the pacing is solid, there's some touching moments, but this didn't blow me away like the last two volumes. Still good though, a 3 out of 5.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this volume, but a lot of me wonders if anyone would enjoy it who hadn't been following all the Cosmic Marvel stuff for the past few years. The War of Kings and parts of the Thanos Imperative play a major part in the arcs here, and the information from those arcs is just kind of mentioned without any real setup for readers who might be unfamiliar with it. Even though I've read all of that stuff, it took me a second to remember what had happened in those storylines.

That said, once I caught myself up on everything mentally, I really got into this volume. It's a lot of action, whereas the previous volumes have focused a lot on plot, but that doesn't fall to the wayside by any means here. There's still enough development to go around, and the book ends on a cliffhanger I'm really looking forward to following up on.

So, if you're already reading Hickman's FF/Fantastic Four stuff, this is going to keep your interests piqued. If you're not reading it, this isn't the place to start, but hey, that's what "Volume Ones" are for.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonthan Hickman's Avengers work has been a topic of conversation around here lately, and I had read some of his Fantastic Four work, and liked it. With that said I decided to move the TPBS up the TBR pile.

How do I feel about FF at the series' halfway point? The positives are that Hickman has to provide a payoff to his story soon, and his is arguably one of the better portrayals of Susan Storm Richards. At times I feel like Susan is rolling here eyes at her husband thinking that he is utterly clueless about people.

There are some characterizations that don't seem to quite work. The Ronan/Crystal relationship as an an example. It was a forced marriage of state, and I don't read every Marvel TPB or single issue, but her decision to back Ronan as the Kree's new leader and in his war against her family just doesn't work. It seems much too quick a turn for her.

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025 reread: — I still hate the inhumans.



Original review:
I really have to say I didn’t enjoy the Inhuman’s section in this trade. I guess I’m the most biased person when it comes to the Inhuman’s but they really do suck and Marvel even know it because as soon as they have the movie rights for X-Men back guess who gets exterminated straight away?

Anyways, this is before Marvel had the X-Movie rights back so we’re firmly in the era of having the Inhuman’s crammed down our throats for no good reason, and I must say that I hate it and I hated 2 issues being wasted on seeing things from their point of view, even though it was a boring and unnecessary one. Keep the INHUMANS as unambiguous as possible and I’m happy.

Other than that, there’s still some interesting fantastic four stuff going on here but the smell of the inhumans bothers me.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Inhumans kind of take over this volume. The first 2 issues are a closure to War of Kings, this big cosmic battle that has been going on between the Shi'ar and the Kree who are now ruled by the Inhumans. Anyway, the Inhumans come back to Earth and insert themselves into the middle of the battle for the Forever City so we get this 3-way contest with the Inhumans, the Council of Reeds and the Future Foundation. This is the low part of Hickman's run. A lot of the outcome of this ends up being setup for the final leg of Hickman's run.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah sure call this "FF" as much as you want, it's an Inhumans title now. They prepare a siege for Earth and it becomes a three-way war between the Inhumans, the Council of Reeds, and the Future Foundation. I'm glad the Inhumans got some resolution to their plot from War of Kings, and there's some great stuff this volume with Reed recognizing his failures and everyone in the FF reconciling with each other... but I'm ready for the plot to move past this Inhumans side story.

[Jacobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most surprising thing about this volume? It solidifies how natural Spidey fits in the FF's corner of the Marvel-U.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
In this volume (a heck of a lot happens):
The Inhumans unite with the Kree (but not for long);
Black Bolt returns from the 'dead' (with a bit of help from Lockjaw);
(Hundreds of thousands of years in the past) the Supreme Intelligence tries to destroy a massive genetic project realising it will lead to it's death & destruction, it also institutes a genetic back-up to be activated 'in case of emergency';
Black Bolt & the Inhumans return to Attilan;
The alternate Reeds that Val bought back to Earth-616 have decided that to escape that dimension they will have to burn Earth to a cinder, starting with The Forever City of The High Evolutionary and it's great Engine which is needed to facilitate their plan;
Attilan arrives at The Forever City after reading the mind of a Reed who went to them to get their aid;
'original' Reed and his villains council (including a freshly revitalised Doctor Doom) also arrive at TFC and they join the battle;
Reed, his father (see previous volumes for his return) and Spider-Man are transported to Attilan just as he begins to see a flaw in his plans to fight the alternate Reeds;
Doctor Doom is enslaved by one of the Reeds and taken back to Latveria;
Reed, his dad & Spider-Man leave Attilan via the Eldrac door;
Reed's dad ends up in Latveria, Spidey in the Avengers mansion with Ben Grimm and Reed back home in Baxter Tower;
The Avengers return with Grimm to Baxter Tower;
The Cult of the Negative Zone (bet you'd forgotten all about them) have hatched a plan (literally) to open a portal to allow a massive Annihilation Wave to cross over, centred on the Baxter Building;
A motley crew of Avengers, to be lead by Reed and Captain America, plan to take the fight back to The Forever City;
Ronan The Accuser (referring back to the very beginning of this volume) takes a Kree army to TFC to capture the two alternative Reeds being held there, (surreptitiously) fighting the Inhumans, and once in possession of them Ronan releases the genetic back-up using the two Reeds, now entangled and pushed into Evolutionary Engine, to rebirth the Supremor Intelligence and then declare war on Earth (and beyond...?)
It's a heck of a lot to take in with Hickman spinning the many players/plates and Barry Kitson keeps them valiantly aloft...whether that remains the case, I shall discover in the next volume...and this also ties in with a major criticism I have of this era's numbering and naming of the Fantastic Four - it's a bloody mess & very, very annoying, jumping from Fantastic Four to 'FF', to Fantastic Four and then back again; just maddening...

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luego del final del volumen anterior, esto se trata más como una guarnición para ese último panel. El enfoque principal de este tomo es lo que han pasado los Inhumanos en su estancia fuera del planeta tierra. Es algo muy distinto a lo que leí de Jenkins, pero un sabor diferente lo hace igual de comestible.

No sabía lo mucho que se había expandido el mito de los Inhumanos y como los Kree han estado experimentando con otras razas. La invasión de los Kree se trata básicamente como una invasión cualquiera y no como una guerra, ya que no vemos mucho del lado opuesto. La invasión no es más que un obstáculo a superar y, ya que se ha enfocado tanto en eso, hay menos de lo que me gusta del libro. Menos chistes con los niños, menos ciencia ficción y futurista. Están ahí, pero el libro se prepara para el hito de los 600 fascículos de los Cuatro Fantasticos, asi que imagino que Hickman se vio obligado a cambiar sus planes.