Fantastic Four, Vol. 6

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman #9

by Jonathan Hickman, Ron Garney, Mike Choi (Illustrator)

Jonathan Hickman's groundbreaking run comes to an explosive end! First, explore the future and the past: Witness the Fantastic Four of the year 3030, and learn the secret history of Marvel's first family! Then, follow the team on a journey through an alien landscape as a life hangs in the balance! And when the fallout from the Kree-Inhuman war threatens galactic peace, how will it affect the stranded Ronan and Crystal? Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Panther God chooses the fate of T'Challa. Who will be the Black Panther? And when the Wizard returns to claim his "son," Bentley 23, the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation must join forces to save him!
Collecting: Fantastic Four 605.1, 605-611

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

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

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

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

While reading this, I kind of got the impression that Hickman had actually done everything he needed to do in the last volume, and that the issues in this volume were merely fulfilling contractual obligations. Because it's really all over the place, random stories that don't connect and, for the most part, don't even serve to bring his run to a close.

That said, if you pick up this volume and only read the first story, just literally put the book down and walk away once it's over, then it will be worth your time. Nathaniel Richards takes Reed to the far future, and there's an incredibly moving moment there, and it ends on a quietly hopeful note that, in my opinion, is probably where Hickman's run really should have ended. It's a really nice story, and it brings together pretty much everything Hickman had been working towards.

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

And this is it, the final volume of Hickman's Fantastic Four run. I realised too late that the last two volumes of FF should be read together with the last two volumes of F4, switching from one trade to the other every issue, so I probably missed something here and there. Still, just like the final volume of FF, this one consists of mostly standalone one-shots or two-parters, and they're are all good. There was no endgame, though — Hickman's actual story ended with Fantastic Four volume 5, so these last books in both series just tie various little loose threads together. It was a highly enjoyable run, although I did get very confusing and convoluted somewhere in the middle, and I don't feel like the payoff was entirely worth it. Considering this series as a dry run for Hickman's true Marvel magnum opus, Avengers, Fantastic Four laid some solid groundwork for everything that is to come later. But as a series on its own, it wasn't as good as Secret Warriors or Avengers, in my opinion. Still, I had a lot of fun with these characters, and wouldn't mind revisiting this run a couple of years later to see if maybe I can grasp more of it.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an epic volume!

It starts off with the curing of the tumor that Willike Lumpkin has by the FF and it was so cool to see and cute too in a way and then its about Reed and his family going to Wakanda and there they meet Bast and Anubis and bonds of brotherhood are forged as the King of Necropolis/Dead is born and setting stuff up for the future, meanwhile AIM island comes into existence and the FF have to deal with that and finally a biblical story of Doom and what he has been up to and how Reed rescues him but it also sets up some interesting stuff for Hickmans Avengers and its a goodbye to the future people and all comes together pretty nicely and also yeah the Nu-world people get a closure!

Great volume and just ties up loose ends while dealing with some short stories which are either closures or just a nod to whats to come and I really like the simplistic art here and the moments between father and children and all. I love how Hickman balances the cosmic nature of the story with heartful moments!

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

After two amazing volumes we leave off Hickman's run on a "good" note.

A lot of these stories are building up for the future. One big one is Wakanda visit from Reed and family and Black Panther becoming the king of the dead. This becomes a big moment for the New Avengers run later for Hickman. The other stories wage from saving a loved one to fighting doom, to learning a alternate reality that went really bad, and more. It's a big volume with tons of stuff to chew on.

While there's a lot of content, none of it is amazing for me. Some great moments here and there but mostly single one shots that are building future plot points more than telling a complete story. I enjoyed the art and dialogue but nothing blew me away. A 3 out of 5.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. The beginning of the book each issue felt like it’s own story and they were pretty decent. Curious about the Black Panther story. Hoping that goes somewhere because if it doesn’t, it was useless. Towards the back of the book, the issues felt like they were doing their best to close off some of the threads that had been going on. All good except for the ending of the last issue which got back to the stuff with future Val and Reeds dad that has had me lost since that was first introduced.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wistful opener with a little father/son time travel expedition (like you do when you're a Richards). Then an alternate universe origin story (that wraps back around to the Council at Hickman's beginning), then a weird off-shoot of exploring a giant immune system...

Finally a storyline with some legs emerges: adventures in Wakanda, with the Black Panther. Unfortunately, it's more "African mythology", by which we go back to Egyptian gods (as if that's the only ancient African culture we white men can imagine).

At one point T'Challa says, "Everything dies" which reminds me of a recurring line in the later run on Avengers that Hickman helms.

And then we find out how T'Challa arrives at the fate we see him occupied with in that later Avengers run. Quite a Call To Adventure, eh Mr. Campbell? I nearly caught a chill, so cool was the reveal.

There's even a chapter of Doom, only this time Doom rules over a universe made in his own image. And in the end is saved by forces outside himself.

There's a lot of that in this book - tying up some loose ends (what to do with the future corpse of Galactus?), setting up some new scenarios (Wakanda, AIM), and some wistful moments at the end of most issues (Reed hugging his wife - not a protonic inhibitor? What's become of this world, oh despair, oh pallid intellect).

As an antidote to the usual brain-bending machinations Hickman sets up - his incredible Rube Goldberg plots - this is both a comedown from the previous arc and a nice way to experience single doses of Hickman's imagination. This is almost Hickman-lite, and a *great* place for Hickman noobs to start if they're about to embark on the Avengers joyride. No wading through five issues of progressively louder "what in the living fuck am I reading...?" (Not that I haven't had great payoff from patiently stabbing myself with a fork to force myself to get past the "Hickman WTF Hump" and proceed to have my mind blown to little fanboy smithereens.)

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining volume that had little to do with the rest of the story. This gets 4 stars for the first 2 volumes alone.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/GKw2KKyBQXc

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the best way to describe the final volume of this collection would be disjointed. It's all over the place, trying to do way too many things at once, and none of the stories flow. It really is a bunch of individual issues tied together because they were all published in the same 6 months.

There's good stories, boring ones, some interesting ideas, and some very touching ones.

Feels like this just got thrown together, or Hickman just had a bunch of ideas he wasn't done with.

1)Reed and Nathaniel go forward in time to see what becomes of the FF, and it actually leads to a rather touching moment.

2)Parallel Universe Reed works for Hitler, who won WWII, ends up becoming all-powerful a-la Doom, and leads into the Council of Reeds...

3)Parallel Doom creates his own universe, and it isn't quite what he bargained for; is saved by unlikely child.

4)FF performs brain surgery on Willy Lumpkin. (Marvel has now had 3 different instances of shrinking to do brain surgery in less than 2yrs: Hank Pym on Daredevil; Hank McCoy on Broo; Reed and FF on Willy...are they trying to suggest something?)

5) Tie-up of the parallel universe Reed saved being moved to the future or something so they never have to worry about not having somewhere to be...

All in all some interesting ideas but just so much going on...

I do like Hickman's attempts to make things cosmic large, and I do like that each member becomes stronger as individual characters.

Not the place to start with FF though, and I do feel like Fraction's Marvel Now stuff isn't quite as good.

Get this review and more at:

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pues después de poner fin a una de las sagas más ambiciosas que se había visto en el Universo Marvel, Jonathan Hickman no podía hacer las cosas como las hacen la mayoría de los escritores de cómics, es decir, saliendo en el punto álgido y dejando la siguiente etapa en manos de quien llegara después. Y es que Hickman decidió encargarse él mismo de todos y cada uno de los epílogos de la saga, donde iba a dejar las cosas encauzadas para que quien viniera detrás lo tuviera un poco fácil (recordemos el momento épico de la salida de Bendis de Daredevil dejándolo entre rejas para que desde allí lo recogiera Brubaker), y así, en este número, nos encontramos con diversas aventuras autoconclusivas. Así que vamos a viajar al futuro para ver como evolucionan los Cuatro Fantásticos y qué miembros permanecen en el equipo durante miles de años (literal), o vamos a ver la versión de Hickman del famoso Viaje Alucinante, con los imaginautas lanzados a un viaje para salvar a Willy Lumpkin, vamos a ver cómo es la convivencia entre Peter Parker y Johnny Storm, vamos a tener una excursión a la Zona Negativa que va a suponer toda una lección de política para todos los implicados, y en el arco más largo del tomo, nos vamos a encontrar con un viaje a Wakanda en el que mientras los chicos de la Fundación hacen frente a unos ladrones de agua, Reed y Sue van a involucrarse en una vieja lucha que tiene lugar en Wakanda desde milenios atrás, entre la diosa Bastet y el dios Anubis, y que va a suponer la reestructuración de la propia colección de Pantera Negra, donde el papel de T'Challa va a cambiar notablemente.

En fin, una gran obra de despedida, con los lápices bastante guays de Ron Garney y Giusseppe Camuncoli y menos guays de Nick Dragotta, pero la verdad es que es un pedazo de historia.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alot of tying up loose ends. Nothing will compare to the previous volume.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really wonderful, fitting end to Jonathan Hickman's amazing run on Fantastic Four. The real climax of his run occurs in Volume 5, so Volume 6 ends up being mostly one-offs that tie-in or wrap-up a few loose threads, none of which necessarily needed to be wrapped up, but which offer some great great opportunities for levity after the heavy, mind-bendy stuff Hickman's been doing since he took over. Not to mention the fact that Hickman is very clearly setting up something much larger (which we now know to be Secret Wars) with a couple of the storylines featured here.

Interestingly, Hickman's been spending so much time setting up his huge, wild, chaotic storylines (which he pays off in spades, by the way), that we don't get to see much of his ability to write characters. He's always done a great job with Franklin and Val Richards (the kids), but everyone else got very little service. This volume is almost a side-project where he shows that he can focus on character motivations and make them work for the stories, too, without relying solely on big ideas. He's a very versatile writer, and easily one of the best working in mainstream comics right now.

There isn't a whole lot else to say about this one, other than that I will assuredly miss Jonathan Hickman writing FF, even though I'm still interested to read Matt Fraction's followup series, and very excited now for Hickman's Avengers/New Avengers stuff and Secret Wars. You really need to read this run.

[Can Şarman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nobody likes epilogues, right?

I usually don’t either. They either drag the story down or try too hard to tie everything up. But sometimes — sometimes — an epilogue hits different.

It makes you feel the weight of choices, the permanence of change, and reminds you that no one’s ever the same again. And if you’re reading a comic? You actually get to see that transformation.

Epilogues are a hard path to walk… but if you walk it right, you might just run.

Hickman’s Fantastic Four run felt like emotional sci-fi at its best. As I finished Volume 6 — the final one — I was completely drawn into three particular chapters: Black Bolt’s, Doctor Doom’s, and Franklin Richards’.

Without spoiling anything: the epilogue lands. You can sense it. You feel it. You see who these characters have become.

The rest of the volume, to be honest, was more typical Marvel material — nothing bad, just not as powerful.

Was this the perfect way to end the series? I’m not sure.

I was left with a slight sense of… incompleteness. Like there’s a Volume 7 out there waiting to be announced.

But maybe that’s just me.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid ending, though it does feel a bit odd in terms of pacing. It feels like Hickman was finally given more room to breathe and used it (as he should have). But it would have been nice if he had been able to start the series off with this amount of character focused work. There’s a variety of things going on here. Some of it is tiring up loose ends, some of it feels like a a farewell, and some of it feels like it’s building towards something else. He’s planting seeds here for his Avengers run clearly, but it also feels like he could have stayed on this book for some time. The art is solid. I prefer basically all of the artists here over those that illustrated the first few issues.

[Kevin Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A GREAT end to Hickman’s run! 5 separate stories that are all the reason why I read Fantastic Four. Really loved the first story with the future of The Thing and the final story with Dr. Doom. Hickman followed up his epic story with really good small ones and I really like reading those.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume was a series of one-offs and smaller adventures, but I enjoyed it. The first has Reed traveling into the future to see The Thing living millennia into the future. The next is a mission into their mailman's head in order to remove a tumor. Not sure if it's medically sound, but it is sweet. Some of them were tying up loose ends from earlier in this series or the FF books. I appreciated some of the smaller, human moments.

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why I had hope I would like this. I think it is because so many people whom I respect and love comics loved this run and I REALLY wanted to share their love. But, as with all of his run Hickman didn't deliver for me. It started off with two lice stories that felt very Slott-like to me. Sweet tales that were enjoyable. One where Reed Richards time travels and looks at the Thing ageing and living to 2000 years old. It ends with them sharing a beer in the present day. Very sweet. It made me wish Hickman worked harder for more character pieces like this. The next story was sweet but felt like a story told 100 times. A fantastic voyage into someone to cure a disease. Hickman tried his best to dance around the fact this was a tale everyone and their mother has told by making it a big reveal WHO the patient was at the end. But that felt forced.

Then we get a two parter with Black Panther and we were back to the weird off-putting Hickman that I haven't liked. The threat was ill defined the resolution didn't require any clever insight. The most frustrating thing was, we saw Storm of the X-Men as Black Panther's wife but she was treated as scenery. I think she had 5 lines of dialogue throughout everything. Very odd.

Then a few more confusing tales, one with Galactus and one with Dr. Doom that were very dull dispite all the world and time hopping they involved.

So, this is Hickman's last FF volume. My take away from his run was "a lot of great ideas, but I didn't feel any emotional connection to the FF he wrote". I wish I had loved it more but his writing style isn't one I like.

[Adam Spanos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hickman's ideas are always huge, sometimes too huge for my simple mind to comprehend. That being said, this collection isn't brought down by that but actually not collecting it with its spinoff series, FF which is needed to get a complete story. What we do get Hickman emptying the cabinet when it comes to his FF ideas (I'm sure not completely) and most of it is a treat. The Point One issue is great and almost be better as an entire limited series. That's also the case for the team's trip to Wakanda. That adventure could and probably should have been a couple more issues. The art, mostly by Ryan Stegman, is good but not great. Overall, the collection is good, just missing vital components.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jonathan Hickman's run on this book was simply amazing. He took over a spent concept and made it fresh again. The previous volumes of his saga are some if the best comic books I've read, but this last volume lacked the cohesion and devotion the previous stories had. It just went with the momentum as it died away.
This was not the best part of the story, but it doesn't take away how good it was before this point.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects Fantastic Four issues #605-611, and #605.1

This is one of the best modern Marvel stories I've ever read, but be warned that you can't start with this volume. There is a lot to read before you can appreciate what happens in this book. In fact, I don't believe you could read this book, and fully understand all the intricacies of what is happening.

Before reading this, you need to read the following collected editions:

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four (by Hickman) volumes 1-4
FF (by Hickman) volumes 1-2

Then you have to take turns between Fantastic Four Volume 5 and FF Volume 3. For example, you will read the issues like this: Fantastic Four #600, FF #12, Fantastic Four #601, FF #13, and so on and so on...

Now that you know all that, I definitely recommend reading this legendary run by a remarkable writer, Jonathan Hickman.

SPOILERS (from both Fantastic Four and FF for continuity's sake):

Fantastic Four #605:

-Reed and Nathaniel travel to New York City in the year 3012.

-In the future, humanity has aligned itself with the Shi’ar and Badoon in an oligarchy. Meanwhile, the Kree Empire now holds the Skrulls in slavery. There’s a Fantastic Four in the distant future, and Franklin and Benjamin Grimm are both members. It turns out Ben doesn’t age when he is in his Thing form, so the only time he ages is when he takes the formula that the Future Foundation developed for him. If I remember correctly, that means that for every one year, he ages one week.

-Reed wants to go further, but they haven’t explained why he wants to check out the future. They travel to NYC Territory in the year 4012. Thing is still alive, and he is giving a commencement address to the 4012 graduates of the Future Foundation. Franklin has left to go “run with gods.”

-Reed wants to go further. They travel to The York Prefecture in 5012. Thing is alone, visiting statues of Reed, Sue, and Johnny. Franklin hasn’t returned yet.

-Reed wants to go further. They travel to the TNY Orb in 6012. Franklin stands over the Thing’s dead body.

-After this, Reed wants to go home, and while there, he spends some quality time with Thing and Bentley, as they watch some boxing. Ben seems surprised that Reed would take the time to do this, and tells him that he’s missed him.

#605.1:

-In this issue we get to know more about one of the members of the Council of Reeds. It is the one with the long beard and the Infinity Gauntlet (which he calls the God Hand). This Reed’s story is that he is from a parallel universe where the Nazi’s are ruling over modern day Germany. The Fantastic Four are Germany’s first astronauts. Reed kills Doom to steal a piece of his brain, and then goes into space. Ben becomes a different version of the Thing. Johnny becomes an Iceman-like being, and Sue becomes the Human Torch. They are all bad guys, and all but Reed are killed when Reed uses the Thing to kill Hitler. Reed takes power, and fights against the likes of the Avengers and the X-Men. He later decides to build the Bridge, and that’s where he met the Council. I think this issues exists to hammer home the fact that the Council is (overall) bad, even though their mission statement was to “solve everything.”

FF #17:

-This issue was a humorous break from the dramatic story that has been being told so far. The whole thing centers on how Peter doesn’t like having Johnny as a roommate, and ends with Johnny getting kicked out.

Fantastic Four #606:

-Willie Lumpkin is dying of cancer, so the Fantastic Four go on a mission to find a cure.

FF #18:

-Reed is trying to help broker a peace between the Inhumans and the Kree, as Kid Franklin and Mister Franklin help heal Hala’s sun. Mister Franklin later tells Black Bolt that he has to accept peace with the Kree because he is needed on Earth. It is the focal point for some sort of coming disaster. Future Franklin tells Black Bolt that he won’t be able to help him, though, because he isn’t going to make it. Meanwhile, in the Negative Zone, Johnny has brought the Future Foundation kids there with him as he addresses a revolt. It turns out the creatures there want free elections. Bad news…the voters of the Negative Zone voted Annihilus back into power.

Fantastic Four #607:

-To celebrate the Black Panther’s marriage to Storm, the FF visit Wakanda. But T’Challa has other needs for Reed, and an ancient evil now threatens Wakanda again. The biggest thing I took away from this was the line, “Everything die,” spoken by T’Challa. This was meaningful to me because I know that Hickman will again use this as a theme during his Avengers/New Avengers run.

FF #19:

-The FF kids have an adventure in Wakanda, led by their super smart guide, Onome. Onome impresses them, and Val tells her that she is going to talk to Reed about letting Onome join the FF. During their adventure, they stop the villainous Hyena Clan.

Fantastic Four #608:

-It seems like this is the introduction of Necropolis, the Wakanda City of the Dead. I have read future storylines where Black Panther rules over this land, but I believe this is the first time that Necropolis is mentioned in the Marvel Universe. It isn’t so much a neighboring city as it is a city in a pocket dimension.

-In the City of the Dead, they meet a goddess who assesses the desires of T’Challa. The goddess foreshadows events that will happen in the 2012 Marvel Event, "Avengers vs. X-Men," and she also foreshadows events that will be primarily addressed in Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers run. Knowing that T’Challa has to be there to help save his people, she makes him King of the Dead, ruler over Necropolis. T’Challa’s sister will remain the ruler over Wakanda, though.

-The goddess also tells Reed and T’Challa that Reed’s presence at this moment will bind their lives together until their death. Their fates are now intertwined, and when the world faces the great trial that she has foreseen, the two men must face this danger together.

FF #20:

-Mister Franklin tells Black Bolt, “Everything dies.”

-Knowing the date, Future Val stops young Val from writing a journal entry, which is actually a prospectus on how to defeat and subjugate the Kree Empire. The Vals still hate each other, but the Franklins have fun together.

-Mister Franklin is really open to telling Kid Franklin about future events.

-Medusa tells Crystal that she has to come home to Attilan.

Fantastic Four #609:

-Lame story about the people of Nu-World, which felt like an in-story way of getting these characters out of the narrative. They
were never my favorites because I didn’t know their back story. Also, I thought Galactus did something with the corpse of his future, dead self a few volumes ago. He was really mad at these people then.

FF #21:

-Black Bolt explained to the Supreme Intelligence that they should work together until the “everything dies” scenario, and peace is achieved.

-This is why Medusa summoned Crystal. The Supreme Intelligence demanded that Ronan return to him alone for peace to be agreed upon.

Fantastic Four #610:

-Dr. Andrew Forson and the Wizard are the villains in this issues as the FF takes on A.I.M. This issues marks the first recognition of Barbuda as A.I.M. Island.

-Reed becomes the U.S.A.’s ambassador to A.I.M. Island.

-The Wizard, in his madness, says that he had a vision of Reed (as a man of half light and half darkness), and he also saw with Reed other men of day and night. I believe this is a prophecy about the Illuminati.

-Wizard tells young Bentley that he is him, and implies that Bentley can’t escape his destiny.

FF #22:

-This issue went hand-in-hand with Fantastic Four #610, with a focus on how Val and Bentley experienced the events. At the end, the two youngersters hold hands for the first time, and Bentley tells Val that he loves her. Val reminds him that she is only three years old.

-Bentley, though he has a hint of evil in him, seems to be breaking away from the villainous nature of his “father.”

Fantastic Four #611:

-This seems to be the end of the story that Hickman has been telling since the beginning of his Fantastic Four run. There are still some plot threads left dangling, but overall, things have come to an end. Nathaniel and Reed save Doom from the world that he created with his Infinity Gauntlet. It seems like there was more story that could have been told there, but instead, they wrap up the whole Doom story in one single issue.

-Nathaniel announces that he will now use the Nexus to travel to all other parallel universes where orphan Reeds exist to try to help out. Val says she is going to stay and help her grandfather, but she really wants to stay at the Nexus (the former home of the Council), because in her words, “Here I can build.”

FF #23:

-The issue opens with Future Val and Franklin talking about how it is time for goodbyes with their present-day family, and they always knew this is how things were going to end. We are told that this issue will act as an epilogue to Jonathan Hickman’s 3-year run with the Fantastic Four family.

-Mister Franklin, Kid Franklin, and Leech go into Franklin’s closet universe and act out a lot of adventures. There, Future Franklin tells his younger self not to be intimidated by Val’s intelligence. She will one day recognize that it is Franklin’s creativity that makes him so special because he can see things in ways that others cannot. Intelligence without imagination is useless.

-Mister Franklin, as he helps Kid Franklin into bed for the night, tells him to remember that the door to the closet is more than it appears to be.

-The door is more than it appears to be. It separates who you are from who you can be. You do not have to walk through it. You can run.

-Future Franklin then starts saying his goodbyes to everyone else. He tells some funny stories about the future to Ben and Johnny. He explains to his parents that the universe is sentient, and that if she realizes there are two Franklins, she won’t be happy. He also tells his parents that Franklin will manifest soon.

-The most touching scene is when Sue and Reed, right before Future Franklin leaves, confess that they always have doubts about their parenting. They ask him is they do a good job, and Franklin tells them that they do a perfect job. Seconds later, he fades away, possibly back to the future.

[Benja Calderon · Rating 4 out of 5]

El run de Hickman con la primera familia llega a su fin tras un poco más de 3 años a cargo de su desarrollo

Las historias empiezan a cerrarse, vemos el futuro de los 4 Fantasticos, a traves de los ojos de Reed y Nathaniel; conocemos como nace el Consejo de Reed Richards multiversales; como la familia siempre es lo más importante con los 4 Fantasticos; viajamos a Wakanda para profundizar más la relación de Reed con T'Challa; como se busca solución definitiva a los que dejaron el NeoMundo; nuevos desafios se ven en el futuro de Reed como nuevo embajador americano en la isla de Barbados, ahora bajo dominio de la IMA y por último, el rescate a Dr Doom, quien se quedó dentro del Portal luego de ayudar a la FF en su tarea de liberar a los Celestiales

Un final bastante más que digno, dandonos historias conclusivas, pero dejando material para que se desarrolle a futuro.
Soy lector novato en Marvel y lo hecho por Hickmas es de gran factura y una demostración grande de amor y conocimiento de comics, recordando un poco al trabajo de Morrison en Batman, guardando proporciones. Muy recomendado

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

No se si en mi vida he estado tan satisfecho con una serie de cómics en mi vida. Desde el preámbulo de Millar hasta ahora, me he convertido en un ávido fanatico de los cuatro fantásticos. El manejo de absolutamente todos los personajes me pareció interesante, inclusive los personajes no tan desarrollados y los personajes que Hickman tomaba prestado de otros títulos.

Leer esto en conjunto con FF fue una experiencia que me abrió los ojos al manejo de personajes en diferentes géneros con diferentes intenciones. En Fantastic Four, la trama es más seria y toca temas más adultos, pero como los niños son la figura central de FF, se lleva más suave hasta en lo visual.

Hablando de lo visual, estoy encantado con cada uno de los artistas que pasaron tanto por este como por FF. Desde la portada hasta la última página, se nota el amor y la dedicación que le puso Hickman a la dirección de cada panel y al uso de la narrativa paralela.

Es fundamental leer esto junto con FF, de hecho, es una estupidez si en el ómnibus los capítulos no están intercalados entre cada título.

[Dan]

The main story and action ended in the previous volume, but there's an epilogue of sorts in this one, plus a bunch of self contained short stories, some of which tie into the events of the previous volumes, including Reed and his father traveling into the far, far future to see The Thing and Franklin both still living and near-immortal. There's also a fairly dark "What If?" type story where the characters are living in Germany during Hitler's reign (Reed is a Nazi dickhead, more consumed with power than Victor, and Ben Grimm is a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp until he is conscripted to be their pilot to outer space). The last story is what happens when Doom achieves godhood in another universe (spoiler: things still don't go his way and Val gets Reed to rescue him).

[Doctor Doom · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Uncle Doom"? Really? Well, I guess that shows how long it's been since I had read some FF stories. I started reading them in the '60s and read well up into the '70s so I know the characters well. Hit and miss from then on though I have picked up a few here and there.
Even without a total understanding of some of their more current exploits this book captured much of the original flavor of the FF and I thoroughly enjoyed it. These particular stories seem to deal primarily with Reed Richards and though that can often be problematic here it was not. Very good art, good stories, good reading.

[Maja · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess it's over now. I still don't understand why everyone loves this run so much. There were some interesting ideas there, and occasionally the writing was excellent, but overall neither the storyline nor the themes really convinced me.
Also, I'm really annoyed at the whole "let's imagine our superheroes as Nazis" storyline in here. Reminds me too much of recent Hydra!Steve things, and it's just distasteful and unnecessary.

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty much the same as the last FF trade I reviewed - it’s winding down issues after the big ‘event’ we read in the last F4 trade but focuses more on the main family rather than on the foundation characters. I really think these are great and again teases at some fun stuff coming in the future Avengers run Hickman does.

It’s great! I don’t have much new to say about this run. It’s right in the pocket of things I enjoy to read. This is essential marvel reading for me.

[Josi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Después de la explosión del volumen anterior, este final es (casi) tranquilo. Pero igual de brillante.
Cerrando todas las ventanas abiertas pero abriendo otras puertas en el Universo Marvel (de acá me voy derecho a leer sus Avengers), Jonathan Hickman se despide de la Primera Familia de una forma emotiva. El unitario de Ben es perfecto. Mete un Elseworlds increíble en el medio. Desparrama magia e ideas como en todo su run.
Hermoso cierre de uno de mis cómics favoritos de los últimos tiempos.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hickman's Fantastic Four saga comes to a close! Funnily enough this final volume doesn't feel like an ending but a series of beginnings. Tying up some loose ends, planting some new seeds, and paving the way for the next decade's worth of stories that Jonathan Hickman is going to write in other titles like Avengers and Secret Wars and X-Men. It's a heartfelt ending but it's all falling action. Some good, some mediocre, but without it the run would feel incomplete.

[Sans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the "wow" factor was gone, but not much. I like watching some new story lines get seeded and seeing some come to their non-world ending conclusions. I sighed when I finished this, then had a little cry reading Hickman's final letter for the series. Really well rounded story, highly recommend his run in Fantastic Four and FF.

[Somu · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5. Honestly the only reason it’s a 3.5 is because of the story of black panther and wakanda. It’s not a terrible volume but honestly all the stories didn’t feel coherent and I was confused as to why they were relevant. I was honestly confused, felt like such an odd way to end a run. Ultimately it might just be the writing style of Hickman. Not the strongest conclusion but nit the worst either.