Fantastic Four, Vol. 4: Hereafter

Fantastic Four by Mark Waid

by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo (Artist)

Having embarked on the ultimate journey. Reed, Sue and Johnny must contend with the defenses of the afterlife - and storm the gates of Heaven itself to rescue their fallen teammate. They've faced the destroyer of everything, Galactus. Now, they face the creator of everything, as the Fantastic Four are reunited in the Hereafter.

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

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Mark Waid is an American comic book writer widely known for shaping modern superhero storytelling through influential runs on major characters at both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Raised in Alabama, he developed an early fascination with comic books, particularly classic stories featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, whose imaginative scope and sense of legacy would later inform his own writing. He first entered the comics industry during the mid 1980s as an editor and writer for the fan magazine Amazing Heroes, before publishing his first professional comic story in Action Comics. Soon afterward he joined DC Comics as an editor, contributing to numerous titles and helping shape projects across the company. After leaving editorial work to focus on writing, Waid gained widespread recognition with his long run on The Flash, where he expanded the mythology of the character and co-created the youthful speedster Impulse. His reputation grew further with the celebrated graphic novel Kingdom Come, created with artist Alex Ross, which imagined a future DC Universe shaped by generational conflict among superheroes. Over the years he has written many prominent series, including Captain America, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Superman: Birthright, bringing a balance of optimism, character depth, and respect for comic book history to each project. Waid has also collaborated with notable artists and writers on major ensemble titles such as Justice League and Avengers, while contributing ideas that helped clarify complex continuity within shared superhero universes. Beyond mainstream superhero work, he has supported creator owned projects and experimental publishing models, including the acclaimed series Irredeemable and Incorruptible, which explored moral ambiguity within the superhero genre. He later took on editorial leadership roles at Boom Studios, guiding creative direction while continuing to write extensively. In subsequent years he expanded his involvement in publishing and digital storytelling, helping launch online comics initiatives and advocating for new distribution methods for creators. His work has earned numerous industry awards, including Eisner and Harvey honors, reflecting both critical acclaim and enduring popularity among readers. Throughout his career Waid has remained a passionate student of comic book history, drawing on decades of storytelling tradition while continually encouraging innovation within the medium. His influence extends across generations of readers and creators, and his stories continue to shape the evolving language of superhero comics around the world today through enduring characters imaginative narratives and thoughtful reinventions of familiar myths within popular culture and modern graphic storytelling traditions.

Reviews

[Tiago Andrade · Rating 5 out of 5]

O Quarteto Fantástico vai ao Paraíso buscar Ben Grimm, que foi vítima do último plano de dominação universal do Dr. Destino. Chegando lá eles reencontram seus entes queridos até finalmente toparem com Deus, que é idêntico a Jack Kirby e usa um lápis para dar forma a suas criações. Sim, isso é tão ridículo (e tão sensacional) quanto parece. É por momentos assim que eu leio quadrinhos.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hereafter story is really cool, like a really nutty Leftovers lite vibe

[Omni Theus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dichotomy
OVERALL RATING: 3.5 stars
Art: 3.25 stars
Prose: 4.5 stars
Plot: 3.5 stars
Pacing: 3 stars
Character Development: 4 stars
World Building: 4 stars
One of the hardest hitting single issues for me personally in this run (issue 511). The rest was very forgettable. Weird cryptic message from half the creative team under the guise of 'Gone Fishing' too. I really needed to read issue 511. Weirdly put plenty of things in my life into perspective. That issue alone was a 4.75-5. Others ranged from 2.5-3.

[jcw3-john · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the best of the already great volumes I've read so far - the Fantastic Four go to Heaven and have a deeply emotional set of interactions that works phenomenally well - welling up kind of stuff - and then we follow it with some really fun borderline slice of life stories that even feature Spider-Man. A complete blast of a comic, multifaceted in how it shows how comics can be simply fun on one hand and a complete emotion churn on the other.

Waid's FF run is so good, I'm glad I started it.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nice to see Wieringo art. Been a while since I admired it.
Two stories: in the first one The Thing is brought back from the dead by a visit to heaven. And it made angry. There is no heaven. Not in this reality nor it should be used in comics. Using that is as "alternative plane of existence" is just boring, stupid and easy way out.
Thankfully there was a nice and fast action packed story with Spider-Man also. That saved this collection to be cursed to work in workplace forever.

[Thomas Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stories collected here. The first, wherein they visit heaven and meet god, didn’t really work for me. It felt like Waid had written himself into a corner and this was an easy way out. The second one is just dumb fun. Wieringo’s art is the saving grace of this volume.

[Payton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic four go to heaven to get the thing back. Cool story. I liked that in Johnnys portion his heaven was being with his parents at the fire. The family dynamics were great here with everyone falling apart without Ben.

[Raymond Paquette · Rating 5 out of 5]

God is real and he's the King.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pinnacle of Waid's run, outside of maybe "Unthinkable".

But the Fantastic Four at its best...

[Odo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5+

[c · Rating 3 out of 5]

spideytorch water park date gone wrong

(read in single issues)

[Pranav · Rating 4 out of 5]

KING KIRBY CAMEO? ABSOLUTE CINEMA

[Benjamin Kimble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Waid just keeps getting better and better. Huge spoilers to follow. In the aftermath of the previous volume “authoritative action” the Thing is dead. He was possessed by Doom and killed by Reed in order to stop him. The remaining three are in a terrible place, they hate each other. Sue and Johnny blame Reed, Reed blames himself and Johnny. It’s a mess. But they have to get him back. They pull themselves together and go to heaven. It’s really a phenomenal story about guilt and blame and overcoming burdens together. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Waid is a master of dialogue. There’s so much thought provoking intelligent emotional dialogue here and it’s amazing. When they meet God, it’s Jack Kirby and that scene is done perfectly and is incredibly respectful to his legacy. I felt so many things while reading this. Amazing volume. It perfectly captures the essence of the Fantastic Four as explorers, adventures, scientists, and most importantly, family.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some more interesting storytelling in this volume, though not quite as excellent as the previous one. I was a little iffy on the whole FF-visits-Heaven thing, but the Kirby appearance at the end was pretty clever.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read right after the previous volume in one sitting. As weird as it is for comics to do anything that remotely relates to religion... this was actually really interesting. It was more of a meta narrative that could be read with religious themes, or it could just be read as, well... meta. But the point of the book never stopped being about the characters' relationships to each other, and that is what made this book interesting and engaging. It could have gotten... uncomfortably weird (spoken as a spiritual person myself), but it actually was just... neat. I don't know how else to say it. I enjoyed reading this weird take on comic book afterlife. (And I was very glad that we got a happy ending!) Though, to be honest, Reed's facial scars just being "erased" away seemed like way too easy of a way to resolve that conflict. It felt like the writers had written themselves into a corner and didn't know how to heal Reed. I don't know how else they could have done it, but... it felt "too convenient" to me while I was reading it. An added bonus of this graphic novel was a solid Human Torch and Spidey team-up that explored both their friendship as well as their public perceptions (while also mostly just being a fun story).

[Christopher Mclean · Rating 2 out of 5]

These Waid FF volumes have been very up and down for me, unfortunately this one was very much a down one. While I liked the final twist I didn't really like the rest of the Hereafter story. I get that this is the fantastic FOUR and they can't have a character missing for an extended period but I would have liked to see the consequences of the Doom confrontation play out over a longer period of time. Bring a dead character back to life the very next issue really invalidates the previous arc.

The additional two issue arc focusing on Jonny and Spider Man was fun but again felt very rushed. I would have liked to see the FF dealing with poor public opinion for a much longer period of time given their actions.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reconciliations between Reed and everyone are great. The idea that Heaven is just another plane of existence/alternate universe that Reed can hand-wavey-science his family into is...sure, ok, I can go with it. Very happy to see the return of Mike Wieringo as artist.

The side story with Johnny and Spider-Man was cute and fun. The story with Alyssa was superfluous.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really the first modern Fantastic Four comic I've read. It's adorable! Reed builds a machine to teleport him to heaven. . .where it turns out that Jack Kirby is God. I mean, it's silly and ridiculous but I can still draw hearts around it, right?

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fantastic Four have to deal with being unpopular for the first time ever. They journey to heaven to save someone, and that's were it gets interesting. A lovely tribute to an artist too.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had fun with this one. Cool art while the gang was in Heaven, and the Spidey/Torch stuff was fun.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

hehe i do like who ends up being the creator in the afterlife...