Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 4: Inhuman | Mike Carey, Mark Millar

Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 4: Inhuman | Mike Carey, Mark Millar | Volume IV is merely okay, here's hoping the previous are better . . . .

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Ultimate Fantastic...

	Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 4: Inhuman Mike Carey, Mark Millar Marvel Comics, 2005 - 96 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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A classic Fantastic Four villain makes the debut here in Ultimate form, turning the Baxter Building into a virtual trap set to capture and eliminate the fledgling adventurers. And what of the other denizens of the skyscraper, including Johnny and Sue's father Dr. Storm? And who has the power to outthink even the most brilliant man alive, Reed Richards? Wait and see! Plus: the first appearance of the Ultimate Inhumans! From a hidden race, she came to steal the heart of the FF's youngest member. She's the beautiful elemental called Crystal! Collects Ultimate Fantastic Four #19-20 and Annual #1.

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A good, fun read... worth checking out!

The "Ultimate FF" series starts to hit its stride here, having finally gotten past all the set-up and exposition, and settles into adventure-oriented stories that take only one or two issues to tell (as opposed to longer story arcs of previous volumes). In this sense it begins to feel like the old, original FF, back in the early days of Kirby and Lee.

The revamped, postmodern Mad Thinker is a real gas -- one of the most interesting, most creepily psychotic Marvel baddies I've seen in years (and a definitely improvement on the old, two-dimensional Thinker...) The second story, introducing the new version of the Inhumans, was less satisfying... the plot whizzed by too fast and things were not well explained; if you didn't already know the whole Inhumans mythology, I'm not sure how much of it would make sense. In both stories, however, Jae Lee's artwork is consistently dynamic and fresh, challenging readers to follow the graphic side of the comicbook equation in new and exhiliarating ways. It was a good read.

(PS - I'm not sure what the other reviewer is referring to when he talks about this series promoting drug use and anti-Americanism. His comments don't seem to have anything to do with the actual content of the book, so take it all with a grain of salt.)

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Volume IV is merely okay, here's hoping the previous are better . . . .

I picked up "Ultimate Fantastic Four, vol. 4: Inhuman," at my local library yesterday, and though many may think what I did was premature, I borrowed it and read it anyway. The paperback is pretty thin thus only containing issues #19 (Think Tank Part One), #20 (Think Tank Part Two - Finale), and #1 Annual issue (Inhuman). First off to get this out of the way: The cover art is probably the biggest missleader for me. Being someone who is an avid follower of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN (who artist, Mark Bagley does some amazing work for the comic book overall) I too one look at the cover and expected some of the same excellent art work. Instead I am welcomed with pencil thin drawn art by artist Jae Lee which was less than impressive. His art technique failed to capture any real emotion displayed in the dialogue of the characters; Most of the time the characters were straight faced or angry-faced for too long, or just deadpanned in one too many scenes (notably Sue).

Johnny's "flame on" scenes were horrible: They looked like computer graphics overlapped over the pencil drawing. And then throughout most of the "Think Tank" storyline, I found myself staring at black blobs that were supposed to be the characters (this art style is carried on into #1 Annual) doing various things in the supposed dark, via incoherent and poorly drawn action scenes that had me re-looking at the panels twice. The storyline for all three issues were weak and uninspiring.

Issue 19 is simply a start up for the FEMALE Mad Thinker, Rhona Burchill who proceeds to capture the soldiers and the teen-Fantastic Four once they reach the heart of the so-called Baxter Building, which is in no way booby-trapped. In issue 20, for some reason the reader is given a horrible excuse for a backstory to Rhona Burchill in issue #20, and then are supposed to believe that she somehow "beat Reed Richards" and Reed has a moment of "Brain Evny," (they insult my intelligence to no end). The first Annual issue is probably the weakest story of them all: It starts off with plot-starter characters who are mountain climbing in a snowy mountain region. The pair barely discover a guarded city which belong to the ULTIMATE Inhumans before being carried off to be mind-wipped. Elsewhere Ben and Reed are somewhere inside Sue and Johnny's father, ridding the old man of Cancer cells and other invading viruses while Johnny is out hopping through clubs, picking up "scanks" as he called the women (who resemble the Inhuman Medusa a little too much). He then proceeds to attempt to rescue a damsel in distress but is pummeled into a broken mess by her perusers' instead. In the next panels: She is suddenly in the Baxter Building (no scene on how she got there or a simple "on the defense moment" from the tiro at the BB), speaking to the UFF-teens. She is introduced as Crystal - one of the Inhumans that control the power of all elements. She complains to the quad-team that she was bored of her perfect life, escaped an arranged marriage and came to NYC for excitement. Ben laments, "Yeah, just what New York needs... more freakin' weirdos," - I concur. Crystal, as well as the other Inhuman's backstories are never explored at all. Instead Crystal is "kidnapped" by her fellow peers and taken back to the secret city. Johnny proceeds to call her "the love of his life" but Sue rightfully puts him straight and quad go after her with the help of her teleporting bull-doggish creature, LockJaw. From there disaster strikes the moment the UFF are found out by a Tien-type character named Tri-clops.

From there The Thing starts fighting and the others follow suit. If anything Annual was a poor attempt at introducing the INHUMANS to the ULTIMATE MARVEL universe; Nothing was properly explained about these characters and if anything, "ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 1" was a better constructed story. Many people complain about Chris Claremount or Brain Michael Bendis' tendencies to drag storylines out to the point of boredom (I don't think in such a manner, properly explained stories are probably my favorite as long as their not TOO DRUG OUT), but at least they give you time to adjust to the characters/story. Mark Millar (writer for the normal FANTASIC FOUR continuity) and Mike Carey throw them on you and expects you to accept them because they were something special in the normal MARVEL COMMUNITY. Lastly, throughout all three issues Reed is less of a leader -more of a chicken- than he is in the original FF series and behaves to the point why I remembered I didn't like him. He spens most of his time tellng the others to "Look out for Sue! (whose character is non-exsistent in this volume)," and dodging enemy attacks most of the time. Ben grumbles and complains, Sue huffs at the male attention she gets when in a dangerous situation, and Johnny acts pretty much like a brash hothead. Basically, they all act like teenagers to a point only more annoying. All in all, it wasn't horrible, it was great either. I seriously think a change of writers is in serious need for this title series. [a 3 out of 5]

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reviews: page 1, 2

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