REVIEW: Fantastic Four - 557

Brilliant...! I was getting a little worried about the Fantastic Four after Mark Millar / Bryan Hitch's last issue, but happily - book 557 has put many of those fears to rest.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Issue 557 picks up right where 556 left off, giving the closing act of 'World's Greatest' - with the FF and pretty much the entire Marvel U mopping up Alyssa Castle's mistake - the rampaging CAP.

Needless to say, Reed twigs CAP's one and only weakness pretty quickly, and does his best to exploit it with his Anti-Galactus suit. Yes - you read that right - his Anti-Galactus suit.

That could have come in handy a little while back eh?

As with the previous three issues, this book serves well as a stand-alone story. Unlike the past issues however - this issue has a mini-link in to Secret Invasion - blink and you'll miss it.

This issue also requires that you read the Mighty Avengers issue 11 beforehand...

Pete's Score: 4 out of 5
(much better - recommended - should be an interesting next issue with that cliffhanger...)

REVIEW: Fantastic Four - 556

***SPOILER ALERT***

Right - this is going to be a bit hard to explain. I'm going to come right out and say that there was a lot about this comic that I really liked.

I liked the idea of Johnny sleeping with a villain instead of a hero / average girl (something picked up from the last issue), I was impressed when I saw the two page spread of beaten heroes (pummled by CAP), and I even smirked when Ben fell into the sea backwards.

But having said all that - there was so much more that I just didn't like. For example - the shockingly obvious product placement / 'subliminal' advert for Guitar Hero 3 Mobile (I'd be pretty amazed if you miss it - and even more amazed if you think it works), Johnny's ridiculous 'manager' Miguel, or the 'shining knight' cliffhanger.

My biggest gripe by a mile however was the extremely understated artwork. It might just be me - but when I pick up a book with 'Fantastic Four' on the cover - I want my book to be fantastic.

The artwork in this book.... Just isn't. Now before you write a comment of complaint - I'm not saying that Bryan Hitch is a bad artist - because let's face it - he isn't. What I am saying however, is that I think he works at his best when he's not trying to emulate what went before him, but rather when he's creating everything from the ground up. That's when we see the best of him.

And in this issue - we haven't seen the best of him.

Pete's Score: 3 out of 5

(not bad by any means - the script is excellent - but just not worthy of anything higher than an overall three)