4 15 Review

Just so you know, “4” is the Marvel Knights version of the Fantastic Four. Now that we have that out of the way, let me give you the 411 on the 415. In the beginning issues, the Fantastic Four were cheated by one of their own employees, and the government came to collect, the entire Baxter Building, that is. But after struggling on the streets for a bit, they were reinstated in their old home for the whopping price of one dollar. After a few adventures involving the Puppet Master thieving some eyeballs for his stepdaughter, Alicia (who is dating the Thing from time to time), the four meta-humans were just settling back into their usual routine when the multiple universes suddenly faced apocalypse, as usual. Thus we begin the story arc, “Divine Time.”

In the recent installment, 4 #15, writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa sets up a plot that will have the F4 worrying about more than where they are gonna sleep or even keeping their eyeballs. We’re talking about the big stuff, and by that I mean the destruction of not just the one universe/dimension/reality, but all of ‘em. And since there are an infinite number of these, that’s a lot. Basically, somewhere in Earth’s history, 8 minutes have suddenly disappeared. This, as you all know very well, will cause fluctuations throughout what we know as “time,” being relative with the distribution and linear flow of energy would of course cause cataclysmic paradoxes, which in turn would hamper and reroute the flow of energy causing a dept or abundance at a single moment, ripping apart the fabric of existence in a chain which would eventually spread out from dimension to dimension until reality would collapse on itself making a reverse big bang in which everything that exists would be compressed into an unstable molecule which in an infinite time would , wink out or explode again. I mean it’s simple, really.

But luckily, none of that junk is actually mentioned in the comic, because Aguirre-Sacasa is too good to need to confuse his readers like me. And it is my firm belief that this is going to be a great story arc that you are going to want to own. In any case, it is up to the F4 to locate and repair the damage to the time stream, but just as they disappear into the time stream; they are replaced by a frightening and confusing figure. That is, an English-speaking pharaoh with a scepter that has a Roman clock on it! Prepare to be perplexed and then thwarted!

I know that there is a lot of Fantastic Four comics out there, but if you get any of them, get this series (and Ultimate Fantastic Four), because not only is the story awesome, but the art is as well. Jim Muniz (penciler) and Jim Royal (inker) form a sort of Jim team in order to bring us a lot of really well done frames. From a somewhat manlier Reed Richards, to the extremely lovely Susan Richards, who is, simply put, hot stuff when drawn by the Jim team (and she always seems to have her hair in her face, but I’m not complaining). As my final note, do not be worried by the Marvel Knights label. 4 may have some more “adult” concepts, but it is not crude or graphic by any means.