Ultimate Fantastic Four 1: The Fantastic

ultimate fantastic four volume 1 the fantastic cover
7.0 Overall Score
Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10

Nice new origin

The weakest of the Ultimate line

Comic Info

Comic Name: Ultimate Fantastic Four

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis/Mark Millar

Artist: Adam Kubert

# of Issues: 6

Release Date:  2007

ultimate fantastic four #2 cover mr fantastic

Ultimate Fantastic Four #2

Reprints Ultimate Fantastic Four #1-6 (February 2004-July 2004).  Reed Richards is a protégé and catches the eye of a group called the Think Tank which collects young scientists.  Reed’s experiments to reach into other dimensions has done things that the group has yet to do.  Taking his schooling to the Baxter Building, Reed meets the group’s leader Professor Richards and his children Sue and Johnny. With a young man named Victor Van Damme, Reed is able to create a machine for inter-dimensional travel.  When the experiment goes wrong, Victor, Sue, Johnny, Reed, and Reed’s childhood friend Ben Grimm are sucked into another dimension…Sue, Reed, Johnny, and Ben return with unexplainable powers.  As the group tries to understand their powers a threat from a former teacher named Dr. Molevic and his underground creatures.

Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar, Ultimate Fantastic Four Volume 1:  The Fantastic is part of Marvel’s Ultimate line.  This first collection has art by Adam Kubert.

The Ultimate line was meant to kind of provide a more realistic and streamlined version of the Marvel Universe, but with the Fantastic Four that concept was already out the window.  The Fantastic Four had previously been mentioned in Ultimate Spider-Man and actually appeared in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #9 which was written by Brian Michael Bendis.  This Ultimate Fantastic Four was more like the traditional Fantastic Four and was quite fun.  The fact that Bendis did this kind of is irritating since the Ultimate line and concept was one of his babies.

ultimate fantastic four #5 cover invisible woman

Ultimate Fantastic Four #5

That being said, Ultimate Fantastic Four isn’t that bad.  It isn’t as flashy as any of the other Ultimate comics, but it is a fun, well written series.  The comic smartly sets up some mysteries (who sabotaged the experiment, what’s in the Negative Zone, and what happened to Victor).  It also makes the Fantastic Four much younger than they are in the traditional Marvel Universe.

Unlike Ultimate Spider-Man, the writers and artists on Ultimate Fantastic Four shift up frequently.  Bendis and Millar tell the story, there isn’t much clever dialogue and I’m fine with that.  Kubert’s art is good (saying “fantastic” would be too cliché).  I’m not a big fan of his “regular” people, but once they start involving the super-heroes, it gets much better.

Ultimate Fantastic Four is probably the weakest Ultimate Marvel series on the onset, but it still isn’t bad.  The series shows great potential in this collection but the comic doesn’t move as fast as it could (this could probably be a four issue arc).  If you’ve only stuck to Ultimate Spider-Man or Ultimate X-Men, you might want to check out Ultimate Fantastic FourUltimate Fantastic Four 1:  The Fantastic was followed by Ultimate Fantastic Four 2:  Doom.

Related Links:

Ultimate Fantastic Four 2:  Doom

Ultimate Fantastic Four 3:  N-Zone

Ultimate Fantastic Four 4:  Inhuman

Ultimate Fantastic Four 5:  Crossover

Ultimate Fantastic Four 8:  Devils

Ultimate Fantastic Four 10:  Ghosts

Ultimate Fantastic Four 11:  Salem’s Seven

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

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