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
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
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 Four. Ultimate 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
