Fantastic Four 100th Anniversary Review
By Roger Lee
Marvel Comics has put together a Special Anniversary gimmick to entice readers to pick up some new books. Publishing several titles celebrating a pretend “100th Anniversary,” Marvel gives us a fanciful tale involving the Fantastic Four of the year 2041, thus, we are presented with the Fantastic Four 100th Anniversary Special. At this point in time, we assume these 100th Anniversary stories are not part of Marvel continuity or canon.
While this book does feature our traditional FF lineup of Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and, of course, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, it also includes some existing and new members. Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, are the (already-existing) children of Reed and Sue Richards. We also see new members, such as Victoria Harkness as the Enchantress, and a new, future Human Torch named Lee Minh Cam. We are also introduced to two descendants of a Richards-Banner pairing, both sporting green skin and presenting readers with some questions about their heritage. Oh, and Doctor Doom is part of the FF also. Wow!
The art is by Joanna Estep and the story is by Jen Van Meter. As a one-shot gimmick of a future FF, this comic book is an interesting read. The art by Estep is ill-defined and more akin to a kid’s comic (which is fine if younger readers were the target audience), but did not appeal to this reviewer.
100th-Anniversary Special Fantastic Four
One of the fun things about this issue is the Stan Lee-like feel of how the story is constructed. Copious flashbacks, editorial comments regarding other (fictional) issues connected to this story, and good character-writing. For example, the way Susan Storm-Richards is shown in this comic visually as an old woman, but in terms of who she is and how she reacts to the evolving situation involving her family, the writer is spot-on with who Sue is supposed to be. The Invisible Woman has always been the soul of this team, and the dedication she shows to keep the family together is clearly presented in this book. The real-life issues and personalities of the FF as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created them “one hundred years ago” as this future-tense book would have us believe, is still alive in this iteration of the Fantastic Four.
The end panel of this comic shows a big reveal as to another major FF-series character, as well as a “Continued in…” line pointing readers to the Guardians of the Galaxy 100th Anniversary issue.
Check out this video review of the Fantastic Four 100th Anniversary Special to look inside at the art. We try to avoid major spoilers…just sayin’…