This fantastic six-issue mini retells the origin of the team. Fantastic Four #1, by the team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, is timeless–so don’t consdier this an “update.” Instead, think of it as a standalone version of the team’s origin, with a more modern perspective.
Author Joe Casey is not new to retconning classic Marvel histories. He started with The Avengers in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1-8. Now, he’s taking on Marvel’s first family.
If you’re not familiar with Casey, this is a good way to get into his mainstream work. (His indie work is pretty edgy–and pretty damn great.)
The retelling here adds some background and characterization we haven’t seen before, even in the well-trodden 40+ years of FF comics. Like, starting with how Ben Grimm came to be called “Thing…”
Artist Chris Weston captures the heartbreak of that moment, as Thing’s girlfriend sees him for the first time after the accident–and that immediate trauma also adds an undercurrent of tragedy to the persistent and frequent “trying to cure Thing” storylines of the first 100 F4 issues (and beyond).
Thing is not the only one who has a somewhat horrific appearance when his powers first manifest.
The team is held in a military base after they return, and they meet a man named Raymond Perry who has also been mutated.
Insofar as this is their first outing as superheroes, it’s not very impressive–the military has to literally blow the man’s brains out when the FF fail to act. But we do get to see their first battle–against Giganto.
Issue #2 offers a pretty decent explanation for unstable molecules.
Turns out, they’re just like the F4’s own bodies! This is clearly canon–and I’m pretty sure it’s the first time this concept was introduced. I say it’s clearly canon because it just popped up as part of Marvel Now! in the new Fantastic Four book by Matt Fraction…
I love little details like that. Sidebar: I highly recommend Warren Ellis’ take on Ultimate Fantastic Four. He offers many creative, science fiction explanations for the things the FF can do.
#3 offers the “origin” of the Baxter Building; the team’s powers have manifested and the army folks who sponsored their first flight want to make sure the F4 stay together and master their powers, so they tell them about a building they could buy for a song. This retcon writes out of FF history the fact that they rented the building for the first 200 issues or so. (Or maybe it doesn’t. The General doesn’t say the building is for sale, so I suppose it could be a rental “song”.). One does have to wonder why, if the military was so interested in keeping the FF as an asset, they wouldn’t give the team a state-of-the-art base….And why he doesn’t want to give them one away from a major city.
In #4 we get what appears to be a soft-porn panel.
Proof that Joe Casey always, always has an adult sense of humor. As well as rock-and-roll sensibilities, as he adds a chapter named after one of the Foo Fighters’ earliest hits…
He even includes Thing’s mask/helmet.
If you’re a fan of the FF, and if you’re reading my blog you must be, you owe it to yourself to check out this title. I’m sure it’s available dirt cheap used on Amazon.