Product Description

The World's Greatest Comic Magazine - and subject of the upcoming blockbuster motion picture - at long last makes its long-awaited debut in the Ultimate Marvel Universe! Witness the beginnings of the Four - Reed Richards, Johnny Storm, Susan Storm and Ben Grimm - super-hero icons for the new century! When high-school genius Reed Richards enrolls at a secret government-sponsored school for the most gifted minds in the world, he unwittingly starts himself and his friends on the journey of a lifetime! A story about science, adventure, and above all else family, set in the most dynamic and unpredictable universe in the comic-book world! This work collects "Ultimate Fantastic Four" Numbered 1-6.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118447 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Customer Reviews

I am not sure about the Fantastic Four as teenagers
As someone who embraced the idea but not necessarily the execution of Marvel's "New Universe" and have enjoyed many of DC's "Elsewhere" stories, I have applauded Marvel's Ultimate line of comic books. Once you have done over 500 issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man" or any other title I can certainly appreciate the impulse to start over and re-create Marvel's characters for the 21st century. One of the best things about these stories is that they work both ways. If you know nothing about a Marvel superhero beyond what you pick up from a movie, then you can get in on the ground floor (especially with Marvel committed to these tradepaperback collections). But if you were reading Marvel comics back in the 1960s, even as far back as the "Pop Art" period, then you can enjoy the way things are slightly different and how they play off of what "originally" happened. However, with the re-imagining of the Fantastic Four I think they went a bit too far.

"Ultimate Fantastic Four, Volume 1: The Fantastic" brings together the first six issues of the comic book as the "World's Greatest Comic Magazine" makes its long-awaited debut in the Ultimate Marvel universe, which is just a way of saying that while the "Ultimate Spider-Man," "Ultimate X-Men," and "The Ultimates" have been out there for a while, the FF are only just starting to get up to speed. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar, and illustrated by Adam Kubert, we start 21 years before the birth of the Fantastic Four with the birth of Reed Richards. We then jump ahead ten years when Reed is doing a project on teleportation for the Midtown Middle School science fair that succeeds well enough for Reed to be asked to join a government think tank in the Baxter Building. This means he leaves behind his family and his one friend, Ben Grimm, the star linebacker who makes a point of protecting young Reed from the school bullies.

While I liked the idea that Peter Parker is still 15 when he gets bite by a radioactive spider in the Ultimate universe, turning Reed Richards into Tom Swift bothers me. Reed was always the adult in the FF, and it was not just the gray at the temples. Besides, I do not want the Fantastic Four to be teenage superheroes. The X-Men are supposed to be Marvel's teenage superheroes. I do not have a problem with the idea that the unofficial space flight into the cosmic rays where you take along your fiancé and her kid brother has been replaced by a more terrestrial explanation for their transformations. But the think tank being nothing but kids smacks too much of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game." Originally the future Mr. Fantastic and Doctor Doom meet in college, where the idea is that each is on the cusp of intellectual greatness. Making them smarter, earlier, just does not work for me and makes me thing this is all a marketing ploy to make the FF more kid-friendly. But I, despite persistent lapses, am not a kid and I like my Fantastic Four to be adults, except for Johnny Storm the (literally) hot-headed teenager.

That being said, one of the other great things about the Ultimate comic books is that they take, as in this case, six issues to tell a story. That means you do not have to come up with a new story and a new villain every single issue. What we have with "The Fantastic" is both the creation of the FF and their first encounter with the Mole Man (who, in a nice twist, is not unknown to them). I thought the best part of the story is how the four members come to terms with their new powers (best line is Johnny's, "Oh, man. I hope that's not Sue," because the Thing's first take on what time it is was too self-conscious). I also like the idea that unlike the Ultimates, the government's pet superheroes, there is initial fear and distrust of these four, especially Ben. Of course, Volume 2 of the "Ultimate Fantastic Four" will be devoted to their first encounter with Doctor Doom, so we at least have to go along for the ride that far to see if their creator can take this comic book to the next level. There is potential, of course, but they are not there yet.

Utter, Brillance
At first I was a bit worried about the fantasic four being given the "Ultimate" Treatment how wrong was i.
The story is set in the first two Decades of Reed Richard's life and continues shortly after the four aquire there powers.
This is more of an introduction to what's to come with a brief apperance by victor von damme (Dr Doom).
There have also been a few major changes to the story (which i will not say for fans out there!)
From page to page the art work is nothing short of perfect.

This is a brillant, refreshing take on the fantastic four and a must buy for fans and comic book fans.

Appetiser Only
One of the first collections I ever bought was the first six issues of Fantastic Four, so when I saw an "Ultimate" Version I was keen to buy. Maybe I expected too much and that's why this collection left me feeling like it was all over before anything had really happened. I don't know how UFF sold in the comic version, but I doubt I would have stayed with it, if what we get here was spread over six months. I will definitely be reading reviews of the next collection before buying. Good, but not great.