cactusmaac
10-28-2005, 08:08 AM
I bought the first six issues of Jim Lee and Brandon Choi's Heroes Reborn FF a while back and was really impressed by how good it was, especially in comparison to how Ultimate FF rebooted the characters. Even moreso since while I think the concept behind the FF is fine, I've never warmed to the Lee\Byrne\Waid runs.
My problem with Ultimate FF is that instead of going back to the original concepts which made the characters popular a la USM and UXM (newbie teen superhero struggles with regular life\young teens and adults operate in a world which hates and fears them), they dumped too many of the classic elements in favour of stuff that just isn't as compelling.
Heroes Reborn FF wisely sticks to what worked in the past, while organically working in new elements that make quite a bit of sense. Thus the team are all full-grown adults - as opposed to teens - who go up on a space mission which is later revealed to be engineered by Dr Doom.
Given how central a character Galactus has become to the FF mythos, he's linked with just about everybody the FF encounters, from the Mole Man to the Skrulls and to the Inhumans. The FF's powers too are derived from the power cosmic since their mission ends up with them being irradiated with the power cosmic as they encounter the Silver Surfer.
Character-wise, the work is spot-on. Instead of being scientifically gifted as in UFF, Sue Storm here is the business brains of the group which is appropriate given how it gives her a competency that the FF would really need someone to have a serious grasp of. Dr Doom is the classic dictator of Latveria and as another logical change, it's revealed that he, Reed, Bruce Banner, Henry Pym and Tony Stark were all part of the same clique in college and were collaborating on an Iron Man style suit of armour before Victor's accident. Adds a whole new dimension when Doom gazes at the brutal form of the Hulk and realises with a shock that it's his old friend Bruce.
Needless to say, the art is really nice especially a full-page illo of Namor reclining on his seashell throne, a panel which says more about his character and mental state than ten pages of text would accomplish. The work on the Namor\Avengers\FF battle in NYC is also among some of Lee's better work and it reminds you just why he made his name as the 90's premiere team artist. Looking at those pages really made me hope he's got a JLA run coming up in the future.
I haven't read much of Choi's work, and internet opinion seems mostly negative about the guy. However, I had no problems with the dialogue as it managed to be suitable comicbooky without sounding overly grandiose or cliched.
Best part of the six issues is how packed with events it is. You get a complete origin, a fight with the Mole Man, Namor's invasion, a trip to Wakanda, a meeting with Doom, the Surfer and the Super-Skrull in Latveria. There's a lot of wild, sci-fi adventure here and I recommend hitting the bargain bins for them.
My problem with Ultimate FF is that instead of going back to the original concepts which made the characters popular a la USM and UXM (newbie teen superhero struggles with regular life\young teens and adults operate in a world which hates and fears them), they dumped too many of the classic elements in favour of stuff that just isn't as compelling.
Heroes Reborn FF wisely sticks to what worked in the past, while organically working in new elements that make quite a bit of sense. Thus the team are all full-grown adults - as opposed to teens - who go up on a space mission which is later revealed to be engineered by Dr Doom.
Given how central a character Galactus has become to the FF mythos, he's linked with just about everybody the FF encounters, from the Mole Man to the Skrulls and to the Inhumans. The FF's powers too are derived from the power cosmic since their mission ends up with them being irradiated with the power cosmic as they encounter the Silver Surfer.
Character-wise, the work is spot-on. Instead of being scientifically gifted as in UFF, Sue Storm here is the business brains of the group which is appropriate given how it gives her a competency that the FF would really need someone to have a serious grasp of. Dr Doom is the classic dictator of Latveria and as another logical change, it's revealed that he, Reed, Bruce Banner, Henry Pym and Tony Stark were all part of the same clique in college and were collaborating on an Iron Man style suit of armour before Victor's accident. Adds a whole new dimension when Doom gazes at the brutal form of the Hulk and realises with a shock that it's his old friend Bruce.
Needless to say, the art is really nice especially a full-page illo of Namor reclining on his seashell throne, a panel which says more about his character and mental state than ten pages of text would accomplish. The work on the Namor\Avengers\FF battle in NYC is also among some of Lee's better work and it reminds you just why he made his name as the 90's premiere team artist. Looking at those pages really made me hope he's got a JLA run coming up in the future.
I haven't read much of Choi's work, and internet opinion seems mostly negative about the guy. However, I had no problems with the dialogue as it managed to be suitable comicbooky without sounding overly grandiose or cliched.
Best part of the six issues is how packed with events it is. You get a complete origin, a fight with the Mole Man, Namor's invasion, a trip to Wakanda, a meeting with Doom, the Surfer and the Super-Skrull in Latveria. There's a lot of wild, sci-fi adventure here and I recommend hitting the bargain bins for them.