FF by Jonathan Hickman - Volume 2 [Paperback]

'FF' (Future Foundation) was an ongoing series that launched after the Dead of Johnny Storm. It follows the adventures of remaining Fantastic Four family members and Spider-Man. This collections includes FF 6-11 written by Jonathan Hickman with artwork by Greg Tocchini, Steve Epting, and Barry Kitson.
As one can tell from the cover, Black Bolt has returned. Normally I'm not one for resurrecting characters, yet Hickman manages to make this interesting and relative. The War of Four Cities escalates beyond control and it's up to the FF to stop it from causing massive devastation. Also the Kree launch an invasion and some characters make very welcome appearances. I won't say more, because it is very easy to spoil it.
For those who have read Hickman's Fantastic Four run, there is a lot to appreciate here. One of the things I love that Hickman did with this arc is he successfully weaves together all the threads he's presented - the Cult of the Negative Zone, Annihilus, The Interdimensional Reeds, and the Kree. He builds up suspense and action very well. Hickman incorporates a lot of mythology and backstory to his projects, with great effect. This entry is no different. I love what he's don't with FF. He grasps the characters well, I love the way he's writing Sue currently.
The art for the first two issues, drawn by Greg Tocchini, is rough. While I didn't care for it too much, I didn't completely dislike it either. Steve Epting takes over for the next couple of issues and does a fantastic job. Barry Kitson does a good work as well.
Hickman doing a tremendously good job with the FF. Fans of the series will find this to be one of the best entries yet. Overall FF continues to be one of the first things I read when it comes out. Four and a half stars out of five.

It seems Marvel are aiming to make more and more of their stories, both on the page and on the silver screen, more cosmic, more spacey and "FF2: The Supremor Seed" is no different. It starts with a lot of mythology about Black Bolt, a kind of cheesily-dressed villain who is nonetheless credited as one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. He lives on the Moon, has 5 wives, and doesn't speak. He's raised an army of Inhumans and is invading Earth along with a bunch of alternate universe Reed Richards.

The problem with large scaled stories that encompass grandiose things like entire universes colliding and so forth, is the loose grip a writer has on making the characters - made small by the events occurring around them - to seem relevant to the story. Here, they not only appear small and insignificant (what are Ben Grimm and Spidey going to do in the face of some kind of space God and an army that's destroyed hundreds of alien races and worlds?) but are also uninteresting and bland to read about. And these are some top tier Marvel characters too!

Even throwing in members of the Avengers didn't do much to raise the interest level. When Jonathan Hickman can't get me interested in the existing cast, introducing even more characters into the mix isn't going to solve this lack of depth to the characters and their plight. If anything, it further underlines the superficial feel to the story. And for all its imagination of universes, worlds, alien races, etc., Hickman never feels in control of all the elements nor does he project any sense of urgency to the events. The overall feeling is of aloofness in the reading experience and a self-awareness of the transience of superhero comics at its most base level.

I enjoyed the first volume and the second is pretty to look at but its inability to connect with the reader at all left me indifferent to the story and cold when I put the book down. I'd like to say it was a fun, fascinating romp but it was pretty much the opposite.

Jonathan Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four has been nothing short of incredible. Not since John Byrne has any writer for our furious foursome understood the dynamics between the characters while incorporating the unimaginable possibilities of the universe our heroes inhabit.

This volume would be infuriatingly confusing for someone who hasn't been reading up to this point, and it isn't exactly a resolution to anything either, but the events in motion are another piece of the puzzle in Hickman's two year story arc and it does not disappoint. The Future Foundation is the best example of well done story weaving over a long period of time.