This is a very strange era for the Fantastic Four. Unlike the Avengers and their rotating membership, the FF have always been the core four, the original Marvel heroes. There have, of course, been slight shifts in membership over the years, but, for the majority of their existence, the Four have been Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny. However, around the same time that the Avengers are falling apart in their own title, Reed and Sue decide to quit the hero biz, and leave Johnny and Ben to recruit a couple of new members. Ms. Marvel, the Sharon Ventura iteration, and Crystal the Inhuman join the team, and the team embarks on some remarkably cosmic adventures. Having read over this issue, I'm kind of looking forward to reading them. I collected this version of the team as it was coming out, though, as with all comics at the time, once I discovered sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, the superheroes left my consciousness for a little while.
I like to think it was serendipitous, as it meant I completely missed the nonsense of the Image years, only returning to superhero comics with Grant Morrison's JLA.
An interesting story today, though, as with the previous installments, the High Evolutionary is doing something with seemingly no impetus. Honestly, the only thing I need to make these stories make any sense is for him to be giving some kind of reason for what he's doing in each issue. For some reason, he needs the terrigen mists of the Inhumans, and he fails to get them, and we don't ever find out why he wanted them. In some ways, this is kind of a cool mechanic, as it means that we're as lost as the heroes themselves - the Evolutionary isn't a Bond villain who monologues to the heroes. He's doing something he considers important, and those that oppose him are beneath his notice.
We'll just have to see how long that remains true.
To be continued.
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