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Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross (graphic novel review).

Thank the Illuminatii, a traditional Marvel story. A decent plot, play of dialogue and decent art. Alex Ross might not be using watercolours this time but this also shows how good a penciller and inker he is. The Thing has never looked greater, even if I had to look up what a Dagwood sandwich was. Clearly, Ben Grimm has an appetite.

In ‘Fantastic Four: Full Circle’, a late night snack for the Thing turns into an appearance of a dead body that releases deadly insects. Fortunately, the rest of the FF are there to take them on and they realise they have to go into the Negative Zone to find out what is going on. I’m being careful not to give too many plot spoilers but if you’re old enough to remember Fantastic Four # 51 then you’ll know a crucial plot element. To survive the transition into Negative Zone, Reed Richards provides them with special fabric costumes, even if the Thing laments he’s still only got a pair of trunks.

How much more to say. We do see a lot more of the Negative Zone this time, including seeing their version of Earth. There are a lot of cameos that might test your memories and the FF deter rather than get into fights. I think I would have been curious to seeing Alex Ross drawing Blastarr but then I would like to see how he tackles all kinds of characters.

I should point out Ross’ colour choices are interesting but equally effective. Oh, if you are missing out on his watercolours, look at this foldout cover briefly detailing the FF’s origins. Modern day comicbook creators take note: this is how to tell a story.

GF Willmetts

October 2022

(pub: Abrams Comics Art/Marvel, 2022. 64 page graphic novel hardback. Price: $24.99 (US), £31.99 (CAN), £17.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-4197-6167-6)

check out website: www.abramscomicarts.com and www.marvel.com

UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

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