What's it about?
The world's most famous super-hero family, the Fantastic Four, get their "ordinary" day interrupted by their greatest enemy: Doctor Doom.
Mark and Mike are doing a tremendous job of re-introducing the concept of not only Doctor Doom, but the Fantastic Four themselves. The enjoyment of watching these characters interact, during what is obviously a typical day for the imaginauts, really hit me within the first three pages. Man. Ben and Johnny are fun again.
We open up with a simple, yet hilarious scene between the Thing and the Human Torch. A perfect lead-in that makes you smile and laugh... and really, forget about who's coming to dinner tonight... Doctor Doom. I've heard complaints about "regressing" Johnny Storm back to an immature, irresponsible hothead. But, really, Mark's done something different. Look at it. Whenever you're hanging with an old friend, don't you automatically "regress" a little bit? You're suddenly acting in ways you would never really act today. It happens to me all of the time when I'm with my best friend from high school in Detroit. And with Johnny, his immaturity really comes out when he's with Ben. The friction between these two is what brings it out of him. Johnny isn't stupid, he just has family problems. I'm really looking forward to seeing where Johnny's new role of financer takes us.
We move on to our second normal activity of the day: exploring a new dimension with Reed Richards and his wife, Sue, gathering power crystals. Another simple and direct scene, that really gets these characters across. Moving right into the Mr. and Mrs. picking up their kids from the babysitter -- on the Moon. It's this kind of mix between normal activity and fantastic locations and people that, to me, make the Fantastic Four the Fantastic Four again. It's a family you want to be a part of... at least for the first 2/3rds.
Perhaps the greatest moment in the comic though? Valerie's first word.
Mike continues to impress, but the innocence he puts into Valerie combined with the scenario is what really stands out. He turns a single word into a horrifying experience.
Top this off with being a pretty accessible first chapter, I'm betting a lot of readers are jumping on with this arc. We've been promised a whole new look at Doom. And from what's been presented so far, I'm betting Fantastic Four is going to deliver.
And a shout out to... SOCK MONKEY #1
written & illustrated by Tony Millionaire
What's it about?
A Sock Monkey and his friends do physics experiments with dominos and get on the Oceanic Society's bad side!
I'm sure a lot of you (I hope) already know the Sock Monkey book by Tony Millionaire. If you don't, I can't explain the premise any easier than it's about a Sock Monkey and his friend, a stuffed Crow doll (Mr. Crow), and their adventures together. As Sock Monkey attempts to answer a burning theological question regarding dominos and physics, the afternoon experiment is interrupted by the baby doll Inches and his cries of, "I caught a Pony!" This leads them to a rather eventful confrontation with the local sealife.
Sound strange and fun? It is.
Tony's created an absurdly wonderful world with Sock Monkey. And your ticket in is just a few bucks away.
