The good news is that this book looks absolutely beautiful, showcasing penciller Steve McNiven's lovely, detailed and flowing artwork perfectly. With any luck, it will open a wider audience's eyes to the strength of his work. The bad news, though, is that Aguirre-Sacasa's attempt to bring the Fantastic Four down to earth seems forced and far too convenient. He tries to put them through hell, but his effort pales in comparison with those of Mark Waid in the main FF title. There is some strong characterization here, though, and I imagine the title will merit further attention to see if the writer can overcome a rough start.
As the Fantastic Four and friends celebrate a happy occasion, they get some bad news. An accountant has made off with the entirety of the team's finances. The Fantastic Four is broke, and that means that they've got to get jobs. Not surprisingly, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm turn the situation into a competition of sorts. Meanwhile, Susan Storm-Richards begins to doubt herself, to doubt whether there's a place for her in the world outside of her roles as mother and adventurer.
Steve McNiven's artwork here is magical. There's a sharp level of detail that brings a strong degree of realism to the work, but there's also a flowing sense of the magical and wondrous, something that suits the title characters quite well. Morales's inks mesh nicely with McNiven's fine-lined style, and I notice that McNiven's onetime colorist from CrossGen's Meridian has followed him over to Marvel. Hollowell's colors reinforce that magical energy and add fill in the spaces in the line art with a rich level of texture. My only qualm with the art is that Sue comes off as looking just a shade too young. She's not girlish, but she doesn't come off as a woman in her 30s either.
The highlight of the script is Susan and Alicia's conversation about the Storm family's uncertain future. Sue's lamenting over being 30 and without a college degree -- having set aside her dreams to back up her husband's -- rings incredibly true, and I'm sure there are many women out there who can relate to the notion. But there's a quality in Sue's concerns that boasts an even more universal appeal. Her introspection, her evaluation of her life up to this point... it's something we've all done or will do at some point in our own lives.
Sadly, those brief moments of strong characterization are eclipsed by the awkward plot manipulation that the writer feels is needed to bring them about. He oversimplifies these fantastic characters' lives in order to give them average problems; the point is clearly to get them on a level where the reader can relate to them. But as Mark Waid has shown, fantastic characters require fantastic problems and challenges, but that doesn't preclude a connection with them.
Part of the problem here is beyond Aguirre-Sacasa's control. Of course his storytelling is going to be compared with that of the writer on Fantastic Four. There's certainly not much about the plotting and dialogue here that makes it stand out as edgier than what we're seeing in the non-Marvel Knights sister title. But even judged on its own, the writing on Knights 4 comes off as a bit clumsy, but still showing some promise.
