I missed reviewing the first issue of this one since it was released during the holidays, and I'm actually glad that I did. You see, I wasn't quite as impressed by the first issue as everyone else, finding it to be a little slow-paced, but the second issue won me over, and in fact the sense of wonder and slightly tweaked origins for the Fantastic Four and some of their foes in this issue actually restarted some of my enthusiasm for the Ultimate line in general, which had been on the wane. With Richards removed from his annoyingly abusive home situation (a cliche that I'll be glad to see the back of when the trend dies down), the book really starts to shine, as a sort of cross between the original creation of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and the collegiate smart antics of the cult movie Real Genius.
Like many, I question the wisdom of having two Fantastic Four books (let alone three, but that's a month down the line), when the team sometimes hasn't been able to support even one all that well. However, Bendis and Millar seem to have gotten the same thing that Mark Waid has in revitalizing the team in the Marvel Universe, they've gotten what makes this team cool and what makes them different. While Waid is focusing on the experienced team, and thus on their family side as well as the adventurous scientific exploration, Bendis and Millar are still laying foundation for the family aspects, and thus what they're focusing on is "how cool is all this super-technology?" In the Ultimate universe, super-tech isn't yet everywhere, and even when it does exist, it's a tool. The characters in Ultimate Fantastic Four are the ones with the imagination and the skill to build those tools, and that is very intriguing.
As you would expect from a Bendis book, however, a lot of the strength of the book likes in the characterization. The relationship that Reed and Sue have is very similar to that of Mary Jane and Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-Man, down to the banter between them and the awkwardness that Reed feels at this stage, but it's subtly different, not just because of the change in ages (a small but crucial detail in the Ultimate version) but because of the nature of the characters. The really fun relationship, though, is the one between Victor Van Damme (I'm sorry, Von Doom is still less lame than that moniker) and Reed Richards. Millar and Bendis pull a clever reversal on the "who was messing with whose notes" early Fantastic Four scene, and the element of partnership if not outright friendship is another subtle but important change between the Marvel Universe and Ultimate Universe versions of these characters.
The differences are in the subtleties, and man I didn't think I'd ever be saying that about a Millar book, because his style is not one of subtlety. Honestly, the blend between these two writers has gone much smoother than I thought it would, and I'm not sure where the ideas actually come from. Certainly Bendis has benefitted from Millar's sense of scope, making the Baxter Building and Reed's experiment seem huge and impressive, and Millar has benefitted from Bendis's strong characterization, but it wouldn't surprise me if both elements were also coming from the opposite writer as well. Whoever is to blame for the quickly-becoming-cliche mentally abusive father figure should ditch that one as soon as possible, though, because it was the element that nearly killed the first issue for me and it's brief appearance is a weakness in this one too. I've got no problem with the heroes having flaws, but this should be about the coolness of exploration and discovery, not doing something so you can prove yourself to a father who is never, ever, ever going to be impressed.
Finally we come to the artwork, and Kubert and Miki are doing a terrific job here. Probably the tour-de-force performance in this issue is the design of the future Moleman, who is truly grotesque whether in the long shots in the beginning or the really creepy, all-too-close-ups as he is being escorted from the building. I also really love the sense of scale inside the Baxter Building and during the experiments, most notable with the superdeluxe cafeteria scene in the middle of the book but also when we see the final design for Reed's grand experiment. Ultimate Fantastic Four is starting out slow (it's two issues in and we've yet to see a superpower), but I expect that when the fireworks start flying and the giant monsters start rising, Kubert is going to make them pretty impressive.
