So... heard any news about the Fantastic Four online lately? It seems to me kind of ironic that though I've been wavering on "Unthinkable," my favorite issue of this current arc comes out a week after we find out that the Marvel higher-ups have removed this successful creative team from the book. But there it is, because this issue continues to make Doom as scary as he was in the first couple parts of the story while making me believe more in him as Doom, rather than some new magical villain. Waid is not afraid to go a little dark in Fantastic Four, as this issue proves, and Wieringo's sometimes too cutesy art has caught up to the tone of the script this time out, making for a powerful read.
The unbeatable villain is a staple of comics fiction. And of course, we all know in our heads that the villain will be beaten, that the heroes will rise triumphant, at least when you're talking about an established book from Marvel or DC, but a good writer can make us forget what we know and believe in the danger to the heroes. Mark Waid is, of course, a very good writer. Given the horrible things Doom has visited upon the Richards family in the first two parts of this arc, it's somewhat cathartic to see him getting pounded on by a well-coordinated counter-assault, and absolutely chilling when we learn that he's nowhere near as vulnerable as he seemed at first.
If Doom visited horrible things on the Richards family earlier on, it's nothing to what he does this issue. As a new father, I can't help but relate to the absolute frustration and fear that overtakes Reed Richards when he realizes that Doom is willing and able to threaten his young children and his wife and there's literally nothing Richards can do about it. It's almost borderline too dark, especially when we get to the demented tortures that Waid has Doom visit upon the family with his sorceries, but it definitely establishes Doom as a real threat, not just a posturing super-villain.
Big credit here must also go to Wieringo and Kesel, who I thought hadn't quite nailed the more horrific elements of Doom's appearance or the look of Hell in earlier parts but who absolutely nail it here. Doom's patchwork appearance is scary, and his reaction to the Thing's best punch is downright terrifying. Then there are the tortures visited on the Fantastic Four, with details like bloody teeth on the floor or a pained expression on Sue Richards's face bringing the pain they're suffering home, all the more effective since it's clear there's no easy escape at hand.
But what really got me this issue was the finale, in which Doom confronts Reed Richards alone. This is Dr. Doom, the guy whose entire life has been focused on proving himself superior to Reed Richards, and the fact that he would go this far just to satisfy his own ego makes him frightening, evil and much more the pure villain than the noble anti-hero he has sometimes been portrayed as. Throw in a tantalizing teaser of a cliffhanger that has me anxious to see the next book, and you've got the strongest chapter of "Unthinkable" so far and one of the strongest issues of a solid run of Fantastic Four. If you're angry about the nonsensical decision made to remove Waid (and effectively the art team as well) from this title now, you'll be even more furious when this issue reminds you of what we're losing.
