FF & Fantastic Four (USA) di J.Hickman

[Arthur Curry]

vedendo queste anteprime mi pento di aver tagliato questa testata il mese scorso (albi italiani)

[Azrael]

PREVIEW: FF #23

Spiacente, ma non sei autorizzato a visualizzare il contenuto degli spoiler.

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Spiacente, ma non sei autorizzato a visualizzare il contenuto degli spoiler.

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[Azrael]

With his final issue of FF, Jonathan Hickman reminds us that the Future Foundation isn't about cosmic forces or super-science — it's about ideas. Big ideas don't have to have Galactus or parallel universes to get traction; on the contrary, Hickman focuses on immensely human concerns with this touching goodbye, and the questions he asks the Richards family — and his readers — are big enough to not need any answers.

While Hickman is known for his intricate, almost geometric planning and wonky abandon into Kirby-esque sci-fi, I find his "downtime" issues to be his most effective. The Fantastic Four have always been about family, and the Future Foundation has been the most generous spinoff of that initial concept: it's the extended family. It's the friends you make, it's the company you keep. And by focusing on Franklin Richards — mainly the adult version from the future, but also his interactions with his young present-day self — Hickman gives us one last hurrah with those nearest and dearest to "Mister" Franklin.

But ultimately, those check-ins are a facade for something else, a story structure skeleton built on nostalgia and our established feelings for the Richards crew. What Hickman is really going for is a big idea. Well, several. And they really ring true to the reader, because you know they ring true for Hickman, too — you feel that catharsis when Franklin Sr. tells his young counterpart that it's okay not to be as smart as his brainiac little sister Valeria, and that his youthful exuberance is a gift, not a weakness: "Intelligence without imagination is pretty much useless."

That's only the beginning of Hickman's insights, which he props up masterfully against his all-too-human (even the inhuman) characters, as well as a very meta realization that This Is It for his run. Questions about imagination, about art, about ignoring the rules and finding what's out there in the world, all these big thoughts get tossed around like confetti in this comic. I'll be honest, when I finished reading this comic, I only waited a couple of minutes for picking it right back up and delightedly jumping back in again. Never has the Marvel Universe seemed so wondrous; and perhaps more importantly, never has it made our own real-world universe seem so inspiring.

Artist Nick Dragotta, meanwhile, is the perfect executor of Hickman's ideas, presenting the extraordinary in a way that's also human and low-key. He's not here to blow your head off with the Kirby krackle or the widescreen moments, but instead Dragotta infuses real soul into his characters. One of the most powerful moments of the story is a scene with the adult Franklin and his parents, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. Seeing the fear, the doubt on Sue's face is enough to put a lump in your throat. Yet Dragotta also knows how to ramp up the fun, particularly with a free-associative sequence featuring vampires, dinosaurs and anything else you can imagine. Dragotta and Hickman are a perfect team, and it's really heartening to know they'll continue their collaboration with Image's East and West.

The universe might not be in danger anymore, but that doesn't stop Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta from producing on of their best — if not the best — issue of FF ever. Ultimately, this is a comic about facing your doubts with imagination, not fear, and seeking bold new worlds with nothing but imagination and curiosity to power you. As far as individual issues go, Hickman and Dragotta have created something fantastic. And as far as the conclusion of FF is concerned?

They've created something perfect.

10/10

Newsarama

[Mr. Seven]

Future Foundation #23:
Per l'ultimo numero Hickman s'è decisamente scatenato, potrei dire molte cose al riguardo, ma essenzialmente dico che l'ho trovato commovente.
Davvero, un numero da 10 e lode.

[Azrael]

"FF" #23, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Nick Dragotta, is the last issue of the "Fantastic Four" spin-off. With any ending, there's the question of whether writers are given enough notice and have enough skill to do justice to their storylines and to the characters. Hickman has given himself the luxury of a whole issue to say goodbyes, and he got to do "FF" #23 his way, which is good news for everyone.

Future Franklin Richards has one more training session with his younger self and Leech, and their trip into a pocket universe it turns into something like a dad and kids' day out where dad buys the kids everything in the candy store because he knows he'll have to leave soon. What's inside the Future Foundation candy store, then? Hickman and Dragotta go delightfully wild with ideas. To detail everything would take forever and spoil the fun, but here's a taste: there's a Moloid Philharmonic. "FF" does family "quality time" better than anyone.

The visuals of the pocket universe are not only exquisite and witty by themselves, but they showcase Franklin Richards' reality-bending powers that require both literary and visual imagination to do them justice. Dragotta and colorist Clayton Cowles match bright, lovely images to Hickman's wit and tone. Dragotta's composition is also excellent, with thoughtful, dramatic use of negative space, and he draws some excellent dinosaurs and dragons.

Cowles' has different color schemes for each panel in the pocket universe, and his work amplifies the beauty of certain panels, especially one in which Leech, Franklin and Future Franklin zoom upwards together through a landscape of birds and trees. Cowles also shows care in matching his hues to the tone of Hickman's script. Before going into the pocket universe, colors were muted and neutral; afterwards, landscapes are suddenly vivid and bright, and the ending scenes are colored in stark, high-contrast, black and white and shadows.

"FF" #23 also shows how good Hickman is about writing to his artist's strengths, while still firmly controlling the direction of the plot and the complexity of content. Still, Hickman is lucky that Dragotta is talented enough for an issue so heavy on emotion. In one scene, Leech's face goes from dour to confident quickly and believably due to Dragotta's skill with facial expressions, and Future Franklin's controlled, resigned sadness is apparent throughout "FF" #23, especially in a panel where he waves to Young Valeria.

Despite a bittersweet undercurrent, Hickman keeps the mood mostly light. His humor shines in a bar scene farewell between the adults, and he's canny enough to have The Thing call him out on what he's doing as a writer -- "nostalgic stories about fake futures," yet this meta-awareness isn't pretentious, but salts the sentimentality of the scene with some irony.

Unfortunately, even with these strengths, "FF" #23 feels stretched across an unnatural frame. Hickman has chosen to end things quietly instead of filling the pages with action. It's the more difficult road, and thus "FF" #23 is tasked with giving readers a believably happy ending and spotlighting all major characters in a way that sums them up. "FF" #23 does these things, but it is also a stage where the reader can often feel the hand behind the curtain pushing buttons, especially on the very last page. If there's anything wrong with "FF" #23, it's that it feels intermittently manipulative and forcibly wholesome, even trite.

However, the artifice doesn't look awful -- not with Dragotta's art. The issue serves as a delivery vehicle for Hickman's truly moving moments. In the penultimate scene, Susan Richards' "Wait!" and her last, anxious question to Future Franklin is beautifully phrased and psychologically potent; totally in character, yet still unexpected.

"FF" has been an uneven title, but this last issue plays to its strengths: imagination, light-hearted humor and relationships between family and friends.

3.5/5

CBR