Author: Ryan North
Art: Carlos Gomez & Ivan Fiorelli
First published: 2024
Contains spoilers
The Blurb: Ryan North continues his ever-surprising FANTASTIC FOUR run! Franklin Richards has been an immortal, a god, an Omega-level mutant and more. He's created life and entire universes - and been worshipped for it. He's ended life and been cussed out with just as much sincerity. But there's something else about Franklin Richards nobody else in the universe knows about - until now! Then, things take a noirish turn, and the only one who can solve the mystery…is hard-boiled private detective Alicia Masters! Plus: Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm get part-time jobs to raise some cash! Surely these old friends can work together, side by side? But when the skies turn black with Darkforce energy and vampires swarm the Earth, the Fantastic Four join the Blood Hunt! Can the brilliant Reed Richards find a cure for vampirism before it's too late?
The review: Where the Venom sojourn into the Blood Hunt event felt like a bit of a tag on to the event, this Fantastic Four volume may have been standalone, not impacting the wider Blood Hunt moments, but somehow felt more substantive as part of the event. The first three stories in the volume are nothing to do with Blood Hunt but they all worked as individual shorts, with the 'Ben and Johnny getting a job' one being genuinely amusing and the Alicia Masters as a hardboiled detective in a noir story being both clever and really well put together.
The Blood Hunt story was longer than the others and sees Reed Richards and Alicia Masters on a trip to the city to an art installation when the skies blacken and the vampires attack. Reed’s rubber body is impervious to vampire attack and he is able to protect Alicia but finds his resources stretched (sorry, deliberate pun) when they rescue other survivors. The interesting part, to some degree, was his disbelief and him having to force himself to think differently when facing something supernatural and his science failing him – though he quickly refocuses and manages to develop something to disrupt the vampires (with peril added for himself as he stretches too quickly and opens wounds, which could let in infection). Meanwhile the rest of the team are facing vampires out in the country. The event’s ending also has a direct impact on Richards as it involves a power leap for his nemesis.
This was fun and whilst it had no in-event impact, it was certainly worth a read with the other stories being good too. 7.5 out of 10.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
No comments:
Post a Comment