Why There's Never Been a Better Time to Start Reading Marvel's Fantastic Four

We whitethorn person picked Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri’s The Ultimates arsenic the Best Comic Book Series oregon Original Graphic Novel of 2024, but if there’s immoderate Marvel publication that could person dethroned it, it was decidedly Fantastic Four. The bid is presently arsenic bully arsenic it’s been successful a precise agelong time, acknowledgment to writer Ryan North and his collaborators. And with The Fantastic Four: First Steps hitting theaters soon, Marvel is intelligibly hoping to pull an adjacent bigger assemblage this summer.

Marvel volition beryllium relaunching Fantastic Four successful July, but don’t interest - North is inactive connected board. The caller measurement pairs North with creator Humberto Ramos (The Amazing Spider-Man). North and Ramos volition trade a caller bid of adventures for Marvel’s First Family arsenic they woody with the ongoing fallout of the One World Under Doom crossover and find themselves dragged done time.

To find retired much astir the caller bid and wherefore it gives readers an casual jumping-on constituent for an already accessible comic, IGN spoke with North via email. First, cheque retired an exclusive preview of the archetypal contented successful the slideshow assemblage below, and past work connected to larn however the caller measurement volition research the FF not conscionable arsenic family, but arsenic friends.

It mightiness look unusual to renumber the bid erstwhile its writer is remaining connected committee and the absorption isn’t drastically changing (not that this has ever stopped Marvel successful the past). But for North, the thought is simple. There’s a caller Fantastic Four movie coming out, and thing Marvel tin bash to marque the comic much appealing and approachable to funny newcomers is simply a bully thing.

“An accidental comics has arsenic a mean is ever to expand,” North tells IGN. “There are millions of radical who don't work comics, who deliberation comics aren't for them, and they're wrong! There are a ton of comics that are perfectly for them, but they conscionable haven't recovered them yet, oregon possibly haven't felt similar they were invited successful to work them. Especially successful superhero comics, wherever each publication has a fig connected it and radical whitethorn deliberation they person to commencement with fig one, it tin beryllium a existent challenge. So by giving readers that caller fig one, the anticipation is that if they spot the movie and emotion it and privation to cognize much astir these fantastic people, that's astatine slightest 1 little obstruction for them to overcome.”

The large alteration with the caller bid is, again, the displacement to Ramos connected art. North reveals that helium and Ramos person been discussing and readying for this relaunch for rather immoderate time

“We were fortunate capable to get to conscionable and person meal astatine San Diego Comic-Con a portion back, earlier helium adjacent started enactment connected this caller bid and earlier I adjacent started penning them, truthful we got to speech astir the characters and what we similar astir them from the connection go,” North days. “He is simply a precise originative and generous collaborator, ever down to punch up an thought and capable to render those ideas with specified excitement and verve. I deliberation radical are going to truly emotion what he's been coming up with, and it's been a existent proceedings these past respective months sitting connected apical of each this large creation and being incapable to stock it with anyone.”

Ramos is renowned for his velocity arsenic an artist, among different things, and that creates a large vantage for North. With the bid pivoting to a much accordant creation team, helium has the vantage of knowing for whom he’s penning erstwhile helium creates his scripts, thing that wasn’t ever existent connected the erstwhile volume.

“I've been fortunate capable to enactment with a ton of large artists connected Fantastic Four, but I'm usually truthful acold up with the scripting that I don't cognize who the creator is going to beryllium erstwhile I'm penning it,” North says. “It's ever my penchant to cognize the artist, due to the fact that past you tin constitute for them and make thing that tin beryllium a amended melding of the 2 of your interests, and with knowing Humberto has been connected this publication for truthful long, it's been truly large to get to constitute specifically for him for contented aft issue.”

While a caller #1 contented ever helps, it should beryllium pointed retired that North’s FF tally has ever been beauteous casual to dive into. North has ever structured his tally arsenic a bid of standalone adventures that lend to a larger, overarching narrative. The publication is akin to Rick and Morty successful that sense. Is that format changing with the relaunch?

“Not really, but I americium utilizing it arsenic an accidental to thin a spot much into that larger narrative!” North says. “I inactive privation each contented to basal alone, and I privation each contented to beryllium a spot for idiosyncratic to leap connected and get a afloat satisfying communicative with each contented they prime up, but I americium turning the dial a small spot much towards larger and crazier stories for that larger narrative. I'm not changing the peculiar condiment - arsenic Ben would say, ‘I'm conscionable adding a mates cloves of ail - not due to the fact that it's not delicious, I conscionable wanna adhd a small spot of zip.’"

When the relaunch was announced, North noted a tendency to absorption connected the thought of the FF arsenic friends, not conscionable family. We were funny astir the favoritism there. How does that dynamic play retired connected the page?

“It's possibly a subtle distinction, but I truly emotion my friends, and wanted to archer stories astir radical who are successful these long-running relationships that they don't person to be, but they take to be,” North says. “And that's not that antithetic from family, successful the consciousness that, yes, you are calved into a family, but you person to take to enactment determination - you person to enactment the effort successful to support and make the relationships that are important to you. And if you look astatine the Fantastic Four, we often deliberation of them arsenic a family, but lone 2 of them, Johnny and Sue, really are household astatine the start. But they each take each other, they each take to enactment with each different and go thing more, and I deliberation that's truly amusive and beauteous and interesting. Guess what I'm trying to accidental is the region betwixt bully friends and recovered household possibly isn't arsenic wide arsenic I thought it was.”

One contented with relaunching Fantastic Four this summertime is that the Marvel Universe is inactive precise overmuch embroiled successful the events of the One World Under Doom crossover. North confirms that the caller bid won’t beryllium ignoring oregon skipping past the crossover, but volition alternatively usage it arsenic a level to archer a large Doctor Doom communicative close retired of the gate.

“One of the challenges of relaunching similar this is we're trying to bash a caller fig 1 that's an casual on-ramp for caller readers, but besides it's close successful the mediate of the One World Under Doom event, and we don't privation to disregard that either,” North says. “So the archetypal communicative is simply a Doom story, giving the Fantastic Four the accidental to really hole everything that Doom has done - this involves a big, weird subject fabrication thought - and past we're disconnected to the races with a full clump of different new, weird, large subject fabrication ideas.”

One of the large developments successful One World Under Doom truthful acold involves Doom yet curing Ben Grimm of his rocky condition, a mode for the self-proclaimed Emperor of Earth to beryllium he’s amended than his nemesis, Reed Richards. But based connected the preview creation we’ve seen truthful far, it would look Ben is backmost to being The Thing successful the caller series. So that raises an evident question - volition the relaunch bid inactive beryllium exploring the fallout of that twist? North hints that this is simply a escaped extremity that volition beryllium tied up earlier the relaunch, though it whitethorn inactive person lingering ramifications for the FF going forward.

“We’ll really get to spot however it is resolved successful the past moments of the erstwhile run, truthful that we're not starting this caller 1 with an unresolved crippled thread!” North says. “I bash truly privation it to beryllium accessible to that caller and funny idiosyncratic who wants to cognize much astir the Fantastic Four, truthful I'm trying to support the backmost communicative they request to cognize to arsenic overmuch of a minimum arsenic I tin for this archetypal small bit. Which mightiness dependable hard, but it's besides thing that I've been doing the full tally truthful far. The Fantastic Four person literal decades of history, but I privation to marque definite that cipher is mislaid erstwhile they prime up an contented and everyone is invited to the party, you know?”

Fantastic Four #1 volition beryllium released connected July 9, conscionable a mates of weeks earlier The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters. Check retired the solicitation for Fantastic Four #2 below:

In different Fantastic Four news, the movie is besides getting a prequel comic that reveals the root of Pedro Pascal's Reed and his family. It's 1 of the archetypal comics successful a agelong clip to necktie into the MCU.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.