Product Description: This deluxe hardcover collects Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 3: N-Zone and Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 4: Inhuman, plus a hefty helping of DVD-style extras! In N-Zone, it's the beginning of the FF's exploration of the mysterious N-Zone! Young Reed Richards wants to duplicate the accident that changed the four into the bizarre beings they've become and thereby reverse the process. But will their noble attempts at redress cause more harm than good? And in Inhuman, a classic Fantastic Four villain makes his debut here in Ultimate form, turning the Baxter Building into a virtual trap set to capture and eliminate the fledgling adventurers. And what of the other denizens of the skyscraper, including Johnny and Sue's father Dr. Storm? And who has the power to outthink even the most brilliant man alive, Reed Richards? Plus: the first appearances of the Ultimate Inhumans! From a hidden race, she came to steal the heart of the FF's youngest member. She's the beautiful elemental called Crystal! Collects Ultimate Fantastic Four #13-20, Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #1.
Enjoyable, but flawed This one is just okay. Jae Lee's art work is not to my taste, and the fact that the second half of the book is all his more or less makes the stories unreadable for me. Too much black, and it's hard to tell that the Mad Thinker is supposed to be ugly- because everyone else is ugly too. Thankfully, the next HC is better in every way. I'd suggest getting the N-zone paperback, and just skipping on from there to the third volume of the hard cover collection.
Re-Exploration and Re-Envisioning of Negative Zone Warren Ellis returns to the Ultimate Fantastic Four series with a vengeance in the second hardcover collection of the monthly issues. In this six-issue story arc, we see one of the universal themes of the Fantastic Four manifest. As in the original series, Ben Grimm isn't happy about being turned into a monster. Reed promises to try to find a way to change Ben stop with back into human form. This is partly the truth and partly a way for Reed to get the chance to explore the N-Zone universe that lies directly beneath our own.
Ellis does an incredible job with the science behind the premise for his story. This story arc could have been a movie because of the visual presentation delivered by Adam Kubert. The art flows together seamlessly and I felt like I was entering the N-Zone with our heroes.
I'm also enjoying Sue Storm's role as the team biologist. In the early 1960s and 1970s, writers often presented Sue as flighty and fashion conscious. She didn't get much better presentation in the two movies, although the movies were a lot of fun. I like the fact that she's nearly as intelligent as Reed, but in a different field of applied science. She stands up for herself as an equal, not just a smart woman. And I like the way the writers are continuing to write her in this series.
One of the other really incredible twists in this art is the revelation about Johnny Storm's flame powers. The platelets concept really makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Of course, it still doesn't explain how a man on fire can fly, but it wouldn't be cool to just run around on fire.
Another subplot deals with Ben Grimm's increasing depression and feelings of isolation. When Johnny talked to Ben and told him how cool it was that he could drop on a monster and fight it toe to toe, I felt like a kid again realizing how awesome the Thing is. Underneath all that orange rock, Ben is just a man with a big heart and a lot of loyalty. He has always been and will always be one of the favorite and most understood heroes ever created.
The fight scenes with Nihil totally rocked. The fact that Ben could breathe the poison gases that would kill a normal person was great. Ben on a rampage with plenty of opponents to fight was a lot of fun as well. The story is well-told, and Ellis leaves plenty of plot threads dangling for more adventures to be told.
The second arc in the book is a two-issue action extravaganza that kind of reintroduces The Thinker, another old Fantastic Four villain. There's an age and gender change for this one, though. The Thinker is a female ex-student who has pumped up her intellect to levels that rival even Reed's capabilities. There's nothing new here, and it doesn't really expand this ultimate version of the Fantastic Four, but I suppose the bar has been set high so far. Still, Mike Carey's script and Jae Lee's art are really good and the story moves quickly.
The Inhumans gets revamped in the final story by Mark Millar and Jae Lee. This was originally a one-shot annual in the series. Mark Millar follows the bones of the first introduction of Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Triton, and the other Inhumans. It's a good set up and I'm waiting to see what happens next.
Overall, this is a solid follow-up to the Ultimate Fantastic Four's first adventures.
"Why did you have to be a jerk?" Ultimate Fantastic Four (Hardcover) Vol 2 collects three stories: N-Zone, Think Tank and Inhuman.
The first is the 6-issue "N-Zone" storyline written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Adam Kubert. I've never been a big fan of Ellis, although I do have a certain amount of respect for his intelligence and cynicism. The reason is that I've often found his work "too clever, too cold". But somehow his style seemed to fit Ultimate Fantastic Four, as shown in this tale, the previous one ("Doom") and his "Ultimate Galactus" trilogy. The FF comic of the 1960s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby is a mixture of clever pseudo-science, family soap-opera and the grandest cosmic cornucopia this side of Arthur C. Clarke. Ellis' take is very much all of that but updated for a more sophisticated 21st century audience. It's not enough to have the FF rocketted into space to be blasted by cosmic rays (after all, we no longer live in the Space-Race generation). Instead the FF are part of a Think-Tank project coming up with tomorrow's technologies today! One of the most spectacular of these experiments was young Reed Richards' studies into the mysteries of the N-Zone (the universe just "below" ours). In fact, it was during their first foray into the N-Zone's unstable-physics realm that gave the FF their powers. Our tale here begins with Reed wanting to explore the N-Zone in detail. His excuse was to look for a cure for their genetic alteration - in truth, he was simply trying to satisfy his scientific curiosity. En route, we are given interesting explanations as to the nature of the Human Torch's "spontaneous combustion" powers and the reason why biologist Sue Storm refuses to be "cured" - all done in the Marvel pseudo-scientific manner albeit with more sophistication than before. Finally, we have Reed and company coming face-to-face with a denizen of this other universe, Nihil (or E-Vill, according to Ben Grimm, or "Ultimate Annihilus" according to Marvel Zombies like myself). Manipulating the FF, Nihil managed to come to our universe and landed in Las Vegas. The FF defeated Nihil and his army of Jawas (no kidding!). The tale however ends with the typical Ellis-irony: Reed had been longing for contact with life in the N-Zone since he was a kid. It was his pet project, his obsession. It was why he didn't play football like the other kids and why his super-jock dad alienated him. Here was his chance to prove that his obsession was worthwhile. Here was when he finally made contact with a being from this other universe and he turned out to be a "jerk"! I had to smile at that. Thinking back, most of the early Marvel villains were nothing but "jerks". Ellis merely showed us all this with all his cynical absurdist touch.
The second tale is the 2-issue "Think Tank" by Mike Carey and Jae Lee. This tale is actually your typical comic-book-character-turned-villain-because-of-envy-towards-hero that Stan Lee and company turned out by the dozens in the 1960s. But again, it's updated with a quirky, "Vertigoesque" 21st century touch. Here we have a female Mad Thinker exerting her vengence by turning the Baxter Building into a cornucopia of traps for Reed Richards and company. Jae Lee's art is dark, moody and quirky enough for this type of tale. Seeing that Mike Carey is the new regular writer of Ult. FF, we can be sure that we'll be seeing more of the Mad Thinker in the future.
Finally, we have Mark Millar and Jae Lee to serve up the final tale that introduces the Ultimate Inhumans. This story is really Millar's take on the word "Inhuman" showing a highly-evolved hidden race so committed to their own ideals and rules as to be "inhuman". Millar tried to show this by contrasting the Crystal-Johnny Storm romance with the Crystal-Maximus marriage of convenience. I like this story quite a bit but it's not without its problems. Chiefly, this story should have been stretched out a little more. There's far more to be explored about the Inhumans (an entire race and civilization) compared to even the earlier N-Zone story and that took 6-issues! The end result is that the Crystal-Johnny romance is too abrupt (when did it even start?) for it to resonate with readers. As for the art, Jae Lee is justly famous for his collaboration with Paul Jenkins on the Marvel Knights "Inhumans" maxi-series and I believe that's the reason he was chosen to illustrate this Ultimate Annual. However, the end result is a little too blurry and incoherent to be much good. Crystal's ethereal beauty is a little too clouded by all the dark shades and quirky pen lines.
All in all, Ult FF 2 is a good read and I'll be looking forward to volume 3 that collects Millar's 12-issue run on the title with artist Greg Land.
Still Fantastic While I've never been a fan of the Fantastic Four, I gave the first Ultimate Fantastic Four hardcover collection a try and was pleasantly surprised. Bendis, Millar, Elllis et al's re-imagining of the Fantastic Four as a group of teenagers led by a pair of science prodigies breathed new life into some otherwise tired characters. Volume 1 was enough to hook me on the series, so I've been eagerly anticipating this second hardcover collection.
This volume collects the 6-issue N-Zone storyline by Warren Ellis and Adam Kubert, the 2-issue Think Tank storyline by Mike Carey and Jae Lee, and the Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #1 by Mark Millar and Jae Lee.
The N-Zone storyline basically has Reed & Company piloting a heavily modified space shuttle into the N-Zone in an attempt to figure out what caused their powers to emerge and whether it might be reversed. Along the way, they encounter Nihil (the Ultimate version of Annihilus), who follows the Four back home so he can take over Earth (naturally) with his army of what appear to be Jawas...seriously. It's a relatively simple storyline, but as usual Warren Ellis makes it special. His exploration of each member's abilities is enlightening, and his character development and dialogue are priceless. Adam Kubert's artwork is excellent as always. No one draws the Thing quite like he does.
The Think Tank storyline is pretty unremarkable. A psychotic student who was turned away from the Baxter program decides to take it out on Reed Richards and comes pretty close to destroying the team. It was interesting enough, but not on par with the previous storylines. Jae Lee's artwork makes it worth the price of admission though.
Last but not least, you get the first Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual, which was also reprinted in the Ultimate Annuals trade paperback. In this issue, Mark Millar and Jae Lee introduce the Ultimate version of the Inhumans. This was a (dare I say it) fantastic way to close the second hardcover. The brief look we get at the Inhumans is enough to make you wish for an Ultimate Inhumans series. Millar's characterizations are spot-on, and Jae Lee...let's just say nobody else should ever be allowed to draw these characters.
It may be a bit uneven, but the second Ultimate Fantastic Four hardcover contains more than enough quality material to make it worth the cover price (or at the very least Amazon's discount rate). I know I'll be on board for volume 3!
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