Marvel surprise: It was FF #600 all along!

I’m gonna jokingly suggest that it’s Jim Hammond.

(1) Didn’t all the hype say that one would “fall”? That there’d be a “casualty” (not “fatality”)? Just because everybody believes Johnny’s dead doesn’t make him dead. Personally, as soon as the N-Zone doors close, I’m guessing he went supernova and cooked that army. (2) Could this be a one-shot, 50th anniversary, tribute-style book, celebrating the FF’s awesome history before moving forward with FF 601 (renumbered for our convenience)–Future Foundation firmly intact?

And in a few issue that series is going to get axed and a few months later FF #1 all over again. I wish they stopped the renumbering and KEEP it in the original numbering.

I’ll be in the minority (maybe), but I prefer the Future Foundation. The Fantastic Four never resonated with me, but when Hickman added Spider Man and changed the team’s vibe, it just clicked. So, count me among those who were saddened by Johnny’s passing, but aren’t getting excited over any resurrection.

Why didn’t the Fantastic Four mount an expedition into the N-Zone to at least find the body? That’s exactly what they would have done. Still, I love the development with the characters and the story Hickman is giving us.

As long as the Torch doesn’t turn out to be another new kid a la Ultimate Spidey, I’ll be good with it. I always wanted him back anyway, even if that was one of the most action-driven and heartfelt deaths in comics since Starman’s kid brother.
And with Spidey not in 4 togs on the cover, things can get back to normal.
I do agree with Micah that going back for the body makes sense. Heck, they went to Heaven to get Ben back!

As little interest as I have in the FF (or pretty much every other Marvel book), if they brought Johnny back as a ghost, I’d buy the damn thing.

I love John Romita Jr. I like Klaus Janson. But OH how I wish they’d stop working together. All the scratchy ink work is killin’ his style.

I am absolutely shocked that a major comic book company is not only returning to the original numbering of their longest running title, but is also bringing back one of the main characters in that title.

SHOCKED I SAY!!!

And let’s not forget: Thanks to Ahearne & Hitch (FF Annual #32), Johnny Storm has a time-lost kid (the mom jumped back in time to protect herself and the child from the FF’s rogues gallery). It’d be cool if he were to join the Future Foundation as his dad’s replacement.

And, though I’m a long-time FF reader (over 35 years), I’d like to see it remain the Future Foundation. It’s a good vibe.

I hope Mr. McKeogh is right. If it’s Johnny’s kid instead of Johnny, then I’d be a happier camper. Much happier.

Put me in the Future Foundation over Fantastic Four camp as well.

I’ve been enjoying the Hickman run (it was the Alan Davis covers which caught my eye), but if I had to choose, count me in the Foundation camp. Reed creating a super-villain team to fight other Reeds? Brilliant.

Reed creating a super-villain team to fight other Reeds? Brilliant.

I was intrigued enough by your comment to look at the Wikipedia entry for FUTURE FOUNDATION, but the entry described such a mess that I don’t want to go near the series.

SRS

I knew that was JR jr’s artwork just by the ‘running stance’ of Ben and Sue! LOL

Yeah, I don’t know if he solved this problem, but when I read the first couple issues of Hickman’s run, I just felt like he had no handle on the characters’ personalities…I mean, I’ve read hundreds of FF comics, and while I like to see the team taken new places, they should still act like themselves, y’know? I’ve read virtually nothing but raves about the series, but those few issues just turned me off too much to stick with it.

There will be 2 books – the Fantastic Four w/ Johnny in toe, for those that want things ” how it should be” and the FF ( Future Foundation), for those who have been enjoying Hickmans’ additions to the FF’s mythos.

And the Future Foundation is the new S.H.I.E.L.D. in terms of brain. The Secert Warriors are the new S.H.I.E.L.D. in terms of braun.

Been enjoying Hickmans Marvel and creator owned works.

Dear Synsidar, as much as I appreciate Wikipedia in general, the individual entries are often a complete mess. Such is the case for the “Future Foundation.” They are not equivalent. Hickman’s work has been top-notch, and his story has had much more coherence and unfolded with greater deliberateness than its Wikipedia entry would suggest.

A couple of the descriptions of events that I reacted negatively to:

Spider-Man joins the team as well as a final request from Human Torch, and Mister Fantastic is disturbed to discover that his daughter and father have also invited Doctor Doom to join following Valeria’s proposition for Doctor Doom to help the Future Foundation.[6] After learning about Doctor Doom being a member of the Future Foundation, the Thing objects and attacks him, but Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman break up the fight. [. . .]

However, it is subsequently revealed that the ‘Richards’ they have been invited to defeat are actually members of the “Council of Reeds” (alternate versions of Reed who were trapped in this universe by Valeria a while back) possessing Reed’s intellect while lacking his conscience.

Then I looked up the entry for Valeria. I thought that was worse.

I’m afraid that I’ve reached the point, having read too many bad stories in my lifetime, that certain types of stories repel me now. Fraction’s IRON MAN storyline that had Stark rediscover himself yet again caused me to drop the series. It didn’t matter how inventive or creative Fraction thought the storyline was; I’d read similar material too many times.

In FF, the problem for me is the use of alternate versions of characters, and characters from alternate futures — Valeria is both. Such characters have been used heavily in the X-books and elsewhere, because they can do dramatic things and refer to dramatic situations that can’t exist in the here and now. They’ve never made sense though, they’ve never been handled logically — I’ve seen enough of alternate (future) characters to last me for the rest of my life.

That might be an extreme reaction on my part, but there’s far too much other material to read to take the time and money to read material that I’m sure I’ll dislike.

SRS

@Ed McKeogh: I interviewed Hickman for my podcast (Comic News Insider) the week after Johnny’s death. I suggested he’d come back, we don’t actually see him die, etc. He said he was dead.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he can’t come back!

One example of the problems alternate future characters cause: Rachel Summers came on the scene 30 years ago, but the alternate future she was supposedly from is as far away, or farther, than it ever was. Alternate futures can work in close-ended stories, but not in serials. When a reader realizes that the future a popular character is from is a sham, everything falls apart.

SRS