Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re going all the way back to the beginning with Mythos: Fantastic Four.

What’s Mythos? This was a series of one-shots allegedly created to bridge the gap between Marvel Comics and their movie adaptations. They were meant to appeal to movie fans looking for a jumping on point for the comics. Whether this was successful is open to discussion. Besides Fantastic Four, the others in the series were X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk, Ghost Rider, and Captain America. The whole thing was written by Paul Jenkins and had fully painted art by Paolo Rivera.

We begin in the middle of some sort of government hearing, where a bunch of suit-wearing politicians are questioning the Fantastic Four, to determine if “what happened” could be a threat to national security. Reed says it all started at breakfast, and then we cut to a flashback of him, Sue and a human Ben aboard a space station orbiting Earth. This not only confirms we are in retelling-the-origin territory, but the station setting also evokes the 2005 movie.

The four are astronauts, and it seems they’ve been living aboard the station for a while, given their playful sitcom-style bickering. Johnny is outside on a spacewalk for some adrenaline rush thrills. Ben dons a spacesuit to fly after Johnny and bring him back. While they’re doing that, Reed’s instruments pick up an unusual solar event. The station is struck with a huge energy wave. There’s an interesting bit where Johnny and Ben hear the “tac-tac-tac” sound effect inside their helmets.

Back in the present, one of the politicians asks Ben if the station’s communications could have predicted the solar event. Ben, whose monstrous rocky hide is partially hidden under a hat and trench coat, does not say anything in response. In the flashback, there’s a lot of action, as the station is wrecked by the solar event. Sue tries to hide, while Reed struggles to reach her. Ben was angry and didn’t want to die, and Johnny could only think of how he felt like he was burning up.

The station’s escape shuttle flies back to Earth and lands at an airport, all while on autopilot. Emergency crews open the shuttle. They believe Ben is severely burned, and he and the other three are helped off the ship. The crews then find a radiation leak, as the ship’s reactor is damaged. In the present, the politicians doubt that the damaged shuttle could have flown itself home while the four were unconscious inside. Reed and Sue argue that this was an anomalous event and that there’s way to know what really happened up there.  

Cut to a hospital, where Sue and Reed observe with fear as Ben is in a coma while doctors run Johnny through a series of tests. Ben wakes up and freaks out upon seeing that he has become a monster now. There’s a lot of action as he trashes the hospital while the others try to calm him down. This activates Reed’s and Sue’s powers in response. They get Ben to calm down, only for Johnny to burst through the door, fully flamed on.

In the present, the politicians say Ben is dangerous because of the damage done to the hospital. He says it’s because he was scared, and that anyone would have acted the same way. Reed says that no matter what these powers are or where they came from, the four of them will use them only for the right reasons. As the four of them leave the hearing, Sue asks Reed what will become of them. We get an image of the FF with a lot of their villains and supporting characters in the background, and Reed says, “Even I can’t predict the future.”

Reed announces that he’s purchased the Baxter Building in New York, and he wants the other three to join him there, saying their adventure is only beginning – and it’s going to be bigger than space itself. We get the classic image of the four of them joining hands. As they head off toward their new life, there’s a joke about Johnny wanting to hit a local karaoke bar on the way.

Unstable molecule: This issue has Reed speaking in a lot of math/science gibberish about calculus and Euclidean probabilities.

Fade out: Sue corrects the politicians that she and Johnny are siblings, and not married. What is this, Star Wars?

Clobberin’ time: Ben comments to the politicians that they should not accuse him of being like a monster until after he actually acts like one.

Flame on: Johnny complains about feeling cold, even after flaming on in the hospital.

Trivia time: The space station is named the Pegasus. My guess is this is a reference to the mad scientists of Marvel’s Project Pegasus.

The FF does not get their powers from cosmic rays, but from a solar event producing a combination of alpha and theta waves. Does this officially rewrite Marvel continuity? No, because the Marvel Wiki confirms that the Mythos series takes place in yet another alternate timeline.  

Fantastic or frightful? I don’t know how this would go for someone who has never read Fantastic Four comics before. We get the explanation of how they got their powers, but we don’t see them in action on their adventures. That part is only suggested. The best part is Paolo Rivera’s excellent artwork. The space stuff looks terrific, but he’s also great with faces and body language in the dialogue scenes.  

Next: A firm foundation.

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