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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. A lot of fans argue that writer-artist John Byrne was at his best during Dr. Doom storylines, and issue #247 makes a good case for it.

To recap, Doom has done the unthinkable and asked the FF for help in restoring him to Latveria’s throne, after its current leader Zorba has turned the country into a downtrodden landscape. Also, he’s zapped our heroes with an inhibitor ray, which prevents them from attacking him. In a town square that has been reduced to rubble, Doom says this never would have happened if he was still in charge, but the FF argue that at least the people are free of a dictator.

Then a little kid named Kristoff runs into Doom, chased by his sexy gypsy mom. She’s actually glad to see him, and says the people have been praying for his return. Under Zobra’s new freedom, she says, crime rate has risen to the point where there is rampant violence and folks are afraid to leave their homes. Making matters worse, Zorba employed Doom’s Guardian Robots (the big purple robots, not the ones that look just like Doom) as his secret police. On cue, the Guardian Robots appear and kill the mom. Doom swears revenge.

There’s a few pages of everyone fighting the robots before Doom shuts them down with an “electro-neumonic scrambler.” When asked why he didn’t do this earlier, Doom says, “Doom’s reasons are his own, do not question them.” More local townsfolk welcome Doom, and everyone gathers at a local tavern, the site of the former resistance against Doom. Doom continues to argue that Latveria was better off under his rule.

At the palace, Zorba has gone mad with power, torturing an old man for information. Going even more nuts, Zorba declares that if the people of Latveria don’t appreciate the freedoms he’s given them, then he’ll give them “a final everlasting peace.” He presses a button, which unleashes Dr. Doom’s Killer Robots (these are the green robots, bigger and meaner than the purple ones). There’s a lot more fighting, with the FF taking out the robots in creative ways. During the fight, Doom sneaks off and meets with the old man, who is Boris, Doom’s former servant. Doom further adds that Boris was once his father’s best friend.

Doom sneaks into the castle through the dungeons and confronts Zorba. They fight their way up to the roof. Zorba says the throne is by divine right, and that as long as he lives Doom has no right to it. Doom answers, “precisely.” We abruptly cut to later, when the FF have reunited with Doom. Doom doesn’t answer whether he killed Zorba, but certainly hints at it. Doom grants the FF their freedom, saying it would be petty of him to destroy them now. He then adds, though, that the next time they meet, his goal with still be the ultimate destruction of the Fantastic Four.

Unstable molecule: Reed insists that the FF are only allowing themselves to fight alongside Doom to save the lives of innocent Latverians. He insists that he’s leaving Latveria in the hands of Doom only if Doom can restore safety to the populace, but Doom retorts that Reed’s in no position to negotiate.

Fade out: Sue uses her powers in numerous creative ways when fighting the robots, such as expanding force fields from inside them, and throwing them high up into the air.

Clobberin’ time: Sue comments that Ben loved to get into fights even before he became the Thing.

Flame on: At the tavern, Johnny has to be reminded to turn off his flame in the old, wooden building. I thought we’d established that he has better control over powers by now.

Commercial break: Muscle man!

Trivia time: Kristoff, the little boy rescued by Dr. Doom, will go on to become a major character in Fantastic Four mythology, involved in some of the series’ most unloved stories.

This issue never comes out and says Zorba is dead, leaving a door open for him to return. The Marvel Wiki, however, confirms that this issue was his last appearance (to date).

Fantastic or frightful? Despite the robot fights, the real battle in this issue is one of ideology. Dr. Doom is an evil dictator, sure, but he actually cares about his subjects? And life was better before he was dethroned? These questions, and this story overall, help make Dr. Doom a deeper, more complex character than ever before.

Next week: Way big.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Dr. Doom is back — and then some — as writer-artist John Byrne delivers the goods in issue #246.

We begin as we so often do, in Reed’s lab. He’s pondering about finding a cure for Ben, reestablishing that Ben has a mental block causing all the cure attempts to fail. His fear of losing Alicia is what keeps him a monster. Reed then gets a call from the Latverian embassy. This is the day the FF are returning Dr. Doom’s body to his homeland. Remember that Doom has been in suspended animation since issue #236. But wait — that’s secretly Dr. Doom on the other end of phone!

Speaking of which, we cut to Liddleville, the miniature town full of tiny human puppet replicants created by the Puppet Master. Puppet Master and Dr. Doom both had their minds transferred to Liddleville duplicates, and have been enacting a power struggle over who will rule the place. The real Dr. Doom appears, retrieving the puppet Doom’s body and squashing the Puppet Master puppet. (Yes, it’s confusing)

In Manhattan, the FF arrive at the Latverian embassy in a brand-new Fantasticar designed by Tony Stark. In a hidden room, Doom and Latverian Ambassador Leopold watch them arrive. Leopold questions whether Doom’s plan will succeed for fail, and Doom immediately strangles the guy to death for doubting him. (Dang!) The FF take what they think is Doom’s body inside, where — you guessed it — they are separated and plunged into a series of death traps.

Johnny is covered with fireproof goo, Sue is hit by a “vertigo beam” causing extreme dizziness, Reed tries to stretch but gets tangled up in a “spinning grappler,” and Ben is jolted with electricity. Then, each member of the team appears to be confronted by Doom in person. It’s at this point that John Byrne does a lot of cool stuff with page and panel layouts to show four fights happening concurrently, without it ever being confusing.  Our heroes are each quick to deduce that they are fighting lookalike Doombots, and not the real deal.

Elsewhere, three more Doombots use high-tech gadgets to restore Doom’s mind from the puppet back into the suspended animation body, and the original Dr. Doom is back. The FF reunite inside the embassy, just in time for Doom to confront them. He reveals that while the FF fought his duplicates, they were exposed to an “inhibitor ray,” which prevents them from attacking Doom directly. Further, it turns out the embassy was some sort of spaceship-type craft in disguise, and they’ve all been traveling this whole time. Doom admits that he wants the FF’s help in retaking the throne of Latveria away from Zorba, it’s current ruler. The FF argues that Zorba is a good guy, but then Doom has Sue turn the ship’s bulkhead invisible, revealing the city outside the Latverian castle to be in ruins. “Look upon my native country, outlanters!” Doom says. “Look and tell me what you see!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Doom transforms Reed into a quasi-liquid state during the fight, but Reed merely uses this to short out the Doombot’s circuits.

Fade out: Sue escapes her Doombot by expanding a force field from inside its chest. The thing is, she does before knowing it’s a Doombot. Harsh, Sue.

Clobberin’ time: A whopping three pages are devoted to establishing how Ben can’t be human again because of his mental block. This will be further explored a few years later on in the Thing’s solo series following the first Secret Wars.

Flame on: Johnny’s solution to his death trap is simple. The fireproof goo sticks to his uniform, so he removes his glove and burns the Doombot with his bare hand.

Fantastic fifth wheel: When asking for their help, Doom reminds our heroes that he’s still an alternate member of the FF, having temporarily joined the team to fight the Overmind back in issue #116.

Commercial break: Are you man enough for MEGAFORCE?!?

Trivia time: In one panel, a tiny ship is seen departing Liddleville. This was the Micronauts, following their own adventure there in Micronauts #41. Remember that the Micronauts were normal-sized in their own universe, but tiny when on Earth, so having them visit Liddleville, where they normal-sized again, was only natural.

Fantastic or frightful? This is a fun issue, with multiple Dr. Dooms running around giving it a nice absurdist quality. It mostly exists to set up the next one, though, where all the good stuff is.

Next week: This land is my land, this land is NOT your land.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. As much as I love the work of writer-artist John Byrne, I must admit issue #245 is something of a head-scratching puzzler.

We begin with several pages of Sue being interviewed on television by “Barbara Walker.” Walker gives Sue a lot of crap for not being feminist enough, but Sue won’t have it, standing up for herself and even using her force fields to throw Walker around the room. During the interview, the FF’s emergency flare goes off over the city, but the producers don’t interrupt the taping. Sue returns to the Baxter Building to find all the lights out.

Sue makes her way into the building, which is still under repairs from Terrax’s attack in the previous story arc, and finds Reed and Ben knocked out cold. Johnny is fighting a man who has blonde hair and beard. The man cannot be hurt by Johnny’s flame, and throws Johnny through a wall. He then can sense Sue watching them while she’s invisible. The man pursues Sue around the building, able to psychically press against her force fields. Sue finds the destroyed remains of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot and wonders where Franklin is. Sue confuses the mystery man by turning his hand invisible, allowing her to slip by him.

Back at the TV studio, Walker and her team learn that strange things are happening at the Baxter Building, so they rush to the scene in hopes of catching Sue in the act of being subservient to her male teammates. The fight goes out into the street outside, where the mystery man calms down and says he knows Sue from somewhere. Sue looks into the man’s eyes and recognizes him — he’s an adult Franklin!

Reed, Johnny, and Ben are back, now joined by Alicia. Franklin is disoriented, and Reed worries that accelerated aging might be killing him. Franklin agrees to go with Reed, but wants to do something first. He offers to make Ben human again, but Ben refuses, saying that he doesn’t trust a five-year-old to attempt that. Franklin looks into Ben’s mind and sees something that alarms him. One look at Reed, and he can tell Reed knows it too. Franklin then transforms Ben from his current retro lumpy form back to his more modern rocky form.

Reed wraps things up with a pair of long-winded explanations. First, Franklin has psychic dampers in his brain regulating his power. He used all of his powers transforming Ben, and now they won’t return until he grows into them. (I think we’re supposed to learn that’s why he turned into an adult in this one.) Second, he says Ben has a mental block that prevents him from turning human again, fearing that Alicia won’t love him if he’s not a monster. With that, the issue just ends.

Unstable molecule: Reed insists on taking Franklin back to headquarters for a detailed analysis of his transformation, but then just deduces what’s going on without any such analysis.

Fade out: Sue creates a soft, cushion-like force field for her to land on when she’s thrown from the building, another new use for her powers. During the interview, she makes a good case for how a woman who’s married and a mother can still kick ass.

Clobberin’ time: After being promised “This time it’s permanent,” in issue #238, here’s Ben’s transformation being undone a mere seven issues later.

Flame on: Johnny survives getting thrown through a wall, which seems impressive until we remember that the Baxter Building is outfitted with those lightweight adjustable walls that can reshape any floor into any layout.

Four and a half: So Franklin’s mutant powers return, giving him an adult body, increased intellect, and the ability to bend all reality to his will. Then, just like that, the powers are gone and he’s an ordinary kid again. When his powers next reemerge, they’ll be completely different.

Commercial break: Everyone should finish high school!

Trivia time: Look closely — one of the TV crewmembers is Sharon Selleck, who we’ll meet properly in a few issues and who will go on to be a kinda/sorta love interest for Johnny.

Fantastic or frightful? Here we have a solo story for Sue, but it’s not really about her. It’s all about Ben and his inner fears, except that this is only addressed in the last two pages. Shouldn’t the whole issue have been focused on that? Turning innocent little Franklin into an unstoppable godlike monster should have been terrifying, but it’s done and undone so fast. On the plus side, it’s awesome to see Sue stand up for herself and fight on her own, and the artwork continues to be top notch.

Next week: All Doom, all the time.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer-artist John Byrne’s three-part Galactus epic concludes with a permanent change to one of the supporting characters.

This one begins with Frankie Raye’s roommate Julie Angel, working out in her apartment while wearing shockingly slutty workout gear. This outfit is so revealing, she might as well be in the buff.  A caption tells us that a week has passed since the fight with Galactus last issue. There’s a knock at the door. It’s Johnny, who says Frankie is gone. He then collapses from exhaustion right in front of her. Julie does what she can to nurse Johnny back to health, and Reed and Sue show up. Reed tells her what happened.

We then flash back to the end of the last issue, where the FF and various other Marvel heroes gathered around a weakened, comatose Galactus. Reed says Galactus is dying and they must save him. Iron Man argues against this, saying they’ll end up back where they started, while Captain America, Reed, and Thor agree that they can’t just sit by and let a living being die. Reed remembers that Terrax said something about Galactus living off of artificial energies inside his ship, and he forms a plan.

Reed sends Iron Man off to acquire some tech from Tony Stark, not knowing (or not letting on that he knows) that Tony is Iron Man. Only one hour later (!) Reed has constructed a giant machine around the still-unconscious Galactus. Thor powers the device with lightning from his hammer, and Galactus is revived.

Galactus asks why Reed saved him, and Reed promises an “acceptable end” to their conflict. He leads Galactus back to the Baxter Building, where he promises to find uninhabited planets that Galactus can feed from. This could satisfy Galactus’ hunger without killing anyone. Galactus reads Reed’s mind and deduces that the planets are too far away, and he must devour the Earth now. That’s when Frankie Raye steps in, saying she can help.

Frankie volunteers to be Galactus’ new herald, finding planets for him. Reed says it’ll only be a matter of time before she leads him to an inhabited planet, and she argues that “a few less bug-eyed monsters” are nothing compared to life among the stars. Galactus says he doesn’t normally choose heralds with noble purposes, but sees something in Frankie. Despite Reed and Johnny’s protests, Galactus imbues Frankie with the Power Cosmic, transforming her into a new, golden form.

Saying she’s now free, Frankie flies away, up into the sky and out into space — something she tried and failed to do back in issue #238.  Johnny tries to follow, but his flame burns out in the upper atmosphere and he falls back to Earth. At the Baxter Building, Galactus thanks Reed. He swears never to come after the Earth again, and he even calls Reed a friend. He disappears, and the FF take off in search of Johnny. That brings us back to Julie’s apartment. Johnny mopes, saying every woman he’s ever loved gets taken from him. Julie says she’s there for him if he ever needs a shoulder to cry on.

The issue ends with one prologue (spelled “prolog”) in which Reed and Tony Stark are overseeing rebuilding the Baxter Building.  Collins, the obnoxious landlord, start’s raising a fuss, and Reed shuts him up by handing him a check. “I just bought the Baxter Building,” Reed says. The second prologue has Franklin left alone with a Rubik’s Cube (it’s the ‘80s!) while being babysat. He uses his reemerging powers to solve the cube. He uses them again to make H.E.R.B.I.E.’s head explode. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed states he sold the Baxter Building to Collins way back in issue #9, during the bankruptcy story. He further explains he wrote in an option to buy the building back as part of that agreement.

Fade out: In the ending segments, Sue takes off because she’s being interviewed on TV by “Barbara Walker.”

Clobberin’ time: Ben has no problem tearing up more of the Baxter Building so Reed and Galactus can speak, figuring that a little bit more damage won’t matter.

Flame on: Johnny accidentally burns Reed when he takes off after Frankie, but Reed isn’t hurt. We’re given a reminder that the FF uniforms are fireproof, just in case something like this happens.

Fantastic fifth wheel: This ends Frankie Raye’s run as an alternate member of the team. Although this is where she transforms into Nova, she’s not actually called Nova in this issue.

Four and a half: The ending makes no attempt to be subtle about Franklin’s powers returning, setting up the next issue. Franklin has a Muppets poster on his bedroom wall.

Commercial break: Read the fine print, kids. You’re not getting a go-kart when you send away for this, just the plans and instructions.

Trivia time: Frankie/Nova will go on to be Galactus’ herald from this point (1982), to the mid-nineties. After the Silver Surfer, she’s the most well-known herald of Galactus. She eventually becomes a main character in the ‘90s Silver Surfer comic, romances Firelord, and briefly joins the Fearless Defenders. Before that, we’ll be encountering her a few more times during John Byrne’s run.

Fantastic or frightful? If you’ve been following this blog regularly, you can probably tell I’m a big fan of Frankie Raye. On this re-read, it’s interesting to see how her transformation in this issue has been foreshadowed consistently ever since Byrne took over the book. Similarly, this issue seems to exist only to set up future storylines, but there are some nice character moments and the art really shines.

Next week: Hey, Rocky!

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Enough talk about the new movie, let’s get back to COMICS! Issue #242 gives us one of the all-time great Galactus battles.

When we last left our heroes, Galactus’ former herald Terrax had attacked, destroying the top two floors of the Baxter Building and lifting all of Manhattan into space. He gave the FF an ultimatum, saying he’ll destroy Manhattan unless the FF kills Galactus for him. Sue and Frankie Raye are atop the ruined Baxter Building to recap this, while Sue uses her powers to make Terrax’s energy field around the city visible. Frankie grows fascinated with Galactus. Elsewhere, at Avengers Mansion, Captain America and the Wasp are late to the party, wondering why the mansion is on emergency power and what’s happened to the sky.

In space, Ben wants to fight Terrax but Reed talks him out of it, saying Terrax has the upper hand so they’ve got to play his game for now. Galactus’ ship is nearby. He is weakened from not having devoured any planets in a while, and draws upon energy in his ship to keep him going. Now inside the ship, Reed recaps the plot again, and reminds Ben (and the reader) that Galactus fought alongside the FF against the Sphinx in issue #212. He hopes to convince Galactus to join them in stopping Terrax. Terrax guesses this is what’s happening, so he attacks. Galactus unleashes the “white light of creation,” zapping Terrax and restoring Manhattan back where it belongs.

At HQ, Sue collapses from exhaustion. Frankie knows she should watch over Sue, but is instead so overcome with thoughts of Galactus that she goes inside to look him up. Atop the World Trade Center (sigh…) Terrax believes he’s more powerful than Galactus and tries to fight him. Galactus proves him wrong by taking back the power cosmic and turning Terrax back into his original self, Tyros. Tyros gets thrown into a NYC trash pile. With that done, Galactus decides that his hunger is too great, and he must feed. He seals the FF up in force fields, and then recreates his world-devouring machine from dust particles in the air around him. Just when it looks like he’s about to pull the trigger and destroy the Earth, he’s struck by a giant bolt of lightning.

It’s Thor, who blasts Galactus with a classic “I say thee nay!” He’s on scene with three other Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man and Wasp. Begin fighting! The Avengers knock Galactus down to street level, using their powers against him in various ways. Dr. Strange shows up, and creates hallucinations that prey on Galactus’ fears.

Spider-Man and Daredevil are here as well, but merely watching from the sidelines, letting the “big guys” handle the big cosmic threat. Finally, Reed stretches himself into a slingshot shape and shoots Ben at Galactus. Ben his Galactus right in the face (!) and Galactus falls, defeated.

The heroes gather around the comatose Galactus. Reed says Galactus is on the verge of death. Despite the whole trying-to-devour-the-Earth thing, Galactus is still a living being, so Reed announces, “We have to save Galactus!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed spends most of this issue trying to convince everyone not to fight Galactus. This is foreshadowing an even bigger cosmic storyline coming up.

Fade out: While pushing her powers to their limit, Sue is still able to tell Frankie (and first-time readers) all about who Galactus is.

Clobberin’ time: Ben says he’s glad to be out of his spacesuit, because he thinks it’s constrictive and limits his movements. Make of that detail what you will.

Flame on: Johnny is actually in favor of just letting Galactus die, but Reed won’t have it. Johnny is also the one who manages to locate Galactus when he and his teammates are lost inside Galactus’ ship.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Frankie’s weird obsession with Galactus will pay off next issue. The letters page in this one answers the question of what code name to give her. Although some fans call her “She-Torch” during this era, the letters page confirms that name is not official. Instead, it says, the female Human Torch is simply named… the Human Torch.

Commercial break: This is just a balloon, right?

Trivia time: Right before this issue, Galactus had just been to Earth two times, only to be driven back to space by Rom the Spaceknight in Rom #27 and, of all people, Dazzler in Dazzler #11.

Fantastic or frightful? Having all these Marvel heroes in one issue means our main FF characters are on the sidelines for most of the story. Nonetheless, this is great fun. With Galactus in a weakened state, the superheroes are finally able to kick the crap out of him in a big way. This one’s a big action blockbuster, and I love it.

Next: Heralds and heart machines.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Fantastic Four 2015. I’ve seen the new movie.

The whole reason I started re-reading the comic on the blog was because of how disappointed I was in the two Tim Story FF movies of the 2000s. Now there’s a new movie, a total reboot. So… what did I think? I liked half of the movie and was disappointed with the other half.

The movie is loosely based on Ultimate Fantastic Four, an alternate version of the FF with them recast as a group of genius teens. This, plus the trailers, clued me in that the movie wouldn’t be epic Jack Kirby action I want to see in an FF movie. Still, I went in with an open mind, telling myself that this would be a brand new version of the characters. In this version, our heroes get their powers from interdimensional travel instead of space travel. The newly-discovered other dimension serves as the MacGuffin for the FF and Dr. Doom to fight over.

The movie really drew me in during its opening scenes, when we meet the young versions of Reed and Ben, with the first few scenes being a surprisingly delightful remake of Joe Dante’s Explorers. From there, we go into a loose adaptation of Ultimate Fantastic Four, with Reed arriving at the Baxter Building. All this “teen inventor” stuff in the movie has a real Spielbergian feel, and it’s here when the movie is at its best. We’re introduced to Sue and Johnny, and their father Frankin becomes a mentor to the group. These scenes have a loose, relaxed feel, and the characters come across as real people.

Once we get into interdimensional travel, things become muddled. The first trip into the other dimension is a good action scene, but when we’re back on Earth, the movie loses its focus. See, even though this is a story about a team, the movie wisely kept the focus on Reed during its first half, setting him up as the main character. I’m totally in favor of this, as I’ve always felt Reed’s name should be among the great adventurers, like Indiana Jones or James Bond. Once the FF get their powers in the movie, however, the movie can’t decide who the protagonist is. The script hops around from character to character, giving time to each but never bringing them together in a satisfying way.

After getting their powers, the FF are taken away to a secret government lab. There’s a short stretch of movie where Reed escapes, and we get a “one year later” title card. Sue, Ben, and the government goons find Reed and bring him back. Then… everything continues on as if he’d never left. His being a fugitive for a year just comes and goes without any consequence. It’s frustrating to have this in the middle of the movie only for it to go nowhere.

How’s the action? Decent, but short. The creators are going for more of a character-based movie rather than nonstop blockbuster action. There is very little of the characters using their powers, and even less of them using their powers as a group. One of the reasons we’re all excited to have live-action movie versions of comic books is to see the powers come to life on screen, and to see how filmmakers use the powers creatively. They’ve done this nicely with Spider-Man and even Captain America, but it’s a downer to walk out of a Fantastic Four movie thinking, “I wish they would’ve used their powers more.”

Miles Teller gives the best performance in the movie. As Reed, he takes a character that a lot of people think is boring and instead gives him some real humanity. Kate Mara is good as Sue. Because we’re in Ultimate-land, Sue in this version is just as science-smart as Reed, and Mara does a great job portraying those smarts. Michael B. Jordan isn’t given much to do as Johnny, establishing him with a rebellious nature but never going anywhere with it. Jamie Bell has even less to do as Ben, to the point where Ben is more of a special effect than a character.

Now the really bad news: Just like the Tim Story versions, this movie gets Dr. Doom completely wrong. They have Doom get involved with the interdimensional travel, giving him powers at the same time the FF got their powers. Instead of fighting our heroes with his own mad genius and arcane knowledge, Doom merely throws stuff around telekinetically. He starts with a few lines of eco-friendly dialogue, which I guess are meant to make us sympathize with him, but then he becomes generic movie monster in the second half of the movie. He only exists to throw things at the heroes and give them something to fight, and not to have any personality or ideology of his own. Actor Toby Kebbell does some interesting things as Doom, often making a point of not looking the other actors in the eye, but, again, he’s not given enough to do.

The real antagonist of the movie is not Doom, but the military man played by Tim Blake Nelson. He’s stuck in the position of wanting to weaponize the FF’s powers for U.S. military. Didn’t we just do this in Jurassic World? Nelson is trying, but this is the jerk-who’s-in-the-movie-just-to-be-a-jerk, something that no movie needs.

What movie’s producers want to know is, would I see a sequel with this same cast and director? Yes, I would. They’ve laid a groundwork, and the room for improvement is huge. The next movie could be the Dark Knight to this movie’s Batman Begins. As of this writing, there’s no way to know if that’ll happen, or if we’re in for yet another reboot. Either way, Fantastic Four 2015 is flawed, but a slight step back in the right direction.

Next week: Galactus ruckus.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.