After defeating Doom and being cast into different ages of time, can the Fantastic Four find their way out of trouble? Read our review of Fantastic Four #1 to find out!
FANTASTIC FOUR #1
Writer: RYAN NORTH
Art and Main Cover: HUMBERTO RAMOS
Variant Covers: ALEX ROSS, JEROME OPEÑA, CLIFF CHIANG, MAHMUD ASRAR, ALAN DAVIS, JEEHYUNG LEE, LEONARDO ROMERO, JOHN BUSCEMA, NETEASE GAMES, LORENZO PASTROVICCHIO, RYAN MEINERDING, SKOTTIE YOUNG, CLAUDIO CASTELLINI
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: July 9, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Fantastic Four #1 kicks off with a great action sequence between the members of the Fantastic Four and arch nemesis Doctor Doom. During the sequence we are introduced through the narration of Sue Storm to each member of the Fantastic Four and how they relate to Sue in her life.
I feel this is a great way to kick off any new volume of a series, action packed and a quick introduction to the main characters, especially when it’s characters as established as those in the Fantastic Four. The dialogue between the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom in these opening pages is typical of a Marvel book, fun and quick witted.
The art goes hand in hand with it too, great detail on building structures and great use of dynamic posing especially for The Thing and Mr Fantastic. Perspectives have been used really well and so give a sense of height in certain panels as well as low focused perspectives to accentuate the impact of enemies being slammed into the ground by The Thing.
Once the Fantastic Four manage to wear down Doctor Doom, they tell him to surrender but Doom quickly casts his powers at them and that’s where this story truly begins. All members of the Fantastic Four have been dropped into different parts of the Earths timeline.
For me personally, Fantastic Four #1 has been the greatest start to a super hero comic book in a long while, no set up, straight to the action but just when you think they’ve defeated the enemy, a nice little twist is thrown in rather than them going back to their base and getting a message or whatever to set up the rest of the story the Villain they’re currently in conflict in gets one last laugh.
The next 5 pages we see everything that’s happening with Johnny Storm who has been transported back to the time of the early formation of the Earth, where mostly fire and brimstone exist. Johnny also comes to the realisation pretty quickly that the Earths atmosphere was no where near what it is today in terms of Oxygen levels. Reality sets in quickly that he’s dying and needs to figure out a plan quickly to avoid a certain doom. He finds something known as the forever stone, signs and dates it.
The following 5 pages after this we are now with The Thing in prehistoric times where Dinosaurs ruled the world. In these 5 pages we get a lovely fight sequence between Ben and two Dinosaurs. Again more great use of dynamic posing from Ramos as Ben holds the Jaws of a large Dinosaur that is trying to make him his next meal. After fighting off the Dinosaurs Ben proceeds to search for the forever stone also as his “Smart Pants” as he refers to them are directing him to the same stone in which Johnny has already added to.
For Mr. Fantastic, he is dropped into 1200 AD during a large battle, which he avoids. Realizing he’s far from the Forever Stone, he decides to travel at night to stay unnoticed. Upon reaching the stone, he signs it like Ben and Johnny. Seeing Sue hasn’t signed yet, he concludes she’s ahead in the timeline and must be the one to rescue them.
In the final four pages of Fantastic Four #1, Sue Storm discovers that she exists far in the future, where humanity is extinct and the Sun is about to consume Earth. While searching for the Forever Stone, she learns it no longer exists, leading to panic as she realizes the fate of the Fantastic Four rests on her shoulders without a solution. This leaves readers with a cliffhanger about their possible reunion, to be revealed in the next issue.
Final thoughts on this inaugural issue of Fantastic Four are that the writing and pacing of the issue is perfect, not one part of it feels like it’s dragging, no stone has been left unturned everything makes sense and I’m not wondering what’s going on, I’m just genuinely enthusiastic for the next issue. It had a perfect blend of story set up and action which helps to keep readers engaged.
The art was also spectacular throughout. Ramos did a stellar job of encapsulating all the different time periods that were on display throughout the issue as well as clever use of page layouts, perspectives and as previously mentioned on a couple occasions his dynamic posing of the characters. All close up perspectives capture facial expressions perfectly too, you get a real sense of the emotion that the characters are feeling in that moment.
I highly recommend you all pick Fantastic Four #1 up, we’re in for a great first arc of this series if this issue is anything to go by!
