Comic Books

Is It Good? FF #7 Review

May 16, 2013

Bentley Wittman, the Wizard, has kidnapped his prepubescent clone, Bentley-23. Along with partner-in-crime Blastaar and the brainwashed Medusa, he wants to settle down in the Negative Zone… start a family.

Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation. Is it good?

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FF #7 (Marvel Comics)

We begin with the Wizard extolling the values of family in his warped version of the Baxter Building. Brainwashed Medusa takes his side (she doesn’t really have a choice) and Blastaar is… well, Blastaar:

So on Baluur is that considered parenticide, cannibalism, both… or an average weekend?

Bentley-23 ain’t buying it though. And this makes Wizard angry. Infuriated even.

Meanwhile, the real Baxter Building is transported into the Negative Zone. Here Scott Lang gets down on a knee and gives the kids a pep talk of Rockne proportions. Pretty touching moment to be sure and Fraction clearly demonstrates that Lang has the chops to be a fine leader despite his shady background.

It’s fightin’ time. We get a good look at the kids’ burgeoning powers and how they click as a cohesive unit. More notable however is Medusa: It’s easy to forget the extent of her powers because of how ostensibly silly they seem, but girl can throw down. Even her eyelashes make Ant-Man their bitch:

My only gripes with this issue are minor nitpicks: First, Blastaar seems a bit out of place. You could have swapped in nearly any other strongman Fantastic Four villain in his stead and had the story pass without a hitch. Why is he working with Wizard? Mind control sure, but he doesn’t seem the type to be compliant with someone on the Wizard’s scale when he’s usually on a higher tier.

Also, there’s a strange three panel sequence where Darla/Ms. Thing prattles off her rockstar resume and number of “FaceSpace followers” while Blastaar, seconds away from mashing her into the floor, just stands there and listens. Sure, it gives us an interesting snippet of Ms. Thing characterization, but was that really the most logical time for it?

Also, please give us more She-Hulk. She’s a character I’ve grown to look forward to seeing in FF more and more and her presence was missed in this issue.

8.0

Fun-filled writing and solid art.
Get to see more of the Future Foundation’s powers in action.

What the hell is Blastaar doing there?
Darla rattling off her rockstar resume during a fight scene.

Is It Good?

That being said, what we have here is another fun-filled, quirky plot from Fraction and solid artwork from Allred. Looking forward to next month’s issue, where a very familiar metal-clad face looks to make an appearance.