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Millar & Hitch on FF

I have to admit that I'm both intrigued and frightened

At least they've got a head start

I'm excited!

I like how they give the Byrne run its due right up there with the Lee & Kirby originals. A lot of folks agree that Byrne's run was best after L&K, but they actually said, in one phrase, "Lee and Kirby and Byrne." That speaks volumes to me about their sense of where this book is going.

And then they re-inforced that feeling by mentioning Mark Waid's run as third after those two.

I might just be tempted to start picking up FF again after many, many years.

I agree Chaim. His run is up there as a classic. It's really the only FF I actually collected month in and out. After Byrne I would read a friend's or get in trade(Waid/Ringo rocked too!)

I really don't see where the so-called "greatness" in Waid's run comes from. He had no understanding of Doom whatsoever, and the four themselves seemed... devolved.

Mentioning Simonson as well is a good sign though. Although the CW take on Reed & Sue, especially, isn't a good sign.

My feelings exactly. Though, I have to admit, their "revamping the X-Books" frightened me a great deal more, so I'm glad that got pushed back at least.

It's interesting that you say that, since Waid is the reason I started reading FF in the first place. I grabbed the TPB where Johnny was the Herald to Galactus and from there read back issues and things. I'll agree his Doom was lacking, but the team was much more of a family than when Millar was writing Civil War.

Which is where I also have to agree that I, too, am concerned. However, Millar did mention that it was important to the book to have it be all four of them and various things of that nature, so... yeah. I have hope, at least. (Far more than with JMS' run, which I found so incredibly boring. )

Reboot, I never called Waid's run great. I agree it was a bit devolved especially Johnny. But I thought it was entertaining, well written, and Ringo drew one of the best FFs.

I should reread Simonson's run. For some reason I don't remember if I liked it or not.

I greatly enjoyed Byrne's run on FF. I thought the art was some of his best, and the stories were really good (Sue's miscarriage was heartbreaking).

I enjoyed much of Waid's run, but I wasn't too fond of the whole "FF goes to Heaven" arc.

I'm disgusted.

I can't wait til there's a backlash against Millar and all the other shitty go-to writers at Marvel.

I often think the book should have been cancelled after Kirby left.

But then I remember how much I love the Simonson run (almost as much as I love his Thor and Orion runs)...

...and the Marv Wolfman/Keith Pollard/John Byrne run, which I think is very underrated; I probably like it so much because it was very heavy on the space opera and because Wolfman is one of the few writers who found a fresh approach to Dr. Doom (admittedly a great villain, but way overused) and Wolfman's future plans for Doom sounded really cool.

The Byrne writer/artist run is overrated IMO, although I like that he brought in She-Hulk to replace the Thing (he fell in love with her after guest-pencilling one of his friend Roger Stern's Avengers issues which crossed over with FF) and the issues that Jerry Ordway inked look beautiful.

And the JMS run started with such promise before it went beyond bad into toxic. Shame. And such a waste of Mike McKone's talent.

Englehart also did both some promising stuff and some awful stuff, and once again artistic talent (first John Buscema, then Keith Pollard) went largely to waste; I think if Englehart hadn't had so much interference from TPTB, he might have found his footing (even Lee & Kirby didn't hit the ground running IMO -- I think they only got really good when Joe Sinnott came aboard and the Inhumans were introduced, right about the same time.)

Still haven't read the Waid run; I haven't found any trades that collect it.

I'm actually pretty excited. Millar & Hitch IMO have a lot of respect for the classic Marvel characters that they don't get credit for, and seem to understand that you need to stay true to the spirit of the series while giving the readers new ideas, concepts and characters without dwelling on the past. I'm intrigued on what they've got planned. I'm sure there will have to at least one Dr. Doom story, as all great FF runs must have, but I'm glad they won't be giving us a constant barage of old stories.

Really, FF is the series Millar was born to write given its cosmic scope and sense of anything crazy and mind-blowing can happen. He and Morrison are about the only two writers I can see doing it justice these days.

I've said this 1,000 times before on LW, but I also think Kirby and Lee's run is the greatest run ever on a comic, especially that middle run from around 'Calamity on Campus' to the 'Surfer/Doom' story. Byrne's run is equally awesome.

Personally, I'm with Reboot. Waid's run did nothing for me. I think he got them all wrong and it was flat and boring. JMS's run was one of the worst ever in the history of the FF, I'd even say worse than DeFalco's. Indeed, almost all of the FF writer's since Lee, with a handful of exceptions, have generally gotten the entire series wrong.

But I'm excited for this. And as long as Hitch can deliver the series on time, which apparently he will, this is a good thing.

Millar's run on Ultimate Fantastic Four was probably one of the best Marvel runs on a comic since 2000, and I'd say both that and his Wolverine run were far superior to Ultimate Vol #1 and #2, which I think are pretty good.

I have high hopes. This could be the best FF run during my lifetime of buying comics off the stands, since Byrne wrapped his run up when I was a wee lad, and the series has never been anything but sub-par since, though Claremont showed flashes of brillance despite himself (and Lobdell's run was cut excruciatingly short).

Oh, let me say, art-wise, I enjoyed both Ringo and McKone. But bad or even sub-par writing kills a series for me a hundred times faster than the art would.

Bryan Hitch is THE man these days as far as interior art, so I'm excited. I'm a little concerned about Millar, though. FF is all about respect for the tradition, so I hope he's mindful of that and doesn't turn it into Ultimates or Wanted.

But really, this is an exciting announcement!

What about Peter David? I think he'd write a great FF (and before anyone says anything, no, I don't like everything that PAD writes -- Captain Marvel was usually too comedic and the Wonder Man mini-series was just awful.)

I don't want Morrison writing FF -- he'd turn Dr. Doom into a drug addict and have Doom destroy New York City.

I like Hitch's art, I just wish he didn't work so often with writers I don't like. Anyone read the JLA oversized graphic novel from several years ago, Heaven's Ladder? Talk about widescreen goodness!

Hm, I've never even thought of PAD on FF. At first, I'm almost hesitant, because I'd worry PAD would focus too much on internal family issues rather than the wide-screen cosmic craziness that I feel the FF should truly be. But then again, whenever someone tries to pigeon-hole PAD, he usually accepts the challenge and produces some of his best work ever, as Fallen Angel has proven. So maybe this could work.

But the only real cosmic comic I've ever seen him write is Captain Marvel, or at least that's the only one that comes to mind. I think the FF over the years has suffered tremendously on too much focus on the family aspect as based on daily life on Earth, rather than the implied, strong subtle family themes that anchor the FF in our world as they explore worlds that the mind can barely comprehend. Perhaps PAD could pull that off. Its a difficult thing to do, and I don't think many have been successful in the past.

Cobie, PAD was handpicked by Jim Starlin to take over the writing of the very cosmic comic book Dreadstar; I seem to remember reading in another thread that you haven't read any of Dreadstar; I would actually recommend starting with PAD's issues -- 41 to 64 -- because they're better paced and have more action, and there's a plot recap on the inside front cover of every issue.

Well, I recently read the Millar UFF Vol. 6 TPB ("FRIGHTFUL") and it rawked.

Now I'm really intrigued! My lack of Dreadstar reading is something I really need to correct. I've totally forgotten about looking for back issues of it!

I've never read Dreastar either.

You know this is going to give the FF some serious attention. I'm glad it isn't a Ultimate story, or a alternate timeline. It's the regular FF. I gotta give them kudos for that.

In an unrelated search, I followed a link that led to Mark Millar's website, millarworld, where I came across some info about the art that accompanied the announcement of the FF's new creative team.

Those panels with Sue and several women? Apparently, Invisible Woman is starting a super-team of her own, to be called the FRIENDS OF MISS AMERICA.

That alone, makes me interested.

Gotta say, though, that it's really sad that Wanda Maximoff (most likely) won't be included among the FRIENDS.

Looking at the art, I thought one of the women really looks like Crystal. That wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, given the events of SILENT WAR. However, it wouldn't be the first time that Sue Richards defied expectations by consorting with an 'enemy', would it?

These pencilled pages by Bryan Hitch have been leaked. Enjoy them while you can (they've already been taken down from Newsarama.)

http://pipelinernd.blogspot.com/2007/11/newsarama-made-uh-oh-spoiler-alert.html

They look great, but I'm still not gonna buy the book.

Another thing. While I've always liked the FF I need a reason to buy the comic. I need either a new status quo, new creative team, or new event. I've never been a monthly collector of the book. I collect them by story arcs.

This seems like a good time to jump on.

I'm more excited for this than any other FF related thing in the last fifteen years (the time I've been 'reading it off the stands' as opposed to reading back issues...I started with FF #1 after all ).

Miller gets the FF and the 'spirit of the book', as shown in Ultimate FF. That intangible sense of understanding the 'spirit' or 'voice' of the series is important in all comics, but moreso with the FF than most. Waid, JMS and McDuffie (among numerous others) didn't quite excel at that.

I decided to give it a fair chance and read it at the store.

The opening with the locomotive speeding through time & space would have been more thrilling if Simonson hadn't done the same thing 18 years ago.

The double-page splash of the space station was good...but Alan Davis drew a better one recently in FF: The End.

It's practical for Sue to pull her hair back, as she did during the Byrne era, but not in the trendily messy style of the 3boot Saturn Girl. Sue has more class than that.

Millar tries to do Stan Lee-style banter, but I think it comes off cheezy.

Millar's newfound earnestness feels, to me, just as insincere and calculated as his extended kill-shock-kill phase.

But even if I'd liked it, I still wouldn't have bought it, because I think Millar is a boil on the left buttock of the comic book industry, and I could never bring myself to contribute to his royalties.

I bought it and thought it was entertaining, but hardly world-shaking.

The part I was looking forward to the most-- the Friends of Miss America formation-- was a bit of a disappointment. The idea of a team formatted as a charity could be interesting... and I appreciate the mention of a relative of Madelaine Joyce's being involved.

However, with She-Hulk subbing for Valkyrie in the upcoming DEFENDERS story, and her being the 'go-to' sub for the FF for the last decade or so in place of the characters I'd like to see (Crystal and Medusa), it's getting to the point where I don't like the character again.

Marvel's apparently ignoring SILENT WAR, so why not have Crys as a FRIEND OF MISS AMERICA?

There's room for all, IMO. But that's not gonna happen.

At least Emma Frost wasn't there. Though even I can see how a writer would be tempted to use her for comic value alone.

I'm glad Wasp is included, though, as she's been shown as pretty much Sue's best super-gal friend. And she has the rich girl background that I'm sure includes charity work galore.

How long till there's a super-heroine fashion show? Super-hero auction/strip show?

I'm surprised they dusted off the Alyssa character and I wonder what she's going to bring to series?

I thought the last issue was a real snoozer. Hope it gets better...