Fantastic Four: Full Circle

 
Fantastic Four: Full Circle
by Alex Ross

Abrams Books

2022

 

 

I associate comic creator Alex Ross with two things. The first is his painted comic book art, which is beautiful and distinctive. The second is his fondness for stories that either retell the origins of a comic universe (like Marvels and Justice,) imagine its cataclysmic end (like Earth X or Kingdom Come,) or that remix the old tropes into something new (like Astro City.)

 
So Fantastic Four: Full Circle is a little bit of a departure, although it's still unmistakably Ross's work. The art is more traditional ink illustration, though his use of color is creative and shifts with the different lighting conditions. Only the last page of the book takes place in daylight, so Ross really gets to show off the effects of different sorts of light.

 
The story is seemingly a direct sequel to the F4 issue "This Man, This Monster," where a guy who sort of looks like the Thing kidnaps him, fully adopts his appearance, and tries to replace him, before ultimately sacrificing his life to save Mr Fantastic in his first encounter with the Negative Zone. Fortunately, that issue (newly recolored by Tom Scioli) was included as bonus content in Fantastic Four: Grand Design. I say that's fortunate, because I wouldn't be familiar otherwise, and since this story builds directly off those events, I wouldnt've understood Full Circle as well without reading its inspiration recently.

 
Late at night in the F4 skyscraper, the Thing is making a midnight snack, when the interior of the building is suddenly attacked by thousands of alien bugs, vermin, and creepy crawlies. Human Torch burns them up, and the team discovers that the monsters were pouring out of the dead husk of a man who once kidnapped the Thing, who was last seen falling forever into the Negative Zone. This aggression will not stand, so they put on some new science costumes and cross the dimensional barrier in search of answers.

 
The team sees a lot of weird sights, and Ross clearly has fun with this environment. Ross's showpiece is a blacklight-colored spread of Janus the Negative Man, source of the monstrous incursion. He wants to turn them into vermin-filled husks too, as revenge for some college feud with Mr Fantastic. They defeat, or maybe just escape Janus, and on their way home discover a Negative Earth. 

 
This alt history planet turns out to be home to a super-advanced science civilization, and also the guy who kidnapped the Thing is alive and well here. (Who knows where his corpse husk came from then?) He ended up on Negative Earth after saving Mr Fantastic, and feels like that experience made him a better person. Now he wants to repay the Four by helping them get home safely. They do, just in time for the kids to wake up in the morning and welcome everyone back. And the Thing finally gets to have his snack!

 
Full Circle feels like its meant to be an entry-point for new Fantastic Four readers. You've got an acclaimed author and artist showing off one of the most interesting places the team has traveled, while they go on a self-contained adventure that nonetheless gives them the opportunity to reminisce about a number of their past exploits and old foes. I think it invites you to go delve into the F4's back catalog though, much more than it seems to open the way to any new adventures. You get a lot of signposts showing where they've been, but none suggesting where they might go next.