Makoto Nakatsuka's cover for MARVEL AGE: FANTASTIC FOUR.
© Marvel Comics
Issue: 1
Authors: Sean McKeever, Makoto Nakatsuka
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $2.25
MARVEL AGE: FANTASTIC FOUR
By: Tony WhittDate: Tuesday, April 20, 2004
As many of you know by now, I generally lead off my reviews by giving a plot synopsis of the book in question, but in this case it's hardly necessary to do so. Most of those interested in reading MARVEL AGE: FANTASTIC FOUR #1 are already familiar with the plot of FANTASTIC FOUR #1, and there's no basic difference between them. The smaller differences, however, are worth noting.
Last week I expressed strong reservations about the Marvel Age line producing "retellings" of Stan Lee's original stories in order to rope in the kiddies. Now I suspect a lot of those reservations had to do less with the "retelling" concept and more with Daniel Quantz's curiously tepid approach to the source material. Since then I've had a chance to read the digest version of MARVEL AGE: SPIDER-MAN (see this week's COMICSCAPE for details), and that impression has not changed much. Sean McKeever's scripting for MARVEL AGE: FANTASTIC FOUR, however, makes me wonder whether this whole thing isn't such a daft idea after all. McKeever has a tough job on his hands - not only must he rework one of the most famous origin stories in all comics history in realistic, contemporary terms, he must make an initial adventure which was only moderately exciting to begin with strong enough to pull in a new audience. (As I'll explain in the weekly column, that may be the biggest argument against reprinting earlier stories instead of reworking them: some are simply embarrassing several decades on.) The Mole Man still doesn't come off at his best, but McKeever nails the origin story, getting rid of some of the flaws in the Lee script (that silly moment when all four of them think the same thought, for instance) while adding some classic moments of his own (when Reed names himself Mister Fantastic, Ben's response is both up-to-date and in character: "Yeesh...Conceited much?"). McKeever even comes up with an interesting explanation for the foursome's uniforms, though it's not stated as such directly in the script.
To figure out that last bit out, you'd have to pay close attention to the artwork - and unfortunately, that's the area where MARVEL AGE: FANTASTIC FOUR suffers the most. If the artwork painfully reminds you of the Marvel Mangaverse series we were all subjected to a few years back, it should come as no surprise since artist Makoto Nakatsuka, well known for his manga in Japan, did the art for those, too. In the Mangaverse titles, it made sense for the artwork to be indistinguishable from the manga art that inspired it, and even more sense for Nakatsuka to do the artistic chores since that's the artistic idiom he's used to working in. In this series, though, the highly stylized quality of the art is jarring, and sometimes it distracts far too much from the script. Johnny's Human Torch form, for instance, looks more like Ghost Rider, particularly given the design of the uniforms; and the Thing looks positively silly with a little button nose. The Mole Man is the worst, looking like nothing less than five different anime villains rolled into one. While none of these elements would look out of place in a manga, this isn't a manga. If it draws in the kiddies, I suppose using this artistic style is a good move to take - but unless you're already into manga, be warned. Scriptwise, this is a good tribute to Stan Lee (and Jack Kirby, whose artwork influenced Lee's writing). Visually, this may not be your cup of tea.
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