39 review for Fantastic Four (1961-1998) #41

1. 

   4 out of 5

   Noah White – Jan 18, 2020

   FANTASTIC FOUR #38-43, ANNUAL #3 (Lo, There Shall Be an Ending) It would be misleading to call this a Fantastic Four story; Stan Lee certainly didn’t design it as such. Rather, he designed this as more of a MARVEL story, in that it provides a full-circle culmination of all the events in the Marvel Universe up to that point, and brilliantly so. His choice of doing this storyline in a Fantastic Four comic book is a meta-choice, since it was them that jump started the beginning of this fictional uni FANTASTIC FOUR #38-43, ANNUAL #3 (Lo, There Shall Be an Ending) It would be misleading to call this a Fantastic Four story; Stan Lee certainly didn’t design it as such. Rather, he designed this as more of a MARVEL story, in that it provides a full-circle culmination of all the events in the Marvel Universe up to that point, and brilliantly so. His choice of doing this storyline in a Fantastic Four comic book is a meta-choice, since it was them that jump started the beginning of this fictional universe to begin with. Thus, by doing an intimate reflection on the past and growth of the Fantastic Four as characters, he’s really able to do a reflection on the past and growth of the Marvel Universe as a saga. I really like how Lee chose to frame the core issues; as opposed to typical one-off villains, which we still get, the first issue of this arc and the last issue of this arc feature the same villains, thus allowing the actual arc to come full circle. It ends where it began, or at least that’s the idea the core 6 issues set up. That setup is incredibly effective, as it segues perfectly into Fantastic Four Annual #3, which comes full circle with the entire events of the Marvel Universe so far by ending where it began! On that note, let’s talk about Fantastic Four Annual #3: It’s f%@#ing awesome, as they would say in comic book speech. The framework of the issue is incredible, in that it’s structured around the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm. This is the ultimate show of growth for these characters, since their main conflict was an unstable and constantly warring and dividing familial unit. A marriage literally connects them more than they’ve ever been connected, thus showing such a growth since their first comic book all the way back half a decade ago. The issue is also framed not just around the actual growth of the Fantastic Four, but the growth of the entire Marvel Universe. All the invitees are the various Superheroes that followed the Fantastic Four, the originals. Not only that, Stan constructs a plot that allows for all the various VILLAINS of the Marvel Universe to return for this issue as well! It really is the first time since the story of the Marvel Universe began that we’ve been given a story that fully captures the scale of the Marvel Universe… as the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Avengers, X-Men, Daredevil, and many more fight alongside each other in a single story. It effectively captures how the entire saga has grown from one insignificant familial unit to an entire connected universe of characters. The whole universal scale full-circle idea culminates in one of the greatest final panels in any comic book… which I won’t dare spoil. Thus Stan Lee and Jack Kirby effectively end one massive chapter of the Marvel canon, while still laying the seeds for the next chapter to come…

2. 

   4 out of 5

   Sophia – Dec 03, 2017

   A very good start to an interesting story line - it grabs you and makes you hungry for more!

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Krista Ivy – Nov 10, 2016

   Ben/the Thing runs away from the Fantastic Four in anger. The Frightful Four then kidnap and brainwash him to not only join them, but to attack Reed, Susan, and Johnny. It's clobberin' time. Ben/the Thing runs away from the Fantastic Four in anger. The Frightful Four then kidnap and brainwash him to not only join them, but to attack Reed, Susan, and Johnny. It's clobberin' time.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Jeremy –

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Ethan –

6. 

   4 out of 5

   Yehudit –

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Daniblacksmoke –

8. 

   5 out of 5

   John Moorehouse –

9. 

   5 out of 5

   Colin –

10. 

    4 out of 5

    Andy Harwick –

11. 

    5 out of 5

    David Overstreet –

12. 

    5 out of 5

    John Hills –

13. 

    4 out of 5

    Frederick Verrette –

14. 

    5 out of 5

    Rob –

15. 

    5 out of 5

    Julian Munds –

16. 

    4 out of 5

    Rafael Sampaio –

17. 

    4 out of 5

    Renate Rebolledo –

18. 

    5 out of 5

    Jeffrey Collins –

19. 

    5 out of 5

    Dennis Schvejda –

20. 

    4 out of 5

    Jason –

21. 

    5 out of 5

    Ricardo Marzo –

22. 

    4 out of 5

    OTIS –

23. 

    5 out of 5

    Zane Gregory –

24. 

    5 out of 5

    Mark Yopp –

25. 

    4 out of 5

    Gary Neff –

26. 

    5 out of 5

    Kristen –

27. 

    4 out of 5

    Victor –

28. 

    4 out of 5

    Kendall Bennett –

29. 

    5 out of 5

    Emily –

30. 

    5 out of 5

    P.C. Haring –

31. 

    4 out of 5

    Chelsae –

32. 

    4 out of 5

    David Lomas –

33. 

    4 out of 5

    Ken Jensen –

34. 

    4 out of 5

    Percy Bell –

35. 

    5 out of 5

    Rob –

36. 

    5 out of 5

    Scott –

37. 

    5 out of 5

    Seven Negen –

38. 

    5 out of 5

    Bob –

39. 

    4 out of 5

    Mike Williams –