Fantastic Four: True Story #4 (of 4) (Marvel – Cornell / Domingues)
It’s the end of the FF’s adventure in the worlds of Fiction! Will there be a happy ending?! Are those wedding bells we hear?! Can it really be that, as the title has it, Johnny Storm Saves Books?! And there’s this trick Reed pulls that made our eyes cross. And the big villain who we can’t reveal yet because you’ll see this before he first appears, oh, he really gets hoist by his own petard! But will the team get back to reality in time to save Billie Lumpkin? All this and a talking badger!
Paul Cornell is possibly one of the most under-rated science fiction authors of our day. And this is a wonderfully compelling story… for the sci-fi / fantasy fan, not necessarily for the hardcore FF fanboy.
This issue wraps up Marvel’s first family’s journey into the “fictionverse” as they battle Nightmare and his grip on the world’s psyche. We see the Kingdoms of Fiction, Dream, Nightmare, and even Coma. The battles of the heroes and villains of fiction, from classic literature up through modern movies and TV, is both epic and amusing. This is a very well written story with lots of intellectual twists and turns. The art is top notch and is both fanciful and beautiful. High marks for this series, but it will read best as a trade and a possibly a bedtime story. The only bad note is, it will probably not amuse nor mesh with those trying to follow the “canon” adventures of the Fantastic Four.
Issue Grade: A-
Series Grade: B+
