Broken Frontier

The Fantastic Four make first contact in the N-Zone; and as Ben Grimm points out, "…his name is like E-Vill or something."

Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny were getting kind of bored traveling around the N-Zone. That was until they realized that what they thought were random celestial bodies were actually remnants of ancient alien races. Then they made contact with a modern alien race. This issue sees them (and the reader) learn more about what has happened to themselves and the new alien they’ve met, as a classic villain is brought into the Ultimate Universe.

Adam Kubert has really been turned lose in this book. He’s been given incredible characters and settings to work on and has consistently come through. It’s like he knows exactly what needs incredible detail and what doesn’t. His drawings of the team itself are simple yet incredibly effective. The reader knows exactly what each of them is thinking just by the way he draws them. And when he is given something new to draw in the N-Zone, he really likes to show off. It sure is pretty. He has completely updated a classic character for the Ultimate Universe; and with his amazing attention to detail, it’s almost as if he hasn’t changed the character, simply added to it in the best possible way. This book is supposed to look amazing… and it does.

The dialogue in this book is fantastic. Warren Ellis has these characters and the way they talk to each other down pat. This is the way the Ultimate Fantastic Four should talk to each other. Ellis captures the spirit of the old team and perfectly updates it for a group of teenagers. His attention to detail, especially in the science discussions, is very impressive. The reader will never have to question Ellis on any type of science he throws at them in this book. He makes it believable. Ellis also gives us moments to laugh at the characters as well, remembering that they’re only teenagers. The levels of naiveté are so astounding it’s enjoyable. It’s almost like Ellis took the best parts regular Marvel FF, Scooby Doo, and teenage horror/sci-fi slasher flicks and rolled out some of the best dialogue and stories you can get. Here’s the problem. It’s a give and take thing. With all that detail and great dialogue, the book is very slow. It seems like only one thing happens. What takes Ellis 22 pages to write, Stan Lee would’ve had it done in 5. The ride is fun, but at the end I’m not sure I feel full.

As Ellis begins to bring his run on this book to a close, I’m left wondering if we ended up getting a really good book that could have been an absolutely amazing one.

-Sam Moyerman