Fantastic Four #605.1 review
As an unexpected bonus, this week's Fantastic Four point one issue also features an appearance by Doom. Well, sort of...
Back in the Council of Reeds arc in Fantastic Four #570-572, we were introduced to a bald, bearded version of Reed who, rather memorably, stated that "I've got some Doom in me". He was the guy responsible for lobotomising and collaring all the AU versions of Doom, claiming it was necessary because Doom had an unmatched appetite and would never yield or break, which he knew because he had those same urges after a small portion of Doom's DNA had been spliced together with his own.
Naturally, the idea of Doom as infectiously genetically evil raised a few eyebrows, until we got to see more of Hickman's take on Doom, and learned that these Reeds might be rather unreliable narrators. In Fantastic Four #605.1, we get to learn exactly how unreliable.
Hickman uses the point one issue to tell what's essentially a one-shot "What If?" story, although it does tie back into continuity by being the backstory of that bald beardy version of Reed.
We learn that on this version of Earth, Hitler won, and AU Reed was a faithful Nazi, working on the Führer's plan for conquering space. He considered himself to have a perfect mind, but the exact equation for cosmic ray shielding for the spacecraft was eluding him, so he brought other genius minds in to work on it. One of them managed to figure it out in a flash of intuition - a rather modest and self-effacing seeming young man called Viktor Von Doom.
Reed is very impressed, believing that Viktor has something in him that others lack, and decides that it's something that he needs to incorportate into his thinking.
Like this:
...This is really not an appropriate time for a "squee", is it? But seriously, this pushes all of my Reed vs. Doom buttons. All of them. I love it to death. Mr. Hickman, you are totally twisted and I salute you for it.
The rest of the issue is the tale of What Reed Did Next; we know how it ends, but I won't spoil the journey. It's definitely worth picking up as a nice creepy standalone even if you haven't been reading the rest of the F4 run, because it works well just as an ordinary "What If?" tale. The art is surprisingly lovely too; to be honest I've disliked a lot of the generic covers Mike Choi's being doing for FF, but here with this subtle colouring from Cris Peter it looks great. Choi draws a remarkably pretty Reed.
A great, creepy done-in-one story that has the kind of alternative take on the Doom-Reed relationship I always adore. Highly recommended!
Back in the Council of Reeds arc in Fantastic Four #570-572, we were introduced to a bald, bearded version of Reed who, rather memorably, stated that "I've got some Doom in me". He was the guy responsible for lobotomising and collaring all the AU versions of Doom, claiming it was necessary because Doom had an unmatched appetite and would never yield or break, which he knew because he had those same urges after a small portion of Doom's DNA had been spliced together with his own.
Naturally, the idea of Doom as infectiously genetically evil raised a few eyebrows, until we got to see more of Hickman's take on Doom, and learned that these Reeds might be rather unreliable narrators. In Fantastic Four #605.1, we get to learn exactly how unreliable.
Hickman uses the point one issue to tell what's essentially a one-shot "What If?" story, although it does tie back into continuity by being the backstory of that bald beardy version of Reed.
We learn that on this version of Earth, Hitler won, and AU Reed was a faithful Nazi, working on the Führer's plan for conquering space. He considered himself to have a perfect mind, but the exact equation for cosmic ray shielding for the spacecraft was eluding him, so he brought other genius minds in to work on it. One of them managed to figure it out in a flash of intuition - a rather modest and self-effacing seeming young man called Viktor Von Doom.
Reed is very impressed, believing that Viktor has something in him that others lack, and decides that it's something that he needs to incorportate into his thinking.
Like this:
...This is really not an appropriate time for a "squee", is it? But seriously, this pushes all of my Reed vs. Doom buttons. All of them. I love it to death. Mr. Hickman, you are totally twisted and I salute you for it.
The rest of the issue is the tale of What Reed Did Next; we know how it ends, but I won't spoil the journey. It's definitely worth picking up as a nice creepy standalone even if you haven't been reading the rest of the F4 run, because it works well just as an ordinary "What If?" tale. The art is surprisingly lovely too; to be honest I've disliked a lot of the generic covers Mike Choi's being doing for FF, but here with this subtle colouring from Cris Peter it looks great. Choi draws a remarkably pretty Reed.
A great, creepy done-in-one story that has the kind of alternative take on the Doom-Reed relationship I always adore. Highly recommended!