This week has been one thing on top of the other. One of those times where a bunch of stuff I'd been waiting a while for, all shows up at once, and all the people sending it want responses immediately. Plus a bunch of other random shit get delegated to me.
At least the week's over now, and I've got comics! Two of them, anyway.
So, why does everyone hate the Fantastic Four even more than I hate Reed Richards? Why has the family fragmented? Well, during a battle with a Negative Zone army, Reed decided the only way to win was build a time machine that would send all the bug aliens six months into the future. They'd reappear at the same point in space, but Earth would be on the other side of the sun, so tough shit buggies.
Unfortunately, to get all the buggies, Reed sent a section of New York into the future as well, including their home, which had all the kids inside (plus a lot of other people). Don't worry, Reed somehow programmed that part of the time bubble to go exactly a year into the future, so they'll all pop right back in place on Earth, as long as nobody tries to time travel between now and then. Reed's explanation was not the most tactfully phrased - I know, shocking - so Ben and Alicia blew up at him.
Coello draws most of that page from the same angle, looking over Reed's shoulder at Alicia and Ben's increasingly unhappy expressions. Well, Alicia blew up, eventually, Ben gets progressively more somber and scowly. Might be time to bring back the Lee/Kirby FF tradition of Ben trying to turn Reed inside out.
This all plays out in flashback as Reed, Sue and Johnny investigate a big dome that looks made out of Thing, and find its some piece of Randau the Space Parasite that's latched onto Ben and Alicia for sustenance while it grows. The parasite is forcing those two to relive the memory to keep them from noticing the others' attempts to free them, but this gives Ben (and us) a chance to see things from a different perspective, and he realizes Reed is sad that he and Sue won't get to see their kids for a year, either.
Anyway, the band's back together now, though Johnny is apparently keeping the mustache. Coello is still drawing Reed doing weird crap with his powers. Extending his eyeball on its optic nerve, or stretching his torso into a dozen fists. Being around the others does seem to make North ramp up Johnny's stupidity, or maybe ignorance is more accurate. Though really, it's his Sue I have no bead on whatsoever. Even the issue with her and Reed was mostly focused on how she perceives Reed.
The ladies team up with S'ym, since they can find Belasco's soulsword, and S'ym can help them fight the mysterious "guardian". Which is your standard sort of horror with tentacles, eyeballs and teeth all over, in increasingly unpleasant combinations. The birds with lots of eyes and teeth and boil-covered tongues are more disturbing.
But during the fight with the guardian, Mary Jane draws another crappy power and figures out Felicia's bad luck powers are screwing up her pulls. And if Felicia's powers only mess with her enemies, then. . .
The impact of all this is somewhat deadened by the fact Dark Web is already over, and Amazing Spider-Man has already moved on to a storyline involving Felicia, Peter, Mary Jane and whatever her stupid temporary love interest's name is, all going to the same spa and much awkwardness ensuing. More urgent pacing to this story might have helped, so that we reached this point last month. Or start this mini-series sooner. Or figure out some kind of dual artist thing that would let them ship twice a month.
I would say it's funny Felicia is making things harder for them because she's actually worried about feeling like she betrayed MJ by dating Peter. Especially if it turned out MJ either didn't care or just wants out of Limbo. That the professional thief is worrying about damage in her wake. But I'm not sure Mary Jane is going to be OK with it, given the few pages I saw from ASM, so who knows.
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