Writer James Robinson and artist Leonard Kirk are the new creative team on Marvel’s First Family. An all-new Fantastic Four #1 arrives in February, 2014. The acclaimed writer tells Marvel.com he’s orchestrating the Fall of the Fantastic Four:
“I think it was Grant Morrison that said a gentleman writer comes on a book, duly messes everything up for the characters, but then puts it back together again at the end the way he left it. So absolutely I intend to put the team through hell and obviously they survive because it’s super heroes but the way they do it—and this is something unique to the Fantastic Four—is that they triumph through their familial bonds. They love each other. That’s the family they are, as opposed to being just a team like other heroes. That’s definitely an aspect that I’m going to be playing up, what all four of them mean to each other. The ever-growing group around them too; obviously you have Franklin and Valeria, but then you also have the Future Foundation and Dragon Man, and then beyond that even you have Matt Fraction and Mike Allred’s FF: Scott Lang, Darla Deering, Medusa and She-Hulk. I’m not sure about Medusa but apart from her you’ll see all of these characters and they will be a part of the story I have planned.”
Robinson will focus on the core “four” but as you can see above the extended family (Future Foundation kids and “replacements” ) will be part of this run.
The writer is launching a new All-New Invaders series with artist Steve Pugh so he’ll be writing two Human Torches. Robinson explained his approaches to writing Johnny Storm versus the original android Torch:
“The obvious difference is that Johnny has a very well designed character and he’s a lot of fun to write, especially the interactions with him and Ben. I’ve already gotten into that with the issues that I’ve written so far. And also the fact that he’s this huge celebrity. One of the things that will be quite a part of the series, as I said somewhere, Johnny Storm has gone from being this kid, this brash kid with fire powers, to Justin Timberlake times a hundred. He’s a rock star, he’s a superhero, he’s handsome. He’s everything a guy could want to be. So obviously, I’m going to try to take as much of that away from him as I can. And so his journey—and it really is the fall and rise of Johnny Storm—is definitely one of the subtexts of the whole arc, which makes him a very different character to write than the Jim Hammond Human Torch. I’m giving Hammond more of a personality than he’s been given in the past but he still has some of those iconic heroic moments. I have a plan at a way, with All-New Invaders and Fantastic Four, to do the very, very, very, softest type of crossover between the two books; nothing that’s going to be a big thing, just a very minor reference in two books that you’ll see tying together.”
Robinson gave a clue about the secret enemy masterminding The Fall of the Fantastic Four and how this nemesis will do it:
“One of the things you’re going to be seeing from the person who is pulling the strings of the Fantastic Four’s downfall, is basically going to be sending different combinations/versions of the Frightful Four at the FF. It’s my way of basically bringing in every single Fantastic Four villain I can find as well as stealing some villains from other heroes that haven’t been used lately. You’ll be surprised, if you think about, how many villains were Fantastic Four villains originally, and I will hopefully remind people of that.”
A longtime FF rival is Namor the Sub-Mariner. Robinson will be writing the King of Atlantis in All-New Invaders and says to expect him in the FF title at some point.
Watch for Fantastic Four #1 coming in February 2014. For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
By Editor