From the House of Ideas – Fantastic Four #32 + Heroes Reborn Continues to shine with one-shots

I read so many good books over the course of the last week, rather than just calling out one of them, I thought I’d share the ones that really worked for me. To be fair, there were a few that didn’t either, but if you’re a regular reader of Biff Bam Pop!, you know that all of us are more interested in spending time highlighting the stuff we dig rather than what didn’t.

On that note, here’s what really grabbed me from our friends at the House of Ideas:

I’m slowly catching up on Dan Slott’s Fantastic Four run, which he’s been writing since 2018. Knowing that Doctor Doom is set to tie the knot later this summer, I wanted to jump in and read the story in real time. For newcomers to the book, it doesn’t take long to get up to speed with what’s going on in the world of the FF – Johnny Storm has a new love interest, Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters are married and raising to alien refugee kids, while Sue and Reed Richards are still being parents.

Fantastic Four #32 sets up Doom’s upcoming nuptials with his second-in-command Victorious, which doesn’t come as much surprise. The book’s final revelation was also fairly obvious, but it’s balanced by just how well Slott writes these characters. Like his best work (Spider-Man, Silver Surfer) he finds a solid balance between action and humour while nailing all the voices of the large cast of characters (check out the back and forth between Victorious and Johnny to see what I mean.

The story and art in this issue is split between R.B. Silva and Javier Rodriguez and both artists compliment one another nicely. The Bride of Doom storyline will no doubt deliver larger consequences for the Fantastic Four, and I’m keen to see how things play out when Doom and Victorious walk down the proverbial aisle.

The big Heroes Reborn series also continued with three titles – the second issue of the mini-series proper, written by Jason Aaron and here illustrated by Dale Keown, along with two excellent one-shots – Hyperion & the Imperial Guard, written by Ryan Cady with art from Michele Bandini, and Peter Parker, The Amazing Shutterbug, written by Marc Bernardin and illustrated by Rafael de Latorre.

I can’t say enough good things about this entire concept and the creative work being done here. Last week I mentioned how Squadron Supreme were directly inspired by DC’s Justice League, and the one-shots do an outstanding job leaning into that. Hyperion & the Imperial Guard is modelled after Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, while Peter Parker’s relationship with Hyperion is clearly a take on Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen. These idea are given the Marvel vibe and familiarity, and I was immediately captured by it all. I’ve always been a Marvel Zombie, and while I’ve tried hard to enjoy the aforementioned DC titles, I just never got into them. That doesn’t mean the ideas and concepts are good, though; they clearly work for many, many fans, and they work for me, to; just here, in the Marvel Universe.

The only thing that will be a let down about this current Heroes Reborn event is that it will eventually end. I suppose I’m someone that misses the Ultimate Universe, where we got to enjoy reimagined versions of classic Marvel characters. I’d love to be able to see this world that is ruled by the Squadron Supreme play out longer than just a few months. Perhaps if the numbers and the audience is there, we will get more.