Issue - 1

Title - Once upon a time on Yancy Street...

Writer - Grant Morrison

Art - Jae Lee

 

Summary:

While Reed has locked himself in his lab, literally deep in thought, the rest of the team begin to strain and tense in the resultant off-time. Ben tries to do some good in the community, only to be rejected, Johnny's attempts to humor Sue only anger her, and Sue suffers from loneliness as Reed becomes increasingly withdrawn. Ben attempts to speak to Reed but instead receives a response from a fallen Doombot that Reed was dissecting. Its Doom himself speaking through his creation and he has Ben put on one of the robot's gauntlets. Ben is instantly transported to Latveria where Doom attempts to convince Ben hat Reed has ruined all of their lives. He also tells Ben that he can revert him back to his human form. Guiding up towards a temporal device, suddenly Ben is back to normal and back in New York. He tries to get into the Baxter Building, but everything is different and no one seems to recognize him. As he attempts to find something familiar on Yancy Street, he is hit by a car.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

 

Issue - 2

Title - Staring at the Fish tank

Writer - Grant Morrison

Art - Jae Lee

 

Summary:

Sue visits Alicia and the two have dinner and talk about Reed. Sue confesses to thinking about Namor again, and Alicia help her to realize that it is just a cycle she goes through whenever Reed becomes distant. Ben awakens in a veterans hospital and is shocked to discover that his arm has been amputated. He also can't remember where he has been, having only snippets of memory of his space flight with Reed, Johnny, and Sue. Johnny meanwhile takes his sports car for a joy ride with a girl, but soon tires as he realizes that the girl was only interested in his car. He lets her drive off with it while he walks home. Upon arriving, he senses something underground and suddenly a giant creature bursts up through the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Issue - 3

Title - Darkness and the Mole Man

Writer - Grant Morrison

Art - Jae Lee

 

Summary:

A heavy rain pours down on New York and impedes the Human Torch's abilities. He flies to get help from Sue and is surprised to find her with Namor. Namor then attacks Human Torch and sends him plummeting into the cavernous depths where the Mole Man resides. In Latveria, Doom oversees the execution of his plan, all part of a game he is playing with the Prime Mover. Back in New York, Sue pleads with Namor for help. He asks her to leave the surface world behind and leave with him. He reveals that by night's end, she have nothing left for he to come back to because Doom is going to kill Reed. She refuses, and begs him to help her. Underground, Mole Man holds Alicia captive as his "queen." He commands her to gouge out Johnny's eyes so that can serve as his blind slave. Suddenly Namor and Sue appear. Mole Man chides Namor for breaking the agreement they all made with Doom. He was to have Johnny and Alicia while Namor should keep Sue for himself. Namor states that this was not what Doom and he had agreed to. He then strikes the ground beneath them and unleashing a flood upon his kingdom. Meanwhile, a giant Doombot rises from the sea and begins to march across the city towards the Baxter Building.

 

Notes:

 

Issue - 4

Title - Prime Mover

Writer - Grant Morrison

Art - Jae Lee

 

Summary:

Reed recounts his days at State U, about how he engaged in dangerous experiments, murdered a young woman who discovered him, and made contact with a dark universe. In that universe, he met his anti-spirit and named it Victor. He traveled to Tibet where monks showed him how to purge it out of himself. However with a physical form, it became Doom. After Reed tells his story to Ben, he explains that it is a forgery. Doom is changing history with a machine, the Prime Mover. Reed then reveals that he sensed that something was different and so he built his own. Using his machine, Reed outplays Doom by placing the rest of the team in the right spots. Together, Namor and Johnny take out the giant Doombot. Meanwhile Sue and Ben discover the gauntlet which originally transported Ben to Latveria and return there. Ben turns back into the Thing and Sue attacks Doom and disconnects him from his machine. With everything back to normal, Reed invites the team to explore with him a new universe he discovered while connected to the dimension altering machine.

 

 

 

Comments:

There are some excellent reviews for this series up at the FFPlaza. The series more than anything is a character study of the FF. So for insight its best to read a review written by an FF fan. However, Doom is the villain of the piece, and certainly the 4th and final issue of the series certainly has a lot to say about Doom and his relationship with the FF. Morrison's take on Doom is that 1) Doom's childish 2) A quite delusional Doom believes that he is the mirror opposite of Reed. His evil twin you might say. Doom is everything that Reed has rejected. I have to admit that I agree with both. Perhaps not necessarily in the execution here, but I certainly see the truth of what he's saying. I think Doom is definitely prone to being childish. His blaming Reed for everything is certainly an example, as is his competitiveness. I give Grant Morrison major props for using the Prime Mover. That is exactly the kind of obscure detail from Doom's past that wins me over. Although I've always thought that the back story to Doom's games with him would be...bigger. Art-wise I am not a big fan of Jae Lee's style, but I must admit that in this case, I think the story was perfectly suited for his work. A lot of the imagery is very cool. Its also interesting to see a more organic looking Doom. The art is really stand out and meshes perfectly with the darker tone. Something I found very interesting was that on the very last page, Alicia can be seen crushing her clay figure of Doom...hmmm. Overall this was an excellent story. Bottom Line: **** out of 5

 

Notes:

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