While some may say the shared universe for marvel comic book’s began long before this, in the golden age; or even say that the silver age shared universe began with Namor. but I believe this is when it began March 1963, With the Fantastic Four Vs. The Hulk.
Fantastic Four #12 is just one of the series crossovers that occurred this month. In this issue, we have our 4 fantastic heroes asked by the government to take out the hulk by General “Thunderbolt” Ross.
As much as Fantastic Four #11 was important for the Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four #12 is for the marvel universe. before this there was only slight mentioning of other hero’s. now they meet face to face and fist to fist.
So who win’s , The Fantastic Four, or the Hulk? Read the story and you will see the real winner is us the readers.
Story
Synopsis
The story begins with Ben Grimm and Alicia on a date, leaving the symphony. This is when it happens, a grave case of mistaken identity, a troop of infantrymen mistake The Thing for The Hulk and engage the target.
this coincidental event occurs just shortly before General “Thunderbolt” Ross, seeks out the help of the Fantastic four, the team quickly agree’s to help. with a bit of showing off and story telling on how each one of them will capture the hulk. with this, we have it. a story that will lead to Hero Vs. Hero.
Spoiler Alert:
Dr. Bruce Banner, or perhaps better known to us readers as the hulks alter ego, tries to warn the Fantastic Four, to convince them, that the hulk is not the threat that they been called to stop, instead it’s another menace known as The Wrecker.
This allows the main hero’s of the book to be wrong, while in the end the guest gets proven correct. an interesting and enjoyable bit to the story.
Points
I liked the story a lot, and I do think it was well written over all, the dialog was great, and the story compelling. but I did have a few small points with it that I would like to list.
- infantrymen looking for the hulk in NYC
- The Hulk hearing the talking and the words though the ground Seems like a bit of a stretch for me.
Art
Artistically, Fantastic Four #12 did not live up to my comic book expectation’s for the time. Sometimes it is hard to review comics books artistically and explain why. more so perhaps because I do not have any artistic background. but it is fair to say that I know what I like, and what I don’t.
as I can’t point out most of what i disliked, I am not going to say this was a bad issue graphically. but I can point out a few things that I thought about the art as I read it.
- the “cut-outs” of the ground, and buildings just did not look natural and took getting used too
- the perspective and stature of many characters did not look right to me at points.
Originality & Continuity
Whats not to be happy with here, it both fit in with the continuity of The Fantastic Four, but also with the hulk. I feel it did a good job of portraying both series and stories, and did not underscore or change one for the sake of the other.
This is what you can hope for most in a crossover, and what made this one a good story and a good read.
Characters & Development
Boy did this issue have characters both Major and supporting, before I talk about development and even character development let me list the cast of recurring characters:
- Mr. Fantastic
- Invisible Girl
- The Human Torch
- The Thing
- The Hulk
- Alicia Masters
- Rick Jones
- General “Thunderbolt” Ross
That is what I call an all-star crossover cast. but was their development to make this story wroth it? in addition to building the shared universe. we have most of the development occurring for our Fantastic characters. This is the way it should be, after all its their book. Too much development for the hulk’s cast of characters wold be a bad thing in this case.
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