Heavy comes the Griever at the End of All Things in Fantastic Four #28. Written by Dan Slott, drawn by R.B. Silva, colored by Jesus Aburtov, and lettered by Joe Caramagna, Fantastic Four #28 finds the First Family defending the Forever Gate, a high-tech entryway into every point across all realities and times. But can even the combined might of the FF stand against the living embodiment of entropy? Find out…NOW, True Believers!
Fantastic Four #28 SHOULD be a comic I love.
Not only does it look tremendous, thanks to the stellar pencils and colors of R.B. Silva and Jesus Aburtov, but itâs weird as hell. Marshaling the full might of the Fantastic Four, including recurring guest star the Silver Surfer, writer Dan Slott pits them against the living personification of decay. Not only that, but they have to stop her from crossing into a gateway that would then lead her basically across the whole of reality, fulfilling her âmissionâ to then destroy every possible reality and world save for the one that already exists. Honestly, just typing it out right now, makes me the kind of giddy that only comics can provide.
So why donât I like Fantastic Four #28?
Well, for one thing, Dan Slott is still behind the keys and while his plotting and story ideas have generally ranged from okay to decent, it is his characters and narrative drive that is still very much lacking here. Picking up directly from last issueâs cliffhanger which found the First Family sacrificing their new HQ 4 Yancy Street to stymie the Grieverâs advance, Fantastic Four #28 drops us right in the middle of the action. Well, maybe a few thousand lightyears from the middle as Silver Surfer Norrin Radd zooms to Earth and the FFâs aid, Ultimate Nullifier in tow.
This sequence is genuinely thrilling, mainly due to Silva and Aburtovâs tremendous artwork and kineticism, literally hurling us through space along with the Surfer to support his earthly friends. But when we get back to Earth, thatâs when the problems start to really reveal themselves. For one thing, while the idea of Griever is cool and exactly the kind of high concept weirdness I want from the title, Slott is still writing her like a mustache twirling villain, destroying just for the sake of the destruction instead of the aloof, almost hilariously distant force of nature she was in the opening arc.
Worse still, we are nearly thirty issues into the Slott Era of FF and he STILL canât decide on what he wants his FF to sound and act like. Some get the better end of the stick than others. Slottâs Ben Grimm still sounds and acts like the Thing we all know and love, but if I am being honest, Ben is probably one of the easiest team members to write.
The rest of the team, including the children, are STILL caught in an odd characterization limbo that suggests Slott still doesnât have the grasp on them he should have by now. He slaps at some fun development for them all as they are attacked by the Griever and encased in a weapon that will show them their âmost possible deathâ (again, another tremendous idea). But before he can actually dig into the mindsets of Sue, Reed, and Ben, he has to power through the end of the issue. A resolution, mind you, once again placed at the feet of Franklin in his depowered state.
There is just…still no spark to this era of Fantastic Four and it makes the parts that WORK even more frustrating as they are unsupported by the cast. Sure the ideas of a living embodiment of entropy, weapons that attack your psyche, consistently stellar artwork, and gates that open all realities are fun, but they mean nothing when the characters moving through these ideas are just stock standard imitations of âiconicâ runs of the past.
I didnât like Fantastic Four #28 as a whole, but the potential for this run to at least be âokayâ is still maddeningly there. Hereâs hoping that eventually the title and itâs creative team finally cracks that.
Justin Partridge has loved comics all his life. He hasn't quite gotten them to love him back just yet. But that hasn't stopped him from trying as he has been writing about them now for a little over a decade. With bylines at Newsarama, Shelfdust, PanelXPanel, and more, Justin has been doing the work and putting in the time! Comics have yet to return his calls. Usually he can be found on Twitter screaming about Doctor Who.
