Summary
Warning: Contains spoilers forFantastic Four #22!!Since the moment theFantastic Fourwere bombarded with cosmic rays, they’ve learned to work in unison. What one lacks, another fills in, and that’s especially the case forMister Fantasticand theInvisible Woman. It isn’t all about superpowers, though, and I can’t help but admire the way Reed sees what exists in a space while Sue is so adept at hiding the same thing.
InFantastic Four#22 by Ryan North, Ivan Fiorelli, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna, Reed Richards and Alicia Masters continueto fight againstBlood Hunt’s vampires. Without the Baxter Building or any of his usual resources, Mister Fantastic is forced to take a different approach. All he has is his mind and what’s in front of him, which means taking careful stock of everything around him.
The moment is an excellent representation of how Reed’s mind works, and I couldn’t help but notice the parallel with his wife, the Invisible Woman.Sue’s incredible abilities allow her to hide practically everything from sight, while Reed is always driven to take in everything.
Fantastic Four #22by Ryan North, Ivan Fiorelli, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna
Reed Richards is a scientistthrough and through, and he’s always in a state of analyzingsomething.Blood Huntputs him well outside his comfort zone, as he is forced to deal with magical, supernatural creatures with no real scientific foundation. The unusual situation is an excellent reminder of who he is at his core, and we are all able to watch Reed make something out of nothing by utilizing whatever he, Alicia, and fellow survivors can pull together from the depths of the stadium. It is an “unknown to be explored” - a familiar concept at the heart of the F4.
This idea unites the whole team, but it rings particularly true for Reed and Sue. They’ve always been explorers together, and that means drinking in the world and universe side-by-side. At their best, they both see everything, differing only in what they do with it. All of us F4 fans know that Susan doesn’t miss anything, because we’ve seen heruse her light-bendingto remain utterly in control of what anyone else sees.They’re both brilliant, observant people who share ideas and find ways to make them work, yet they sometimes interact with the world in truly opposite ways.
Reed and Sue Bring Out the Best in Each Other
While Reed and Sue can certainly influence a space very differently, it doesn’t put them in opposition with each other. The entireFantastic Fourhas grown adept at filling in the gaps for each other and using their individual powers and personalities to bolster their teammates when possible. Reed and Sue take that to another level, and I appreciateBlood Huntoffering an inadvertent window into that dynamic.Mister Fantasticand theInvisible Womanboth see the full spectrum of what a space has to offer, but they play to their strengths and masterfully tackle it in opposite ways.
Fantastic Four (2022)
“WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE FANTASTIC FOUR?” It’s the start of a new era for the Fantastic Four…and they’re already in a ton of trouble. Something has gone terribly wrong in New York, and the Thing and Alicia are traveling across America to escape it! But when they stop in a small town for the night and wake up the morning before they arrived, they find themselves caught in a time loop that’s been going on since before they were born… That’s been going on since before they were born…
