Fantastic Four #12 sends the team to another dimension filled with Dinosaur Avengers. Really.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Fantastic Four #12 Review:
In the new issue of FF, writer Ryan North and Iban Coello send the team to an alternate reality where everyone is dinosaurs. And that’s a big problem because they don’t speak dinosaur language.
Host Alex Zalben’s big reaction? “I can’t believe that they have managed to keep this up for 12 issues,” Zalben said. “I felt sure that we’d get done-in-one adventures for the first couple [of issues]. And then they would go into some sort of major Fantastic Four arc.” The continued use of one-off, and two-issue arcs for the series, “feels like old school, beginning of the Fantastic Four” style adventures.
Justin Tyler agreed, calling it “bite-size, good vibes Fantastic Four stories.” He also compared it positively to a cross between writer Jonathan Hickman, and Muppet Babies. “Jonathan Hickman-style stories with some density, some science behind [them],” Tyler explained. “But it’s also fun, light… It doesn’t have to be deep continuity rattling stuff. It’s just fun and in the moment.”
Wrapping up, Zalben noted that this is consistent with North’s run on Squirrel Girl, which snuck STEM concepts into every issue. He also lauded Iban Coello’s pencils as, “great, solid superhero art.”
Fantastic Four #12 Official Synopsis:
What happens when a parallel world starts out different from our own but, through random chance and development, begins to resemble our Earth more and more closely? And what happens when those two universes begin to merge not just in style, but literally? It’s a fascinating scientific question that the Fantastic Four will have to consider as they swap places with their counterparts in this other world and find themselves battling for survival in the universe where everyone is a dinosaur, and not anthropomorphic ones, but literal full-scale dinosaurs with all their super-powers, wearing amazing super-hero costumes!
Can Sue Storm defeat Brachiosaurus Iron Man? Can the Human Torch take down Lambeosaurus Captain Marvel, her head frill mimicking her human counterpart’s spiked hair? Can Reed Richards ever stop Quetzalcoatlus Black Widow, the deadly assassin of the skies? Beyond the dinosaurs and chaos and two universes merging, this issue also features emotional and heartfelt reunions with some missing members of the Fantastic Four family! So: Dinosaurs and catharsis, together at last. Plus: Sue Storm’s doctorate is finally revealed!
