FF #1

"Parts of a Hole"
written by Matt Fraction
art and cover by Michael Allred
colors by Laura Allred

It's an introductory issue, no doubt, but one that sets a delightful tone for the series.  Setting out on a year-long quest for a cure for their carcinomic deterioration, which should only take four minutes of Earth time, the Fantastic Four—Reed Richards, Sue Storm-Richards, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm—seek replacements for themselves "just in case."  Enter four of the finest recruitment speeches ever given to Scott Lang (Ant-Man), Medusalith Amaquelin (Medusa), Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk), and Darla Deering (Ms. Thing).

The Thing:  "Look, speakin'a action-- --whatcha doin' next Wednesday morning from, say, ten to about four minutes after?  Or maybe forever?"

She-Hulk:  "I'm...that's incredibly specific yet frustratingly vague, Ben.  What do you have in mind?"  (FF #1: 12)

But as likeable as their replacements are—probably even more so than the original four themselves—it's the kids who steal the show.  Throughout the issue, the attendees of the Future Foundation, an educational complex designed to cultivate future heroes who will ultimately replace their adult predecessors, explain exactly what the Foundation is and what it does.  And they're all, in the words of older Foundation member Alex Power, "like bedbugs with special needs" (16).

But after one issue, Scott Lang is the heart of FF, a father who's recently lost his daughter and is now softly manipulated into assuming the head position at a school for unique human and non-human children.  The sting of this loss is made all the more painful by his evident sensitivity as a parent.  Instead of turning to Richards for explanations, he is the one to ask the students to teach him.

[January 2013, digital]