FF: Life Story.

I just finished reading this and wondered what everyone else thinks abt it? I’m a bit late to the party, ik, but still… generally curious.

I’m confused on how I feel about it, because I did find myself having a nice time, and read through them very fast. But it feels as if the changes they made kinda felt like character assassinations. For starters, I thought there was far too much focus on the whole Galactus storyline. It was interesting at first, but it being Reed’s focus every single issue kinda irked me. One of my favourite things about the FF is their wholesome family dynamic. And though that was present here, I didn’t get the sense that they had it in the story enough. And it goes to show that my favourite parts about the series is when this stuff was present. (Eg the wedding, Ben and Reed at that bar, or the whole sequence were Ben, Johnny and Reed were being buddies in the apartment).

Also, did anyone else notice that there seemed to be this underlying disdain the characters had toward one another? I never got the sense that they really enjoyed being a team together, especially with Reed and Sue. And wow, thats just opening another can of worms, ain’t it?

I’m sorry but I can’t say I was a fan of how their relationship was handled. Sue felt like a completely different character in this story, and her leaving Reed for Namor felt really, really wrong. But you kind of get why, because Reed was being neglectful. But thats not a good thing either, and it’s why I didn’t like this insistent focus on Galactus throughout the story. Not only that, it feeds into this idea that Reed is an emotionless, uncaring asshole. Which isn’t the case for anyone that’s actually read the damn comics. (Though I do suppose this also depends on which version of the character you’re reading).

This issue extends too, because did anyone else notice, at least at the beginning of the story, that Reed didn’t seem to… care about what had happened to Ben? Unless there were scenes where their friendship was emphasised more, but again, it was probably shoved away to make room for the Galactus plot. Again, I insist, it took up too much of the story. There was just too much of a focus on Reed and Sue alone, and it felt like the rest of the team got kicked in as afterthoughts, despite each character getting their own issue. And despite the heavy focus, I don’t feel like they got Reed and Sue right anyway.

There were some things I liked though. Again, when they were actually acting like a family, it was sweet. And the issue where Ben meets Alicia, I have to admit, was my favourite out of the six. (Through I may be biased because he is my fav member of the team). Hmm, idk, maybe I’m overthinking it. But did anyone else notice this? The FF are my favourite superhero team of all time, and this being my first read of the ‘Life Story’ thing, I kinda expected a faithful tribute to the team, not this. It was fun, but maybe ever so slightly depressing.

Or maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about. Who knows? Lol. Suppose I’ll just stick with the current run for now. Damn I can’t wait for issue 28. Thanks anyway! Peace!