Originally airing in 2006, this latest incarnation of the best-known 'family' of heroes joined Nick Toons in September of 2009. As the earliest family of heroes (before the 'Bionic Six' or Disney/Pixar's 'The Incredibles') nearly every creative team outside of comic books likes to gear the storyline of the Fantastic Four to a family audience from a Norman Rockwell era. I'm not sure these 'creative teams' pay attention to the gaming industry and what is selling. My personal opinion: they're using the characters to sell toys and other 'kid products' and to hell with the true fans. But I digress...The good thing about this new series is the artwork. In today's animation hits, the artwork in this series is appealing enough not to distract the viewer from comparing it to the 1967 series. Still, as good as the artwork is, the storyline is its nemesis. Let's talk characterization.
Reed Richards - Mr. Fantastic. The world's smartest person, yet for some reason writing his character as the over-engrossed in fringe theories and analysis, nearly totally detached from the real world is as outdated as a stupid sports-jock. How is it that the Professor from Gilligan's Island has more depth than Reed? Better yet, how come Reed isn't more like Indiana Jones? DC's has two famous stretching characters (Elongated Man and Plastic Man) and I think both of them have a bigger fan-base than Reed. In my book, Dr. Doom is wasting his time considering Reed anything but pathetic.
Susan Richards - The Invisible Woman. One of the best changes of many of the Fantastic Four story lines is that Susan is the most level-headed person of the group, proving the old adage true: behind every successful man is a smart woman. Susan obviously has her hands full. investigated to her full potential, Susan is one of the most formidable characters in the comic universe. Unfortunately, she got placed with bad cast (again).
Johnny Storm - The Human Torch. I can't think of any kid who wouldn't/didn't want to be the Human Torch. I know I was upset that they replaced him with Herbie in the 70s, but other than his 80's punk hairstyle, his annoying, overplayed smart-ass antics leaves me begging for Herbie to be the fourth team member. Even for the movies, Johnny's childlike attitude is outdated.
Ben Grimm - The Thing. They finally made the Thing look more like the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing from the comics. I can live with the 'sweatpants', but think he would look better in shorts (not briefs). Other than that if I have anything negative to say about Ben it's... I don't understand how a former college football player/trained astronaut/test pilot, whose current strength level allows him to get into brawls with the Hulk, can take so much crap from Johnny. Someone better pull a clue from Paul Chadwicks 'Concrete' or Mike Mignola's 'Hellboy'.
The series is cliche and all the old villains and characters are there. Unlike the new Spectacular Spiderman animated series, the Fantastic Four characters are so two dimensional I think Marvel hired kids from a high school creative writing class. I like the Fantastic Four for all of their 'possibilities' that some of the great writers and creative teams of comics have shown us, and Dr. Doom is one of my all-time favorite villains. I like my fantasy escapes to have some semblance of realism in it to pull me into it. I'm a pretty diehard fan for comics, anime and animation, but I could only watch three episodes before pulling the plug on it.
1 comment:
The Fantastic Four always seem to have trouble making the transition to the screen. I don't think they've ever had a good cartoon adaptation, and both of their recent movies have been god-awful. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with the concept, although showing adequate development for all four main characters PLUS a villain would be a challenge. I blame the screenwriting.
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