Monday, April 02, 2018

HERO OF THE WEEK: INVISIBLE WOMAN (Marvel)
Real Name: Susan Storm
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #1 (November, 1961)
Fight Club Ranking: #11

Featured Fights:
- vs EGO THE LIVING PLANET: Fantastic Four #235 (Oct 1981)
- vs FANTASTIC FOUR & X-MEN: X-Men Annual #14 (1990)
- vs JUSTICE PEACE: Fantastic Four #354 (Jul 1991)
- vs PAIBOK: Fantastic Four #358 (Nov 1991)
- vs MOLE MAN: Fantastic Four #2 (Dec 1996)
- vs SUPER-SKRULL: Fantastic Four #7 (Apr 1997)
- vs ANNIHILUS & DEFILE: Fantastic Four #13 (Nov 1997)
- vs ICONOCLAST: Fantastic Four #2 (Feb 1998)
- vs FRIGHTFUL FOUR: Marvel Adventures #12 (Mar 1998)
- vs WOLVERINE: Wolverine #22 (Jan 2005)
- vs GOMDULLA: Spider-man Family #3 (Aug 2007)

Hussah! After last week's breaking point: I'm very excited to be talking about a good news story! The Fantastic Four are officially returning to Marvel Comics! Newsarama reported the story, with new(ish) Editor in Chief CB Cebulski confirming the monthly return of Marvel's Fantastic Four with a teaser showing what seems to be the original lineup! That means a long awaited return for the FF in the publishing line, and also the in-fiction returns for Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman!


It's about bloody time and wonderful to see Marvel restoring something - rather than killing it off! They've ever committed to keeping the popular lead-in series Marvel Two-In-One running in conjunction, just like the good ol' days. Or at least, that's what we're all going to assume...

In the Newsarama article, Cebulski attributes the return to a wait for the right time and creators. That "right time" seems more plausibly to line-up with Disney's pending acquisition of 20th Century Fox film properties - which includes the film license to the venerable Fantastic Four. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.

The creators are Dan Slott and Sara Pichelli; the former of which had memorable fan-favourite runs with a solo Thing series, and FF alum She-Hulk, in the mid-2000s. That's the kind of Slott that would do wonders with a classically-infused returning Fantastic Four -- but in more recent years he's had a heavy penchant for leaning into more controversial concepts, with a taste for 90s flimflam. The pushing of fans' buttons peaked with heavy Clone Saga reference, including the resurrection of spider-clone Ben Reilly in his last Spider-man story [see; Hero of the Week: The Jackal].

If this is the Dan Slott Marvel has been waiting for, it could still be a rough run ahead for fans aching for the qualities that made Fantastic Four one of Marvel's premiere books. Here's hoping the "Fresh Start" of the Legacy era can live up to delivering Marvel's icons as they should be. It's been too long!

How long has it been? Track back through last year's Hero of the Week spotlights for Thing, Silver Surfer, and Mister Fantastic to follow the chain of speculation that led up to this moment! A chain that began with the unfathomable 2015 cancellation of Fantastic Four! Then prepare yourself for the return by checking out some of the past featured fights linked up top, or in the Secret Archive!

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