After the lovely one-shot aside story in ‘FF’ #19, this issue gets back to the meat of Jonathan Hickman’s epic Future Foundation/Fantastic Four stories with the Kree Empire, the Inhumans, and, more importantly to this issue, the future versions of Franklin and Valeria.
This issue isn’t so much as a single narrative as it is a series of vignettes from around the FF universe. It serves to bring readers up to speed as to where the Kree and Inhumans are at the moment and to set the stage for the final three issues of this series before Marvel NOW! comes along and cancels it.
While the Kree and Inhumans nurse their wounds and seeth over not having destroyed each other, Johnny Storm returns Annihilus back to the Negative Zone. If you remember, the Negative Zone held their first democratic election back in ‘FF’ #18 and, surprisingly, they elected Annihilus over Johnny.
Back at the Baxter Building, Val and Bentley have a wonderful run-in with future-Val and future-Franklin takes his younger self out for a car ride around NYC. It’s these very human asides like this that are going to make me miss this title once it’s gone.
As the issue closes, Hickman gives yet another glimpse at the Inhumans as if to let us know that he isn’t going to let this title go out with a whisper.
While I’ll be the first to recommend that any comic reader pick up Hickman’s ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘FF’ runs in trade, I really can’t recommend this issue to new readers. With its various plot threads weaving in and out of one another, any one new to the book will be lost. But if you’ve been keeping up with Marvel’s First Family so far, this is a definite buy.
Verdict: Buy
FF #20
Story by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Dragotta
Cover by Mike Choi & Guru-eFX
