You can listen to the episode by clicking: Episode 117
PARTY PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE!!!! Shakka Lakka BOOM baby! We are starting the Fantastic Four/Future Foundation/ Hickman RUN! Hold onto your seats, it is about to get HOT in here!
Ok, what do we need to know before we start this run. We probably need to know some basic fundamentals about this book, so pay attention. We are only going to do this one time.
First, this is a comic book, which means that you will be expect to find and interpret a combination of picture and words that together form a cohesive story told in some semblance of a linear fashion. Of course, there are a variety of ways to convey thoughts and ideas, but this is the traditional method we are used to.
Because we are consulting a known periodical variety, this physical copy will be made of paper and have on average two staples holding multiple pages together. Do not be alarmed, this medium is perfectly safe and the gross number of deaths from paper cuts or rusty staples has dramatically fallen over the years.
I have just been informed that my helpful information is apparently too “basic” for what we are presenting. Apparently I was supposed to provide information on the Marvel super-hero team known as the “Fantastic Four” in order to prepare our listeners for this next run of comics.
Well, this is a heck of a problem. I had an entire thesis prepared on the the development of the modern comic story line juxtaposed with the decadence of the west and cultural influences from Japan. I guess putting time and effort into redefining comic book ages is just not something the masses are ready for. You all just want to sit around and eat cake.
Whatever. The Fantastic Four are a group of super-heroes in the Marvel Universe and they are known by a lot of people. The end.
Oh, you need more. OK. They know Power Pack too.
My feelings are hurt and I did not prepare for this. I just am done. What do you people want from me? Get off my back.
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Eighties Action by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3703-eighties-action License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Joy In Your Bright Face by MusicLFiles https://filmmusic.io/song/7538-joy-in-your-bright-face License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Artist website: https://cemmusicproject.wixsite.com/musiclibraryfiles
Jeff and Rick Present 
Good evening gentlemen! It’s a Saturday as I write this and fresh off from another area comic convention! The one I attended was an hour and a half in Cape Girardeau. The town where a great portion of Ben Affleck’s picture Gone Girl was filmed.
Anyways… I tweeted that this era of Power kid adjacent tales I am really blind on. Part of it comes from the detailed story building Jonathan Hickman employs, but, back in this time I was limited in my budget for monthlies. When I did have extra cash, I would pick a Hickman FF up only to feel lost because the sense of something bigger was happening weighed on my reading.
I got to read this in the Power Pack omnibus vol 2 that just arrived earlier this week! Some observations; That Alan Davis cover is great. He’s an artist that can draw convincing children. Neil Edwards art feels like he is mimicking Bryan Hitch’s style. This may come to the fact that Hitch’s inker Andrew Currie is working with Edwards on the issue. If memory serves correct I think Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch did a year of FF stories shortly before Hickman coming aboard. I agree with you both that I myself am not an artist by any stretch, but, the seeming degree of difficulty in drawing children by professionals is surprising. Artie and Leech returning was a fun sight as well. When you referenced Dragon Man as Baby, I laughed out loud because I mentally flashed to that story lol.
Now, my question regarding the building of the Future Foundation story. Was this a B or C plot interwoven over many issues? I know it crosses into the spin-off book FF later because there’s an issue from that run in the omnibus. I’m sure Rick knows more about it.
All in all, I am looking forward to this upcoming leg of reviews and conversations. Keep up the great work! I hope you and your families are doing well.
Jeremy
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Ugh, just wrote a big response to this and it disappeared into the either. So here we go again.
Never watched or read Gone Girl. I know people that have liked both formats, but I keep shying away from it. I think that that is because it was written by a former Entertainment Weekly staffer and EW really pushed it hard. Don’t know why that made me turn my nose up to it, but it did.
Hickman is an amazing writer, but he is not drop in friendly. Most of the time it seems like you have to have his complete run in front of you that you read in order to have any real grasp on what is happening. At least that is the way that it feels to me.
Dragon Man will always be Baby to me because of Power Pack. I just really want a little sit down with him, Julie and Katie and he can have his DM name back, till then, he is and will be Baby to me for all time.
Future Foundation is a very B, C and sometimes Q plot line in these books so far from what I have read. They are definitely not the main pull here, but it is a FF book, so that is to be expected.
Hope you and yours are well. Summer just ended with a cold wet thud here, so prime reading season is upon us. Hmmm, I might even get to start reading for fun again.
Later.
-Jeff
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