Godzilla Vs the Fantastic Four #1 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In 1977 American comic book fans were treated to the king of all crossovers when the King of All Monsters, Godzilla became an official part of the Marvel universe. For 24 issues, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabriel Jones and SHIELD did their best to contain Godzilla as he rampaged his way across the United States. Along the way, Hank Pym, Spider-Man, and even Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur during a trip back in time, tried to stop the radioactive beast from making New York City his next stomping ground.

In the final issue of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, it's Marvel's First Family who are pitted against the beast before he ultimately returned to the depths of the sea for another underwater slumber. With Godzilla's hibernation, Marvel's partnership with Japan's Toho Studios was ended and the events of the last 2 years of events were retconned out of continuity. So it's only fitting with Godzilla's return to the House of Ideas in this 2025 series of a half dozen one-shots that the Fantastic Four are chosen to welcome the Kaiju legend back!

The 6-one shots are supposed to be a rebooted continuation of the original 70s series and will show Godzilla's progression over the years in Marvel Comics history had Marvel never lost the rights from Toho. Basically scrapping everything that happened to conclude the series, in this story simply titled 'Godzilla Vs. The Fantastic Four', Gojira has made it to Manhattan coming East via the Atlantic instead of traversing the United States. Reed Richards hopes to make a final stand at Liberty Island. Unfortunately, sheer brute strength isn't enough to keep the King of the Titans down.

Mr. Fantastic regroups, leading Godzilla to the Baxter Building. At FF headquarters, Richards will reroute the entire Eastern seaboard power grid into the Baxter Building; essentially turning it into a giant bug zapper. 

The victory is premature. Because immediately once Godzilla is defeated, the sky over New York turns to fire. This has happened before. Galactus has returned and he brings with him a new herald: the three headed alien dragon destroyer known as King Ghidorah!

Ryan North penned this epic story that rivals Stan and Jack's 'Galactus Trilogy' by adding Kaiju to the mix. John Romita Jr. penciled the interior artwork with the regular cover crafted by A Kubert. Further issues will star the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man and the X-Men. The 6-issue chronicle into Godzilla's missing timeline culminates with a challenge by the New Avengers, who's roster is heavily influenced by the recent Thunderbolts* film starring Sebastian Stan and Florence Pugh. Hopefully, Dum Dum and Gabe will show up at some point along the way. Their appearances would be so fitting since they were main characters in the original Godzilla comic. 

Completing this review completes Task #17 (A Kaiju Comic Book) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Fantastic Four: A Review: Part IV: The Forgotten Audience and My Rating

A lot has been made of the film being 'edgy.' So, is it suitable for kids? Since our heroes don't even get their powers until about an hour into the film, most of Fantastic Four will probably bore a viewer under age 10 to tears.

 Also, there is one scene in particular that is violently graphic for a PG-13 superhero flick. It takes place around the one hour and twenty-five-minute mark and lasts about two minutes. How can I describe it without giving away too much? Have you ever seen the movie 'Scanners?' The scene in question involves Victor Von Doom and a lot of exploding 'melons.' And believe me, the one time you want the CGI to be poor, this is unfortunately not it.

Really, Fox- did you forget kids might want to see this movie?

 Essentially, with the bad dialogue and terrible special effects if this movie was made 30 years ago, it would be considered an instant Classic. Add the fact that that the villain doesn't really appear until the last 20% of the movie, the plot of Fantastic Four is just the group's origin. So really the movie seems more suited as a TV-movie designed to be the pilot for a series. With Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben coming together as a team right at movie's end, I would have been much more satisfied with this project as a whole if it was geared for the small screen.

Instead, the film is like an unbalanced scale, heavy on character development (well most of them) but short on plot. Poor word of mouth hasn't helped this film. Even worse social media buzz pretty much sealed the film's fate and I fear this message will be the trend what with over 25 comics themed flicks due out in the next half decade.

   So, do like I did in 3 steps and this shouldn't be the worse film you've ever seen. 1) go to a matinee (and save a few $$$), 2) have low expectations, and 3) forget what all of the critics have said and watch the film with an objective mindset. Oh, but it might help to forget everything you know about the FF because this isn't not just your dad's Fantastic Four, it's really nobody's either.

    Sadly, for every plus I had about this film, I had an equal negative. In fact, the movie might've got a higher rate if not for the horrible final act. 

So my rating is thus:

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

  

Fantastic Four: A Review: Part III: CG-A'int and Other Missteps

  One particularly bad bit of CGI of note in Fantastic Four involves a chimp used as a test subject for the teleporter. He's so animated and poorly rendered to boot. Why a real animal wasn't used instead is beyond my comprehension.

  Another bad bit of movie magic involves test footage of Ben Grimm and Johnny fighting enemy armies. Both look like a video game instead of actual actors and Johnny even does a little signature move after he vaporizes a drone. Since Disney would not allow a video game version of the movie, I'm thinking a shelved prototype was used instead of having the actors pine for the camera.

  Thankfully, the acting wasn't that bad. Once again, the actor to play the Human Torch stole the show even though early critics thought he was going to suck. Many criticized the casting of Friday Night Light's Michael B. Jordan. Now most of those critics were super offended that a black actor was going to play the white superhero. I didn't think he had the chops based on his role on FNL. But the actor showed amazing zeal going  so far make Johnny both a little responsible and a bit of a slacker at the same time, much like his comic book counterpart.

 Another aspect that hurts this picture is the screenwriting. Dr. Storm's character is played by the wonderful Reg E. Cathey. He is supposed to be the father figure to this team. But his character is given every cliche in the book and apparently the disease is catching. As Reed establishes himself as team leader, his dialogue gets more and more bombastic to the point I was ready to put my fingers in ears. And speaking of ears, there are several swears peppered in. So, parents, you've been warned.

Fantastic Four: A Review: Part II: An Unneed to Reboot

  

A Pandora's Box is probably the best way to describe this film. When Fox announced over a year ago that they were going to reboot the franchise, fans cried foul! It had only been 10 years since the first FF feature film hit screens and many felt like it was too soon to start over. (Roger Corman made a low budget film about the Fantastic Four in 1992 but it never went anywhere.)

   But Fox insisted that the world needed a new, hip, and edgy version for younger audiences to relate to. Again, critics protested. But this time, it was those at Marvel and parent company, Disney, decrying the film.

  Disney is chomping at the bit to regain the rights to the First Family of Marvel Comics, and they did everything in their power to make this supposed blockbuster fail. Marvel cancelled the Fantastic Four and even broke the team up into little bits just so fans couldn't have a comic book version to relate to. Plus, Disney made licensing, especially with the manufacturing of toys and cartoons, nearly impossible for Fox to do. Thus, the kiddie crowd had even less of an interest in the picture.

   While I think the fans had very good point about not needing another franchise reboot. Marvel and Disney really didn't have much to fuss about. The main reason is the special effects. They are not really good. Usually on a movie screen, it's very hard to tell if something was filmed in front of a green screen. The fabric of a movie screen helps to bleed out rough edges that are usually very noticeable on TV. That's not the case here.

Fantastic Four: A Review: Part I: Going to the Movies.

    Take everything you know about the Fantastic Four and throw it out the window. This is not the 1963 line-up we've grown to love over the past 50 years. If you are familiar with the Ultimate Fantastic Four, take about half of what you know about that team and throw it out that same window.

   Today, I went to see the most controversial superhero film of 2015- Fantastic Four. It's only like the 5th day the film has been out in theatres and already it's considered a colossal bomb. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 9%,  one of the worst weekend grosses of a Marvel superhero film, and the worst viewer rating in film history, I wasn't expecting much when I went to see this picture. Why, even the movie's director, Josh Trank, went on Twitter and apologized for making it! 

   When I got my first degree (in History) I minored in Film Studies. Since I was gonig to the movie with subpar expectations, I decided I would watch the film as I had been trained and base the movie on both its technical merits and story structure with an unbiased view. I feel like I was actually able to enjoy the film more this way too.

   In this version of the Fantastic Four, Dr. Franklin Storm and his adopted daughter (Kate Mara) recruit high school student Reed Richards (Miles Teller) to join the Baxter Foundation, a think tank prep school for super geniuses. Their task is to create a transporter, an idea in which Reed's been tinkering with since he and his best friend Ben (Jamie Bell) were in elementary. Also brought into the project is troubled Victor Von Doom, a former student who was expelled for destroying research data. Rounding out the group is Dr. Storm's son, Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), a reckless teen whose last chance at redemption lies in regaining his father's trust on the Baxter Foundation project. 

    The teleporter is a success. But, when the group is faced with losing the project to NASA, Reed and Victor impetuously use the device and are transported to a parallel universe. There, the group gain mysterious powers and on their return to earth are subjected to medical tests by the military. The project's leader, played by a super-creepy Tim Blake Nelson (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?) promises to find a cure for the teens if they will act as the artillery for some covert ops assignments. 

   However, the director has no intentions of ever curing this team but instead wants them to reopen the dimensional gate so he can create more superhuman weapons. But when he finally achieves the ability to teleport again, the world will learn that the entire project was a Pandora's Box to its destruction.

   

Marvel Fanfare #37

A little Asgardian Algebra. There are 3 Warriors Three. Each got their own issue of Marvel Fanfare. Yet, this is chapter 4? How’d that happen?

Well, the answer is with chapter four, the trio finally groups up and is joined by loyal fellow warrior, Thor to bring an end to Loki’s mischief. With the fate of Asgard in their collective hands, reader’s of this conclusion are in for an exciting ride.

With a very funny ending splash page, this Warriors Three epic was in a word…EPIC. Fantastic art. Amazing watercolors.

Plus, this issue concludes with a time-bending story featuring Mr. Fantastic. Essentially it's the film Multiplicity only about 8 years earlier It’s a very funny classic.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.