Despite all the crossovers going on, it’s somehow a quiet week for comics. That, to you and me, means that it’s time to take a chance on some new series – and this week, we’re in luck. The first of Paul “Captain Britain” Cornell’s new Fantastic Four miniseries is out, and it is, in technical terms, a complete blinder, more than capable of being the best thing released in any week, let alone one as spartan as this.

Not content with quietly turning Captain Britain into one of Marvel’s best-written superheroes, Cornell is now taking on on Marvel’s First Family. Playing up their status as the Marvel Universe’s pioneers and explorers, Cornell finds a new realm for them to visit – the world of fiction. Nods to Jasper Fforde, meta-fiction’s current poster boy, are immediately take care of before the F4 plunge themselves hilariously into the fictionverse. The first book they visit? Sense and Sensibility. One can’t help but feel that Cornell is taking more than a little bit of revenge on numerous BBC costume dramas by throwing the Fantastic Four into that particular yarn.

Much of the issue is dedicated to setting up the immediate threat from a standing start, and the pace of the issue occasionally feels a little brisk. Even so, Cornell brilliantly uses each character to drive the story along – it’s made clear from both the focus and dialogue that Sue is going to be the real star of this series. There’s a great moment where the essence of the Johnny/Ben banter, an integral part of the F4’s family dynamic, is boiled down to its purest formula, and a lovely self-referential nod where Reed wonders why Sue is such a big fan in Sense and Sensibility, a book where girls have to choose between “uptight heroes who have trouble talking about their feelings” and “dashing, moody villains.” It’s the kind of subtle moment the book is crammed with that proves Cornell REALLY knows his stuff – and extra kudos for including the Claremont-created Wilhemina “Billie” Lumpkin.

Artwork comes from Horacio Dominigues, a newcomer to Marvel. He still feels green as an artist, but his expressive body language and storytelling skills are thankfully more than high enough to do Cornell’s work justice. His work brings a sense of fun to what is undoubtedly going to be a fun story, if only because of the one-liners Ben comes up with.

Lastly – when we interviewed Paul at Bristol, he mentioned that the villain was going to be one of Marvel’s older characters, and one that the team has oddly never faced. Then he chastised me for trying to guess who it was. I’m scouring this issue for clues, so I suggest that any and all Marvel nerds pick up a copy and do the same – a shiny penny to the first one who figures it out!

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

Uncanny X-Men just reached its 500th issue, becoming only the 4th Marvel comic to reach such a lofty height, joining Thor, Avengers, Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man. Spidey, of course, with its tri-monthly schedule will actually be reaching #600 before long, so let’s take the opportunity to take a look back at the 500th issue. I know I did an issue of Amazing only a few weeks ago, but Fantastic Four #500, Avengers #500 and Thor #500 don’t stand alone as well as this!

Amazing #500 is the third and final part of “Happy Birthday” – a Straczynski arc which acknowledges the web-crawlers 500th straight issue, give or take a reboot or two. The issue opens with Spidey finding himself catapulted outside time, simultaneously experiencing the birth, and as-yet-unseen death of Spider-Man, but unable to bring himself to prevent either. Dr. Strange then gives him a mystical push back in the direction of the “present,” but to get there Spidey must move along his own timeline – and that means a fantastic montage of him fighting all his classic villains and experiencing some of his most tragic moments over again (Aunt May’s original “death” is oddly skipped.)

It all culminates with Spidey reaching the present and saving the city, before he returns home for a birthday party – at the party, he opens his present from Dr. Strange to find himself given 5 more minutes with Uncle Ben in a sequence drawn by John Romita Sr.

Despite being the final part of an arc, the issue does does read alright as a self-contained story. It’s very easy to pick up the plot from what’s going on, and in any case, the bulk of it is mostly devoted to taking a little victory lap through the Spider-Man universe. It gives readers a lot of leeway, and gives Romita the excuse to draw some of Spidey’s most fondly-remembered villains.

Romita’s design for the Future Spider-Man’s costume is full of particularly nice touches, giving a good sense that the character inside the costume has actually aged – the future costume is bulkier, looking a lot warmer and more padded, and appears to go on in a much more practical way. The idea was later followed up in a future issue of Straczynski’s run.

While today’s trade-centric industry has de-emphasised special anniversary issues, Amazing Spider-Man #500 is one time when those fans coming in just for the one story will not find themselves disappointed. Having both Romitas drawing Spider-Man is worth the cover price by itself.

There are some interesting parallels between the first two books we’ve looked at this week, with Thunderbolts also acquiring a new writer as it dives into a crossover. Unlike Fabian Nicieza, Christos N Gage enjoys the advantage of having a clearly apportioned segment of an overall story to tell, but chooses to save this element of the plot for the second half of this issue, opening instead with his characters going about their day-to-day business. There’s a brazen honesty to Gage’s approach, as he obviously structures the issue in three acts, each ticking off one of his objectives. We open with an introduction to the team, as Osborn demands a psychological evaluation of each of his charges. A short interlude of ongoing character development follows, before an expanded version of a scene from Secret Invasion issue one, with the Captain Marvel doppelganger attacking the team’s HQ. With the writer’s cards shown so openly in terms of plot, it’s up to his dialogue to maintain the reader’s interest. The result is largely a success, due in part to his having one of the Marvel universe’s most refreshing anti-heroes to play with. Norman Osborn was a central part of Warren Ellis’s previous run on the book, and Gage continues that focus, giving the Thunderbolts’ director some sparkling lines. Moonstone is used rather obviously as a straight woman for Osborn’s wit, but doing so allows the writer to provide a great deal of exposition for those less familiar with the ongoing character arcs begun by Ellis.

Fernando Blanco initially provides some extremely high quality art, although this deteriorates somewhat as the issue progresses. The absence of shading on later pages suggests that he was rushed by deadlines, although the results are never less than adequate. Blanco sensibly uses the energy manipulation shown in the issue’s second fight as a reason to tone down the detail in his work, compensating with the dynamism of his portrayals.

Marvel have obviously taken to heart the complaints about discrepancies between the Civil War core book and the ongoing series it crossed over with, and much dialogue delivered during the final act of the issue is taken directly from Brian Bendis’s work. It’s possible to feel faintly cheated by paying money to see another artist drawing previously shown panels, but the feeling is mitigated by the months that have passed since we first witnessed these events, and Osborn’s final comment still manages to steal the show, despite its familiarity. What really sells the issue is the pacing, with Gage impeccably judging when to move the story to a new setting or introduce a new plotline. Despite being spread across several locations, there’s almost a “day in the life” feel to the issue, as Osborn deals with the day-to-day annoyances of leading a collections of militarised super powered psychopaths. In a way, this issue sells the series more effectively than a leap into uncharted waters- if the writer can traipse through another’s story in such an entertaining fashion, it’s understandable to be curious as to what will happen when he moves into uncharted territory.

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The omens weren’t good. It’s unreasonable to expect any writer, no matter how experienced, to produce their best work when parachuted at the last minute into a long-running series. Especially when that series is just starting to feed into one of the most intricately prepared comics epics of the last few years. Despite these handicaps, Robin #175 is a slick piece of work from Fabian Nicieza. But there are still a number of weaknesses, in concept, if not execution. Nicieza appears to view the issue as a jumping-on point, both for the Robin series and Batman R.I.P. as a whole. The former is a perfectly logical assumption- many casual readers of the franchise will be picking up this book to gain an additional perspective on Grant Morrison’s dreamlike saga, and the writer is understandably trying to hook them into Tim Drake’s ongoing adventures. The second of these two missions, however, is rather questionable. It’s not that Nicieza’s work is defective, as he skilfully uses Robin’s state of mind as an excuse for flashbacks that emphasise the importance of Batman’s Thogol meditation exercise. He’s also able to re-introduce the Black Casebooks and isolation chamber experiment that have loomed large through Morrison’s run on Batman, providing a handy primer for those walking into the climax of the long-seeded tale.

The difficulty is that the pages of Robin are hardly the place to which casual readers will turn for such explanations. It’s far more likely that they will simply head straight for the core books, passing over the adjuncts to the line. The writer is correct in viewing R.I.P. as an opportunity to expand Robin’s readership, but seems to overlook the fact that the influx will predominantly be from those already versed in the Gotham status quo and looking to round out their understanding of R.I.P., rather than non comics readers intrigued by The Dark Knight (which does not feature a Robin). It’s also rather jarring that certain areas of Batman R.I.P. have been clearly listed as off-limits for the book. Morrison has suggested that the existence of Damian is the primary factor in the wedge between Tim and his mentor, and it feels distinctly odd that Drake’s thoughts never dwell on Bruce Wayne’s illegitimate son. It might be argued that Robin is deliberately ignoring this unwelcome presence in his life, but the copious first-person narration provides any number of opportunities for a retracted mention of the cuckoo in the nest.

The issue’s art is strong, with Joe Bennett proving his adeptness with facial expressions, and Guy Major’s colours help tie the chapter into its parent story. The central plot moves quickly, and Nicieza does a good job of solidifying Tim’s state of mind, although it’s hard to shake the impression that Morrison will cover similar ground in a couple of panels at some point. It’s a competent piece of storytelling, but it’s hard to imagine the Nicieza’s imagined audience getting as far as picking the book up.

A small week because Seb’s still on holiday, but there’s still plenty inside, including Russian Sitcoms, Thunderbolts, Neil Gaimen on Batman, the Watchmen trailer AND a Paul Cornell interview!

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It’s been a while due to the server movie and redesign, but annotations for X-Men: Legacy #210 are now up. Hopefully someone besides me will enjoy them!

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