Ultimate Fantastic Four Volume 3 N-Zone

Awesome.

That's all that really needs to be said about N-Zone. Just awesome. This has been my favourite so far (obviously) but the reason is that it's just written so well for super-high science fiction.

I really liked the way Reed was using his powers outside of the box. Being stretchy is about so much more than being able to tie oneself in knots. I didn't like what they did with Johnny in the N-Zone. To me, his exotropic powers seemed to be reacting to the endotropic universe and it made sense. Instead, he was shedding his skin like some kind of snake?

There was great tension built up with the escape and while it ended with the obligatory fight scene I still really liked it. I'm giving it a 5.

Ultimate Fantastic Four Volume 1 The Fantastic

Everything I know about the Fantastic Four I know from the movie so I was intrigued to visit the ultimates version of the team.

The Fantastic is the origin story for the new team. They're younger than the classic tale so Bendis and Miller have to massage things some for them to be where they're supposed to be. Reed and Sue are easy. They're both geniuses so it makes sense that they'd be together at a special school. Johnny (my favourite by the way) is Sue's brother so he'd be with them because he has to stay with his dad who's also at the special school. Ben? Ben's a bit different and I didn't really believe that they'd let him attend the test of Reed's machine but I'll go with it.

I liked seeing Reed grow up and I liked how the authors chose to give their version their powers. I also felt very stupid for never noticing that the team is essentially the four elements. Fire and Air are easy (Johnny and Sue) but I never really thought of Ben as Earth because he never really looked as if he were stone before and Reed elasticity is certainly akin to Water.

I enjoyed the story. I'm looking forward to reading the next volume so I'll give it a 4.