Fantastic Four: War Zone

Marvel Pocket Books Novels

by Greg Cox

As a consequence of their very public fall from grace as the superhero defenders of humankind, the Fantastic Four--Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm--confront not only the loss of their reputations but also an all-new threat from the depths of the Negative Zone that will test their skills to the limit. Original.

Genres: Marvel, Superheroes, Audiobook, Comics, Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot summarized in one dialogue snippet:

SUE: “This is all so pointless. We don’t even want your stupid rod.”

ANNIHILUS THE DEATH THAT WALKS: “Then you are either a liar or a fool!”


(He really loves that rod.)

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

War Zone is a very good FF prose novel, with a very pleasing balance of apocalyptic action and warm fuzzy family interaction. Cox did an excellent job of capturing Lee's original flavor of the voices of the characters, and paying homage to many of the icons from the pages of the early magazines. (For example, a herd of H.E.R.B.I.E.s, you betcha!) The team seems to be able to enjoy some much deserved down time to relax when unexpected danger comes forth from the Negative Zone, which means it's... (everybody check your watches and say it with me)... it's clobberin' time! Excelsior!

[Mark Stratton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear Lord, the voice actors for both Blasstar and Annihulus were so god-awful as to be laughable. Corny and cliche dialogue didn’t help. Story was pedestrian as well.

[John Hascock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book around 5 or 6 years ago. At the time, the book ratings (on other sites) wasn't that great. Personally I enjoyed it. After reading it, i put it away and forgot all about it.


Last month, I found it while cleaning my stuff and decided to read it again. I didn't remember the story. But i'm glad I read it again.

Excellent book. Fast paced. Intriguing story

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Greg Cox mixes in enough realism with melodrama to make a comic book novel work like it ought to.

The melodrama I speak of is found in the bad guys' speech and at times, as I read it, I laughed out loud at how melodramatic it was.. Yet, I enjoyed the melodrama of it... much as I enjoyed the villains in the old Knott's Berry Farm Birdcage Theater melodrama plays...

Here's a couple of examples-- remember I'm saying I liked this dialogue and enjoyed it, even as I found it humorous

Annihilus:

"Spare me your meaningless bravado... I shall wring the truth from you with my own hands!"

"Annihilus requires no invitation, mortal! I go where I please, and death goes with me."


Blastaar:

"Run all you can!...My power will find you before long! Then you will know the full force of my hatred."

"Richard!...How dare you have the audacity to invade my realm once more?"


This type of melodramatic villain-speak really kept my interest. One one level it was almost comical, but on another it fit the situations and characters so well.


The actual characterization of the individual Fantastic Four members took a backseat to the action. Sue's main concern was for her children and that feeling reverberated throughout the action. Ben had a couple of occasions to feel sorry for himself. Reed's scientific curiosity managed to propel the story. However, I never got a real sense of who Johnny was-- except that he possibly had finally learned his lesson about rushing into danger. In fact, the real criticism I have of the novel is that the characters were like the false fronts of a movie set-- nothing deep.

The closest we got to deep thinking or ethics was Johnny dealing with a monster and trying to find a way to contain it rather than kill it, having decided killing was not something the team wanted to be involved in. While that was interesting-- I'm sorry-- If I was a superhero and monster was rampaging and endangering the lives of people and killing some--- I would most definitely be willing to use my powers in a lethal manner. I wouldn't sit back and say-- "Now how can I stop the death and carnage without doing any actual killing myself?" Reed has a moment or two of similar thinking in a battle where he doesn't want any of Blastaar's soldiers to get killed in the combat because he considers them innocent slaves of a sort to Blastaar's tyranny.

On the other hand, often that's what you get from comic books. Sort of a paper cut out.

Cox writes well, his action sequences are decent, and his plot is well thought out. All in all-- a decent comic book novel.

[Easton Livingston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book a couple times, each time getting a paragraph further but not really getting into the first setting of the book. I finally decided to buckle down and read the book. I'm glad I did. After getting through the first part of the initial setting, the book had me hooked for its entirety.

Don't let my three stars dissuade you in the least. I enjoyed this book. Greg Cox's writing keeps you compelled to follow the family adventure. There's some good writing here.

A full review link is coming soon. Suffice it to say in summary that it's well worth plunking down a few greenbacks to get it.

[Travis Cummins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Greg Cox, he's a wonderful author for Star Trek but for the F4 he's a little lacking. He writes then with very cheesy dialogue from a 1950's sitcom that just didn't work for me. The premise of the story is strong and the action is well written but the actual handling of the characters could have been better in my eyes.

[libreroaming · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare day off for the Fantastic Four turns into a impromptu war zone as they discover various creatures from the Negative Zone have invaded their dimension and are wreaking havoc. Now Mr. Fantastic and the Thing must go into the depths of the dangerous Negative Zone to discover the cause behind it while the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch stay behind to stave off the threat.

Greg Cox is one of my favorite comic book novelization writers because he really tends to make it feel like part of the comic universe set through prose. The stakes are always high, the battles long and hard fought, and his style of erstwhile verbosity and technical jargon works especially well in the canon where Reed Richards constantly keeps going on about quantum mechanisms being displayed to the nth axis. Although real physicists might roll their eyes at the discussions, this is a novel about an antimatter universe invasion, so I think that level of realism has been well and truly suspended.

Each of the main characters get their moments to shine in this novel through personal moments and acts of heroism. In the Thing's case, a short lived romance was my favorite for how it felt like something anybody writing the series would have loved to include. Fans of Ben and Johnny's bickering, the family moments, and well worn catchphrases need not worry about these things being excluded. There are some cute nods to fans, such as a cavalry of H.E.R.B.I.E.s coming to the rescue while Johnny Storm grudgingly admits their usefulness, even as he mentions how annoying he finds them.

While this novel is not a groundbreaking idea--evil invaders hatch plan to take over/destroy Earth, are repelled, rinse, wash, repeat--fans of Fantastic Four will enjoy the ride. Readers who turn up their noses at comic book superheroics won't find anything Literary and Deep here to change their mind, but this is a thoroughly fun read if you're already a fan of the world and characters.

[Anthony Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read overall. I enjoyed seeing all the characters working together and all the various different elements of FF comic lore. The FF having to face the forces of evil from the Negative Zone was spectacular. I feel like this story seems to work as of right now with modern times because we are so very close to FF making their come back and Marvel has many of its Easter eggs of these various elements I previously mentioned. So in that way it's rewarding. I did however have trouble with some choice of dialog for The invisible Woman specifically. I really like her character but she kind of came off as a but dim. She did have her moment at the end but I just don't know they tend to discredit Susan at times I feel especially back then. She is truly a powerful character , probably 5th most powerful from what I know. But anyway, this is a great book and the fight with the huge monster in the city was awesome- kind of hard to imagine but it was still Rad!

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a nice, solid superhero read. Their personalities shined through, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Ben. I just honestly wish the heroes weren’t all in the same universe and could just solidly have their own stories; the references to main characters outside of the Four threw me off.

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic Audio did a great job and I prefer to listen to Comic adaptions that they've done then just the normal audio formats. This story was just ok though. I'm not the greatest FF fan, so that might have something to do with that fact.

[clumsyplankton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad

[Nawaf BuHamad · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of Marvel and the Fantastic Four then you'll love this novel.

[Adam Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better then I thought it would be. These marvel novels are a good read.

[Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fantastic Four were having the time of their lives until creatures from another dimension invaded their dimension. After capturing the creatures, they learn of a plot that would put their universe at stake. Is the Fantastic Four capable enough to stop the plot and defend Earth at the same time?

[Robert Bowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far a better FF story than any I've read in novel form in a LONG time!

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read for people who use to read comic books.

[Hyann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greg Cox is a really solid author, maybe not full of surprise but you know he will make research for his books.

He covered all the FF basic without repeat the obvious. Each superheroes get solo action to shine and team-up are great.

The only reason why I didn't give it 4 stars is the rampaging Annihilus in the Baxter Building questing for the Nega-Portal... Too much description (4 lines for each thing Annihilus destroyed)...
by the time Annihilus found the portal, Reed and Ben are in another univers battling Blastaar, perfecting another portal and free an entire prison... not enough balance for me and timing questionable.

Still a good read for FF fans