Fantastic Four: Into the Breach

Fantastic Four (1998) (Single Issues) #40–44

by Jeph Loeb, Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Marín Trechera

Earth's first family of super heroes finds its members divided and their time-tested resolve pushed to the limit. With Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Thing marooned in the anti-matter universe, the Human Torch renews his famous feud with Prince Namor, the Atlantean Sub-mariner - and forms a new FF!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Bande Dessinée, Comic Book

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.

A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book. Reed, Sue, and Ben are trapped in the Negative Zone, so Johnny recruits a new team to replace and try to rescue them. The first to answer the call is She Hulk, who's quite put out that he tried a dozen others ("I mean... Luke Cage?!") before calling her... after all, she did used to be a member of the team. Meanwhile, Namor is raising a ruckus and Ant-Man shows up, as does Namorita, who's saucy as ever. Jennifer proves herself to be the brightest of the bunch, and gets the best lines throughout. There are a variety of different artists, but they made a good attempt to bring an air of consistency to the book. Who's to say that Sue shouldn't try out new hairstyles while being marooned and fighting for her existence? The one unfortunate art choice is Ben Grimm, who at this time can change at will back and forth to The Thing; he looks a bit too much like Mole Man as Ben here. The book collects issues 40-45, and the first five tell a good self-contained story, whereas the last one is a Puppet Master story that doesn't fit well. The Negative Zone sequences in the main storyline are pretty well done, though a little confusing a time or two as to who's trying to accomplish what and where did those vehicles come from? They meet a group of Puritans who've been stranded for centuries, Annihilus, Maximus, some Gideon mercenary invaders bent on murder and mayhem, etc. It's a nice fun romp with some good humor and action... what more do we need? Or, as new ally Gornka says: "It is time for clobbering!"

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read. Just a classic adventure of the Fantastic Four.
They go to the Negative Zone and some hijinx ensues. This is the 2nd half of a longer story and I don't remember part one. The main villain is a corporation and guy who keeps dying. Anyway, some really bad puns / jokes. The art is decent.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entry in Pacheco's run on FF, which is definitely one of the forgotten ones. A bit of a shame, really, as it's solid work. Pacheco's art is excellent, but the writing is more workman-like rather than inspired, and I think that's one of the things that tends to define the great eras of the FF from the rest. I do think they're one of the harder books to really write well, as it's always a challenge to write a character who is supposed to be one of the smartest people on the planet, if not the smartest.

The Lee/Kirby, Byrne, and Waid runs for sure are ones that are generally considered the standouts, but this one is enjoyable and does some good work and Pacheco is an excellent artist for this kind of a series. Might have been better if he'd been paired with a strong writer that he'd worked with well (Busiek comes to mind) rather than this co-writer setup they ran with, but I understand Pacheco wanting to stretch himself more and why Marvel was willing to give him the room. It's certainly not bad work (anything Pacheco draws is going to be nice to look at and with quality storytelling in the art composition), just maybe a missed opportunity?

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

La corporación Gideon quiere hacerse con la Zona negativa y todo lo que ella tiene, para eso tiene un ejercito comandado por The Trapster y un montón de soldados que arrasan cuanto se les atraviesa ,y Reed va tras sus pasos...

Las historias son sencillas,el concepto es bueno pero por dios, le falta mucha fuerza, se desperdicia a Maximus, el trauma de Jhonny solo en New York aparece y desaparece de la anda, no hay nada de fantástico en el viaje...siento que se podia dar mas, pero quedamos a medio camino. Entonces, si es asi de sencillo y simple...¿porque 3 estrellas?, pues por un inmenso Carlos Paceco que se respalda con un gran entintado de Jesus Merino y se marcan un arte clasico, genial, lleno de detalles a un nivel sobrecogedor que el mismo George Perez debería envidiar, por ejemplo ese barco abandonado podria estar en un museo, su Thing es gloriosa, inmensa y poderosa, el aslato a la zona negativa es sobrecogedor, y su Anihilus te hace dar miedo. Es un arte que te quita el aliento , haciendo que quieras mas y mas de esta pareja artistica .

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pacheco's second volume of issues isn't quite as strong as his first. He had left some dangling plotlines in the first volume that he tries to wrap up here, and when he's forced to explain things, the explanations don't reward the reader as well as one would hope. That being said, these are still an above average read and worth the time.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

How perky Fantastic Four adventure this was? Much more entertaining and perkier that it has been in ages! Nice, fluent art, not too much sounds-like-scientific blabbering, more fast forward adventure in Negative Zone.
Much fun.

[Will Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keep up the fun!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

my favorite fantastic four collection.

[Troy-David Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thjs volume features the Negative Zone, and Annihilus, one of the FF’s better villains.
I very much enjoyed the art, which served to illustrate the alien enviornment.
Also interesting was the corporate attempt at exploiting the Negative Zone. Good use of the Gideon Trust, excellent use of the Trapster.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fantastic Four get lost in the Negative Zone, and they need to stop some other Earthlings using it. Some nice and different ideas about the negative zone. A decent read.