Ink Pen by Phil Dunlap for April 08, 2011

That’s gotta hurt!

Yeah, he’s now playing Captain America. Casting couch must have loved the guy.

FLAME…OFFFFFF!!! Please, off, please!!!!

The Human Torch is dead…in a universe where mutants die and “un-die” on a regular basis.

Spider-Man is taking his place on the Fantastic Four…and Joe Quesada got kicked upstairs and is now the Chief Creative Officer for Marvel Comics.

Wake me when the Power Cosmic (or Phoenix Force) kicks in.

As for the strip, at least Tyr can try out for “Ghost Rider”.

I thought Vikings like a good pyre…

Well its not the Fantastic Four anymore anyways. Spiderman first appeared on FF’s original run of their comicbook had them asking him to join if i’m not mistaken. He turn it down. Now he with the Future Foundation, F4’s successor group. Ain’t going to last….

If Johnny Storm is still dead in two years, I’ll be very surprised and, frankly, very disappointed. Yeah, the resurrection rate of superheroes is pretty silly, but the FF is different, and attempts to change or augment the original lineup are only interesting in that they point up WHY the FF is different from other teams.

They’re a family (even Ben, who’s not related by blood or marriage), and the group dynamic is a family dynamic. Their ties are family ties, and their squabbles are family squabbles.

The Avengers (at heart) is an uneasy alliance of heroes who would be more comfortable acting as individuals. The X-Men is a collection of outcasts who band together, despite their differences, for survival. Members can come or go from either of these assembleys. But putting someone new (or taking away someone old) from the Fantastic Four can only work for a while.

And Spidey turned down the AVENGERS’ offer to join. Not the FF’s.

And every new comic artist and writer has a “vision.” Nick Fury is now black. Despite the wonders of the Stenko art that absolutely MADE S.H.I.E.L.D. work and made the outfit immortal, someone new has a “concept.”

Trying to “X-Men” the FF is the folly of the age. One is a collection of hated losers and (this part the movie got really right) the other group was loved almost from the start. Polar opposites. Making every hero or team a brooding -outlaw social case merely means a LACK of imagination and a butt kiss to the buck.

freeholder, Spidey was also offered a place in the FF, somewhere back in the first 5 or so issues (of Spider-Man, not Fantastic Four).

The first issue of Marvel’s What If…? hinged on Spider-Man’s refusal/acceptance of Mr. Fantastic’s offer. If Spider-Man had joined, they would have been the Fantastic Five, until Sue, feeling like a fifth wheel (she didn’t have her force-field powers at that point, just the invisibility) accepts Namor’s proposal of marriage and becomes Queen of Atlantis (thus returning the team strength to four).

That was Spidey, Wolverine, Hulk, and Ghost Rider. And Spiderman wanted to join the FF in a very early issue, but when he found that it wasn’t a paying job, he backed out.