Warning: SPOILERS for Fantastic Four #1
Marvel's Fantastic Four repeats a writing mistake in Spider-Man's latest adventure - and in the process, alienates the audience in two major properties. The company's so-called First Family's new 2022 series starts off promisingly enough, with a self-contained story sure to please fans of certain Fantastic Four heroes like the Thing. But Fantastic Four #22 commits the cardinal sin of deliberately obfuscating crucial information from the reader - just like Spider-Man's most frustrating storyline to date.
For over 40 issues, the Fantastic Four series was run by writer Dan Slott, a long-time Marvel creative and mastermind of the 2021-22 event Fantastic Four: Reckoning War. Slott departed the book at the event's conclusion after wrapping up multiple story threads at once, including the wedding of the villainous Doctor Doom, permanently activating the Human Torch's power, and Reed Richards finally locating his long-lost half-sister and finding closure regarding his distant father. Now a new creative team oversees the franchise, and the ending of the first issue may lead to problems in the future.
In Fantastic Four #1, written by Ryan North with art by Iban Coello, the Thing and Alicia Masters find themselves trapped in a town seemingly locked within a single day. A time loop prevents Ben or Alicia from asking any of the locals about the situation (since their memories are all erased at the end of every day). Eventually the pair solve the mystery and find themselves back in the present day. On the road once again, Ben reminisces about the rest of the team, including the Human Torch and Reed Richards, apparently estranged from one another. "After what Reed did to New York..." he says "Well, I don't think the rest of the world will be forgiving the Fantastic Four any time soon either." The final page reveals a massive chunk of the city is simply missing, replaced by a glowing crater.
Everyone Knows What Reed Richards Did - Except The Reader
This tactic of keeping important secrets from the reader is also used in Zeb Wells' current Spider-Man run, in which Peter is enduring the repercussions of making a mysterious decision six months before the present day. Spider-Man's actions are known to everyone except the reader, making for a rather frustrating reading experience when every character refers to the nebulous "event" in impossibly vague terms (which they wouldn't naturally use unless they were trying to hide information from someone - in this case, the reader). The Thing, Alicia, the Fantastic Four the entire population of New York City apparently know what Reed did, but the book doesn't bother to fill in the reader.
Both Spider-Man and the current Fantastic Four books present the mystery of the plot as the hook of the story, but these hooks are not interesting if the reader is the only one left in the dark. If the audience followed a main character who also didn't know what was going on, that would be a better tactic, but neither book uses this. The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man series will eventually reveal these events (Reed's actions and Spider-Man's big "six-month decision"), but there is a difference between a mystery for the reader and simple common knowledge. Fantastic Four #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.