When the brand new Fantastic Four #1 debuts in November, Marvel’s First Family will transfer in a course impressed by… Guy Fieri?

“I pitched it as something like Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” stated Ryan North, the incoming Fantastic Four author. “There’s this guy showing up, a big personality, and he’s making something better when he’s leaving.”

“The main thing I had in my head was this image of the Fantastic Four rolling into town where nobody knew them, and there was a weird problem with the town,” stated North. “They would fix it and they would roll on to the next town.” It’s a simple, down-to-earth idea, and a giant shift for a franchise that has spent most of its latest historical past working on a extra cosmic scale.

Image: Ryan North, Jesus Aburtov/Marvel Comics

North, an Eisner Award winner for his creative work on comics like Adventure Time and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, isn’t any stranger to huge concepts. His e-book, How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler, highlights how passionate he’s about science, know-how, anthropology, and extra, making him an impressed option to take comics’ preeminent explorers into the longer term.

“Something I’ve kept in mind is that I never want the book to feel like it is revisiting the greatest hits,” stated North. “We’ve had those stories before; we want to do something new that feels fresh and feels like we haven’t seen it before. And so one of the ways I’ve been trying to get into that is by having them be very grounded. They’ve lost their money. They’ve lost their fame. They’ve lost a lot of their tech. They’ve lost their popularity.”

With this new establishment, North embraces the chance to herald new readers with a brand new concern 1. “I wanted a book that could be accessible to someone going in completely cold and knowing nothing of the FF, but would also respect the history.” North stated. “I wanted to tell more stand-alone stories. That came from Squirrel Girl, where between these arcs we do these one-off stories that had a beginning, middle, end, and were self-contained.”

Image: Ryan North, Jesus Aburtov/Marvel Comics

Image: Ryan North, Jesus Aburtov/Marvel Comics

Issue 1 is a time-loop story with Ben Grimm and his spouse, Alicia Masters-Grimm. Issue 2 brings Reed Richards and Sue Storm to a city filled with Doombots, and concern 3 shifts the main focus to Johnny Storm, who has to maneuver into his personal condominium after shedding entry to funds. But don’t fear, the staff will likely be again collectively quickly sufficient, and this primary have a look at Alex Ross’ cowl for concern 4 reveals the Fantastic Four united in opposition to an assortment of traditional Marvel monsters.

Image: Alex Ross/Marvel Comics

For readers questioning the place the Fantastic Four’s youngsters match into the brand new collection, North is hesitant to say an excessive amount of for story causes however assures that they’re nonetheless within the image: “I promise I am not killing off the kids.” But for the beginning of the collection, North desires to scale back the e-book’s ensemble and slim the concentrate on the core 5 characters.

“Reed’s obviously the smart one, and I feel like for a lot of the Fantastic Four history, especially in the ’60s, that got portrayed as the correct one,” North stated. “But you may be sensible and be an entire fool. Anyone who’s sensible and trustworthy will let you know that. So I like the thought of Reed as somebody who has the e-book studying, however depends on Sue and the opposite members of his household to deal with the extra interpersonal elements of it for him.

“I see Sue as the most powerful member of the team. […] It’s at a level that is far beyond what the others can do. She’s also the one who is the best at talking to people. She’s the one who you could drop into a room in which she knows no one, and she could come out with some friends on their side.”

To North, there’s extra to Johnny “The Human Torch” Storm than being the irresponsible member of the group. “I see him at a place where he’s not a teenager anymore and he’s happy with who he is. He’s there to have fun. He’s there to have a good time. He doesn’t have a lot of money to go around and the only thing he has left with the unstable particles that make things fireproof are the trunks. So when he flames on he burns his clothes, and when he flames off he is just a ripped, shirtless guy in underpants. And Johnny is completely cool with that.”

This time round, the Four are actually 5. Ben Grimm and longtime flame Alicia Masters tied the knot in 2018, and as Ben’s companion for all times, North needed to provide her equal footing on the staff, whether or not or not she had superpowers, and her personal perspective. “Alicia is an artist. She’s someone who cares about ideas and concepts and art and beauty and truth. Ben is much more grounded in dealing with the world: ‘Truth and beauty are important, but what are we getting for dinner?’ sort of thing. […] He’s got a shyness to him under there. He’s got a big, huge heart. Really wants to help people, really wants the best for everyone he meets. He’s so sincere and almost guileless; he’s not going to sugarcoat for you. He’s not going to try to manipulate you to get what he wants. He’s just going to tell you the truth as he sees it and do what he thinks is right.”

Fantastic Four companions North with artist Iban Coello and colorist Jesus Aburtov, who beforehand labored collectively on Venom. “It’s been a very collaborative experience, which is what I love,” stated North. “Iban has been throwing ideas my way: What if we combine these panels? Here’s where we could turn this into a splash. Not just rendering what’s in the script, but taking the script as a starting point for doing something better with it. In particular, his action scenes have been really cool, to the level of me saying, ‘Damn, we’ve got to put some more action stuff in this script because I want to see what Iban does with it.”

Image: Ryan North, Jesus Aburtov/Marvel Comics

Image: Ryan North, Jesus Aburtov/Marvel Comics

Image: Ryan North, Jesus Aburtov/Marvel Comics

Image: Ryan North, Jesus Aburtov/Marvel Comics

The admiration is mutual, and Coello appreciates how North pushes him exterior of his consolation zone. “Ryan is a great writer with a lot of great ideas that force me to learn a new way to tell a story.” Coello stated. “I’m learning a lot from him!” These unique preview pages from Fantastic Four #2 and #3 showcase how Coello leans into the dynamic visible parts of every hero’s powers, whether or not it’s Reed’s elastic appendages or Johnny’s roaring flames. Drawing the Human Torch is Coello’s favourite factor about engaged on the collection, and he supercharges Johnny’s powers to make them pop much more on the web page.

While circumstances for Marvel’s First Family could be dire, the inventive staff is dedicated to the core tenets of the Fantastic Four. “We still have the same optimism that’s baked into them,” stated North. “That science and reason will save us. That we can, with enough smarts and compassion, do anything.”