Damn, after issues one and two I was on another Jeff Lemire high. It seemed the man could do no wrong. Well, issue three brings me back down to Earth. The man isn't infallible. This is proof.
This wasn't horrible, it just wasn't ... great. And I guess when you are so used to being wowed or walking away with a smile on your face (or a frown depending) from great storytelling from a writer, time after time after time again, you grow to expect that time after time after time. Sometimes the issues are just not going to be A+ winners. Again, this is proof
I went into this, this DC Fantastic Four, with expectations and they have been met, for the most part, but this issue just proved that this isn't the FF, the voices here are not the voices that would be in that book and I think, in all fairness, THAT is what is making my reading of this issue, where characters voices are all over the place, a little less than stellar.
That is what it was for me here. The voices. They are just a tad ... off. Mr. Terrific seems way off. And not off from Reed Richards, but off from Mr. Terrific. This Phantom Girl is ... annoying? Maybe? Is that what I think of her? I don't know. Maybe. Sure Plas and Rex sound pretty good, kinda hard to mess up their unique tone, but this Terrific and this Phantom Girl? Ehhhh ...
Overall I am still hopeful for this series, but it has been three issues and I feel this book is moving even slower than that Avengers weekly I just got through reading. And I do still love me some Jeff Lemire, but maybe he is finally getting stretched too thin (Yes, THAT was a Reed reference). Maybe he is just writing too many books now? From his three Image books (Descender, Gideon Falls and Royal City ... All of which are true 100% winners), to his four Black Hammer books (including the three mini series, one of which has been completed) and all the other books he is doing for for Valiant, Marvel and DC, this dude may have passed his workload. I mean not everyone can be Cullen Bunn and do 23 books a month
Look, I am staying on this, no way I am leaving, but damn-it, I want a little more here.
The art saves this issue and thus this issue scores an average, midlin grade -
5 outta 10 Reasons to stay close