untitled (8 pages)
Written by: Jonathan Hickman
Art by: Paul Renaud
Letters by: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover by: Alex Ross
Cover Price: FREE!
It’s Free Comic Book Day 2015!! This is a prelude to the biggest Marvel event of the year!!!
The Future Foundation are featured in this short story. Who, you ask? Valeria and Franklin Richards, daughter and son of Reed and Sue Richards, along with eleven other gifted children or young adults.
Val has gathered the FF to inform them that the world will end in less than four days (95 hours, 42 minutes, 3 seconds, to be precise) when she points out the doomsday clock. She is condescending from the get-go, simplifying things and riling them. Once a clock begins counting down, it’s a fait accompli.
Dragon Man surmises that they’ve been working on a ship. Val confirms this. Alex Power chimes in and realizes that specifically it’s a life raft and that it will only transport five dozen individuals off-world. Just like her father, Val coolly affirms his observation. Bentley-13, ever the brat, sneeringly states that “Only the strong survive.”
Franklin recounts that a really condensed version of all that transpired between Mr. Hickman’s two AVENGERS books. The Illuminati joined, failed, began destroying worlds, fractured, and were substituted by The Cabal. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes ended up turning on each other.
Val rallies the troops once more. The enormous assemblage of adults failed but she is confident that her solution will work. After all, it’s “not losing”. Like a futuristic version of Noah’s Ark, scientists, engineers, and builders will have to be the main passengers.
The day has come. The Incursion is underway. Val knew that the two worlds are on a collision course. What has surprised even her is that the other-worlders had the exact same plan as Earth-616: fight, oppose, resist…til the last breath and to the death!!
Short and sweet. This is just the appetizer to the main course. It’s unusual to stumble upon the precocious prodigies that make up the Future Foundation. Any voracious reader will know that these are Mr. Hickman’s babies. It’s fitting that the daughter of Mr. Fantastic (why short-shift Sue?) would concoct her own safety plan given her fierce independence and off-the-chart intellect. Children are precious, in real life, and in fiction. It’s a neat spin on illustrating that adults don’t know everything and can’t solve it all. Children are ten times more perceptive but almost always ignored. I commend Mr. Hickman for never leaving any character behind. He acknowledges all parties used in his stories. This promises to be the epic of all epics. It will not just span the multiverse but the myriad of Marvel characters.
Paul Renaud is an accomplished artist. He handles all chores alone. The children are accurately depicted. Val is beyond presumptuousness, to the point of emulating Bentley’s brattiness. Franklin is too morose for such a young one, he is the other side of the coin to Reed’s personality. Dragon’s demeanour has shades of Frank McCoy. Mr. Renaud’s illustration of the Illuminati evokes Leinil Francis Yu’s artwork. The two-page spread emphasizes the grand scope of the war as it beyond anything any world has ever faced.
Chris Eliopoulos keeps it regular. I like the ticking clock display and the emphatic designations for Valeria and Franklin.
As an add-on, Alex Ross’ wraparound cover is beyond gorgeous. ‘Nuff said!!
Once again, it was a bit unexpected to read about this next generation of heroes instead of the bigger draws. Thus, taking the infinity symbol and propping it up, I give this an 8 out of 10.
“Attack on Avengers” (8 pages)
Plot by: Hijame Isayama
Line Art by: Gerardo Sandoval
Breakdowns by: C. B. Cebulski
Colors by: Dono Sanchez Almara
