By Zack Quaintance — Intellectually, I keep trying to tone down my excitement whenever one of these new X-Men comics builds (even a little bit) on the ideas that were in this summer’s x-cellent (goddamnit) House of X/Powers of X mini series. It feels unseemly. I’m trying to be analytical here, not gush over the stuff I used to like as a kid coming back now that I’m an adult with (too much?) time on my hands to write about it.

And then I read comics like X-Men + Fantastic Four #1. I reviewed it last week, but I liked it so much I’m also making it (and it alone!) the focus of this week’s oddly-named (think RHCP’s one album with Dave Navarro) One Hot Panel feature, which is oddly (again!) going to have several panels from the book instead of just one like the name implies.

Anyway...enjoy!

X-Men + Fantastic Four #1

First up is a throwaway gag I maybe liked a little too much, in which Wolverine refers to a duffle bag filled with beer as Canadian Healthcare.

And here we have the most interesting drama in this issue — Franklin’s teenage distrust of his dad, driven by Mister Fantastic’s inability (or unwillingness?) to really buckle down and help him secure his powers. This seems to be the crux of this series, and it’s all right here in this panel, emphasized by the idea that Reed Richards has taken the same problematic non-approach to The Thing wanting his human appearance back.

Another joke, this one in the middle of extreme tension, and it’s all to the credit of the artists — Terry and Rachel Dodson, with inking assists by Dexter Vines and Karl Story, plus colors by Laura Martin. A fight is brewing, but you have to be at least a little amused about Sue Richards putting Magneto in a bubble and spinning him around.

This is maybe the best splash page in any of these new X-Men comics yet, although I’m totally willing to hear arguments for others if you want to hit me with them on Twitter.

And finally, here we have the dramatic climax of the issue. It’s not a big punch of a use of powers — it’s Franklin making a choice with agency and finding his own father spent energy to undercut his potential independence, which is touchy business given there’s already some teen rebellion brewing in relation to Mister Fantastic’s seemingly inability (or unwillingness) to help Franklin’s powers from dissipating. Great work, all.

Click here for past installments of One Hot Panel.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.