X-Men + Fantastic Four #1 is out February 5, 2020. — **X-Men + Fantastic Four #1** is out February 5, 2020.

By Zack Quaintance — Back in July, House of X/Powers of X spent 12 weeks building a new status quo for the X-Men to inhabit, doing so with alternating weekly releases, a constant stream of fascinating sci-fi concepts, nods to the core of the mutant world, stellar art, and strong writing. Then, Dawn of X started, and it was relatively up and down, skewing a bit more toward up. The problem with the six Dawn of X books, was that they almost uniformly felt like part of a violent shift from the urgent quality of HoX/PoX to a more withholding, built for a long monthly run style of periodical comics.

Much of the plot points that were set up in what felt like a frenzy of intriguing narrative during HoX/PoX were either in the background or gone, as the line of X-Men comics regressed to the somewhat less consequential place that this franchise has occupied at Marvel Comics for a number of years. Don’t get me wrong, I think all but one of the new titles were a marked improvement over other modern X-Men eras (ahem), but still, anyone looking for the high of HoX/PoX was probably a bit disappointed. Until now.

Simply put, X-Men + Fantastic Four #1 is the strongest of the post-HoX/PoX titles to date. There’s a few reasons why. First, it picks up on a single scene from House of X #1, acting almost as a direct continuation, albeit one that involves subsequent plot points from Marauders (one of my favorite Dawn of X titles). Doing that builds in the sense of urgency and consequence I alluded to above, making an issue that kicks-off a four-part mini-series feel essential from its start.

The second reason I really liked this comic was that it has the best artwork of any of these new X-Men books to date, including HoX/PoX. This isn’t a knock on any creator, and the artwork throughout this X-Men revitalization has been strong on average, but in X-Men Fantastic Four #1, Terry Dodson’s pencils are rich with razor-sharp lines, and, as always, Rachel Dodson inks them in a way that enhances the entire production (with ink assists from Dexter Vines and Kary Story). Laura Martin is one of my favorite colorists in comics, and her work here is a great fit for the idyllic character designs of the Dodson art.

Finally, this debut issue is written in a way by Chip Zdarsky that fits into the wider context of the shared universe, while also building a rewarding periodical experience. There’s a real arc to the characters in this book, especially Franklin Richards who’s at the center of the events. It is at its core a story of teen rebellion, of loving and feeling loyal to your family while at the same time being compelled to strike out on your own to find meaning and fulfillment in the wider world. This is about as universal a feeling as a superhero comic can get, and it adds another compelling layer to a great superhero comic.

Overall: One of the strongest post HoX/PoX X-Men comics yet, X-Men + Fantastic Four #1 succeeds on all levels, from the artwork to the Franklin Richards teen angst character motivations, to the way this book pushes forward the human heroes versus mutants seeds planted at the start of Krakoa. 9.8/10

X-Men + Fantastic Four #1
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Penciler: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson
Ink Assist: Dexter Vines and Karl Story
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99

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