Fantastic Four #32: Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Ben turned human. The team lost their powers. And now the Fantastic Four’s strange detour from One World Under Doom has rewritten time.

Valeria is the last member of the Fantastic Four family to be erased by the changes in the timeline in Fantastic Four #32. Fortunately her consciousness survives, transported into Mary Richards, the daughter of Reed and Sue in a world where the Fantastic Four never got powers after their spaceflight. And like Valeria, something of Franklin found its way into this world: his powers. Now Valeria has to find a way to fix time while trapped in a world ruled by a godlike Franklin Richards who makes sure that everyone everywhere acts happy and behaves themselves.

Fantastic Four #32 serves two narrative masters. Certainly it is another entry in the storyline that began in One World Under Doom #2 when Doom made Ben human. While this larger arc bookends Fantastic Four #32, though, the emotional power is in the short story North manages to fit into this issue. The alternate universe tale that he spins does feel compressed, and at times Valeria’s narration, which communicates almost all of the backstory and plot, makes the issue read more like a prose story. But neither of those qualities hold the story back.

North packs several disturbing ideas into the alternate universe depicted in Fantastic Four #32. The early moment where Valeria finds Reed and Sue and explains the situation only to be confronted by wide smiles and an insistence that “Franklin will deal with it” is bizarre but tame compared to what Valeria learns later.

Discovering that all of this stemmed from Reed and Sue effectively using Franklin as a tool leads to a momentary re-examination of the two characters. And finding out that when Franklin mindwiped his parents he left just enough of themselves to remember what they lost speaks to a kind of inherent cruelty. So much of North’s run is focused around the family aspect of the whole team that such moments beg the question of what would be lost without that foundational relationship.

The compressed nature of Fantastic Four #32’s story leaves relatively little space for character interaction. But North leaves room for one lengthy exchange between Valeria and this universe’s Franklin. Valeria is unexpectedly affecting here. Often depicted as very clinical in how she approaches the world, she is sad for this universe’s Franklin. She has a kind of love for him. But she also has a hardened conviction for what must be done in order to get her Franklin back.

There aren’t a lot of opportunities for Smith to depict the bizarre world of Fantastic Four #32, but he certainly makes the most of it. In particular Reed and Sue’s appearance early in the issue sets the tone for everything that follows. The story has given very little away at that point, and the plastered-on smiles Smith draws on the two characters are immediately disconcerting.

Smith’s level of detail on facial expressions varies somewhat at different points in the issue and with different characters. But here Smith is liberal with shading and linework (enhanced by inking), adding considerable definition to Reed and Sue’s cheekbones, jawlines, and so forth. This extra detail immediately communicates that something is very wrong here. And throughout the issue, Smith is consistent in applying similar levels of detail to background characters when the opportunity arises. With only a short time for readers to be immersed in this universe, these visual clues go a long way toward selling the creep factor North’s story is seeking.

Aburtov’s coloring on the issue’s first page grabs the attention. The depiction of coruscating temporal energies creates an exciting entry point to the issue, uplifting what is largely an actionless story. Aburtov’s bright color palette is also well suited to underscoring Franklin’s early use of his powers. Brightness translates well to magnitudes of power, and Aburtov’s work in Fantastic Four #32 underscores Franklin’s strength.

Valeria’s internal monologue dominates the fairly text heavy issue. Caramagna successfully organizes a lot of caption boxes throughout the issue, keeping them as out of the way of the art as possible. This is especially crucial in the flashback sequences where the art team has a very limited number of panels to depict what Valeria is narrating.