Fantastic Four/Gargoyles #1: Two Families Become One

Fantastic Four/Gargoyles is an open and closed story (also known as a “one-shot”) that focuses on a meeting and subsequent team-up between the Fantastic Four and the Manhattan Clan. If you’re a Fantastic Four or Gargoyles fan, you’ll likely recognize many of the characters already, but for the ones you don’t know, the comic addresses and reminds you just who everyone is.

The story started in a Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) Gargoyles issue on May 3rd of 2025, which ended with the gargoyles seeing a flaming 4 in the sky (referencing Fantastic Four’s Human Torch). In November 2025, Dynamite is doing Gargoyles/Fantastic Four, which is a second one-shot for the Marvel and Dynamite crossover. Both scripts are written by Greg Weisman. Gargoyles was originally an animated series created by Weisman and Michael Reaves for Disney in 1994 and was praised for its mature themes at the time. One thing I found interesting is that there are no portal or time travel hijinks used as an explanation; like in many other comic book crossovers, the Fantastic Four and the Gargoyles are simply in the same universe.

While the story itself is serviceable, albeit at times predictable, the art is rather good and captures both the warmth of the Fantastic Four’s family dynamic and the bonds of the Gargoyle’s Manhattan Clan. The color also enhances the artwork, and the lettering manages to be unobtrusive despite a rather hefty amount of dialogue in the issue’s 40 pages. Each of the characters is captured well, although I’ll admit I’m not an expert on Gargoyles lore; I’m familiar enough to recognize Lexington’s “Jalapeña!” which is analogous to a curse word used on the original ’94 Gargoyles animated series.

By the end of the issue, each character had their moment to shine and was treated with equal care by author Greg Weisman, who is also known for writing The Spectacular Spider-Men graphic novel. Nothing in Fantastic Four/Gargoyles felt out of place, but neither did anything leave me wanting more, especially with Dynamite’s version of the one-shot slated to come to comic book stores in November 2025.