Travis Hedge Coke
Patricia Highsmash
You Killed Future Foundation and Lyndon Johnson Got Us Out of Vietnam
by Travis Hedge Coke
The newest volume of Marvel’s Future Foundation has been canceled. It was, it seems, canceled before an issue was ever released, but if projected sales did not kill it, the word of mouth and whine of bigot could have, just as well. FF, like any comic, was stabbed and shot from all sides, as soon as it was announced. Some of the criticism, some of the concerns, I think are reasonable. A lot of it was bigotry, which my poor little brain had a hard time getting around, because it’s basically white people and aliens, almost approaching a balance between male and female characters. There is one black girl. I forget, it seems, how homophobic, transphobic, and just obnoxiously paranoid some folks are.
Not SciFi Enough
The opening arc is a prison break of alternate reality superhumans and extraterrestrials in outer space. There are aliens, clones, fish people from beneath the seas, alien-human hybrids, people from other dimensions created by nature and other dimensions created by a desperate little boy and the hypocrisy of one or two old men.
But, you had, with the first issue, even with the solicit of jailbreak is space!, people criticizing the comic for not being “science fiction enough.” Not SciFi like Jonathan Hickman’s run was SciFi. Not the hard science that Mike Allred drew. As if either of those men were going to agree and be party to this.
Why Doesn’t Julie Fix Her Hair
A prison barber begins to cut Julie Powers hair and has to stop. For the remainder of the first couple issues, she is breaking someone out of that prison, running around trying not to be stopped or killed, but some interested parties want to know: Why does she not fix her hair?
This is important! She has had her hair messed up for hours in-story, while escaping a prison in outer space, and she has not even tried to comb it over the bald spot or bought a wig!
Do They Have to Be Gay About It
The comic was immediately accused of “sexual deviancy,” for the existence of trans and queer women, and their high and dirty, dirty crime of standing there existing. What do they expect Marvel, or the talent, to do about this? Shuffle off every character whose gender or sexuality bigots have a problem with? They’re mad Tong wears dresses, they’re mad Julie Power looks at women, that Rikki Barnes has breasts. Is there not some all-men, all-straight, all-cis-hardcore-cis-oh-brother-we-are-cisgendered comic they could go fart into instead?
I Miss Dragon Man
Yeah, well, so do we all. Dragon Man with a personality and vocabulary was a truly fun creation. He was on the cover of their first issue. He is in the comic. Did anyone lamenting his absence actually read the comic?
Why Aren’t The Powers Kids Six?
Aging in superhero comics is even weirder than in other kinds of serial, with a higher chance of time warps, suspended animation, doubles of all sorts. It is easy for readers to remember the members of Power Pack, two of whom are in this comic, as small children. The two who are here, are actually the older siblings, and we never really saw them below the age of ten. Alex, when introduced, was probably twelve, and his sister, Julie, less than two years younger. They have been aging, in their in-continuity appearances, and have been late teens or so since probably mid-00s.
The ages do not make sense, relative to some other characters’, but this is not this comics’ fault, and probably nothing anyone wants to hang a story on.
The Maker Looks Nothing Like Our Mr Fantastic
Our Reed, Mr Fantastic
The Maker is an alternate reality Reed Richards. He looks much younger and is, in reality, far, far older.
But, when the Future Foundation kids encounter him, especially Alex Power, who has spent a fair amount of time with his reality’s older-looking Reed Richards, he cannot, seemingly, tell them apart. He grows suspicious, but not enough to act and he never directly acknowledges that this Reed really, truly, does not look like ours, aside from being white, having brown hair, having stretching powers.
The other Reed, The Maker.
They’re Sexing Up All the Girls
Dear Reader, this one sideswiped me.
Rikki Barnes’ tac vest is a little to with distinct breasts, but even that is not as egregious as it has been in the past. Julie, with her messed up hair and prison jumpsuit or fluffy robe? The scaly fish-girl? Tong?
Not Like Hickman’s Future Foundation
This might be true. Without paying me, I will not reread Hickman’s Fantastic Four/FF again.
Too Like Fraction/Allred Future Foundation
Since this was the last run, the last major use of this group, is it not where the influence would most likely be drawn from?
To quote that run: Love my Tong. That’s what I want.
The Art is Too Cartoony
I was surprised by the choice of artist, but other than Reed being mistaken for Reed and the two not looking alike, the art has been expressive, intelligent, strong stuff. A little whisky and honey in the coffee. But, just a little, because this is a kids comic.