Fantastic Four – Full Circle Comic Review ( Alex Ross )

Posted By yonghow on November 21st, 2022

It’s a rainy night in Manhattan and not a creature is stirring except for . . . Ben Grimm. When an intruder suddenly appears inside the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four—Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm)—find themselves surrounded by a swarm of invading parasites. These carrion creatures composed of Negative Energy come to Earth using a human host as a delivery system. But for what purpose? And who is behind this untimely invasion?

The Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter, risking not just their own lives but the fate of the cosmos!

Fantastic Four: Full Circle is the first longform work written and illustrated by acclaimed artist Alex Ross, who revisits a classic Stan Lee–Jack Kirby story from the 1960s and introduces the storyline for a new generation of readers. With bold, vivid colors and his trademark visual storytelling, Ross takes Marvel’s first team of super heroes to places only he can illustrate. The book also features a special poster jacket, with the front flap unfolding to reveal an all-new fully painted origin story of the Fantastic Four.

I’ve been following the stunning work of Alex Ross for some time now ( check out my reviews for his previous comics/art books ) and he hasn’t released any new comic for quite a while, so Full Circle quickly piqued my attention. To a certain extent, the artist eschews his signature style of realistic renderings and pays homage to the much more graphical and simplified forms and colors of Jack Kirby, creating an interesting fusion of two great artist styles and is definitely a fresh take on Alex Ross’s usual work.

Personally, Alex’s Ross compositions can be so busy and packed with visual information per drawing that I sometimes find it hard to decide what to actually look at, although one can certainly argue that this is a hallmark of his art style. No accounting for tastes, but I think we can all agree it is still some stupendous art work going on here.

Fantastic Four - Full Circle Comic Review ( Alex Ross )

Rendered with such explosive colors that I feel each image is seared permanently into my eyes, Fantastic Four Full Circle is a fabulous take on Stan Lee/Jack Kirby’s story by Alex Ross. There is so much amazing detail in every drawing that I can easily spend hours poring over the all the beautiful work, and the foldout jacket cover is also a nice touch. Delivered in a sturdy hardcover format for a reasonable $20 bucks, this comes recommended.