'X-Men + Fantastic Four' #2 Review: A contrived fight still looks fantastic, making for a fun issue
Spoiler alert for 'X-Men + Fantastic Four' #2
There are, roughly speaking, two types of stories that play out when Doctor Doom makes an appearance. The first is when his villainy is on full display — the Doom. The second type focuses a little more on the Doctor when Victor von Doom offers his aid, and you are left wondering how much time you have before his inevitable betrayal. Despite his dramatic entrance at the end of #1, this story is definitely the latter. While the Fantastic Four and the X-Men battle out their personal and political differences, Franklin and Valeria Richards are hanging out on Doom Island, about to trust Doom with access to some dangerous powers.
The mirroring of 'Fantastic Four vs. X-Men' continues here as Doom offers to help someone gain control over their powers after Reed Richards failed to do so, where three of the Fantastic Four distrust their leader and more fighting happens than is strictly necessary.
With Doctor Doom having taken the children, the Fantastic Four escalate hostilities with the X-Men, believing the mutants to have kidnapped them. It makes the battle a little more reasonable — when the kids are in trouble, the FF aren't going to waste time figuring out whether they should or should not explore their immediate lead. The X-Men, however, don't take kindly to the FF's infiltration/invasion, and the fight proper ensues.
On art alone, this issue is a lot of fun. Terry Dodson draws a fantastic action comic that is fluid and exciting. He seems to be having an especially fun time drawing Reed Richards in all his stretchy glory. Between Johnny Storm's fire, Cyclops' eye beams, Sue's force fields and various psychic abilities, the colors do a lot to add to bring a sense of liveliness and power to the page. It's everything you want to see in a superhero brawl.
It would all be a lot more enjoyable if the antagonism didn't work to make both sides less likable. Neither of their causes put them in a particularly favorable light. The X-Men are fighting for the right to separate a minor from his parents, despite their express wishes, in an unsubtle power grab. Sue Storm's need to find her children would have been more sympathetic if her obvious dislike of Krakoa's methodology didn't keep getting in the way. Although the teams have not had all that much interaction with each other, they have been saving the world together for years and that should earn a little benefit of doubt from both sides.
There is resentment between the two teams that goes much deeper than the issue with Franklin, something that a longer series would benefit from exploring. But as is, the miniseries is highlighting the policy of superheroes to attack first, ask questions later. It's disappointing to see that ought to be inspiring in heroes.
Doctor Doom is the only one who, on the surface, isn't using Franklin as a pawn, and is instead offering Franklin the one thing he really needs — agency. It's easy to see why Franklin would turn to Doom, especially given the urgency of the situation. Franklin knows it's only a matter of time before his family finds him and Franklin doesn't know if he can trust his dad to really give him his powers back anymore.
The issue, thankfully, doesn't make us wait too long for the other shoe to drop. With a fleet of Doom Sentinels and the tease of next issue tapping into Franklin's "godpower", it's very obvious that Doom is up to no good. Exactly what kind of no good he is up to is a little murky, but modeling your robots after mutant killing robots is about as clear a statement as one can make. With the real threat revealed, we are heading towards the team-up part of a superhero crossover and if this issue is any indication, that fight is going to look spectacular.
'X-Men + Fantastic Four' is written by Chip Zdarsky and penciled by Terry Dodson, with inks by Rachel Dodson, Karl Story and Ransom Getty. The color art is by Laura Martin and lettering by VC's Joe Caramagna.
The next issue of 'X-Men + Fantastic Four' releases on March 25.
