Civil War: Fantastic Four

Once a long while while, an editing team will produce a tie-in product that not only merely references happenings elsewhere, but directly addresses unanswered questions and expands on the history and backstory that fleshes out such an event. I believe Civil War's only serious downfall (beyond the lateness of each issue) was the very nebulous nature of the beast. There were so many players it was difficult to devote much time into exploring each of their internal motivations.

Reed Richards was a major player despite the fact that the war's two icons were Captain America and Iron Man. He figured directly into the Illuminati and in Civil War was revealed to be instrumental in the reappearance of Thor (who up until that point had vanished during the Avengers Disassembled story). Reed also later helped Iron Man design the extra-dimensional prison to hold their POWs during the war.

The F4 collected edition handles issues 538 thru 543 (which also happens to be an extra-long 45-year anniversary issue). It tackles several plot threads that are barely touched upon in the main Civil War arc. Most obviously, the book takes a close look at The Thing, who was relegated to a cameo in the main arc... the book explores the Ben Grimm's crisis of faith in the midst of his family taking sides and he decides to do what other protesting Americans have done in times of war: hang out in France for a while. We get treated to his wacky adventures in a taxi, at the customs counter... and joining a French group of super-heroes who appear to be thinly disguised analogs of DC's Justice League.

Interspersed with the Thing's story, the book also explores Reed's personal motivations for supporting the Super-Humans Registration Act. He is at first depicted as a heartless and severely clinical mind. Then progressively, shown to keep secrets from friends and family (on the subject of Thor, for example) and even making up a story to tell Peter Parker explaining why he supports the SHRA. And finally revealling that he's been working on solving a doomsday scenario and he believes it could be the end of the world (so much for rational thought!).

What I found particularly interesting is that this collection of issue behaves more like a cross-over than a tie-in. The plot runs concurrently with the main Civil War arc. The family are still together at the start of the book but Johnny Storm has already been hospitalized. There are references to the Thor reappearance later on. And still later, whereas the main arc depicted Sue and Richards in a "Dear John" situation, this book's interpretation is much more dramatic, demonstrating that Invisible Woman just might be the F4's most powerful member.

While things don't exactly go back to status quo by the end, the book does wrap beautifully with the anniversary issue of F4. One could argue that this indicident was one of their most trying times (especially on a character development level). Johnny and Ben sit at home with the kids watching a documentary called "The Fantastic Four: A Look Back" while Reed and Sue try to patch things up on their own. It's hopeful and bittersweet. And was also just the right place to pack in a couple of goofy 1960's styled back-up stories paying homage to 45 years of fun adventures.

I haven't had this much fun with a collected edition in a long time.