The Fantastic Four’s Best Run Brings Back Something We Lost Forever Ago

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Comic books are a unique art form, blending the power of visuals with the depth of novel-style storytelling. Like all art forms, comic book styles have evolved significantly over time. Early superhero comics were essentially short stories with pictures, featuring lots of text and detailed descriptions within each issue – a style known as ‘compressed storytelling.’ However, as the medium matured, comics began to prioritize artwork and expanded their narratives, moving away from self-contained single issues toward longer stories collected in trade paperbacks.

Modern comic books often use a “decompressed” style, focusing on big action sequences and multi-issue storylines. It’s been decades since we’ve seen comics that tell complete stories in just one issue. However, Ryan North’s recent work on Fantastic Four (2025) is a refreshing exception, bringing back these self-contained, smaller-scale adventures. His run is considered one of the best in the history of the Fantastic Four, and issue #5 – featuring a team-up between the Invisible Woman and Black Cat – is a prime example.

A Small-Scale, Classic Adventure

In issue #5, Mister Fantastic, the Thing, and the Human Torch went on a long fishing trip to the Negative Zone, leaving Sue and Alicia in charge of the Baxter Building. Shortly after they left, Black Cat arrived with the police pursuing her. Sue visited Felicia in jail, where Black Cat insisted she was falsely accused of murder. With Spider-Man off in space, she asked the Fantastic Four for assistance. Although Sue didn’t trust Felicia, she didn’t believe she was capable of murder and decided to investigate the situation.

The crime scene was surprisingly tidy, and the guards only saw Black Cat go inside. Detective Sue was almost ready to abandon the case, partly because she was so annoyed with Black Cat, but Alicia encouraged her to reconsider. Sue realized she hadn’t given Black Cat a fair chance and decided to focus on finding the truth instead of simply disliking Felicia. This led Sue to notice inconsistencies in the timing of events, and ultimately, she identified the real killer.

Someone obtained a time-altering weapon from Kang, but it only worked by sending people ten minutes forward in time. They used it to send Felicia and the security guards ahead, and unfortunately had to kill the bank teller after recognizing him. With Black Cat’s reputation restored, Invisible Woman, Alicia Masters, and Felicia Hardy decided to spend some time getting to know each other. The story concluded with the male characters returning from the Negative Zone, while the women immediately left for a fun weekend trip to Las Vegas.

An Issue Resolved In a Single Issue

This issue of North’s Fantastic Four felt like a complete story within itself. It presented a fascinating mystery alongside a touching emotional journey for Sue, and the two were cleverly connected. Sue learned to see past Felicia’s mistakes and recognize her good qualities, which ultimately helped her solve the mystery. The issue relied more on storytelling and detailed artwork than many comics at the time, fitting the complex, information-rich mystery it was trying to create. The pages where Sue explains the events and then bonds with Black Cat are particularly noteworthy.


The opening page is packed with details and explanations about the murder, which makes sense given the complex event. However, much of this information was already revealed earlier, and this page mainly serves to connect the pieces. The scene with Sue, Alicia, and Felicia relies heavily on conversation to quickly establish their dynamic – it’s a good example of how the story compresses a lot of information into a small space. Generally, the story uses many panels, lots of dialogue, and descriptive narration to move the plot forward as efficiently as possible.

This recent storyline followed a familiar pattern: Alicia uncovering an alien invasion. Like the previous arc, it was relatively brief, clocking in at only three parts – shorter than the five-or-more-issue stories often seen in modern comics. Overall, this series is a wonderful throwback to a comic style that’s largely disappeared. While it can be quite talkative and fast-paced, this approach works well for concise stories, and it’s refreshing to see it updated for contemporary readers.

Fantastic Four #5 is on sale now!

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2025-11-17 02:13