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Rewriting Stan and Jack Just a Little in Fantastic Four #5 (SPOILERS)

Just so you know, Fantastic Four #5, out this Wednesday, featuring the wedding of Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters is an actual half issue with the Fanatastic Four Wedding Special, out a couple of weeks ago. Bleeding Cool had reports that some stores felt they had overordered on that one, but I'm here to say that it might be worth picking up to complete the set.  That book told the story of Alicia Masters' Hen Night at a strip joint, and Ben Grimm going to get permission from the Puppet Master to marry his daughter. And Fantastic Four #5 gives you the other half, but also has scenes that connect, giving you the Bachelor Party, and more from Johnny Storm on the assembled gaggle of ex-girlfriends. And why Thundra went off with the men instead…

Reading the original Fantastic Four #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby is a weird experience. The characters are a long way off from what they would become and say a lot of off-message off-the-cuff things. In this Wednesday's Fantastic Four #5, Dan Slott gets the chance to go back and retell the story with Michael Allred, dropping out their obsession with communists, but adding a little context by letting us see what the Invisible Woman was thinking.

So recognisable and memorable scenes like this..

Are given new context, Susan's impatience with her fiancee and his cold obsession with his work and indifference to her needs, lead her to spend more time with Ben Grimm, as a potential rival for her affections, which give her accusations of cowardice an extra sting. And forgets to mention the communists.

Allred stays as close to the original as he can. While the threat of cosmic rays, which I had forgotten that it was Ben who made the biggest deal out of, ring true again.

And it's Ben's foreshadowing which Slott highlights and emphasises the tragedy.

Because we get the initial transformations, first the original…

And now the remake.

And the man who warned Reed Richards, who Susan Storm emotionally manipulated, is not his usual self as a result. He changes, in more ways than one.

The Stan Lee tribute at the beginning and end of this issue, is even more poignant than Marvel's other issues with the same black border and beginning pages. Becayse Slott and Allred not only reflect what Lee and Kirby did together with the Fantastic Four, but also what they would go on to do. It finds a way to marry their earlier characerisation with what they would become over the following several years of work together.

And give a much stronger context to the accusation of loving the wrong man… and a Ben Grimm to whom she remains that feeling of guilt towards.

Though thankfully a little less ezposition from Johnny Storm than the first time around.

A pact made our of guilt rather then idyllic heroism. And hey, isn;t that what family is all about anyway?

Not just these scenes that are recreated, we also get the origins of the Puppet Master and Alicia Masters, and their relationship with the Thing.

Recreated as ridiculously as it was the first time…

Which wouldn't be quite so weird if it wasn't also explicitly mocked by Fred Hembeck in the Wedding Special a couple of weeks ago. In a loving way, of course.

So we get an involved book, with lots of stories going on and a real companion to the Fantastic Four Wedding Special. Which should still be on retailer shelves if you do want to do the double.

FANTASTIC FOUR #5
(W) Dan Slott (A) Aaron Kuder, Adam Hughes, Michael Allred (CA) Esad Ribic
SPECIAL 650th ISSUE SPECTACULAR!
The wedding that's been years in the making…Ben and Alicia say "I do!"
No bait. No switch. Not a dream. Not a hoax. And we swear, not a single Skrull around. This is really happening! From the book that brought you the first, best and longest running super hero marriage in comics, we give you…the wedding of Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters! Featuring an untold tale of the courtship of Ben and Alicia. A bachelor party that only Johnny Storm could throw. And a very special ceremony brought to you in the Mighty Marvel Manner.
Rated TIn Shops: Dec 26, 2018
SRP: $7.99

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