Fantastic Four #4
Fantastic Four Vol. 4 #4 (April 2013) is a representative chapter of Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley's Marvel NOW! relaunch—the first full renumbering of the title since the Jonathan Hickman era—and illustrates the run's signature premise: an intimate family road trip through time and space secretly driven by Reed Richards hiding his own molecular deterioration from the people he loves. The issue deepens that dramatic irony by placing the team on the alien world of the Aylethians, where a millennium-old prophecy brands the Invisible Woman a messiah, foregrounding Sue Storm as a protagonist in her own right rather than simply a supporting character. It also carries a quiet continuity correction: the flashback to Reed and Sue's first meeting retcons her age from twelve to late-teens, a change editor Tom Brevoort later defended in the letter column of issue #9 on straightforward ethical grounds, making the issue a small but notable moment in Marvel's ongoing effort to clean up uncomfortable Silver Age backstory.
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The volume launched in November 2012 as part of Marvel NOW!, the line-wide creative refresh overseen by editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, with Tom Brevoort and Lauren Sankovitch as series editors. Fraction and Bagley were paired together specifically for this relaunch; Bagley, whose marathon 111-issue run on Ultimate Spider-Man with Brian Michael Bendis had made him one of Marvel's most reliable high-volume pencilers, brought that same workmanlike consistency to the FF, ultimately drawing issues #1 through #13 of the 17-issue volume. Issue #4 was edited by Jake Thomas under Brevoort's oversight and carries the standard cover by Bagley with a Terry Dodson variant.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Published February 13, 2013 (cover-dated April 2013) as part of Fantastic Four Vol. 4, the Marvel NOW! relaunch of the title.
- Written by Matt Fraction; pencils by Mark Bagley; inks by Mark Farmer; colors by Paul Mounts, Edgar Delgado, and Rain Beredo; letters by Clayton Cowles.
- Continues the run's central dramatic arc: Reed Richards is secretly suffering from unstable-molecule decay and has organized the family's year-long voyage through time and space as a cover for finding a cure, concealing his condition from Sue, Ben, and Johnny.
- Contains a flashback establishing that Sue Storm was in her late teens (not twelve years old, as previously stated in Fantastic Four #291 and Vol. 3 #543) when Reed Richards first moved into her family home — a deliberate retcon acknowledged by editor Tom Brevoort in the letter column of issue #9.
- Shipped with at least two variant covers: a standard Mark Bagley cover and a Terry Dodson variant.
- Falls within the arc later collected in trade paperback as part of Fraction and Bagley's run; the first TPB, New Departure, New Arrivals (ISBN 978-0785166597), collects issues #1–3 alongside FF #1–2 and Marvel NOW! Point One material.
- Mark Bagley penciled the full first 13 issues of this volume before handing off interior art duties, part of the broader Marvel NOW! strategy of pairing proven, fast-paced artists with high-profile relaunches.
Reprints
Reprinted in Fantastic Four #2 (2013)
Key issues in Fantastic Four
Other variants of Fantastic Four #4 (1)
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