As you may well know, I'm a long-time fan of the Fantastic Four so I had to pick up this week's First Family.One of the things that I've been doing the past few years in an effort to enjoy my comics more is to NOT expect anything from them. I try coming to each issue with as little information as possible and, that way, I'm more often than not pleasantly surprised by what I read. If I come to the table expecting X, Y and Z to happen in a story, it inevitably will not transpire like I anticipated and I'm left disappointed.
In the case of First Family, I have to say that I was quite surprised. I knew it was to be the story of the Fantastic Four's "first" adventure, but that was about it. What surprised me was that writer Joe Casey actually seems to have done a fair amount of research to make the continuity with existing material relatively tight. From the subtle inclusion of the helicopter landing scene at the outset to bringing back Ben's then-girlfriend Linda McGill, who's appeared in exactly one story ever before. And that was a backup story in an anthology book, not one of the "main" titles!
Did Casey have to do that to tell his story? No. He could've left things well enough alone and let the folks at the Marvel Chronology Project sort it out. But he didn't. He did his homework, and added some nice nuances that long-time fans like myself will appreciate.
Kudos to Casey on this one! I've enjoyed his stories in the past, and I greatly appreciate the care with which he's put into this first issue.
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