The comic industry has a short memory, as titles are hyped on approach to their first issue and often forgotten shortly thereafter. On to the next is the typical mindset, with what’s new leading the way for readers, comic sites and beyond. Post Hype Machine is an occasional column on SKTCHD built to move against that trend, as it will exclusively be looks at — that’s right, I’m not calling it a review, I’m calling it a “look at” — titles in their second arcs or later.

Since it was first conceived, this column went from a regular feature to a bit of a rarity. That isn’t out of a lack of interest. It’s just the comics built into its very premise — lasting titles that may not have generated as much conversation as they deserve — have somewhat evaporated. It’s rare for a series in the current market to survive into a second arc, 16 let alone into double digits, without a healthy amount of buzz surrounding it it. There’s either an appropriate amount of conversation or the book gets canceled, with little middle ground between those two poles. That’s a shame because history is laden with comics that needed time to find their footing and gain an identity. You only have one chance to make a first impression these days, so you better make it count.

Maybe that’s why the current volume of Fantastic Four is so genius: It’s found a way to turn every new issue into a first impression, and it uses those opportunities to defy expectations and create something exciting and new in the process.

This series launched in 2022, and it showed great potential from the start, if only because of its writer. Ryan North was an ideal choice for Marvel’s First Family with his scientific knowledge and asymmetrical approach to superheroes, so much so that it was hard not to be excited for it. That was despite the more uncertain fit of artist Iban Coello, at least theoretically. North’s lean suggested a fresh take on these characters, while Coello — who is talented! — felt like a match for a more traditional superhero book. Pair them with colorist Jesus Aburtov, letterer Joe Caramagna, and cover artist Alex Ross and it was clear this title had potential, even if the blend of writer and artist seemed a bit incongruous, at least conceptually.

The first issue did little to quell my skepticism. It was a nice story, a one-and-done featuring Ben Grimm — aka The Thing — and his wife Alicia Masters-Grimm being caught in quite the conundrum, one that required less punching and more thinking and feeling. While there’s action within it, it’s a time loop story mostly oriented on conversation. It just didn’t mesh well with Coello’s strengths, so my initial uncertainty remained.

But as Ben and Alicia learn in that time loop, repetition can prove enormously useful for better understanding something. The first three issues are functionally one-shots, stories that feature the core members of the team — Ben and Alicia in the first, Reed and Sue in the second, and a third issue about a gloriously facial haired 17 Johnny Storm who sort of tries (and fails) to live a normal life without anyone figuring out who he is — exploring effectively new lives after a mysterious tragedy sent them away from New York and a now displaced Baxter Building. Each gives us a better understanding of where everyone is, both spatially and emotionally, and acts as a perfect setup for a fourth issue that ties everything together and reveals the mystery of what sent them their separate ways. 18

And just like that, the series clicked for me. While I was nudged upwards in my admiration of the series with the second and third issues, the fourth one helped me better appreciate what this title really was. That first stretch has largely proven to be the blueprint for the series. This Fantastic Four run is mostly comprised of one-shots 19 that tell a standalone story, something that allows the book to play with genre, whether it’s horror, adventure, or varying flavors of science fiction. It gives the run a perpetually unexpected feel, as each issue could — and likely does — have its own approach. It isn’t just a series of unmoored events, though. This run can have its cake and eat it too, as the focus on one-shots brilliantly highlights all the things we love about these characters while still pushing a central story forward along with.

Whether that’s the Baxter Building mystery, how they 20 are coping with the temporary loss of the most important people in their lives, the return of those same people, or their new lives at a farm The Thing’s Aunt Petunia owns, these stories always serve multiple purposes, and do so in smart ways. 21 Everything matters in this series, a feeling that often is lacking in modern superhero comics. There’s an internal logic and connectivity that’s always there, which serves readers both new and old. It feels like we are observing these characters’ lives and the experiences they have without losing sight of how the latter impacts each character within the overall narrative.

That said, while a larger story is often present, its heart and soul belongs to the short story structure at its core. Each issue or mini arc is, in a lot of ways, about a character or group teaming up to solve a problem predominantly through non-violent means. It’s reminiscent of North’s previous work in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl in that regard. While there’s still a fair amount of punching, as you’d expect in a superhero story, much of this title’s brilliance stems from how the series asks its characters to find outside-the-box solutions to their problems. Whether it’s Johnny using collective action to foil a nefarious business owner in issue #3 or Ben and a dog he cannot stand 22 using scientific principles he picked up from his time as a pilot and the latter’s sense of smell to break out of a villain’s grasp in #11, each issue perfectly blends problem solving and superheroics in a way that honestly feels refreshing.