Review: ‘Midnight Fantastic Four’ #1 Nails Cosmic Creeping Dread

Sixty-five years ago, four intrepid adventurers launched into adventure, transforming their universe forever. In Midnight Fantastic Four, a horrific new take on Marvel’s First Family changes everything.

Benjamin Percy, Kev Walker, Frank D’Armata, and Joe Sabino give us the horrible truth of the Midnight Four.

Reed Richards may have unlocked the secrets to the Negative Zone, but it comes at a terrible cost. Luckily (for him, not for Victor Von Doom), Susan Storm sees potential in him. He may be the only person to pierce the invisible horror between worlds, and confront the terrors that wait on the other side.

I enjoyed each of the Marvel Midnight titles. Spider-Man had some serious body horror. X-Men demonstrates how dangerous the X-Men really can be. But this book … Fantastic Four is something beyond special. Percy and Walker are cooking up something horrible, and I seriously can’t wait for more.

We don’t get much here beyond Reed Richards. Midnight Reed takes the standard easily distractible and driven genius, and shows two things. First is just how dangerous Reed can be when his intelligence clashes with his flashes of brilliance (fueled by his drive). This can be seen when he nearly kills his lab assistant, or gets himself fired, or even as Sue starts to bring him into the fold. An amoral Reed Richards is worse than any immoral villain. And then, his drive underscores how he will accomplish his goals at any cost, which looks to be dooming the entire world.

Percy doesn’t just realize a frightening Reed Richards, though. Sue Storm has stared into the abyss, and only wants to look deeper. Johnny Storm is broken, possibly thanks to his own recklessness. And Ben Grimm is a stoic-yet-brutal cipher, which will definitely be explored later. That’s completely ignoring the Mignola-esque Victor. More to come on him in later issues, I’m sure.

Walker is the most well-known and “traditional superhero” of the three Midnight artists. That’s a great move here. It makes the horror even scarier. Reed’s disciplinary hearing getting interrupted by a bird slamming violently into the window is a great, unexpected jumpscare (shoutout to D’Armata and his bursts of bright colors when the horror hits). Reed’s constant visions of cosmic horror are paced perfectly. 

This issue is unsettling, horrific, and it has its hooks in me immediately. I’ve never disliked the Four, but I’m not one that needs to read their adventures. But with this debut, I know I need to know what happens next.

Midnight Fantastic Four #1 is out today from Marvel Comics.