This new graphic novel by Alex Ross is a triple threat: a throwback， a leap forward， and a welcome addition the Fantastic Four mythos。 FF is my all-time favorite comic book （at least the Lee-Kirby 100+-issue run， although the John Byrne 60+-issue run was pretty great， too） and it’s nice to see someone doing something great with them again … the last few years at Marvel， the FF has been awful。 Once they let the kids take over the book， it went incredibly downhill， even though the FF has always be This new graphic novel by Alex Ross is a triple threat: a throwback， a leap forward， and a welcome addition the Fantastic Four mythos。 FF is my all-time favorite comic book （at least the Lee-Kirby 100+-issue run， although the John Byrne 60+-issue run was pretty great， too） and it’s nice to see someone doing something great with them again … the last few years at Marvel， the FF has been awful。 Once they let the kids take over the book， it went incredibly downhill， even though the FF has always been about family。 But I digress。Ross’s story harkens back to what many people regard as THE classic FF story， issue #51， “This Man … This Monster！” by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby， which tells the tale of a scientist who steals the powers and appearance of the Thing。 He gets access to the Baxter Building， hoping to kill Reed Richards， who he considers to be a gloryhound。 He encounters Mr。 Fantastic testing his new portal to the Negative Zone。 With the help of the ersatz Thing， Reed tethers himself to Earth while exploring the Zone， but when the tether breaks the fake Thing （real name: Ricardo Jones）， realizes Richards is a selfless hero and saves him， sacrificing his own life。 Full Circle begins with the return of Jones’s body to Earth， filled with negative energy beings， and takes off from there， necessitating a visit to the Negative Zone for all four members of the FF。 （No spoilers， please！）That’s the throwback part。 Ross’s art style is the leap forward。 For a while， I had become bored with the artist’s cover work， mainly for Marvel over the past few years on titles such as Captain America and Iron Man。 Ross had a bad habit of making the most of reflective surfaces， like Cap’s shield and Shellhead’s armor， overly noodling and rendering them to the point of distraction。 His art style on Full Circle is a combination of layouts that evoke pure Jack Kirby （the two-page spread showing Annihilus is a stunner and one splash page is a homage to FF #7）， and a new drawing style for the artist: Lo and behold， this book is NOT fully-painted in the usual Ross style。 It looks like pencil art combined with a coloring style that includes a black-light style palette， some faded 1960s dot-pattern printing， and incredibly vibrant comic book coloring。 It’s a very different—and effective—look。 The only minor quibbles I have with the art—which is really incredible at times （he even manages to make Reed Richards look heroic）—is I don’t like his version of the Human Torch （I still prefer Kirby—and Byrne’s—old line-filled flamehead）， and I’m not super-keen on Ross’s use of thin black panel borders （although I realize the normal white borders would be incredibly distracting）。 With so much going on on every page， a little separation would help sometimes。Story-wise， this is a worthy companion piece to FF #51， and adds to the appeal of the original story （Ross is also the writer， and he’s a surprisingly economical one）。 This is also the first of a series of graphic novels from Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts， with a new imprint called Marvel • Arts。 I can’t wait to see what they do next。 I’d love to see Ross tackle either Galactus or Doctor Doom—or both！—in another FF story， just as long as he keeps the reflections to a minimum， but that doesn’t seem to be a problem with this new art style。 Like I said earlier， this is a great Fantastic Four story and comes in two editions， a “regular” hardcover for $25。00 and a deluxe， limited edition， slip-cased Diamond Previews version for （I believe） $40。00， which includes a separate print by Ross， in an envelope pasted into the back of the book。 。。。more