Fantastic Four: To Free Atlantis

I don't know who Nancy A. Collins is, but this was an interesting book. The FF were never my favorite (let's all sit around and complain about ourselves), but this book at least makes them likable, unlike most of the comics I read of them when I was a kid. Honestly, this book focuses more on Namor than the FF, maybe that's why I like it more. Everybody pretty knows what there is to know about the FF, and this book does nothing to bulid on that. Namor, on the other hand, is fleshed out more than I have ever seen (although, I only had 2 of his solo comics, and both were boring). This book really focuses on Namor and Atlantis's pasts, presents, and futures. The Atlantean palace coup is actually quite entertaining. This book was more ambitious than it needed to be as it feels rushed and not fleshed out enough (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic's address to the U.N. comes to mind), but the book is exciting enough to allow you to overlook that. For Namor fans (or anyone wanting more information on this, suprisingly, deep character) should definately pick this book up. FF fans might be dissapointed as the FF's and Doom's involvment are paper-thin at best. I've heard that their other 2 books are even better though, but I have yet to read them.If you're keeping track, here are my Top 5 Marvel novels so far:1. Hulk: What Savage Beast; Peter David2. Fantastic Four: To Free Atlantis; Nancy A. Collins3. Ultimate Spider-Man; Stan Lee, editor4. Spider-Man: Carnage in New York; David Micheline & Dean Wesley Smith5. due to the extreme suckage of the other 3 books, none of them deserve to grace the top 5 with these other four, and to even mention them in the same breath as the Hulk and FF books is an extreme act of blasphemy and you should kick yourself in the shin for even thinking that!

I have to hand it to Nancy Collins, this book really took me backto my old comic book days. All I can say is please please write more of them. I know this book is hard to find, fact is i got it at a yard sale. but if you can get a hold of one you wont be sorry.

To my knowledge, this is Nancy Collins' first attempt at writing for the FF. Although the story and characterizations fit very well with the overall feel of the comic book series, I would have liked to have seen her elaborate more on various aspects of the book. While it certainly wasn't poorly written, it is left up to the reader's imagination to embelish Paul Ryan's wonderful chapter illustrations to complete the images of Atlantis, the giant undersea monster, and various other elements of the book. All in all, it is a fun book to read. It fits very ambiguously into the FF's comic book continuity, but doesn't weigh it down any more either. A pleasant departure from the series, capturing many of the elements that make the Fantastic Four "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!"