Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1

As with many event stories from either DC, Marvel, or any other publisher, the beginning has to be big and surprising to draw the readers in. With Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1, you get just that and more in Marvel's latest universe shattering tale. Starting simple enough, Nick Fury, now a herald of Uatu, warns the Watcher about various alien civilizations being gifted with powerful weapons from a mysterious force. As Uatu warns his people of an impending danger, his base on the moon is attacked, causing a bombardment of moon fragments to fall down on Earth. With Manhattan heavily bombarded by pieces of the moon, numerous superheroes like Spider-Man, the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four save as many people as they can while also dealing with an invasion from the Badoon. Meanwhile, the Silver Surfer is called upon by the abstract entities of the universe to aid Eternity, the living embodiment of the universe, as he has been poisoned by such large scale violence. During Earth's invasion, the Fantastic Four head towards Uatu's domain for answers but end up finding Fury. Fury figures that an unknown group known as the Reckoning is behind not only the moon's destruction but also the large scale violence across the cosmos. With a device that held the history of the Watchers, Reed learns about their history and how their early influence in the early days of the universe led to the first known war and it nearly destroyed everything. The Reckoning is what's left of the civilizations that took part in that war, wanting revenge against the Watchers for separating them from the rest of the universe and leaving them with nothing. Epic is the best way to describe this comic, and how can it not be as the moon is destroyed, various alien armies are preparing for a large scale war, we delve deep into the early years of the Watchers, and Earth is being invaded. The writing from Dan Slott does a phenomenal job at setting up what's to come in the Reckoning War, though even at 40 pages some of it does feel rushed, like some of it could have been put in later issues and other ideas better elaborated on. But most of what there is, Slott delivers with a combination of great dialogue and informative exposition that appears when needed. With an epic story like this, this issue of course has incredible artwork to go along with it that includes good use of shadows, detailed characters, and great colors. One unique aspect to the art is how different it is in the few pages that look at the early history of the Watchers, having an ethereal look to it. All this thanks to the collaborative works of Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Carlos Magno, and Guru-eFX. If Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1 is just the beginning, then hopefully the rest of the storyline will be just as epic. Over all: 100%

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