Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic) is often portrayed as clueless when it comes to the more romantic and emotional aspects of his marriage to his wife Susan (aka the Invisible Woman), but once in a while he shows his feelings as only one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe can. In yesterday's Fantastic Four #4, Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley devote an issue to showing us just how romantic Mr. Fantastic can be. (Spoilers after the fold.)
The issue is split between the current day, as Reed takes his family on a mission of other-dimensional exploration (which he hasn't revealed is really a quest to cure his own cellular deterioration), and flashbacks to Reed and Sue's earliest days together, when she was an undergraduate in college and he was pursuing his third doctorate (as we all do, you know).
In the present, the Fantastic Four plus two (Reed and Sue's children Franklin and Valeria) visit the planet Ayleth for the first time, where they're surprised by a cave painting:
(The text boxes reflect Reed's inner monologue, which connects the present day with the flashbacks.) The planetary governor of Ayleth, Drea, expains that they rever the painting because it provides hope that there may be friends on other worlds, and when the Four arrive on their planet, they treat Sue in particular with near-religious fervor (as indicated on the cover above).
Meanwhile, in the past, Reed remembers the first time he met Sue, while looking to rent her aunt's house during graduate school:
The rest of the intermittent flashbacks continue in the same vein, showing how Reed's emerging feelings for Sue fascinate him just as much as interdimensional physics and non-Euclidean geometry do. Note the following scene as Reed moves out of Sue's aunt's house:
The focus then shifts to the present day, as Reed expresses his love for Sue as possibly only he could:
He then reveals (to the reader) the origin of the cave paintings on Ayleth: earlier, he had traveled back in time and painted them himself, a "monument" to her, only to be discovered when they arrived there later. (Of course, Reed had another reason for the painting: to remind him, at this point in their travels, to be honest with her about the truth behind their mission.)
Leave it to Reed to ditch the flowers and candies for a truly unique Valentine's Day gift, one that inspires an entire planet to see Sue as he does. This issue also shows how everybody expresses love in his or her own way--and should be able to count on the right person to appreciate it. We'll finish with a tender scene from last year's Fantastic Four #609 by Jonathan Hickman and Ryan Stegman, which reminds us that Sue adores Reed for his giant brain and his heart.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone--and make it a fantastic one!
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