Hello to one and all! I hope you are all doing well. I have returned to write a review of another Marvel audiobook in the same vein as my reviews of Iron Man: Extremis or Spider-Man: The Gathering Of The Sinister Six. This time around however it is a story about superheroing’s First Family and the harbingers of The Marvel Age Of Heroes, the Fantastic Four!

The Fantastic Four may not be quite as well known nowadays as Spidey, Captain America or even The Incredible Hulk but historically they are among the most important of all superheroes and were integral to repopularising the genre in the 1960s after superheroes died off somewhat in the 1950s. Given the recent release of the trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps, I decided to give this audiobook a listen and rather enjoyed myself. 

The plot is as follows: They are the Earth’s most revered protectors: Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm – the Fantastic Four. Celebrities around the globe and defenders of mankind, these extraordinary individuals have sworn to confront the perils and challenges facing the modern world and each other, always with unyielding courage, unerring wisdom, and an unshakeable familial bond. 

But their darkest hour may yet be at hand, as humanity’s most frightening threat comes violently from beyond the stars…from the depths of the Negative Zone, a universe in a dimension parallel to our own – one first discovered years ago by Reed Richards himself. And it is this terrifying and deadly menace that will ultimately test the measure and mettle of four heroes sworn to protect the human race at any cost – even their own lives…

The author of this book is a gentleman by the name of Greg Cox. Cox is an individual about whom very little information seems to be available online. They are a prolific author however having written several pieces of tie-in media for – among other series – Star Trek, Marvel, DC, CSI, Godzilla, The X-Files and numerous others. They have also won several awards including three Scribe Awards from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, as well as the Faust Award for Lifetime Achievement. 

The book itself is an absolute blast. For a book originally written in 2005 – with the audio edition being produced by Dreamscape Media in 2020 – the text flows well, has entertaining action sequences and does a decent job of integrating its references to Fantastic Four lore and history into the text. There are quite a few of these references throughout but they are quite well explained for the uninitiated and don’t interrupt the story itself. Most of them are included through the memories of the characters themselves as the action happens around them. 

The characters themselves are also very well written. Reed Richards or Mr Fantastic comes across as the intelligent albeit somewhat socially clueless genius he is, his wife Sue or The Invisible Woman is written as the protective influence she is while managing to also keep her brother Johnny Storm – the second Human Torch – in check. Johnny himself is very much the flirtatious hothead he’s always been albeit one with his head slightly more tightly screwed on than usual. Lastly we have Ben Grimm or The Thing, one of the most beloved characters in all of Marvel Comics who is very much his usual self. By which I mean a man with a very gruff exterior formed from growing up in the Lower East of Manhattan but a heart of pure gold underneath it all.

As mentioned in the blurb, the villains of this particular tale hail from the Negative Zone, an opposite dimension to our own. Blastaar and Annihilus, two long time foes of the Fantastic Four, have decided to work together at last but what could be their ultimate goal? Beyond just conquering our positive universe of course!

The narration for this audiobook is provided by George Newbern, a name that may be familiar to you if you’ve read my review of Superman vs The Elite or have any memories of watching the 1990s Justice League cartoons as Newbern took over the role of Superman from Tim Daly. He also plays Sephiroth in most modern video game appearances among other roles. He also has a fairly extensive history as an audiobook narrator having done over 300 of them!

Newbern is clearly a skilled narrator. His voice for reading the text is smooth and calm with a reassuring quality that makes it easy to get lost in the flow of the story. He also does a good job of differentiating the voices of the individual characters. None of the four titular heroes sound at all unusual or wrong compared to how it feels they ‘should’ sound in your head. This also applies to most characters from the Negative Zone. Annihilus – or The Living Death Who Walks – does sound somewhat camp and over the top but in a way that certainly befits the way he’s written. He’s definitely quite a lot of fun! It certainly feels when listening to Newbern that he seems to be enjoying himself when delivering a couple of the sillier lines of dialogue. This audiobook is honestly very fun and I hope between Cox’s well crafted writing and Newbern’s steel-jawed or relaxingly calm narration? People will give this audiobook a good shot.

In conclusion I find this audiobook extremely enjoyable and I feel that pre-existing fans of the Fantastic Four will have a brilliant time. New fans or interested newbies like me will also have a fun time as they are caught up in the adventures of Marvel’s First Family against the threats of the Negative Zone. Here’s hoping that they may have some new fans in the near future. Be it from this audio adventure, some other audios that are available or the soon to be released origin adventure as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.