Fantastic Four - Volume 01 Issue 361

My Rating

“Miracle On Yancy Street!”

Yancy Street at Christmas. The faces have changed, but to Ben, the buildings and blue-collar atmosphere will always be the same. It had been several months since he had visited the old neighborhood. The life of an international superhero keeps one busy, especially in these times, but Ben didn’t like visiting much anymore. It brought back so many bad memories. That is until his old friend Slugger Solowski showed up at the Baxter Building on December 24th.

Solowski was desperate. His son Jimmy had been running with the wrong crowd ever since he started high school. Now the boy is missing. Had he been using drugs? Was it his health problems which got the better of him? A father needed answers. Benjamin Grimm knew the neighborhood like the back of his hand. The Fantastic Four strongman also kept up on all the players on Yancy Street. Those New Yorkers who wanted to help build a better tomorrow, and those who wished to burn everything down around them. It was time for the Thing to reunite a father with his son on Christmas Eve.

Reviewer Notes

It’s Christmas on Yancy Street, but does Ben get any respect from his old gang? Nope! Not one ounce. I love the 1990s era Fantastic Four books. They continued to have internal family drama, but the characters kept their core values. As Ben, Johnny, and Alicia are stuck in some weird love triangle, or something in that regard, young Franklin tries hard to make this Christmas as good as any he can remember. The poor kid just wants to put up the Christmas tree. Someone help him out, already!

Even though issue #361 is advertised as a true Christmas story, it’s really about learning the identities of the newest generation of Yancy Street Gang members. I haven’t read past this issue, so I don’t know if the kids will become integral in future storylines. But they seem cool enough. With that said, I give this sudo Christmas issue three out of five stars. Merry Christmas everyone!