My Rating
“If Memory Serves…!”
It’s shopping day at the Fantastic Farmhouse and Ben wants snacks! If the local shopping mall sells laboratory flasks and geometry books the trip will be the perfect trifecta. As the men focus on their various home repair projects, Susan and Alicia hit the dusty trail in the Grimm’s Fantastic 4×4 pickup truck.
An overdue rainstorm hits the southwestern city just around eleven o’clock in the morning. Susan turns the big blue truck into the parking lot of the Orange Mall shopping center as the rain changes from a slow drizzle to a full on downpour. With a quick dispersal of her shield powers, the Invisible Woman creates the ultimate umbrella. A few locals turn to watch the out-of-towners walk towards the entrance of the complex with a large half-bubble floating above them.
Inside, Sue and Alicia spend the afternoon visiting the various stores purchasing the items needed to finish the restoration of their new headquarters and retreat. One store seemed a bit odd to the women however. Wisnewski’s Hardware was the size of a Home Depot or Lowes big-box store but had only one woman working the various positions within. Cathy Wisniewski was her name. She seemed friendly, but how did the aging woman handle the workload?
Susan paid for their sundry items and left. The topic shifted from Ben’s snacks to the bizarre shopping experience they just had. Why did the town need such an oversized Hardware store of that nature. The store seemed to carry everything they needed except… What did they forget? Reed’s Erienmeyer laboratory flasks! As the two raced back down the hallway to Wisnewski’s Susan and Alicia are confronted by an aging “Permanently Closed” sign placed in the display window of the deserted store. A confused Susan stops a passing customer they interacted with earlier inside to ask about the weird behavior of the owner. “That store has been closed for years,” the young man replied with a confused look in his eyes. Wait, what…?!
Reviewer Notes
Uh-oh, things are rotting in the state of Arizona. Welcome to another Ryan North classic mystery tale of weird goings on. Don’t let it hurt your brain, just go with it. His run on the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was filled with these Twilight Zone style subplots. Speaking of Squirrel Girl, she shows up in reference only during this debacle.
Warning: Don’t let the variant covers fool you, the Impossible Man is nowhere to be seen in this issue. The story is bizarre, just not that bizarre. I have to give up to Ryan North, things keep getting better and better for volume 06 of the Fantastic Four. I give this issue four out of five stars. Now I just have to wait for the conclusion next month.
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