alright, so this trade DOES NOT include chapters from FF, like Volume 1 did. I really liked juxtaposing from the Richards Family trip through time and space to what was happening with the Back up team on Earth. I also liked the back up team stuff better, and it is completely missing from this book. This book, did feature some really great standalone stories, the best of which featured a human looking Ben Grimm going back in time to old school yancy street. Shockingly mediocre. Very little stands out in this book of short stories with little consequence. Worse, the characterization is pretty blah. I particularly hate Fraction's Val who has very little of the gumption of Hickman's character. Worse, Fraction sets the Fantastic Four on a big quest, and then largely ignores it in the plot. Theoretically Reed is going from place to place to find a cure ... but you'd hardly know that from the plotline.Issue #5.AU was one that I didn't know whether to love or hate. It's one of the only good stories in the bunch, but it really undercuts the whole roadtrip by returning to reality, and the whole taped-messages-to-the-kids thing seems intended to torture them.However, I did sort of like the final issue. It's another minor bit of fluff, but it portray an interesting Ben Grimm, particularly as his subplot builds form 5.AU.But everything other than those two issues is mostly a waste.
What do You think about Fantastic Four, Vol. 2: Road Trip (2013)?
Meh. It comes to this: I just don't like the Fantastic Four that much.
—chels2004
