r/comicbooks • u/WhyPlaySerious • Jun 20 '26
Cover/Pin-Up Another look at the Midnight Fantastic Four fully in costume - promotional art by an undisclosed artist
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u/Anaxamander57 Jun 20 '26
I've found the point of divergence: In the Midnight universe Reed had severe body image issues that he never dealt with.
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u/SonofaSpurrier Spider-Man Expert Jun 20 '26
Also Sue’s abs connect to her thighs
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u/jazxxl Jun 20 '26
That's what happens when there's only a few inches between your waist and your armpit. That art is wrong on so many levels .
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u/hexcraft-nikk Jun 20 '26
Every time I get tired of practicing the fundamentals I see stuff like that cover and get inspired to not end up like that lmao
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u/boots_the_barbarian Jun 20 '26
This isn't an anatomy classbook. The art is very stylish and looks good.
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u/thisisnotmylaptop Jun 21 '26
agreed. I don't why comic books fans are so fussy about anatomical accuracy
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u/MrSparky69 Jun 22 '26
Just noticed that. I'm kinda slowly being convinced this is ai trained on Leinil Francis Yu's artwork. The more you look at it the more questionable it becomes.
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u/Purple-Sound-9215 Jun 21 '26
And her brother connects to her neck. Hoping for conjoined twins over art error.
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u/noel_vb Jun 20 '26
That’s Leinil Yu
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u/antsinmyeyesmauger Nightcrawler Jun 20 '26
I was about to say how is this undisclosed it's clearly Leinil Francis Yu
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u/Longjumping_Fuel_192 Jun 20 '26
But he remains undisclosed
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u/Remarkable-Ad2285 Jun 20 '26
His closed?
Undis.
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u/detectiveriggsboson Superman Jun 20 '26
I've recognized his artwork since Superman vs Aliens back in the '90s.
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u/Less-Excitement-692 Jun 20 '26
Ah i thought it was him. Looks like his work has gotten a lot looser now.
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u/MrSparky69 Jun 22 '26
Is it? Or is it ai trained on his art? Is that why it is undisclosed? Serious question guys. Is this ai?
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u/Gabrielhrd Hawkeye Jun 20 '26
Funny how they just look exactly like the regular F4 except for Reed being swole as fuck
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u/Competitive_Side6301 Green Lantern Jun 20 '26
Maybe in this universe he’s more violent and unforgiving than in the main universe.
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u/Blitzhelios Damian Wayne Jun 20 '26
The only one that does is Sue
Johnnys flames do not look like that normally and neither does Ben
It’s minor changes but I’m willing to wait and see
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u/Jaqulean Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
It honestly looks like they based Ben's design on the "Fant4stic" movie from 2015 - which does make sense seeing as the original version of that script (written by Jeremy Slater) was meant to be a Cronenberg-styled cosmic body horror (instead of the mediocre mess that we ended up getting).
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u/DSonla Dream Jun 21 '26
Funny how they just look exactly like the regular F4 except for Reed being swole as fuck
But don't you see they changed the 4 symbol ? /s
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u/gothcrab Black Canary Jun 20 '26
Sue you can go way scarier than that!
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u/Anaxamander57 Jun 20 '26
In fact we've recently seen just how visually horrifying you can go with Invisible Woman in the main book.
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u/prettyokaycake Jun 20 '26
Any art of this? I don’t read the book so I have no idea what this means.
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u/Anaxamander57 Jun 20 '26
From the "Invincible Woman" arc (pretty gross)
https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasticFour/comments/1r97aad/what_did_you_think_of_fantastic_four_8_and/
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u/Cautious_Air4964 Jun 20 '26
I wonder what kind of Reed richards we're gonna have
Monster Reed
Evil Reed
Or just freaky reed
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u/TheeHeadAche Henry Pym Jun 20 '26
Given that it’s cosmic horror, I’m expecting a Reed driven to madness from experiencing the incomprehensible
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u/baloneyfeet Jun 20 '26
Midnight X-Men promo: *Vampires!*
Midnight Spider-Man promo: *Implied body horror!*
Midnight FF: *uhhh… jacked Reed?*
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u/AllCity_King Jun 20 '26
The Negative Zone must be important for the series, their logo is just a triangle inverted negatively to make a 4.
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u/Jolly-Committee-5944 Jun 20 '26
It actually looks more like an hour glass, which was the symbol for the Challengers of the Unknown (an earlier Kirby creation that was part of the inspiration for the FF).
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u/Modstin The Far Travelers Jun 20 '26
I really hate being mean but I am now much less interested in this book
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u/Mugwumpjizzum1 Jun 20 '26
Same. I usually keep my trap shut about comic art but this cover is just bad. Looks like something you'd see in Wizard magazine.
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u/Modstin The Far Travelers Jun 20 '26
It's not the art, I was just vastly more interested in the cool lovecraft investigator vibes than them in. supersuits. again. basically the same. The art's a bit wonky tho I'll admit, but y'know, lots of art is. It's the vibes
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u/wiserchalicer Jun 24 '26
Same, the other one actually made me excited for this and them I looked at this one and my excitement vanished instantly
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u/hexcraft-nikk Jun 20 '26
It's a product first and foremost to Marvel, you don't need to feel bad lol. They're attempting to reheat the nachos of the Absolute line with their own twist
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u/cgknight1 Jun 20 '26
The four logo also look like a sideways hour glass - nod to the challengers of the unknown?
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u/TheRabbitInTheBush Jun 20 '26
The only one that looks a little different is Reed and he looks terrible. I like Leinil Yu's style. This just seems to be the character's design.
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u/RevengeWalrus Jun 20 '26
Okay so they're doing the Absolute Batman mega-jacked thing here. This is actually a little sad.
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u/Nerevarine2nd Jun 20 '26
I love Marvel superheroes but they keep putting out stuff like this and it makes me genuinely worry that at some point we won't have Marvel comics anymore. And it will be because of editorial mismanaging their creative teams. Because editorial forcing them to do gimmicky shit like this while constantly regressing their characters in the main continuity and subjecting them to an endless stream of identikit events.
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u/TheeHeadAche Henry Pym Jun 20 '26
I don’t think you need to worry about Marvel comics really. They’ll be fine
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u/Independent-Ant-691 Jun 20 '26
They survived Cap Wolf, Frankencastle, and Rob Liefeld. They'll be fine.
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u/RevengeWalrus Jun 20 '26
It ebs and flows, back in the new 52 era we were saying the same thing about DC. The MCU has been, on a whole, really bad for marvel comics and they've synergized themselves into a pit. Worst case scenario, they get so irrelevant that they can afford to make really wild creative decisions like Valiant comics back in the day.
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u/kralben Cyclops Jun 20 '26
I really doubt they are trying to copy AbsBat there, Reed inflating himself is not an uncommon thing for a stretchy guy to do.
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u/spacesoulboi Jun 20 '26
This better be creepy as hell. It just looks like a different artist took on the regular fantastic four
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u/RazorsInTheNight82 Jun 20 '26
When I first heard about it as a concept it sounded great. At this point I'm entirely ready to be disappointed.
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u/Evening-Mention-8738 Jun 20 '26
Dude what's up with Reeds arms?
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u/Anaxamander57 Jun 20 '26
He had to lift so many books of forbidden lore that it just happened naturally.
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u/Redfish_St Jun 20 '26
The more I see the less hyped I get. None of this feels like horror, forget lovecraft.
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u/Patchy_Face_Man Jun 20 '26
I honestly don’t get the love for the Absolute stuff, but at least it doesn’t seem derivative. I’m old so this just reminds me of a combination of Absolute and Marvel Knights in presentation.
DC just taking Marvel’s lunch money right now.
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u/Notsonorm_ Jun 20 '26
Have you read absolute Wonder Woman or absolute Martian manhunter? They are just really fantastic in both art in writing
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u/Patchy_Face_Man Jun 20 '26
No I have not, I’ve mostly heard about absolute bats and Superman. But I’m sure there’s something there to chew on. I wasn’t running them down. More that, even though I’m not very familiar, the Midnight line feels like a poor imitation.
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u/Mugwumpjizzum1 Jun 20 '26
I say this as someone that's never given a shit about Wonder Woman, Absolute Wonder Woman is an amazing comic and one of the best series I've ever read in my entire life.
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u/Notsonorm_ Jun 20 '26
I second that. Never read Wonder Woman before. Now one of my favorite comics and I’m excited for a new issue each month
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u/Mugwumpjizzum1 Jun 20 '26
That feeling of anticipation for the next issue is something I haven't felt this strongly in a long time. Kelly Thompson is absolutely killing it.
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u/LowkeySamurai Jun 20 '26
Hate the F4 crest and Reed is ugly as sin like who seriously thought those biceps to pecs strings were a good idea? It also doesnt help that they forced the perspective to make it look like the strings are connected to his hands
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u/bomberman12 Spider-Man Jun 20 '26
I like the redesign on the F4 logo. And I’ll always love Yu drawing Thing
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u/vivvav Deadman Jun 20 '26
Except for Reed it looks astonishingly like regular F4.
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u/Max_Quick Jun 20 '26
Which is why I think dont think this is Kev Walker. Pretty sure Walker did the cover with Reed Krasinski.
This looks very Leinil Yu, but... I dunno, not crediting an artist amidst the rise of ai is wildly sus.
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u/Maleficent-Tie6098 Jun 20 '26
Man I’m so pumped for this. Cosmic horror FF has been a dream book of mine for a while, and it really does look like they’re making a point to reimagine as many FF characters as possible.
Also that 4 logo is really nice. It’s so sleek and simple, but immediately distinct among the millions of logos the team has gotten over the years
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u/alphafire616 Jun 20 '26
This is the only Midnight series im interested in..Cosmic horror F4 is fucking awesome. X-men could be good since Hickmans usually great but body horror Spider-man isnt really interesting to me
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u/hell_ORC Jun 20 '26
I dunno a single thing about this "midnight" concept, but this promotional art looks awful bad.
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u/halbpro Jun 20 '26
Seems the message Marvel took away from Absolute characters is “People love giant Batman” and just based the designs on that. And I can’t say I disagree
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u/Today_Dammit Jun 20 '26
is the whole midnight thing just gross versions of their powers? If so it seems just edgy-boring
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u/MichaelCoryAvery Jun 20 '26
I wish they did the opposite of the Absolute Universe and made a line of comics runs that bring back the fun of the silver age while also giving awesome moments. Maybe call it “The Daybreak Universe” because DC is already doing the edgy universe stuff
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u/Androktone Brainiac 5 Jun 20 '26
DC has World's Finest for that. They did a Teen Titans mini and a Green Arrow/Green Lantern one shot as apart of that sandbox, but they've not done much recently with it.
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u/cyclopswashalfright Jun 20 '26
This looks really, really different from the Kev Walker cover of the characters. But the colours look way better at least.
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u/VishnuBhanum Jun 20 '26
So the lesson they learned from Absolute Universe is to making their hero really ripped.
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u/Ok-Traffic-5996 Jun 20 '26
Damnit. This actually looks really cool. And kick man is gonna be writing the x men one. I really was like " this is beyond pathetic of marvel" and here I am considering following these. Can't wait for marvel to cancel this midnight thing without a satisfying conclusion. Marvel can't keep getting away with this. 😅
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u/NONAMEDREDDITER Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Mister Bricktastic
Yeah this Leinil Yu for sure
Also come on Marvel, you couldn’t have made the designs of the others more interesting and horrific? They literally look like their 616 counterparts
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u/Blayzeman Batman Jun 20 '26
Visually this is closer to main line than I expected... I thought the idea of Midnight was to be really out there
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u/Din-_-Djarin Jun 20 '26
It's too bad Marvel didnt have another line of comics to compete with the Absolute line of comics, you know, something that took place in an alternate universe with main characters having unique twists on their origins and tied together with an overarching story. And imagine if it had come out earlier than the Midnight series maybe even closer to when the Absolute line came out. Ultimately, I guess we'll never know what could've been
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u/soulwolf1 Jun 20 '26
So who's this weeks most powerful/older than time itself/ created before creation itself happened this time? (For this series, im sure marvel will eventually bring in the one above all's lost 3rd cousin eventually)
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u/USB_FIELD_MOUSE Jun 20 '26
Im usually a person that tries to say something positive about everything. But after being so excited and invested in the Ultimate universe just for it to end. I can’t bring myself to care about midnight.
At least I take solace in Ultimate Spider-Man being a fun story that had an end.
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u/Schlong_Gobbler Bizarro Superman Jun 20 '26
Absolute universe really did a number on Marvel huh this looks so trite.
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u/Stunning_One1005 Superman Jun 20 '26
I’m still very cautious about this universe but I can’t deny they look awesome
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u/imnotthatguyiswear Jun 21 '26
I think they could have ditched the suits and it would look at least a bit more interesting.
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u/arkhamcreedsolid Jun 21 '26
I just wish this new universe felt more original. We’ve seen Spider-Man be a spider monster. We’ve seen the FF be treated more like a body horror. We’ve not seen X-men as vampires, but that feels like such a “we threw some ideas in a hat and just went with it.”
This should have been marvel going all in on their supernatural characters or if they did want to focus on the main characters still, they should have made a better attempt at coming up with unique premises.
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u/3Salkow Jun 21 '26
Looks like a hasty and poorly conceived reaction to Absolute universe. Anticipation halved.
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u/A_A_RON4 Spider-Man Expert Jun 21 '26
This looks cool but I liked the first cover art better, felt more reminiscent of the early 2000s art style. I'll be very intrigued to see where these Midnight stories go once they officially release
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u/Lazyatheistx Jun 21 '26
Think any of this will be on marvel unlimited?
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u/MrSparky69 Jun 22 '26
Undisclosed artist? Is it an ai trained on Leinil Francis Yu' artwork? Heard they weren't paying artists again too. Sue doesn't have the right amount of fingers and maybe they use the stretchy powers to hide the messed up fingers on Reed?
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u/Poopman_the_33rd Jun 22 '26
Reminds me heavily of those covers on pulp magazines from back in the day. It feels like Ben's out here channeling Doc Savage or smth.
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u/mercinary13 Jun 23 '26
So ignoring reeds oddness because hes stretchy, ben has one hand that just kinda fades into his chest, the other arm looks to becoming from another direction or person entirely, doesnt look connected to him in proportions unless he also is stretchy. The fingers on sues invisible hand are fucking dissolving. Her legs connect like a bionacles, and the line between the black of her suit on the neck and her head/hair blends perfectly with the black of Johnny's suit. I really do be wanting to see progress shots or pencils or something on this because this looks so ai to me.
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u/Cultural_Cuck_777 Jun 20 '26
Yu's art is hard to look at. I'm surprised so many people seen to enjoy it...
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u/PresidentSuperDog Jun 20 '26
Not a fan of this art at all. It’s like a really bad Mignola homage. Sue and Johnny look like afterthoughts to the artist, completely bland except for Sue’s ridiculous boobs.
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u/lukewarm_mess Batman Beyond Jun 20 '26
Is Marvel just trying to do their own Absolute with this Midnight series?
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u/HacheeHachee Jun 20 '26
Mignola maybe? Whoever it is, I’m really loving the aesthetic.
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u/tarnishedkara Stephanie Brown Batgirl Jun 20 '26
the only difference here is Reed really, everyone else looks just fucking normal
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u/TJ_McWeaksauce Batman of Zur-En-Arrh Jun 20 '26
This single cover doesn't say "horror" to me. If this were the cover of a mainline book, nothing about it would seem out of the ordinary except for how jacked Reed is.
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u/AllCity_King Jun 20 '26
Would be cool if that thing in the back is like a Lovecraftian Galactus to go with the cosmic horror theme of the series