Midnight Fantastic Four #1 — Benjamin Percy and Kev Walker Unleash Cosmic Horror
The Fantastic Four face their darkest chapter yet. Benjamin Percy and Kev Walker team up to twist the world’s greatest family into a tale of existential dread, body horror, and secrets from dimensions best left unexplored.
There is a specific kind of terror reserved for families, and Benjamin Percy knows exactly how to weaponize it. When you think of the Fantastic Four, you usually think of wonder, exploration, and the enduring strength of Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben. But Percy and Kev Walker are about to take those pillars of optimism and shatter them against the unknown. This isn’t just a reboot; it’s a reframing that promises to drag the most famous family in comics into the shadows, where the science they love becomes the very thing that endangers them.
The setup is deceptively simple and profoundly unsettling. Reed Richards, ever the obsessive mind, decides to probe the universe’s deepest secrets—secrets that might have been better left in the dark. The cost of that curiosity is immediate and visceral. Reed and his three companions are warped, twisted by forces they didn't anticipate, emerging changed in ways that are both horrifying and tragic. They have discovered new dimensions, but the question hanging over every panel is whether humanity can survive the fallout of their discovery.
Kev Walker’s art is the perfect vessel for this kind of existential dread. Known for his work on Infernal Hulk and Doctor Strange, Walker has a knack for making the strange feel tangible. His line work is capable of shifting from the grandeur of cosmic landscapes to the intimate, grotesque reality of body horror without missing a beat. Seeing Walker handle the Fantastic Four’s transformation suggests a visual language that is both beautiful and deeply unsettling, turning their iconic silhouettes into something newly terrifying.
If you’ve been following Percy’s run on Wolverine or Punisher, you know he thrives in the space where human resilience meets cosmic indifference. This feels like his most ambitious step yet, applying that same gritty, character-driven intensity to a team usually defined by their optimism. It’s a bold gamble that recontextualizes every heroic moment the team has ever had. If you’re looking for a comic that challenges the very foundation of what makes the Fantastic Four iconic, this is the one to grab.