Slugfest!

The inaugural post here at Slugfest! begins with none other than Mr. Grimm's new series written by Don Slott with art by Andrea DiVito in a story titled Money Changes Everything.

Ben Grimm has gained control of his quarter of Fantastic Four Industries and is now living in the lap of luxury in Atlas Towers, his new digs off of Central Park West. Ben comments, "Hard to believe this place is on the same planet as Yancy Street, let alone the same island!"
The inclusion of a romantic interlude with his current girlfriend, actress Carlotta LaRosa, and her gripe with her antagonist, Milan Ramada (Paris Hilton?) make the story run a little thin, especially when Milan drives out to Luna Park to secure what seems to be a contract on Carlotta for snubbing her out of an invite to a party?!? And the plot really starts treading on thin ice when Ben and Carlotta attend the party hosted by Irma Roberts (Martha Stewart?) who happens to have a penchant for collecting sculptures of the Thing done by none other than Alicia Masters. Ben's reaction: "Guess I'm like a walkin' Warhol soup can to you people."
So when guest-stars Kyle Richmond, Nighthawk, and Frank Schlichting a.k.a. the Constrictor show up to the party, along with Tony Stark, who does not appear in costume, it almost makes having to endure the sappy set-up worthwhile.
Once the slugfest begins at the party, things (heh) start to get more interesting, but Grimm is much too quickly put down for the count. "Wotta revoltin' development." Fade to black and fade-in to what initially looks like a scene from Lost, but turns out to be this issue's cliffhanger, as Thing, Nighthawk, and the Constrictor find themselves facing Arcade at Murderland.

DiVito artwork is spot on. I really liked his work on Brath but didn't follow the series because the characters and concepts didn't really grab me. But I'm glad to see him work at Marvel. His artwork reminds me of George Perez/Joe Sinnott artwork from late 70s Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, the awesome first page montage of a lot of Marvel characters (Can you name them all???) is slightly marred by poor placement of a story caption.

Hopefully Slott will up the excitement factor next issue by letting the Thing cut loose alongside his pals.