Well, Dan Buckley and MARVEL let the cat out of the bag about Mark Waid, Karl Kesel and myself leaving FANTASTIC FOUR at WIZARD WORLD TEXAS. Obviously, they felt they had to begin the hype around the next creative team– and it seems to have worked. The comic book message boards are all abuzz with speculation over who the next team will be on the book. This is the most activity that I’ve seen in relation to FANTASTIC FOUR the comic book in months. Even with the “widescreen” epic alien invasion story that has led into the GALACTUS arc we’re working on, the message boards have been really silent of late.

Joe Quesada called me back in June about rotating off of FF– the day I was heading out to attend the HEROES CONVENTION. It was a bit eerie, since it was at LAST years HEROES that I heard from Matt Brady that Mark Waid had been pulled off the title in favor of a new direction. But this time was different. Mark and I had been discussing a growing desire to move on to something else, and so my discussion with Joe was a very positive one in regards to the book this time. He made the point that in today’s market, the only way to keep any kind of “heat” or “buzz” on a long-running ongoing title was to bring in a new creative team from time to time to reinvigorate both the book and the fan base. With all the evidence I’d been seeing about this over the past many years, I couldn’t argue. So– the die was cast.

And as I said, from the heated activity on the fan message boards, Joe was obviously right.

My tenure as artist on FANTASTIC FOUR has been a wonderful experience. I’ve learned a lot about myself artistically– what I can do… and what I CAN’T. There have been many incredibly challenges working on this book. Some uplifting… and some very frustrating. But it’s always been a great opportunity and experience overall. Just like life. The FANTASTIC FOUR is one of those titles that I would never in my wildest dreams have imagined that I’d ever get the opportunity to work on. I’ve been so lucky in my career to work on some of the biggest icons in comics– SPIDER-MAN, SUPERMAN, THE X-MEN, BATMAN AND ROBIN– and now FANTASTIC FOUR joins that list. I’ve had more success than I ever thought would be possible when I got into this business. I’d like to take the time to thank Joe Quesada and Tom Brevoort for believing that I WOULD do a good job on the book, despite my own self doubts. They really helped me overcome them. I’d like to thank Mark Waid for writing some of the greatest stories I’ve ever gotten to draw– Karl Kesel for making my pencils look like they actually BELONG on the book (Karl, you are the best, man…!) and Paul Mounts for always going above and beyond with his incredible colors. The special effects work that Paul has done have been mind blowing.

And a big THANK YOU to everyone who has read and enjoyed our work on the book. I can’t thank you enough for your support. I hope you’ll follow us to our next big project at MARVEL. I can’t tell you what it is right now, but I CAN tell you this…..

It’s going to be a blast.

Mike