I have been a fan of the Fantastic Four for most of my life. A superhero family, best friends and lots of action. They have more interesting adventures than many heroes and teams, even if it's because Reed's intellect actually got them into trouble.

Lately, however, I think that Marvel's First Family has lost their way a bit.

This week, in issue No. 582, a storyline concluded that involved Reed's father Nathaniel, college-aged Reed, Ben, and Doom, and grown-up Franklin and Valeria. There is a difference between complex and complicated stories, and I think this one was the latter, especially once the future versions of Franklin and Val got involved. When you have to read an issue multiple times, and even go back and read the previous issues in the arc, just to understand the story, that is a bad thing. If the story is too complicated for the readers to understand, they are more likely to stop reading, possibly for good.

In the last few weeks, there have been ads teasing that one of the members of the FF will die in an upcoming issue. One picture even seems to indicate that it will be Johnny/Human Torch. I think this is a losing proposition no matter how it goes.

If they kill any of the four main members and that character stays dead, they will have destroyed one of the foundation teams of the Marvel Universe. Yes, sometimes heroes die, as was recently seen in X-Men with the death of Nightcrawler. However, I think that to kill Reed, Sue, Ben, or Johnny will so fundamentally change the team that it will simply not survive.

If they kill a member but resurrect him in some way, it will be a cheat. They will have done it just to drum up sales, even if it is a good story otherwise. There are other ways to improve sales besides having a death that ends up being meaningless if the character returns. That stunt can work, but I think it is too soon after the death and resurrection of Steve Rogers.

If they kill a reserve member, or one of the kids, it will seem like false advertising. It might not technically be, but it will certainly not sit well with readers and fans.

Personally, I think there is no good way to kill off a member of the FF. The story might well be great reading, but in the end, I foresee nothing but trouble. It is this kind of thing that you see too often on television for sweeps weeks, and if it is possible to jump the shark in comics, I fear this is where the FF is heading.

I also wanted to touch on the reboot of the FF movie franchise. Interestingly enough, in a conversation with a local video rental store manager, he said that he thinks that the upcoming possible death of Johnny is because of the casting of Chris Evans as the new Captain America. I hope the two are not actually related, as they should not be. The comic books and the movies are essentially in different universes, and should not have that type of impact on each other.

The real question is not who gets the roles, but why are they rebooting the movies in the first place? Yes, the second movie did not do as well as the first, but I don't think it was the fault of the actors. I think the story was lacking. Also, many film series have poor second installments, only to continue on and produce more and better films, without a reboot.

The only problem would be recasting Johnny, but it can be done. Other franchises have done similar things without getting rid of all the previous actors. Two films are simply not enough to know if a reboot is necessary. It would seem that Hollywood is getting a bit to quick to reboot, instead of trying harder to put out better quality films in the first place.

Marvel's First Family seems to be headed down a bad path in the comic book universe. The movie universe remains to be seen, but a reboot can be a dicey proposition, especially for such a young series.

Hopefully I am wrong, and the FF will once again become one of the dominant forces in all versions of the Marvel Universe.

Only time will tell.