Marvel Comics announced on Friday that acclaimed writer Jonathan Hickman would be wrapping up his 3-year Fantastic Four run in October.

While the future of the Fantastic Four title is surely not in jeopardy, it remains to be seen whether or not Hickman’s initiated FF series will continue with another creative team. Jonathan Hickman’s run with these characters has been highly praised by many within the industry and created a strong and rejuvenated interest in the characters. For example, when I was starting to get in to the Fantastic Four, many suggested Hickman’s run alongside Mark Waid’s, John Byrne’s, and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s tenure with the title. Therefore, in many readers’ eyes, he’s placed amongst the greats. So, while this news may come as a shock to many fans, Hickman isn’t the only one who’s shifting creative gears.

In fact, there’s a lot of interesting creative shifts going on at Marvel Comics recently. Following the company’s mega-crossover event Avengers vs. X-Men, Jason Aaron will be finishing up his run with Wolverine, Brian Michael Bendis will be leaving The Avengers, and now Hickman is leaving The Fantastic Four and FF in his wake. Each of these creators has been working with these characters for a very long time and have solidified themselves as the architects of their respective titles’ directions. So, with all of this news coming out, it’s even more apparent that The Avengers vs. The X-Men will be, at the very least, a company changing event in respect to creative teams.

So, what does this all mean? Will these writers be playing a veritable musical chairs with these comics? Will they be moving on to brand new and exciting properties? At this point, it’s far too soon to speculate, but we’re comic book fans. All we do is speculate! So readers, why don’t you play arm chair editor in chief and tell me how you’d like to see the future of the Marvel landscape play out.

[Source: Marvel]