by Joey Esposito
The secret is out: Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, perished in the pages of Fantastic Four #587. Johnny's death in this issue concludes the "Three" story arc, and marks the second-to-last issue of Marvel's ongoing series that has been in publication since 1961.

So what led to Johnny's death, and how are the remaining members of Marvel's First Family going to deal with the loss? We talked with writer Jonathan Hickman about today's big finish. 

IGN Comics: Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today; I know it's probably quite the media blitz. But let's get down to brass tacks… why Johnny Storm?

Jonathan Hickman: Well if you've been following along, you know that the world that we live in, the world as it is, is in the middle of trying to be changed by Reed into the world it can be. Johnny represented the child-like idealism, and he probably had the most utopian ideal. Taking him away adds a narrative push, a resistance, to what the book is actually about and what Reed is trying to achieve. He made sense thematically. Story wise, there's also some other stuff going on in the background of this issue that will make a lot of sense in the future. The events surrounding Johnny's death is pretty key in all of that.

IGN Comics: So is this a story beat you had intended on hitting from the very beginning?

Jonathan Hickman: Yeah, this was in my initial pitch to Tom Brevoort, the editor of FF. I wrote out roughly three years worth of stories, and this little bit is actually kind of the end of the first arc of the bigger story that I'm trying to tell. So yeah, this was always in there; it was always part of the plan. It was approved and embraced. It's organically part of the story and not something that we did as a way to boost sales or anything like that. This was always a part of the larger picture.

IGN Comics: You mentioned organic; do you think this was a natural progression for the character himself in terms of his recklessness or unwavering optimism?

Jonathan Hickman: Well… we all die, so I guess it's a natural progression. [laughs]But no, the way that Johnny goes out, the way that the character dies, is a progression of what we had been building Johnny towards, which was a noble and heroic ending. The ultimate adult act of a childish person. So yes, I would say that this is a natural conclusion to that.

IGN Comics: So this sort of plays off Reed talking with Johnny earlier about finding what he stands for in life. It also seems like it's a very shocking way to suck out the Heroic Age from the Fantastic Four by taking out the most optimistic character.

Jonathan Hickman: Yeah, well the story is actually called "The Last Stand of Johnny Storm". You picked up on that, and that's absolutely correct.

IGN Comics: It's interesting because Johnny's had the least amount of focus out of the four characters in your run thus far, but he's someone that is thoroughly connected to every member of the family in different ways. Is this something you're going to explore or was perhaps the catalyst for the story that you're telling?

Jonathan Hickman: Well, as with most families, there are outward gregarious individuals and there are the quieter, more supporting characters. The interesting thing about Johnny is that while he is outgoing, he is in fact a support mechanism for everyone else. He's the guy that's always telling a joke and making everyone feel better. He's always the guy that rallies the team and that kind of stuff. He's the guy that likes the big fire in the sky, right? I think that by subtraction it'll become more obvious that he was a much greater and necessary part of the team. 

Jonathan Hickman: Well, the next issue, #588, covers the next month in the Fantastic Four's life. We see some of that. Ben Grimm has an interesting year ahead of him. This is kind of the genesis point of that.

IGN Comics: What about the rest of the team? I assume they'll all be coping in their own different ways?
Jonathan Hickman: Yeah, sure. I mean, we all deal with death differently and so they will all be handling it in a unique and personal manner. Personally, for me, I have a rule about people in that I don't judge people whenever someone close to them dies. I don't take what they say as inherent truth, and I don't take their actions as sincere. When people are grieving, they don't behave rationally. They don't say and do the normal things that they normally do, nor what normal human beings would consider normal actions. Grief is a disturbing catalyst, so I think you can expect to see that kind of stuff.

IGN Comics: Now, Fantastic Four#587 was solicited a while ago and we've known that someone was going to die for quite some time. How difficult is it to keep a secret like this under wraps for so long?

Jonathan Hickman: Part of it is the structure of the story that we told and that everyone was always in peril until the very end. That helps. It also helps that I don't run my mouth a lot. I don't give away what I'm going to do. It also helps that Marvel was on board in turning this into a bigger thing, so there was additional interest in keeping that knowledge to ourselves.

IGN Comics: Do you think that the mass media blitz for something like this is a blessing or a curse, from purely a storytelling perspective?

Jonathan Hickman: Purely from a storytelling perspective, it is a detriment; there's no question about that. I don't want people knowing the ending of the book. I don't even want people to know that it's coming. The idea that people could have read the entirety of "Three" just thinking that it's a classic hero's journey and they're all going to get back together at the end as a happy family and then this happens; we lost something powerful there. But I'm a professional writer. I want people to read my book. [laughs] It doesn't really matter how great it is if no one reads it. If we sell so many more copies of this issue, there's no way I can consider it a loss. It's just not. It's a win across the board. Hopefully, if I do my job correctly, people will just buy more of my books in general. We have lots of surprises in the future.

IGN Comics: Can you give us any clues about that future, like what to expect from F.F. #1 in March?

Jonathan Hickman: Thank you for asking, but we can't talk about that today!

IGN Comics: I tried! Is there any potential of the Fantastic Four (three?) playing a role in Fear Itself?

Jonathan Hickman: Just to be clear, there is no Fantastic Four going forward. But the characters themselves that remain, they will continue in some form or fashion. Do they play a part in Fear Itself? Absolutely.

IGN Comics: That's all I've got for you, but I wish you the best in the massive media storm today. Thanks for talking with us!

Jonathan Hickman: Thanks! Anytime.