When he's not flitting through time or demonstrating vast, world-changing powers, Franklin Richards is usually a silent backdrop to the Fantastic Four. He's Franklin Richards, son of Reed (Mr. Fantastic) and Sue (the Invisible Woman), and he's frankly too young to be of much interest to readers.

That changed when someone was inspired to transmogrify the young, blond-haired boy into a Marvel Comics version of the famous pre-teen terror Calvin, of the sadly defunct comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. Of course, Calvin didn't live with super-powered parents in a tower filled with strange, reality-altering inventions.

Playing the role of Hobbes, Calvin's sometimes-stuffed, sometimes-real tiger companion, is H.E.R.B.I.E., Franklin's high-strung robo-nanny.

The potential for humor is great but, in this digest-sized collection, is largely untapped. Each brief yarn involves Franklin availing himself of some dangerous invention -- apparently the Richards family has never bothered to child-proof their home -- and panicking when something goes drastically wrong. Hijinks ensue.

Franklin is no Calvin, for sure, but perhaps he could learn a few things from Calvin's often cerebral, always imaginative approach to the world around him. Instead, writers Chris Eliopoulos and Marc Sumerak plot simple action/reaction stories that never delve beyond the most basic level of surface humor.

For example, one vignette involves Franklin shrinking down to the size of an insect -- and ending up a booger in his own father's nose. Reed, it turns out, is a picker. It's worth a chuckle, but little more. I think they can do better.