Fantastic Four Appreciation 2018

[CaptCleghorn]

I ended up liking the Claremont run even though it got off to a rocky start by him leaning on stuff he knew, like characters from Excaliber. IIRC, he started out as the editor of the FF writer after the the title got relaunched in the Heroes Return phase after Onslaught, etc. Scott Lobdell and Alan Davis did the first 3 issues and then Lobdell suddenly left for the coast (a Hollywood job offer I think) so Claremont stepped in and took over. I think it took him about 10 issues to really get into it. At the same time, Claremont was given the task of bringing back Doom into things since he was left behind when the heroes came back from Franklin's pocket universe, along with Thor. Claremont wrote a mini series of linked titles that told the story of how Doom got back to Earth after putting together a coalition of generals from the Heroes Reborn planet created by Franklin.

Some FF fans (myself included) were accused of hypocrisy in getting on the Claremont FF for having a dislike for the sets of different characters and situation when we'd also bitch and moan at the upcoming Doom vs galactus story solicit. I probably should have appreciated the difference in flavor or setting more than I did at the time.

[Iron Maiden]

I did notice there is some discussion about Slott's use of Doom vs Galactus in the other thread. We just had Doom as Galactus in Marvel Two in 1 but I'll wait and see what develops on that. If Doom is still determined to change his ways, it could be a good story. I just keep hoping that Marvel isn't going to completely regress the character.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Fantastic Four #19 Oct 1963
First appearance of Pharaoh Rama-Tut in "Prisoners of the Pharoah!
The Fantastic Four return to Ancient Egypt to try to find a cure for Alicia's blindness


and are met by Rama-Tut, a time traveler from the year 3000.

Letter to the editor from comics writer Steve Gerber. NOTE: The events of this very issue can be seen from different points
of view in the pages of Doctor Strange (1974 2nd Series) #53 and Avengers West Coast (1985) #22.

Script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers

[runguy]

from omnipotent to very powerful basically. there was an explanation that the creating universities led to depowering him (unless you don't like that explanation)

[Crimz]

Sara Pichelli Replaced on Fantastic Four #4 by Stefano Caselli



It seems issue 3 will be her last one on the book as she's not on issue 5 or 6 either. This is really disappointing, but I'm going to try and stay positive about this.

[Havok83]

they're in good hands. At least its another top qualty artist

[Silvermoth]

That’s a shame, I wonder why?

[Keyotheseasons]

Sara Pichelli Replaced on Fantastic Four #4 by Stefano Caselli



It seems issue 3 will be her last one on the book as she's not on issue 5 or 6 either. This is really disappointing, but I'm going to try and stay positive about this.

For me, personally, I am not too upset about this. Pichelli is a great artist, but the art in this particular book didn't do it for me. Certain panels looked great and others looked kind of rushed to me.

I'm hoping the book gets some stability and consistency soon.

[Iron Maiden]

Sara Pichelli Replaced on Fantastic Four #4 by Stefano Caselli



It seems issue 3 will be her last one on the book as she's not on issue 5 or 6 either. This is really disappointing, but I'm going to try and stay positive about this.

What I found a bit odd about the article you linked to is they used a tweet of her showing a NSFW image on another title she's currently working on. I wonder if she left on her own and just found she wasn't into the material or there's some other reason. We'll probably never know.

I think Caselli is a good choice though. Will be looking forward to his work.

[SuperiorIronman]

This would pretty much explain the delay I guess.

[Devaishwarya]

I really wish Marvel would get a serious handle on the Artist Shuffling issue.
Half of the reason why I latch onto a book is because of the artist now just after 3 issues Pichelli is gone, Caselli who I really like, is on for one issue...and Aaron Kuder (whose style I don't like at all), is doing 5 and 6.

Marvel is really making it difficult for me to remain loyal.

[Crimz]

All I am going to say is that if this leads to drops in sales (which it likely will), it's 100% Marvel's fault. Not the characters. But you'll still get jackasses who'll say "the characters don't work" or other nonsense and I will never forgive Marvel if they blame any of this on the property itself.

I'm trying to stay positive, but this is the type of thing that kills a comicbook run. This was a unique opportunity to have a Fantastic Four resurgence that may have been botched.

Marvel has to do serious advertising to even think of regaining the audience, which we know they won't do.

[U.N. Owen]

Marvel has to do serious advertising to even think of regaining the audience, which we know they won't do.

The last time I saw decent advertising for a comic book was in the 90s when the X-Men were at their height. That work is the bane of all comic book companies.

[Crimz]

The last time I saw decent advertising for a comic book was in the 90s when the X-Men were at their height. That work is the bane of all comic book companies.

Sometimes I wonder if comic book companies hate the phrase "You have to spend money to make money". It's like they are allergic to effort and then wonder why they struggle with sales.

This is going to need to be advertised to survive after this awful start, we're not even at issue 3 and there has been delays plus two artist changes. The momentum is officially dead and there is only one way to save, but that's not going to happen.

But as I said earlier, the most frustrating thing about all of this is that the blame will be put on the characters. There will be all these discussions and articles about the viability of the Fantastic Four when Marvel themselves are at fault.

[Tofali]

Pichelli leaving the book shouldn't be a surprise - majority of posters predicted this when the creative team of the book was announced.