Fantastic Four Appreciation 2018

[Rheged]

Marvel's First Family the Fantastic Four debuted in issue #1 of their self-titled comic in November of 1961 the same year that saw John F. Kennedy take the oath of office of President of the United States. Their origins are intricately tied to the birth of the Marvel Universe that we know today. From the depths of Atlantis to the Watcher's home on the Blue area of the Moon and to the fabled kingdoms of Latveria and Wakanda, the Inhuman's city fortress of Atillan and the antimatter universe of the Negative Zone, we saw the grand tapestry unfold through the eyes of these four adventurers, or Imaginauts as Mark Waid would later call them.

When Stan and Jack weren't busy creating new characters for the FF to meet, they also made sure that any new Marvel character from another fledgling title had to make their acquaintance with Reed, Ben, Johnny and Sue. Spider-Man wanted to try out for the team. The founding members of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four joined forces to try and hunt down a wayward Hulk. Reed and Ben's former Empire State University classmate Victor Von Doom would become arguably one of Marvel's, if not comicdom's greatest villain. Johnny would have a chance meeting with a bearded stranger in a New York flop house that would lead to the return of the Golden Age anti-hero known as the Sub-Mariner. Cosmic entities like The Watcher and Galactus are on speaking terms with the Fantastic Four. Oh, and as for my mentioning JFK earlier, even President Kennedy made a cameo appearance in FF #17.

Now on the eve of the publication of FF #587, we are told that the old order shall changeth. Not that it hasn't happened before...Ben was on the verge of giving up for good quite often before he became comfortable in his rocky skin. Reed was considered dead and was absent from the title for two years. Sue was estranged from Reed and left the team when Reed had to put power dampeners on their son Franklin. She Hulk, Luke Cage, Medusa were some of the more notable replacement members. But it always came back to the original four....until now. According to Marvel, one of them will die and the Fantastic Four title, dubbed by Stan Lee as "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" will make way for the enigmatically titled "FF" in March of 2011. Roster changes are nothing new to titles like the Avengers or the X-Men but with the FF it's always different, more personal. It will be a loss of a family member.

Well, I guess I will just end this opening post with a little contribution paying tribute to the work of Jack Kirby, who along with Stan Lee co-created the FF. If a picture is worth a thousand words, I think Kirby has about 10 thousand or so packed in to this ...





-- Iron Maiden's first post of the original World's Greatest Comic Magazine thread.

[Rheged]

FABULOUS FANTASTIC FOUR RUNS!
Chronologically

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

John Byrne

Mark Waid

Jonathan Hickman
Matt Fraction & Bagley and Allred
James Robinson & Leonard Kirk

FAVORITE FANTASTIC FOUR RUNS!
According to 5717 voters

1 John Byrne 28.0% 1599
2 Jonathan Hickman 24.8% 1417
3 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby 17.4% 995
4 Mark Waid 10.1% 579
5 Stan Lee 6.7% 383
6 Mark Millar 2.5% 145
7 Walt Simonson 2.1% 119
8 Matt Fraction 1.8% 103
9 Chris Claremont 1.2% 67
10 Tom DeFalco 1.1% 65
11 J. Michael Straczynski 0.9% 50
12 Roy Thomas 0.7% 41
13 Karl Kesel 0.6% 33
14 Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marin 0.5% 29
15 Steve Englehart 0.4% 23
16 Marv Wolfman 0.4% 21
17 Gerry Conway 0.3% 16
18 Carlos Pacheco and Jeph Loeb 0.3% 15
19 Scott Lobdell 0.2% 14
20 Doug Moench 0.1% 3

COLLECTED EDITIONS

Fantastic Four Omnibus v1 Lee & Kirby
Fantastic Four Omnibus v2 Lee & Kirby

Fantastic Four Omnibus v1 John Bryne
Fantastic Four Omnibus v2 John Bryne

Fantastic Four Omnibus v1 Jonathan Hickman

Thing () by Dan Slott
Thing Freakshow
Fantastic Four Unstable Molecules
Fantastic Four 1234
Fantastic Four True Story

RECOMMENDATIONS

John Byrne, who, in addition to helming unarguably one of my utmost favorite FF creative runs, also penned and illustrated what I, about 95% without hesitance, proclaim to be the FINEST FF issue and story ever conceived in FF #236/"Terror In A Tiny Town". I can't express this enough: Read FF #236 ASAP. You won't thank me enough when you do...it is THAT THOROUGHLY SPLENDID an issue/story.

LINKS

Jason Young's Fantastic Four 9 Project

The Science of Reed Richards


The Ever-Lovin Blued-Eyed Thing Appreciation

Dr. Doom Appreciation

[Alvarez]

Just the thread I was looking for.

The Fantastic Four are my favorite team and comic book in general, the few titles I'll stick with till the end.
Currently re-reading Byrne's run and loving Robinson's.
Not much else to say... for now at least.

[Rheged]

Just the thread I was looking for.

The Fantastic Four are my favorite team and comic book in general, the few titles I'll stick with till the end.
Currently re-reading Byrne's run and loving Robinson's.
Not much else to say... for now at least.

I've got the two Bryne omnibus, but haven't read those stories in a while. I'm glad to hear another fan of Robinson's run.

From your avatar, can I assume you are a Thing fan?

[Alvarez]

I've got the two Bryne omnibus, but haven't read those stories in a while. I'm glad to hear another fan of Robinson's run.

From your avatar, can I assume you are a Thing fan?

Reading from the old Visionaries, I've been meaning to pick up the Omnibuses though.
Robinson has been getting a lot of flack for his few issues, but I like it. He's always been a slow builder.

Heh, yeah. If it has The Thing in it, I'm buying it.

[Rheged]

Reading from the old Visionaries, I've been meaning to pick up the Omnibuses though.
Robinson has been getting a lot of flack for his few issues, but I like it. He's always been a slow builder.

Heh, yeah. If it has The Thing in it, I'm buying it.

I LOVED Marvel Two In One back in the day. I think that's out in Marvel Masterworks ... I should look into that.

I've been enjoying Robinson and Kirk on Fantastic Four so far. I hope they both stay for a long run.

The Omnibus have their pluses and minus. They ARE heavy, and not scan friendly at all. But BIG pictures. Plus some of them have been re-mastered. I'll have to see if I can find that post where someone compared the MMW and the Omnibus.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Just the thread I was looking for.

The Fantastic Four are my favorite team and comic book in general, the few titles I'll stick with till the end.
Currently re-reading Byrne's run and loving Robinson's.
Not much else to say... for now at least.

FANTASTIC run IMO.

[The Whovian]

The Fantastic Four are my favorite comic book team of all time. Great characters and they weren't just a team, they were family.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Loved this short lived team of Ms. Marvel, Crystal, Ben and Johnny.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

The Fantastic Four are my favorite comic book team of all time. Great characters and they weren't just a team, they were family.

Very true!

[Erick5]

FABULOUS FANTASTIC FOUR RUNS!
Chronologically

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

John Byrne

Mark Waid

Jonathan Hickman
Matt Fraction & Bagley and Allred
James Robinson & Leonard Kirk

FAVORITE FANTASTIC FOUR RUNS!
According to 5717 voters

1 John Byrne 28.0% 1599
2 Jonathan Hickman 24.8% 1417
3 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby 17.4% 995
4 Mark Waid 10.1% 579
5 Stan Lee 6.7% 383
6 Mark Millar 2.5% 145
7 Walt Simonson 2.1% 119
8 Matt Fraction 1.8% 103
9 Chris Claremont 1.2% 67
10 Tom DeFalco 1.1% 65
11 J. Michael Straczynski 0.9% 50
12 Roy Thomas 0.7% 41
13 Karl Kesel 0.6% 33
14 Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marin 0.5% 29
15 Steve Englehart 0.4% 23
16 Marv Wolfman 0.4% 21
17 Gerry Conway 0.3% 16
18 Carlos Pacheco and Jeph Loeb 0.3% 15
19 Scott Lobdell 0.2% 14
20 Doug Moench 0.1% 3

COLLECTED EDITIONS

Fantastic Four Omnibus v1 Lee & Kirby
Fantastic Four Omnibus v2 Lee & Kirby

Fantastic Four Omnibus v1 John Bryne
Fantastic Four Omnibus v2 John Bryne

Fantastic Four Omnibus v1 Jonathan Hickman

Thing () by Dan Slott
Thing Freakshow
Fantastic Four Unstable Molecules
Fantastic Four 1234
Fantastic Four True Story

RECOMMENDATIONS





LINKS

Jason Young's Fantastic Four 9 Project

The Science of Reed Richards


The Ever-Lovin Blued-Eyed Thing Appreciation

Dr. Doom Appreciation

What Millar did with the hooded man was "uncanny." I was totally surprised. And the way he wrote Johnny was much appreciated. I felt he really emphasized the Torch's speed.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Marvel's First Family the Fantastic Four debuted in issue #1 of their self-titled comic in November of 1961 the same year that saw John F. Kennedy take the oath of office of President of the United States. Their origins are intricately tied to the birth of the Marvel Universe that we know today. From the depths of Atlantis to the Watcher's home on the Blue area of the Moon and to the fabled kingdoms of Latveria and Wakanda, the Inhuman's city fortress of Atillan and the antimatter universe of the Negative Zone, we saw the grand tapestry unfold through the eyes of these four adventurers, or Imaginauts as Mark Waid would later call them.

When Stan and Jack weren't busy creating new characters for the FF to meet, they also made sure that any new Marvel character from another fledgling title had to make their acquaintance with Reed, Ben, Johnny and Sue. Spider-Man wanted to try out for the team. The founding members of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four joined forces to try and hunt down a wayward Hulk. Reed and Ben's former Empire State University classmate Victor Von Doom would become arguably one of Marvel's, if not comicdom's greatest villain. Johnny would have a chance meeting with a bearded stranger in a New York flop house that would lead to the return of the Golden Age anti-hero known as the Sub-Mariner. Cosmic entities like The Watcher and Galactus are on speaking terms with the Fantastic Four. Oh, and as for my mentioning JFK earlier, even President Kennedy made a cameo appearance in FF #17.

Now on the eve of the publication of FF #587, we are told that the old order shall changeth. Not that it hasn't happened before...Ben was on the verge of giving up for good quite often before he became comfortable in his rocky skin. Reed was considered dead and was absent from the title for two years. Sue was estranged from Reed and left the team when Reed had to put power dampeners on their son Franklin. She Hulk, Luke Cage, Medusa were some of the more notable replacement members. But it always came back to the original four....until now. According to Marvel, one of them will die and the Fantastic Four title, dubbed by Stan Lee as "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" will make way for the enigmatically titled "FF" in March of 2011. Roster changes are nothing new to titles like the Avengers or the X-Men but with the FF it's always different, more personal. It will be a loss of a family member.

Well, I guess I will just end this opening post with a little contribution paying tribute to the work of Jack Kirby, who along with Stan Lee co-created the FF. If a picture is worth a thousand words, I think Kirby has about 10 thousand or so packed in to this ...





-- Iron Maiden's first post of the original World's Greatest Comic Magazine thread.

The cornerstone of the Marvel Universe.

[Crimz]

I 'm going to post about their 55th during November as it's the month the first issue was released (and my birthday is during that month )

[Crimz]

Which writers do you associate with a particular member of the Fantastic Four?

Who did your definitive version of a particular member?

For me it's:

Byrne with Sue
Lee/Kirby with Ben
Hickman, Waid and Lee/Kirby with Reed
I don't thin Johnny has had his yet, or I haven't come across them yet.

[The Whovian]

Byrne with Sue
Lee/Kirby with Ben
Hickman with Reed and Johnny (and slightly Sue as well)

Hickman REALLY focused on Reed and did some amazing things with him. But I loved what he did with Johnny. He was no longer the wise cracking, immature young man. Hickman had him grow up and was more mature. Hickman also had his wow moments with Sue, like when she told Namor off (I can't remember the issue #).