Fantastic Four Appreciation 2018

[The Whovian]

Back issues were hard to come by back then. At least in my part of Ohio.
I did start reading Marvel's Greatest Comics though.
It was like getting two issues a month.
This was my first issue of MGC.
Attachment 34430

Same here! We didn't have a comic shop, just comics off the spinner racks. The public library where I live though used to have a box of comics when I was a kid and they would let you trade one comic for one comic in the box. I would always dig through it for the Avengers, Cap or FF issues. Sometimes I would find the FF reprints in it and grab them.

They don't do it anymore. I think it's a shame. I've donated a LOT of tpbs to my local library and the guy that runs it has bought a LOT of tpbs and GN's for people to read. There's a whole section of comics. I think I'm going to ask him if I were to donate a big box of singles, would he allow kids to do that swap again. That would be cool for them.

[CaptCleghorn]

Same here! We didn't have a comic shop, just comics off the spinner racks. The public library where I live though used to have a box of comics when I was a kid and they would let you trade one comic for one comic in the box. I would always dig through it for the Avengers, Cap or FF issues. Sometimes I would find the FF reprints in it and grab them.

They don't do it anymore. I think it's a shame. I've donated a LOT of tpbs to my local library and the guy that runs it has bought a LOT of tpbs and GN's for people to read. There's a whole section of comics. I think I'm going to ask him if I were to donate a big box of singles, would he allow kids to do that swap again. That would be cool for them.

Even those of us who were able to acquire contacts for trading loved Marvel's Greatest Comics (and Marvel's Collectors Item Classics). These were the days when there were no comic shops and only the occasional Comics Buyers Guide ads. But eventually some of us did get them all.

[BAS]

My first FF comic was #188. The cover caught my eye and I just had to have it:

My first issue of the Fantastic Four was issue #176.
My mom picked it up for me at the local Sparkle Grocery store.
I was hooked. The FF became my favorite comic book right then and there.
Attachment 34428

I would have to say that era of the Fantastic Four is still my favorite. Must have re-read those issues a hundred times.

[Moriarty]

i had to dig around and find it, but my first issue was #367. as a kid i bought the majority of my comics at grocery stores and one day FF showed up so i bought it.

[Iron Maiden]

The first Fantastic Four I read, and also very first Marvel Comic was Fantastic Four #39. My next door neighbor had it and it took a while to find out what happened since you got comics from the local pharmacy and there were no comic shops with back issue bins. He had it for several months so the next issue probably came and went from the spinner rack.
I think we later got FF #40 from our neighbor also. But as mentioned earlier, Marvel's Greatest Comics was a great way to get all though back issues starting from FF #1.

[Kapparition]

My first issue of Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 319.jpg
being my first exposure to the Fantastic Four I wondered where Sue and Reed were.

[The Whovian]

i had to dig around and find it, but my first issue was #367. as a kid i bought the majority of my comics at grocery stores and one day FF showed up so i bought it.

"It's clobberin' time!"

[The Whovian]

The first Fantastic Four I read, and also very first Marvel Comic was Fantastic Four #39. My next door neighbor had it and it took a while to find out what happened since you got comics from the local pharmacy and there were no comic shops with back issue bins. He had it for several months so the next issue probably came and went from the spinner rack.
I think we later got FF #40 from our neighbor also. But as mentioned earlier, Marvel's Greatest Comics was a great way to get all though back issues starting from FF #1.

I wonder who did the inks on that cover? It looks like Kirby, but his pencils look a little off. That was a cool issue where Reed used his brilliant intellect to build technological suits to imitate their powers.

[The Whovian]

My first issue of Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 319.jpg
being my first exposure to the Fantastic Four I wondered where Sue and Reed were.

Another awesome issue! True cosmic space spanning fun. The only thing I didn't like about this issue was that they retconned the Beyonder as a cosmic cube. That was stupid.

[Iron Maiden]

I wonder who did the inks on that cover? It looks like Kirby, but his pencils look a little off. That was a cool issue where Reed used his brilliant intellect to build technological suits to imitate their powers.

I believe it was mentioned in an article in the Jack Kirby Collector that Wally Wood did some of the inking in that issue along with Vince Coletta. IIRC any page or panel that had Daredevil in it, Stan had Wally Wood ink it so he probably did the cover too! It really stood out to me as a kid. I got this image from the Marvel Digital comics section.

[The Whovian]

I believe it was mentioned in an article in the Jack Kirby Collector that Wally Wood did some of the inking in that issue along with Vince Coletta. IIRC any page or panel that had Daredevil in it, Stan had Wally Wood ink it so he probably did the cover too! It really stood out to me as a kid. I got this image from the Marvel Digital comics section.

Wow, I never knew that. Thanks for the info

[BAS]

The first Fantastic Four I read, and also very first Marvel Comic was Fantastic Four #39. My next door neighbor had it and it took a while to find out what happened since you got comics from the local pharmacy and there were no comic shops with back issue bins. He had it for several months so the next issue probably came and went from the spinner rack.
I think we later got FF #40 from our neighbor also. But as mentioned earlier, Marvel's Greatest Comics was a great way to get all though back issues starting from FF #1.

That explains where your fascination with Dr. Doom started -- that's a menacing cover image.

Since we're going back in time... I remember picking this one up at Kmart a long long time ago.

il_570xN.706125238_cefc.jpg

I read that one so many times the spine got week. Years later I picked up a fresher copy at a convention.
Print was a little small, but still worth it to see the first 6 issues of the series.

[The Whovian]

That explains where your fascination with Dr. Doom started -- that's a menacing cover image.

Since we're going back in time... I remember picking this one up at Kmart a long long time ago.

il_570xN.706125238_cefc.jpg

I read that one so many times the spine got week. Years later I picked up a fresher copy at a convention.
Print was a little small, but still worth it to see the first 6 issues of the series.

Yep, because at the time the originals would have been way too expensive to buy. I'm so glad that Marvel has published Masterworks and omnis.

[Iron Maiden]

That explains where your fascination with Dr. Doom started -- that's a menacing cover image.

Yeah, I think it was the power of Kirby's work and then the epic Thing vs Doom battle that drew me in. I even felt bad for how badly the Thing beat Doom at the end. But IMO this section of the Lee & Kirby run made it legendary, going back to around the issue where Reed and Sue get engaged up until their last Doom arc in Latveria. There's still some good issues after that but I liked the whole sequence of stories the best.

Since we're going back in time... I remember picking this one up at Kmart a long long time ago.

il_570xN.706125238_cefc.jpg

I read that one so many times the spine got week. Years later I picked up a fresher copy at a convention.
Print was a little small, but still worth it to see the first 6 issues of the series.

We never had these locally or at least I never did find any. I depended on reprints of the FF to get back to the beginning.

[CaptCleghorn]

FF 39. Wow. I'm taking the traditional Latverian position of respect here. (and don't be docking my geek points for not knowing exactly what that is.)

The first Fantastic Four I read, and also very first Marvel Comic was Fantastic Four #39. My next door neighbor had it and it took a while to find out what happened since you got comics from the local pharmacy and there were no comic shops with back issue bins. He had it for several months so the next issue probably came and went from the spinner rack.
I think we later got FF #40 from our neighbor also. But as mentioned earlier, Marvel's Greatest Comics was a great way to get all though back issues starting from FF #1.