Fifty Years Ago Today... (Fantastic Four discussion)

[Turtletrekker]

...saw the release of Fantastic Four #1 by Lee and Kirby.

Also today, Marvel released this teaser, possibly hinting at the return of the Human Torch come November (The team stopped using the "4" symbol when Johnny "died").

The Fantastic Four was my first super-hero comic book, specifically FF 233, "Mission For a Dead Man" by John Byrne and the FF have been my favorite super-team ever since.

Through the purchase of back-issues, I own most of the Lee/Kirby run and, through the wonder of reprints, read their entire run. Byrne's run was, frankly, fantastic (Strangely, Byrne's "FF" is the only thing that he has ever written that I have really liked).

I'm loving the current run by Johnathon Hickman almost as much as the Byrne run and it is one of my most anticipated books every month.

Who else loves Marvel's "First Family"?

 

[Professor Zoom]

I loved the Walt Simonson run. That was just great. Shortly after he left, MAN, did it start to suck. Dropped it.

But, his run, loved it. Nice 50s sci-fi edge to it.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm loving the current Jonathon Hickman run. His understanding of these characters combined with his bold and ambitious story ideas are fantastic. In fact his run is what has got me back into reading the FF. I just recently caught up on the start of it, and I have stated from it's start that I think "FF" is probably Marvel's best book on the shelf right now.

 

[Mr Light]

WHAT?! The Human Torch isn't actually dead?! Even though we didn't actually see him die?!

Next thin you'll tell me they're gonna go back to the original number and not the "FF" reboot

I really like the Hickman run. I also really liked the Mark Millar run, aside from the extremely anti-climactic and lame ending. I also enjoyed the Mark Waid run. I haven't read anything between that and the original Kirby run, but I bought the DVD-ROM of it and I'm looking forward to it (eventually).

 

[Guy Gardener]

I liked the Pineapple Thing when he had a She-Thing to have Thing-Sex with.

They must have bought lube by the barrel.

I loved it when the Thing came back form battle World only to find Johnny on top of his girlfriend Alicia... However the I married a Skrull years were fantastic!

I hated teen Franklin Richards, but I loved teen Valeria Richards.

Hickman is superb.

was it Waid who had the FF conquer and occupy Latveria around about the same time the US was getting ready to go into Afganistan?

Soooooooo long ago.

 

[Agenda]

This should be a bigger deal! The Marvel Age of comic books began with the FF.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Val is one of my favorite characters in comics. Hickman writes her so brilliantly...and her treatment of Doom is hysterical and awesome...Uncle Doom indeed.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Byrne's run was the one that really hooked me.

And while you can't beat a classic, you can be inspired by it. I love this take on that cover:

 

[Guy Gardener]

"Uncle Doom is too formal, please call me Uncky Doomie."

 

[Turtletrekker]

This should be a bigger deal! The Marvel Age of comic books began with the FF.

I agree. It may be hyperbole to say that Stan and Jack changed the world, but... I'm gonna say it anyway...!


Stan and Jack changed the world!

 

[Admiral_Young]

If Fox develops their announced FF film reboot I would want it to follow Hickman's kind of interpretation of the family and the high concept science fiction. Plus I would want someone like Alice Eve as Sue

 

[Guy Gardener]

But why would they give Hickman a Job when Jeph Loeb is camped out in their driveway?

 

[Silvercrest]

I loved the Walt Simonson run. That was just great. Shortly after he left, MAN, did it start to suck. Dropped it.

Same here. Reed threatening the Black Celestial face to face. Dueling Doom through time in a non-linear story. Redundancy existentialators.

And then fill-in issues featuring, OOH! Rusty Collins and the menace of THE SEEKERS! The one where each member of the team was pigeonholed by a single personality trait and some alien switched them around to see what would happen. And finally DeFalco taking over and revealing Alicia was a Skrull. That did it.

Actually the Englehart run before that sucked almost as bad. I bought it anyway because I was just getting into collecting, didn't know the difference, and, y'know, it was the FF.

 

[Saga]

love FF, one of my first super hero team books. i too love what Hickman has been doing with the characters since he took over. the Simonson run was great, so was Byrne's. didn't really follow the book post Heroes Reborn. just got back into FF recently.

 

[Guy Gardener]

What about Claremont's post Heroes reborn run?

 

[Agenda]

Remember the Marvel 25th Anniversary covers? How come they're not making as big a deal of it now?

Edit: Spoke too soon! But I don't know if these will be as memorable.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The're just covers.

Pishaw.

Those borders with everyone one them TWENTY FIVE TEARS AGO (Christ I'm old!) are so bloody memorable that I can bloody date them in my memory as to where I was in school when they first showed up, not that I remember a lick of whatever I was supposed to have learnt that year.

 

[Admiral_Young]

My avatar is an updated teaser of the original "Four" teaser that Marvel put up yesterday. It is being speculated that it is the cover to "Fantastic Four #600" and it could run along side "FF" and feature more traditional adventures in the book.

 

[Skellington]

...saw the release of Fantastic Four #1 by Lee and Kirby.

Wow, THAT one crept up pretty quickly! I always thought that Fantastic Four #1 had been released later in 1961 given its November cover date.

I'm loving the current Jonathon Hickman run. His understanding of these characters combined with his bold and ambitious story ideas are fantastic. In fact his run is what has got me back into reading the FF. I just recently caught up on the start of it, and I have stated from it's start that I think "FF" is probably Marvel's best book on the shelf right now.

Agreed. Hickman is great and seems to have made bold creative choices that paid off in refreshing the franchise.

This should be a bigger deal! The Marvel Age of comic books began with the FF.

Agreed. The next three years or so would give us the Hulk, Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Daredevil and lots of other great characters. There ought to have been way more fanfare.

Val is one of my favorite characters in comics. Hickman writes her so brilliantly...and her treatment of Doom is hysterical and awesome...Uncle Doom indeed.

Val is probably my favourite character in the book. I really like the way Hickman writes her dialogue.

What about Claremont's post Heroes reborn run?

Claremont's FF writing was controversial. Some thought that there was too much narration, but I liked it that way. Alan Davis and Salvador LaRocca both complemented his writing excellently, I thought.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Playing off the success of Mad Men and how well Captain America came off, I'd love to see a FF reboot film set in 1961 to celebrate the anniversary.

Too late for that, but it would have been golden.