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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 13 January 2014 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | 1
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Up to FF # 11. I'm having a blast.
Interesting to finally see the first appearances of the Wizard and Paste-
Pot Pete, too!
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Tony Centofanti
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 August 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 212
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| Posted: 13 January 2014 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | 2
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Late to the party....
Anyway, FF #1-102 is just about the best run of super-hero comics.
Of particular note to me is that the run itself has different eras. At first, it feels like one of Marvel's monster comics, even after they have costumes. That feel lingers into the story with Namor and his movie studio, and then transitions into what becomes known as the Marvel Universe. Thing vs the Hulk, Everyone vs the Hulk, Daredevil helping retake the Baxter Building, the Wedding of Reed and Sue. The true birth of the inter-connected comic book "universe". Sure, Superman knew Batman, but this was a lot different. Oh, and villains, villains, and villains! Lots of great slam-bang fights.
Then, right before the Coming of Galactus, it starts becoming this increasingly insular, but even more engaging, comic book of cosmic scope. A new cast of characters pops up in the book. The book that created the modern comic cross-over has it's last one 3/4 into it's life. It's a doozy though. Dr. Doom continues his annual appearances, but the FF return to fighting strange menaces more often than a super-powered foes. Bigger scope in the later issues though.
Those 102 issues do not end gracefully. The last couple issues are poor by Lee/Kirby standards. Leagues ahead of plenty of other comics, but they pale to those previous 100.
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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 13 January 2014 at 10:54pm | IP Logged | 3
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It's quite fascinating to revisit those early issues and see everything
evolve, piece by piece.
In the letter pages, you can see the very beginnings of what would
become Marvel fandom, as Stan became less and less formal (to the
point of changing letters' headings from "Dear Editor" to "Dear Stan and
Jack", and also printing readers' full addresses so they could network),
and began encouraging the "club" atmosphere.
Also, rereading this early material underscores for me Stan's vital
importance to the feel of the book. A lot of Kirby fanatics believe that
Stan stole all the credit, and that the magic of the FF was mostly due to
Kirby.
However, the characters' voices are vitally important to those early
issues (just as in Lee and Ditko's Spider-Man). Without Stan's scripting,
I don't think the FF would be been the fully-realized characters that they
were pretty much from the start.
It really was a collaboration--the FF as we know them would simply not
exist without one or the other of their creators.
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Andrew W. Farago
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 July 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 4079
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| Posted: 13 January 2014 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | 4
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On the evolution of the Thing: around about #300 he was changing into something even more monstrous... well, theoretically. He just became more spiky. Our chief even drew him in that form once, in the She-Hulk preview in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS.
The mutation that started up at the end of The Thing monthly comic was resolved in FF #296, when the Mole Man cured Ben's further mutations. "Pineapple Thing" started in the first issue of FF I ever bought, #310, when Ben and Ms. Marvel were exposed to cosmic rays after a battle with Fasaud:
A lot of long-time readers seem to dislike this era, but it's when I started reading, so I've got a real fondness for the Englehart/Pollard run. #310-319 are some of favorites to this day.
Edited by Andrew W. Farago on 15 January 2014 at 2:07pm
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Jack Bohn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 747
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| Posted: 14 January 2014 at 5:04am | IP Logged | 5
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Oh, is that how it worked? I should reread that era and pay more attention. That was when Englehart was doing the FF, the WCA, and Silver Surfer, wasn't it? He had a different style for the dialog in each.
(Actually, I should pick up reading the Lee/Kirby run as the Fantasticast seems to be where I petered out last time on Prester John.)
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16464
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| Posted: 14 January 2014 at 11:52am | IP Logged | 6
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Hmmm... this looks familiar:
Fantastic Four Finale cover
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132622
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| Posted: 14 January 2014 at 12:32pm | IP Logged | 7
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Hmmm... this looks familiar:•• Well, you know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of copying.
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Andrew W. Farago
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Joined: 19 July 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 4079
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| Posted: 14 January 2014 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | 8
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And Jack Kirby's *still* not on the cover. They did give JB an "after" credit, at least.
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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 15 January 2014 at 3:04am | IP Logged | 9
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Up to FF # 13. Ditko inking Kirby!
I've also reached the point where the Torch's "secret" identity has finally
been abandoned over in STRANGE TALES.
Despite the FF being near-fully-formed from the start, there are little
hiccups like these in the early issues. And, of course, there's that brief
period from # 10-11 where Stan was really playing around with breaking
the fourth wall (by having the FF answer their real-world mail, and by
working himself and Kirby into a story)!
He also seems to have been leaning a bit toward full-on satire of
traditional superhero comics, what with the various jabs and wink-winks
contained within the stories themselves.
That first FF/Hulk meeting is still a bit of a disappointment. Looking
forward to # 25-26, which definitely served to rectify the situation!
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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 16 January 2014 at 11:26pm | IP Logged | 10
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Up to # 15. Having a ball!
Also nice to see them finally hand-wave-away Johnny's "secret" identity
over in STRANGE TALES.
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Perry Haslem
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Joined: 26 May 2013
Posts: 86
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| Posted: 17 January 2014 at 12:30am | IP Logged | 11
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FF 13, introducing the Red Ghost, is a personal favorite. What a great idea to have an evil version of the FF consisting of a mad scientist and 3 super-apes.And Greg, you're close to reading #18 with the Super-Skrull, another favorite. This was a great time for super-villains.
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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 17 January 2014 at 12:51am | IP Logged | 12
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And Greg, you're close to reading #18 with the Super-Skrull, another
favorite. This was a great time for super-villains.
++++++++++
...not so much in the solo Torch stories, however.
I find it interesting that Stan and/or Jack decided to rework both the
Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete when they were concocting the Frightful
Four, later on--those two were not exactly great villains, in their initial
appearances.
I wonder...in some parallel universe, were, say, the Acrobat and the
Sorcerer members of the Frightful Four, instead?
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Topic Closed)
