Category: Introduction

A good place to start

Fantastic Four #8

Prisoners of the Puppet Master!/The Hands of the Puppet Maker/The Lady and the Monster!/Face-to-face with the Puppet Master!/Death of a puppet!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: August 9, 1962
Cover: November 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
23 pages

I read this issue in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. The comic has the signatures of Lee and Kirby. The collection lists Ayers as the inker.

We begin now the second year of adventures of the Fantastic Four.

Well, he did tell them to call him Thing…

I’ve found it weird the whole series that they always refer to him as ‘Thing’ instead of ‘Ben’. In later comics, they will mostly call him Ben. The writers seemed to have noticed it’s odd as they make a thing of it here. Sue calls him Ben, and he complains about how it’s only ‘Ben’ when they want something.

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Why read the Marvel Universe?

In 1989, I was in Walgreens and my mother suggested I pick out a comic book from the newsstand. Thirty years and some 40,000 comics later, she has had time to regret that moment. On that day, I began a hobby which has consumed a large amount of my life’s attention and energy.

The comic was Avengers #309. I think I picked it out because I recognized some of the characters from cartoons I had seen. Thor, Captain America, Sub-Mariner. Perhaps I recognized She-Hulk. The other two characters on the cover were new to me.

The issue begins in the middle of events. Our characters stand atop a giant crater. The top reads, “Stan Lee PRESENTS: The MIGHTY AVENGERS!” Then in bolder letters, “TO FIND OLYMPIA!” Olympia is written is this cool gold font.

The story doesn’t end with this comic any more than it begins. By the final page, Thor is the only Avenger left standing and facing off against Blastaar. We get a little blurb which reads, “Next: The end of the Eternals? The end of the Avengers? You must not miss… Death in Olympia! In 30 days!!” The word ‘Death’ is written in this cool blood-dripping font.

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Resources

Attempting to read every Marvel comic starting with Fantastic Four #1 is no easy task. What comics to include? What order to go in? What should I be looking out for? What to keep track of? What to write about?

I’d be lost without many great websites which paved the way.

An incomplete list of great resources for Marvel comic books and comics in general:

A couple others are doing similar things to what I’m doing here.

And of course you need more than just the factual resources above. You need commentary and discussion. Here’s where I found the best.

And a very special thanks to comics historian and indexer extraordinaire Kurt Mitchell for enlightening discussion and sharing his notes and draft indexes.

And thanks to the gang at Rita’s pub.

The heroic work above has put a whole universe of comics at my fingertips.