Fantastic Four #1

The Fantastic Four!/The Fantastic Four Meet the Mole Man!/The Mole Man’s Secret!
Release: August 8, 1961
Cover: November, 1961
Price: $0.10
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: George Klein (uncredited)
25 pages

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	PRELUDE	Marvel Comics #1
	Reading order	Fantastic Four #2
	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #2

And so was born “The Fantastic Four!!” And from that moment on, the world would never again be the same!!

I read this in Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1. The Table of Contents credits the issue to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, whose signatures appear in the issue. It claims the inker is unknown. Online sources cite George Klein as the inker.

It’s clear to me why modern reboots and films of the FF has always been hard. There is a lot not explained here. Reed built that spaceship. Was it his? The government’s? Why did he steal it? Beating the Commies to space is an outdated motivation for many reasons in 2019. We’ve been to space. Commies no longer a threat. And what was the goal of the mission? They don’t say. Just to get to space? Yuri Gagaran did that in April, 1961. So was there more to their mission? Was Stan just not up on the news? The comic was out-of-date before it was published.

The motivation to become heroes also seems rushed. They just agree to it. Little time to adjust to being a monster. That said, the 4 hands joined together is a great moment. Rightfully one of the most iconic panels in Marvel history.

Another iconic panel shows the foursome sneaking past the guards. This panel displays a trick comics use for efficiency. Dialogue and action don’t need to align. “No time to wait for official clearance! Conditions are right tonight! Let’s go!” Someone (not sure who) says that after they’ve snuck past the guard, it would seem in the panel. But surely they had that conversation before sneaking past the guard. But this allows two things to be conveyed at once, even if the dialogue and action are not well time-aligned. Else they would need two panels, one with the dialogue and no action worth conveying; one with the action and no dialogue (probably best to be quiet while sneaking past a guard).

Other iconic panels: First shot of 4 in spaceship, shot of cosmic rays attacking ship.

This comic seems to hedge bets. It launches a new era of superheroes, but does so within the sci/fi monster genre that had been Marvel’s bread and butter. I’ve seen it hypothesized that the Mole Man story was repurposed from such a sci/fi story. I can’t confirm that and don’t find it clear. It’s not obvious from the cover that the comic is a different genre from Strange Tales #90, on sale that same date, which spotlights the threat of Orrgo the Unconquerable.

They seem wealthy. They own a small private plane. Susan is described as having society friends. Johnny destroys his own car recklessly: he turns to flame inside it and melts it; he could have stepped to the side. This after we learned he loves cars.

The comic features a lot of shots of crowds reacting in awe, like, a lot.

This is the first mission of the Fantastic Four. And nobody seems aware yet of their existence. Thing is immediately attacked by police while walking outside. Human Torch is attacked by military fighter jets while flying.

They have superhero names, but don’t seem overconcerned about secret identities. Johnny flames on in front of his friend.

Sue turns invisible in front of hers.

What is the relationship between Reed and the spaceship? We learn he spent years building it. Obviously, no one person can build a ship. Was he the lead engineer, perhaps? But who financed it? The government, presumably, as that appears to be a military guard. I assume it’s the government’s ship, and he was the lead designer. The comment about not needing to wait for official clearance suggests they could have done exactly what they did if they’d been able to wait for red tape. So perhaps he was always planning to be on the space flight, and just decided to speed up the timetable without authorization.

The comic breaks neatly into 3 parts. The first 8 pages are a call to action; we meet each character as they assembled. The next 5 flashback to the team’s origin. These make up the first chapter: “The Fantastic Four!”. The final part is the battle with the Moleman, broken into two chapters: “The Fantastic Four Meet the Moleman!” and “The Moleman’s Secret!”.

Moleman is given a tragic origin. He was ugly and people were mean to him. He thus decided to conquer the world. There is depth in the contrast between Thing and Moleman. They have similar stories in the issue. Deformed and rejected. But one chose to use his pain as an excuse to do evil. The other became a hero. Once you get past the origin, Moleman is a fairly stereotypical villain. His rants about world domination are not original to this comic. “My mighty mole creatures will attack and destroy everything that lives above the surface!” He also does the thing where he spends a panel explaining his evil plan.

Moleman has powers like a mole’s and a bat’s. He describes two separate but related abilities. He notes he senses things in the dark like a mole and can’t be taken by surprise (perhaps a precursor to Spider-Man’s spider-sense). He also notes he possesses a natural radar sense, like a bat, a warning system of danger (perhaps a precursor to Daredevil). These abilities seem pretty similar to me, but he calls them different. Notably, Moleman is near-blind, losing his sight in a fall when he discovered his kingdom in the center of the earth.

I don’t really understand the ending of the comic (read: I don’t think it makes sense). The FF seal off the entrance to Moleman’s empire forever, or so they say. Thus they felt it was okay to leave him behind. Moleman destroys Monster Isle, sealing himself below. But the plot of the comic involved Moleman’s monsters surfacing all over the planet, creating big holes in the ground. And Moleman showed a map of his empire with lots of tunnels leading to the surface. How did they win they day by sealing a single entrance? Anyway, they seem confident they did.

There is some great character design here. All four of these characters are among the most iconic superheroes. That said, there is some lack of originality. Human Torch is a reboot of the Carl Burgos character from 1939. Invisible Girl has referents in book and film, going back to the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, and including the Invisible Woman film from 1940, directed by Edward Sutherland. And Reed’s powers seem similar to both Plastic Man and Elongated Man.

Thing is perhaps the most original character here. Such tragic heroes were not yet common amongst superheroes. He’s both a monster and a superhero. He is the most interesting and best developed of the four characters.

The other notable inspiration is Kirby’s own Challengers of the Unknown. The feel of the series and look of the characters owe to that series. This could be described as Challengers of the Unknown with superpowers.

The great debate which has raged throughout courts and internet forums and amongst comics historians is who to credit with what. How much of these characters and stories are from Lee and how much from Kirby? I won’t wade deep into that debate here, but rather note that together, Lee and Kirby created something enduring here.

Rating: ★★★★☆, 72/100
Significance: ★★★★★

I won’t try to comment too intelligently on Kirby’s art. His art is dynamic and influential. This is not his best work. Lee’s writing infused a relatable humanity to his characters and an energy to the story. Plot elements are iconic, though rarely sensible. They created 4 great heroes and a lasting villain here and launched a new era of comic books. This comic would be imitated by every superhero comic for the next 60 years. The foundations of the billion-dollar MCU movie franchise begin here. The significance of this comic cannot be overstated. The design, powers and names of each character is great.

Characters

• Mr. Fantastic
• Thing
• Invisible Girl
• Human Torch
• Moleman

Some notes:

• The cover gives us the names of all 4 heroes.
• Who tied up Mr. Fantastic on the cover?
• No costumes or secret identities
• Invisible Girl is always Susan, never Sue
• Invisible Girl’s power seems to simply be to turn invisible. She is of no use in fight.
• The first 8 pages show the FF assembling, as authorities attack both Thing and Human Torch. The next 5 pages flashback to the origin. The final 12 pages are the battle with Mole Man on Monster Isle.
• Lots of exclamation points and double exclamation points. Often where they don’t seem to fit the sentence tone.
• The clothes never seem to hamper powers. Even from as soon as they get them. Sue’s clothes turn invisible. Johnny’s seem not to burn. Reed’s clothes stretch.
• Susan describes herself as Reed’s fiancee. Ben describes Reed as her boyfriend.
• Lee’s style of talking to the reader in narration is not evident here.
• Context: 3 weeks later, Lee and Ditko would begin their iconic run with Amazing Adult Fantasy #7.

	#1	Next
	PRELUDE	Marvel Comics #1
	Reading order	Fantastic Four #2
	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #2

#1 story in reading order
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Next in order: Fantastic Four #2