Fantastic Four #60

The Peril and The Power!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: March 1967
12 cents
Dazzlingly depicted by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inking by: Joe Sinnott
Lettering by: Sam Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#635	Next
Fantastic Four #59	Reading order	X-Men #27
Fantastic Four #59	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #61

I… never felt… pain.. like this… before..! ..Never knew anything… could hurt… so much… But… can’t let go… can’t knuckle down…! All I got is… my strength..! If I let that fail me… there’s nothin’ left…! Nothin’..! Fight it, Ben… fight it!! Fight… ya ugly , good-fer-nothin’ orange-skinned meathead… fight..! What’s a little bit… of pain… to a big beautiful slob… like you..!

Black Bolt has spoken, and his voice had the power to destroy the Negative Zone surrounding the Great Refuge. And now he along with the Royal Family and Court of the Inhumans venture forth into the wider world. Meanwhile, Dr. Doom continues to wield the cosmic power of the Silver Surfer.

As noted, I’m here for Doom on a surfboard. That’s what this story is about to me. And this is the best image of that yet.

The Human Torch tries to take on Dr. Doom by himself. It won’t go well.

Fantastic Four #56

Klaw the Murderous Master of Sound!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 7, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Produced by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Delineated by: Joe Sinnot
Lettered by: Artie Simek
20 pages

Previous	#610	Next
	PRELUDE	Marvel Mystery Comics #2
Fantastic Four #55	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4
Fantastic Four #55	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #57

Our biggest problem seems to be keeping the somewhat disoriented Marvel Universe in some semblance of order! But, when you constantly mess around with space/time warps, and continuums, negatives zones, intra-cosmic deviationary fields, and universes beyond the reached of infinity, you’re apt to get a little bit confused! So bear with us, erudite one, for verily thou hast the seeming of a true believer!

Two notes about the credits. The first is that there are two Ts in Sinnott.

The second is that the credits will stop specifying Stan Lee as the writer, when Kirby is doing most of the writing. The compromise is the nebulous “produced by” credit. Ditko had fought for a similar credit in his comics before leaving.

Sue is upset that Reed is always working, and not spending enough time with his wife. Not the first time we’ve seen this complaint.

Reed has all kinds of fancy technology, including a visi-phone which connects to his lab. Wow. A visi-phone. Imagine being able to talk to someone remotely and see them at the same time!

Eh. I’d rather just send a text.

Fantastic Four #54

Whosoever Finds the Evil Eye–!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: June 9, 1966
Cover: September 1966
12 cents
Script: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Art: Jolly Jack Kirby
Inking: Jovial Joe Sinnott
Lettering: Snarlin’ Sam Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#550	Next
Sgt. Fury Annual 2	Reading order	X-Men #24
Fantastic Four #53	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #55

My name is Prester John… and long have I travelled the world, seeking to unravel the mysteries of mankind! That is why men have ever called me… the Wanderer! And, the sights I beheld… the secrets upon which I stumbled… were far beyond description… yea, almost beyond belief itself… Can I ever forget those lonely mountain peaks from which I barely escaped with my life… after finding a savage race who thrived only in the land of endless snow…? And, I wonder if time has erased the glory of Cathay… where I witnessed the flight of giant projectiles… like roaring comets, soaring high into the heavens! Even madness did I encounter… such as the time I crossed the angry sea only to find a tribe who studied the stars… and who insanely proclaimed Earth to be round, like some great spinning egg shell! But, the greatest triump of my life was finding the fabled isle of Avalon! Avalon… hidden realm of miracles without end! Avalon… whose wizards created mighty machines which harnassed the natural forces of the universe!! Alas, that those same forces should have destroyed their own land… causing them to vanish forever from the sight of men!

Still in Wakanda, the Fantastic Four and Black Panther play a baseball game.

When Reed and Sue go off to “shmooze”, Ben exclaims, “What a revoltin’ development!” Not the first time he’s used the phrase in response to Reed and Sue going off to shmooze. We’d seen it before in Fantastic Four #35. Brian Cronin traces the evolution of the phrase from Life of Reily to Daffy Duck to Ben Grimm here.

Fantastic Four #52

The Black Panther!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: April 12, 1966
Cover: July 1966
12 cents
Script by: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Art by: Jolly Jackie Kirby
Inking by: Gentleman Joe Sinnott
Lettering by: Hammy Sammy Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#531	Next
Daredevil #18	Reading order	Fantastic Four #53
Fantastic Four #51	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #53

The time has come for the Black Panther to stalk once more!

I’m going to repeat something I’ve been saying for the last year’s worth of Fantastic Four stories: just how impressive this moment in time is. What they accomplish in four consecutive stories arcs is unparalleled in comics history. Unprecedented and unequalled. To introduce the Inhumans, then have that story bleed into introducing Galactus and the Silver Surfer, then have that story bleed into the seminal “This Man This Monster”, to then immediately follow that up with the introduction of the Black Panther. Next issue will introduce the villainous Klaw and tell the origin of the Black Panther.

That’s a run of 10 incredibles issues. This run was preceded by the famous wedding, which was preceded by an epic three-part battle with the Frightful Four, which was preceded by one of their most iconic battles against Dr. Doom over the previous two issues…

The comic has been on fire with a sustained level of quality no other comic series has ever reached.

It can’t last forever. Fantastic Four #54 is a solid but ultimately forgettable comic. Though the stretch of stories that follow is also excellent, on par with anything except this incredible 10-issue stretch.

Let’s dive into the story without further hyperbolic build-up, and then we’ll take some time at the end to reflect on this new character we’ve just met, the Black Panther.

2010-2019: A decade of science fiction cinema, part 3 of 3

The Franchises

In the last two parts, we discussed my top 50 science fiction films of the decade… except I got a bit stuck on the franchises. So I left out any films which were part of a film series with two or more entries this decade.
In this post, we’ll walk through all those franchises for which at least some entries were seriously considered for a best-of-decade list.
And so we will talk at length about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but not discuss the DC analogue.
No particular order.