POSTLUDE: Marvel: Heroes & Legends #1

For Better and For Worse!

Featuring: Everybody
Release: August 21, 1996
Cover: October 1996
$2.95
Scintillating script by Stan Lee
Prurient plot by Fabian Nicieza
Pulse-pounding pencils by Sal Buscema, John Buscema, John Romita, Sr., Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Marie Severin & Ron Frenz
Incredible inks by Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott, Terry Austin, Bill Reinhold, Marie Severin & Al Milgrom
Kaleidoscopic colors by John Kalisz (with perfect page one and colossal cover coloring by Paul Becton)
Lascivious letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft/ad
Effervescent edits by Matt Idelson
Aching assistant edits by Paul Tutrone
Evil editing-in-chiefing by Bob Harras
Very special thanks to: Mariano Nicieza, Darren Auck, Scott Koblish, Gil Kane, The Raiders, and the many terrific talents of the Mighty Marvel Bullpen
Based on Fantastic Four Annual #3 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
48 pages

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Just between us, Alicia– I’ve been ready ever since I met the man!

I’m not trying to include too many POSTLUDE entries, but don’t have a clear standard for when I do. Having a copy of the comic in my living room as opposed to in storage somewhere is a good motivator. Plus, I actively used this comic as a reference when making my Fantastic Four Annual post, in deciding who might have been present at the wedding but off-panel.

Heroes & Legends is a loving retelling of the wedding of Sue and Reed from 1996, by continuity nerd Fabian Nicieza with a rotating cast of classic artists and a script by Stan Lee.

We know Steve Ditko very well by this point. We’ve seen some early work of John Romita, but he’s just about to join our regular cast of artists. Gene Colan just started drawing Namor’s adventures. Marie Severin has been working behind the scenes, and we’ll see her artwork soon enough. We’ve already seen some artwork of her brother John. John and Sal Buscema will be shaking things up eventually, and Ron Frenz in the more distant future. We’ll see Tom Palmer soon enough. We’ve briefly met Joe Sinnott a couple times, but he’s just about to become a regular. I’d bemoaned he wasn’t the original inker on the annual. It came out just one month too early. The other inkers will be coming along later.

This tells the same story as the Fantastic Four Annual, but with over twice as many pages.

In a short while, we’ll also read Marvels #2, which includes yet another take on this wedding to contrast with these two takes.

We’ll compare the new comic to the original and note the artist on the new comic. The original art is all by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta. As noted above, for everything but the first page, John Kalisz did the colors in the new one.

The opening page deliberately mirrors the original.

The big addition is a kid named Mark, a superhero fan who gets separated from his father in the commotion, and targeted by villains and saved by heroes. He serves as the centerpiece for this retelling.

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Fantastic Four #32

Death of a Hero!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Story by: Stan Lee who has never been more dramatic!
Illustrations by: Jack Kirby who has never been more thrilling!
Inking by: Chic Stone who has never been more realistic!
Lettering by: S. Rosen who has never been more than an hour late!
21 pages

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Kirby continues his experimental depictions of outer space, using a collage of art and photos.

That’s not a great reprint. Let’s see the cleaned-up digital version:

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Fantastic Four #18

A Skrull Walks Among Us!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: June 11, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
21 pages

It’s perhaps cheating that I’ve seen so many later renderings of Super-Skrull, but hindsight being the new year, that’s not a great image of Super-Skrull on the cover. It suggests only that he has Human Torch powers. No hint that he has the powers of the entire Fantastic Four (well, no visual hint. I guess the text tells you). He should be rocky and flaming and stretching and invisible. My two cents. Though he’s also never rocky in the issue, just strong. But he should be rocky.

At this point, the earth has been invaded by about a dozen alien races this year. All of whom have given up and withdrawn entire fleets at the slightest hint of possible resistance. The Skrulls are the first to return, to try again after their ignoble defeat.

Their plan is to make an agent powerful enough to stop the Fantastic Four, reasoning it was the FF who defeated them before. But the Fantastic Four did not defeat the Skrulls, at least not with their powers. The Skrulls were scared off by pictures of monsters in comic books. So really, they should make an agent powerful enough to fight all the monsters that scared them away.

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