Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: July 8, 1965 Cover: October 1965 12 cents Daringly written by Stan lee Dazzlingly drawn by Jack Kirby Dramatically inked by Vince Colletta Docily lettered by Artie Simek 20 pages
You thought you were the equal of the Fantastic Four– and nobody is!
Another great cover, and showing off Kirby’s versatility. Last issue had a cover beautiful in its simplicity, focused on two men locked in combat. Now we see a lot of complexity, that intricate machinery Kirby is so famous for drawing, but where the complexity frames the emotion of a defeated Fantastic Four.
When we left off, the Frightful Four had brainwashed Ben and Johnny into joining them. Now it’s up to Reed and Sue to fight off 6 enemies and restore their teammates’ minds. The startling conclusion of a 3-part battle.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: June 8, 1965 Cover: September 1965 12 cents Produced by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Inking: V. Colletta Lettering: S. Rosen 20 pages
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: May 11, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee, who has never lost his touch! Art by: Jack Kirby, who has never lost his magic! Inking by: Vince Colletta, who has never lost his flair! Lettering by: Sam Rosen, who has never lost Artie Simek! 20 pages
You did this to me, Richards!! You turned me into somethin’ so ugly that they can only call me… a Thing!
I appreciate that they use Ben’s real name in the title, rather than his superhero name. It adds a certain something, though I suspect Stan did it for alliterative purposes: brutal, betrayal, Ben.
Notice this picks up right where the last issue left off, so no time has passed. Yet we’ve read 7 other comics in the meantime. The idea is all this stuff is happening close to concurrently.
Ben had been turned human again, but Reed felt they needed him to be super strong again to defeat Dr. Doom, so without permission, Reed fired a ray to turn him back into the Thing.
Ben is justifiably angry and quitting the Fantastic Four.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: April 8, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Spellbinding script by: Stan (The Man) Lee Astonishing artwork by: Jack (King) Kirby Inked by: V. Colletta Lettered by: Artie Simek 20 pages
Stan’s repeaing himself here. He used those same credits in Journey Into Mystery #107 the previous year. Stan (The Man) Lee. Jack (King) Kirby. Basically every comic has had a different nickname for the creators. These may be the first repeats. They are certainly the most famous and today recognized as the semi-official nicknames of the two creators.
Dr. Doom purloins Reed’s remote-control TV eye. Basically what we today would call a drone. Now readily available. Invented 60 years ago by Reed Richards. Reed refers to the drone as a “flying spotter”. Another invention Reed refers to is the “electronic stimulator”. I wonder if that resembles any modern devices?
We’ve seen Daredevil’s billy club has some neat tricks, like becoming a grappling hook. But now we see it’s a gun. That’s new.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: March 11, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents Splendiforious story by: Stan Lee Delectable drawings by: Jack Kirby Deliciious Delineation by: Frank Ray Laconic lettering by: Artie Simek 20 pages
I don’t normally post things on Sundays, so I had planned this for Monday. But today is April 10, 2022. And it just seemed too fitting not to post this today, in honor of the introduction of Dr. Doom, April 10, 1962. Here’s the post we did on his introduction almost 3 years ago.
So, happy birthday to the greatest comic book villain of all time. Let’s celebrate by reading his first truly great battle against the Fantastic Four, still one of the greatest Dr. Doom stories ever.
Just don’t mention his age to him. He’ll probably kill you. He can be a bit vain.
After a battle with the Frightful Four, the Fantastic Four were caught in a Q-bomb explosion and left for dead in the middle of the ocean. When we last saw them, it appeared as though Ben was turning human again.
To me, that’s a good excuse to jump straight to the next issue where they are getting dragged out of the water.
But we didn’t do that. We read another 35 comics in between the two. Why? Well, a lot was happening all at once. While they were still at sea, the Frightful Four showed up in Thor’s comic during the Trial of the Gods. That’s a whole thing. That tied into this Daredevil/Sub-Mariner battle as well as to this milestone Avengers issue where a new team of Avengers formed. That spun out of an X-Men story which happened before Human Torch showed up in the pages of X-Men. It’s tightly connected.
Obviously, the FF couldn’t be at sea that many days without the submarine finding them. They need water at some point. But it could have taken a bit of time to get back to their headquarters. And all the other superhero adventures must have elapsed in that time.
Frank Giacoia is the credited inker (under the pen name Frank Ray), but Wally Wood was brought in to ink Daredevil specifically, to ensure consistency with Daredevil’s look across the books.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: February 11, 1965 Cover: May 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Illustrator: Jack Kirby Inker: Chic Stone Letterer: S. Rosen 20 pages
My sincerest apologies, faithful readers. Been a few weeks now since we covered the epic battle between the X-Men and the unstoppable Juggernaut. That’s life nonsense getting in the way of my priorities. Let’s pick up our reading with the Fantastic Four.
I’ve teased for years now that at some point this title goes from “good” to “transcendentally great”. The precise transition point is unclear and I’ve repeatedly noted some key issues that seemed to step up the quality. I feel like that transcendentally great era is now here. I could maybe hear an argument it begins with issue 44, but I feel like it’s here now.
We’ll talk about 44 when we get there, as there is a notable change that issue. This issue also represents a change. This is Chic Stone’s final issue of Fantastic Four.
Stone has inked the last 10 issues of Fantastic Four, and it’s now hard to remember the title without him. Prior, it had been Roussos or Ayers, and the difference is just night and day. The only standout prior to Stone was the couple issues inked by Joe Sinnott. (Hint, hint.)
The art popped under Stone. He highlighted the melodrama Kirby was infusing the stories with. He didn’t soften the exaggerations of Kirby’s faces or poses. He outlined them; he leaned in to just how over the top–and larger than life– Kirby wanted this all to be. And you see this across titles, just as evidently in the Thor stories, for example. The action and tension and emotion and drama are all just illustrated to the max under the Kirby/Stone collaboration. It will be sad to see him go.
This isn’t goodbye forever to Stone. He did a couple other titles this month we’re yet to read, and he has the odd cover or fill-in issue still to come. But here we bid goodbye to his work on Fantastic Four.
Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: April 8, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Soul-stirring script by: Stan Lee Breath-taking art by: Bob Powell Eye-popping inking by: Wallace Wood Heart-rending lettering by: Artie Simek 12 pages
All good things must come to an end. And so must this.
Hulk’s series only lasted 6 issues. But then he started showing up all over the place. Avengers, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, and finally he got his own series back, this time to last for over 50 years and counting.
The Wasp had a back-up feature in Tales to Astonish behind the main feature she shared with Giant-Man. It started with her narrating science fiction tales, but then she started going on her own adventures. They were short-lived; she was the second character to lose a series.
The Watcher had a back-up feature behind the Iron Man stories in Tales of Suspense. It started with him narrating science fiction tales, but then he started going on his own adventures. They were short-lived; he was the third character to lose a series.
This month, two long-running features get cancelled. We’ll talk about the other in due course. (We’re reading this one a little early to get the Fantastic Four chronology in line.)
For the moment, let’s reflect on the history of Strange Tales…
Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: March 11, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents Written in the magnificent Stan Lee tradition! Illustrated in the majestic Bob Powell manner! Inked in the magiloquent Mick Demeo style! Lettered in the mortgaged Sam Rosen home! 12 pages
Due to the tightness of forthcoming FF chronology, we are reading ahead a bit in these Human Torch stories. Since Dr. Strange is still involved in a big saga, we are still holding off on reading Dr. Strange stories.
Dr. Strange at last gets half of the cover, but Kirby’s work here doesn’t quite do justice to the tale Ditko is spinning inside.
Stan notes the story will start in the middle. That is unusual for one of these stories, but it’s a classical storytelling technique, en media res.
This issue promises a surprise twist, an old villain in a new guise. I don’t want to spoil the big surprise.
Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: February 11, 1965 Cover: May 1965 12 cents Edited with reckless abandon by: Stan Lee Written with daring bravado by: Larry Ivie Drawn with brash impetuosity by: Bob Powell Inked with reckless vigor by: M. Demeo Lettered with a soggy penpoint by: S. Rosen 12 pages
Dr. Strange gets a small box on the cover to acknowledge his story.
Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the publication of Fantastic Four #1. Wish I could have timed my posts to have something better than this Human/Torch Thing story to celebrate with. So it goes. Happy birthday, Foursome!
Art by Alex Ross, inspired by Jack Kirby.
Lots to unpack from the credits page.
We’ve already met Mr. Demeo (Mike Esposito), as he also picked up inking on Iron Man this month.
Larry Ivie is a new name to us. He is an occasional comics writer and artist, and perhaps best known as a comics fan.
The blog, Professor H’s Wayback Machine, recently did a tribute series to Ivie’s work on his self-published fanzine, Heroes & Monsters.
This is the last we’ll see of Ivie for some time, but he’ll do occasional Marvel work here and there over the next couple decades.
Also unusual in the credits is a comic Stan Lee takes no writing credit on. This isn’t the first time, but it’s been a rare occurrence, and will become less rare. Stan still gets his name first in the credits somehow.
What we would today call editing is certainly a contribution that Stan makes to every one of these books, and not one to be taken lightly. The issues arise on the comics where he worked as an editor but credited himself as a writer.
Things are heating up in the Fantastic Four book, and there won’t be much space for solo adventures. So far, with only a few exceptions, Fantastic Four adventures have fit into a single issue, where one could easily imagine these Human Torch stories fitting in between the issues. But, as is the general trend these titles are taking, Fantastic Four stories are going to get more involved, with cliffhanger endings which lead us right into the next issue.
To that end, we’re going to knock out the next few Human Torch/Thing stories presently, getting us a little ahead with them. We’ll eventually revisit all these comics and read the Dr. Strange stories.
Thus subjecting myself and you to three of these in a row.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Written by Marvel’s inimitable Stan Lee! Drawn by Marvel’s unmatchable Jack Kirby! Inked by Marvel’s impeccable Chic Stone! Lettered by Marvel’s unbearable Artie Simek! 20 pages
We haven’t seen a cover quite like this one yet. The FF are far in the background, their drawings somewhat ill-defined. They appear to be on an alien planet, stepping out of a landing module. Closer to the foreground are two ominous, perhaps alien, figures. We only see the lower part of their bodies from the back. So they’re the focus but not the focus. The actual foreground is some type of rock wall, and we’re just viewing the action through a hole in that rock. The rock becomes a background to the issue’s title logo; the artwork up to this point has almost entirely avoided interfering with that logo. And we have a cool title, with a very classical sci/fi feel. “Behold! A Distant Star!”
Wedding preparations are continually running through the background of these stories now. Two issues back, Sue and Reed got engaged. Last issue was the engagement party. Now it’s time for the rehearsal dinner. In typical FF style, they’ll just make a quick jaunt to the far side of the galaxy.
Ben and Johnny are trying on their tuxedos. Reed’s new invention accidentally destroys Johnny’s tuxedo. Presumably it’s cheaper to buy two tuxedos than to try to make one from unstable molecules.
