Comic Book – 544 pages – my copy (paperback; 2005) purchased from Amazon sometime in 2008 for under £5
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Everybody – I repeat: everybody – knows who the Fantastic Four are. Superman may be stronger; Batman is darker and full of more emotion; and Iron Man is back in fashion. And the majority of Hollywood superhero movies are a damn sight better than the recent outpourings of our Fab Four… but despite all of this, the Worm (and many others out there) have a soft spot in their heart for the Fantastic Four.
It may just be the lack of pervasive super-powers, lack of intensity and fashion that makes these characters so likeable. They were the booster that made Marvel a house-hold name, with Stan Lee outpouring hero after hero in the sixties. None of them (Spiderman included) reach the geeky excitement of these early creations: Reed “Mr Fantastic” Richards, Susan “The Invisible Storm, Johnny “The Flame” Storm, and the corniest and hardest of them: “The Thing.”
This collection is the first twenty comics from the early 1960s, as well as first (cough: cash-in) annual. In these twenty issues some of the principal Fantastic Four villains are introduced: Doctor Doom and the Submariner; characters who have endured for the past fifty years. Alongside these are the not so notable and memorable: Mole-Man, the master of Planet X, and the Miracle Man. All have the same common traits: mastery of Earth, regarding the human race as ‘puny’, as well as the destruction of the Fantastic Four.
From our place, here in the smug twenty-first century, it is easy to pick holes in the storylines (magic rays on a visit to the Moon?), to comment on the blatant male bias (Susan Storm pin-up, anyone?), and poke fun of the cheesy lines (“Just wait! Sooner or later…I’ll get my mitts on you!!”). But all of these supposed flaws are part of the fun. The Fantastic Four is a product of its time, and like any cherished cultural product from the sixties (such as bad Beach Boys records and pretentious art), these comics should be appreciated and enjoyed.
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Fantastic-Four-TPB-All-New/dp/078513302X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323257225&sr=8-2
