SDCC Coverage sponsored by Mad Cave
Today is that day. After feeling like eternity with a truly strange cross promotion, the Fantastic Four arrives at the theater. To celebrate this opportunity, we asked Marvel’s devastated team a simple question. What is your favorite Fantastic Four Story?
A few rules are set, only cartoons are set, and we try to avoid obvious choices. Galactus Trilogy, This Man, This Monster, Fantastic Four #267 (Sue Storm-Richard’s Miscarriage), Fantastic Four #60 (First Waid and Wieringo Issue) solves everything.
These are all groundbreaking stories for reasons, and if you haven’t read them, you should. But we are experts at Beat’s elite Marvel. The history of the Fantastic Four is full of wonderful stories. It’s the world’s largest comic magazine for a reason. So we have properly edited four of our favorite stories for you to check out and have fun!
Our favorite Fantastic Four Story!
Art by Walt Simonson
Fantastic Four #350, 352-354
Author/Artist: Walt Simonson
Letter: Bill Oakley
Colorists: Brad Bankata, Marie Javins
Walt Simonson’s tenure at Fantastic Four is nothing more than a blip in the long history of books, what a blip. Simonson has long been compared to Kirby for his own unique brand of dynamic storytelling. So he was a natural fit in both writing and drawing books. His stories preferred high-sci-fi ideas while playing with the book’s family dynamics. And it all peaks with these four issues. Many of them are very specific to periods. Human Ben Grimm is wearing an object suit! Sharon Ventura, codename Marvel, is about the woman he goes to! Kristoff, destined heir, impersonating Doom! But Simonson is the perfect storyteller, as he makes this very compulsive and exciting. Doom and Doom’s army attack Castledoom, and Ventura is seduced by Doom by Latveria with the promise of a cure for her condition, and the rest of the Fantastic Four is trying to save her. Question #352 (351 is embedded) shows perhaps the best fight between Mr. Fantastic and Doom Fist fight against one of the coolest uses of comic mediums (including time travel and turning pages). It all peaks in the way the Fantastic Four escapes TVA. Yes, that TVA long before Loki popularized it. Through it, Simonson makes the comic medium his putty. Few superhero creators looked so hellish that it reminded people why FF was tagged in the world’s biggest comic magazine. This story is not a platonic ideal of four great stories with strange science fiction, family drama and massive action. It is the platonic ideal of what you want in a superhero comic. – D. Morris
Art by John Byrne
Fantastic Four #240
Author/Artist: John Byrne
Colorist: Greenwich Wine & Bob Charlen
Letters: Jim Novac & Jan Shimek
During Covid, when comics weren’t played every week, I previously wrote about my picks, so we looked back at the old run and wrote about John Byrne’s start on FF. In Fantastic Four issue 240, its collection, Inhuman is almost dying. There are plenty of classic stories that show that they are not really superheroes. Rather, they are super adventures, solving problems with a combination of intelligence, skills and power. After realising that non-humans are dying from the pollution of civilization, only Fantastic could come up with a plan to save them, including moving the city into the blue area of the moon. And that leads to my favorite bit of this issue. There’s only one panel, but it’s so powerful that I’ve been with me ever since I read it years ago. – George Carmona 3rd
Art by Alex Ross
Fantastic Four: Full Circle
Author/Artist: Alex Ross
Colorists: Josh Johnson and Alex Ross
Letter: Ariana Maher
In 2022, Alex Roth’s Love Letter to Silver Age, the first Marvel family of Fantastic Four: Full Circle, was released as an original graphic novel after many years of development. This gorgeous piece of art is an incredible 64 pages. It’s not surprising as Alex Ross is an incredibly talented artist who blends Kirby-style art with classic techniques. I’m not a major fan of his plot/writing, but Full Circle does something special by looking at the history of Fantastic Four. The characters don’t have the more uncomfortable bits (i.e., the treatment of Sue), although Lee and Kirby feel about them. The fact that this story tells the story one of my biggest pet pee – refers to the classic story. In this case, the classic Fantastic Four #51 somehow pulls it apart. This is some of the most experimental art that Ross has ever done in several scenes inspired by psychedelia as his four journey into the negative zone. One of Ross’ best comic books and a masterclass in art and storytelling – Jordan J.
Mike Wieringo’s Art
Fantastic Four: Unthinkable (1998) #67-70, 500
Author: Mark Waid
Artist: Mike Wieringo
Inkers: Carl Kesel and Rally Stacker
Colorist: Paul Mount
Letters: Chris Elioporova and Las Wooton
Most comic fans agree that Dr. Ducmom is one of Jack Kirby’s biggest creations and one of the greatest supervillains of all time. But often, in his quest to lean on his nobility, the creator makes him too sympathetic or heroic. Mark Waid throws it all out the window and makes a declarative statement that all nobility and power are artefacts. “Unthinkable” begins with a fate that sacrifices the love of his childhood and transforms his skin into armor. He expels young Franklin to hell and lures her newborn Valeria. Throughout this story, Doom enjoys his cruelty, his most devilish and wise. It contrasts with the Fantastic Four, which repeatedly sacrifice for each other. Here Reed Richards sees in his most raw and vulnerable state. Waid focuses on family dynamics, highlighting how isolated a destiny is and how it makes him inhuman. Up until this point, Waid/Wieringo Run was a light romp that built family ties and friendships. Here it is being tested as a lead wallows of self-compassion. In the end, the four win and save the child, but not without sudden physical costs. Art is the best of the late Mike Wieringo’s career. His cartoon style amplifies drama and heartache with his large, rounded eyes and expressive forms. Again and again, the characters’ eyes draw close, revealing the shared humanity of the heroes and villains, as well as the enormous possibilities of good and evil that are contained within them. The rubbery appearance of the characters believes in drama. It’s a style that opposes the material, as if to emphasize how grand the fate of threats is for their Idrik world. The colour of the pole mount is perfect for the Weeringo style. The mount binds color to essentials, hinting at shape and volume, complementing mood. “Unthinkable” is an emotional ringer, one of the destiny stories to define, and is a testament to family bonds that make this particular team so unique among other superheroes and provide so many potential drama. – Tim Rooney
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SDCC Coverage sponsored by Mad Cave
