Fantastic Four: Classic of all Classics
February 4, 2009
First superhero comics stories and characters were all from the same mold, until the 1961 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created a completely new kind of superhero group, the Fantastic Four (first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 November 1961).
The members of the group are Mr. Fantastic, Invicible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing. There's also been a lot of many other members, like She-Hulk (joined in Fantastic Four #265), Human Torch III (also known as Frankie Raye and Nova, joined in Fantastic Four #239) and Chrystal joined in Fantastic Four #81 (...continues below. )
Stan Lee was the first author who wrote ordinary life for superheroes. Characters disputes with each other even in the middle of the battle, and they have personal problems. In the early days Fantastic Four was much less dense group than today, and Thing and Human Torch leaves from the group more than once.
The first villain in the series was a Mole Man. Bitter dictator Doctor Doom debuted in Fantastic Four #5 July 1962, and handsome amor of the seas Namor the Sub-Mariner was actually first appeared in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly April 1939, but made comeback in Fantastic Four #4 May 1962 and started to flirt to Invicible Woman.
When Jack Kirby left Marvel Comics 1970, the best Fantastic Four stories made John Byrne (art and some scripts too) in 1981-1986, Fantastic Four #232-293. That period is also called as the "Second Golden Age".
Fantastic Four: The End by Alan Davis were a six-issue limited series January to June 2007. The story is located in the future when mankind problems have been overcome. The story slowly reveals the reality of paradise. Racism, jealousy and rebels lurks below the beautiful surface. Davis manages to avoid the worst clichés of the genre. The End is one the best superhero storyes in a while.
Director Tim Story's films Fantastic Four (2005) and 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) were starred by Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Jessica Alba (familiar from the Dark Angel tv-series) and Michael Chiklis (from tv-series Shield).
