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Post by ghastly55 on Sept 28, 2014 11:59:21 GMT -5
Quote away! Who do you think I am, Neil Kirby??? ;-)
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 28, 2014 12:42:50 GMT -5
Ghastly55's memories of Fantastic Four #2 are just about the most awesome thing I've read lately.
Thanks so much, g55!
I first read it in the 1970s, in a paperback reprint where each page was printed at about the size of a 4X6 index card. The book had FF #1 to #6, and I had read the others before in various reprint books, but #2 still made my eyes bug out as I wondered, "Is this for real?"
Doesn't the Thing throw a bear's head at somebody at some point?
I also love the bit where, one by one, each member of the FF uses his (or her!) powers to escape from the military. Especially Sue! Stupid army prison guard! Ha!
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Post by gothos on Sept 29, 2014 16:25:51 GMT -5
I'm probably in the minority here but I wound up really liking the Tom DeFalco/Paul Ryan run on The Fantastic Four.I liked the multiple subplots that were going on and reminded me how Marvel relied on a lot of soap opera and character developement in the 60s.Yes,the Johnny got the hots for Alicia came out of the blue but I wound up forgiving it and enjoyed the Lyja reveal Ditto. I liked a lot of what DeFalco did with the characters. Whereas a lot of writers had a penchant for forcing their new characters into the FF's mythos-- paging Chris Claremont-- DeFalco was better about making his new characters meld with the old ones. Characters like PsiLord may not be all that great, but DeFalco played him and others off the FF so that they SEEMED important.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 19, 2014 11:19:46 GMT -5
I just read Ff # 176-182. The classic great Fantastic four are alive and well in those issues. Who cares if they are being cancelled?
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 19, 2014 11:39:14 GMT -5
I just read Ff # 176-182. The classic great Fantastic four are alive and well in those issues. Who cares if they are being cancelled? OMG! These are so great! George Perez and Joe Sinnott art! The Impossible Man! The Counter-Earth Reed Richards! The Frightful Four take over the Baxter Building and hold auditions for that rotating fourth spot! Thundra and Tigra show up!
Runs like this are why I get kind of annoyed when FF fans praise John Byrne and act like the FF wasn't very good after Kirby left and Byrne was kind of the FF savior. Byrne wrote some very good stories, especially when he first started, but there were good stories throughout the 1970s and early 1980s before Byrne took over. The Fantastic Four, like Spider-Man, was one of the most consistently well-written comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 19, 2014 11:52:00 GMT -5
They had top notch writers in their history. Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Len Wein to name a few. It was an all-star writing core that preceded the Byrne run. Maybe it was so lauded because the Meonch run that was before it wasn't that good.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 19, 2014 11:53:32 GMT -5
I liked the Byrne run but if I had to find a fault, it would be that the stories lacked the humor and fun loving that the earlier stories had.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2014 12:43:14 GMT -5
Were there any writers between Kirby and Byrne that had runs as long as Byrnes?
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Post by Action Ace on Oct 19, 2014 15:52:10 GMT -5
I just read Ff # 176-182. The classic great Fantastic four are alive and well in those issues. Who cares if they are being cancelled? That's where I came in and became a Fantastic Four fan forever.
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Post by berkley on Oct 19, 2014 18:33:27 GMT -5
Ghastly55's memories of Fantastic Four #2 are just about the most awesome thing I've read lately. Agreed! Just caught that post a few minutes ago while browsing Tolworthy's most praiseworthy FF thread. Well done, Ghastly55! This bit in particular resonated with me: "I remember the closing panel being memorable because it was a long shot of four tiny figures walking across a field wondering if they did the right thing, as opposed to the DC standard of back-slapping reinforcement of some moral or other. " This was probably the biggest reason none of DC's stories or characters ever really grabbed me and shook me as a young reader, whereas several different Marvel stories did just that. Of course, DC tried to get away fom that complete lack of ambiguity in later years but, thanks largely, perhaps, to those early impressions, an aura of smug moral superiority lingers around many of the big DC characters to this day, in my mind.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2014 11:44:29 GMT -5
So a third Fantastic Four omnibus is coming out in January which will run through #93. Seeing as Kirby left with #102 (not counting #108), I'm wondering if there is a reason other than size (which shouldn't be an issue given Inifnity Crisis) they didn't include #94-102.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 24, 2014 14:24:19 GMT -5
Coming soon! Probably within the next hour or so! The first in a series of short reviews of Fantastic Four #21 to #30!
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 24, 2014 16:14:53 GMT -5
I started reading through "Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four, Volume Three" this week and, because these are some of my favorite comics ever, I decided to write a few sentences about each issue.
The best "long" run of the Fantastic Four was probably from #36 to #60, or you may want to extend that to #92 or #94 because there are a lot of great comics even at the end. Somebody had realized that the FF worked better in longer stories, three- to four-issue arcs, and so a comics that had been great up to that point became one of the greatest comics ever.
But I love the George Roussos issues! Kirby had a lot of inkers in this period - Ayers, Roussos, Chic Stone, Giacoia - and they had all had some great stories attached to their names, but Roussos seems to have hit the jackpot! (With me anyway.) At a time when the stories in the Fantastic Four series were frequently uneven in quality, the tales in Fantastic Four #21 to #27 were just one great story after another! #23 is my favorite Dr. Doom issue. The great Avengers/Hulk/FF team-up in #25 and #26 is my second favorite comic story of all time! And the other issues have great villains, great challenges, great guest stars, and a bunch of loony (but not too loony) comic-book stuff that reminds you just how great comics were in the Silver Age.
So I'm going to write a few sentences about each issue. (I'm going to include #28 to #30 - three issues I'm not particularly fond of - to provide some contrast.) Nothing fancy. I just want to comment on some of the things I like about FF #21 to #27.
Fantastic Four #21 introduces the Hate-Monger, and it's also Nick Fury's first appearance in "modern" times (i.e., the 1960s). (This came out very early in Fury's career. It was about the same time as Sgt. Fury #4 or #5.) He still doesn't have the eye-patch that would pop up later. He's in the CIA, and he shows up to help the FF fight the Hate-Monger. (He's very sneaky and very manipulative.)
The plot, put simply is this: While strolling about in New York City, the Fantastic Four come across a political rally where the Hate-Monger is telling everyone to beat up foreigners. He turns his hate-ray on the FF and they start insulting each other and beating each other up. Reed meets Fury at the Baxter Building and tells him about the Hate-Monger's efforts against U.S. democracy-building programs in Latin America, and Reed takes off to fight the Hate-Monger by himself.
Fury manipulates the rest of the FF into going to Latin America (I think it's the country of San Gusto) where they all meet up, a cure for the effects of the hate-ray is found and the Hate-Monger is killed. He turns out to be Adolf Hitler because of course he is. (Although it might be one of Hitler's doubles.)
The best part of this story is where the FF are insulting each other and fighting among themselves because of the hate-ray. Here's some choice dialogue:
The Thing (to Reed): Who asked you to butt in, you skinny, egg-headed clown!
Sue (to Johnny): Who are you calling "useless," you conceited, incorrigible little brat!
Reed (to the Thing): If there's any "putting away" to be done, stupid, I'll do it -- like this!
Johnny (to Sue): Oh, it must be the Invisible Girl -- the original Miss Phony of 1963!
My favorite bit is where the Thing ties Reed's hands together, places them around a fire hydrant and tries to use Reed as a slingshot to send Johnny into the air. (Sue just dumped a bucket of water on Johnny, so he can't flame on.) He's got Reed stretched out along a whole city block and he's just about to fling Johnny when Sue unties Reed's hands and he flips back into the Thing and Johnny and they all end up in a heap! Haw haw!
I read this real early on when I was collecting comics. I got Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3 at a used bookstore when it was about a year old and FF #21 was reprinted in back. I actually didn't like it too well back then, but this story has grown on me over the years. Yeah, you knock it for a lot of dumb stuff going on. (Like in the "human slingshot" scene I described above. I don't think Reed's powers work that way. They never have worked that way except in that one scene.) But the good far outweighs the bad.
For one thing, they stopped Hitler!
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Post by badwolf on Nov 20, 2014 12:07:49 GMT -5
I think my first FF comic was Marvel's Greatest Comics #66, with the FF (with Crystal rather than Sue) in Latveria.
But my regular reading of the title began with the short Moench & Sienkiewicz run. I don't know why most people dislike it. Is it because there aren't any classic villains?
Then the entire Byrne run. I recently re-read the first half via the omnibus and it still holds up great. The only thing that struck me as awkward was how in every issue with Alicia, somebody has to mention that she's blind. (Obviously this was done for the benefit of new monthly readers, but it seems funny when you read them all together.) The only thing I didn't like about Byrne's run was the Alicia/Johnny relationship (I try to forget that from some point on she was a Skrull, because 1) that wasn't intended and 2) it's an even worse idea.)
I stopped reading the book shortly after Byrne left, and I don't think I've read it regularly since. Grant Morrison's 1234 was great, though.
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Post by tolworthy on May 5, 2015 21:16:09 GMT -5
Quick question: does anyone know what Fantastic Four issues were plotted by Gerry Conway but not credited to him? On this podcast, 18 minutes in, Gerry Conway says he produced a couple of uncredited plots for the Fantastic Four right when he started work at Marvel. www.stitcher.com/podcast/kevin-knight/eat-geek-play/e/eat-geek-play-podcast-54-gerry-conway-37291329It has to be before his regular stint began with FF 133. My guess is it was probably the two part return of the monster from the lost lagoon, 124-125 (I have various reasons). I left a question on Conway's Facebook page, so hopefully he'll remember and get back. But has anyone heard that before?
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