Fantastic Four #17

 "Forgive me for interrupting you by sending my pseudo-image here. But I am still human enough to wish to gloat over your hapless plight!"

I love the exciting cover to this one, promising so much action. But not as much as I love the declaration that "Marvel Comics Group ushers in the Marvel age of comics". Fantastic Four may not be as good as Amazing Spider-Man, but it's easily the second best title at this point.

It's absolute bonkers, though.

We begin by saying farewell to last issue's guest star, Ant-Man. After all, his appearance in this more popular title is a clear sign that sales of Tales to Astonish must be flagging. No wonder the Thing is seen reading an issue as a subtle hint to the readers. 

Doom, though, is still at large... and he wants power, namely as a member of President Kennedy's cabinet, which is utterly bizarre. Latveria is not yet a thing, and I don't think there's yet any suggestion that he's anything other than American. Still, nice oblique visual hints of Camelot are nice, with JFK and "Caroline's bedtime".

It's probably best not to think about the plot too much, with Doom kidnapping Alicia as leverage but then utterly failing to use her as such when the FF attack his base in, er, a cloud floating above New York. Yep. Bonkers. 

But we end with such fun little set pieces, and the issue has so much overall charm, that I can't help but love it. Especially as we end with Doom jumping out of the plane, ostensibly to his, er, doom, but wevknow damn well that's not going to happen... 

 

Fantastic Four #16

 "The fools! They live in peace! They are contented and happy! But I'll soon put a stop to that!"

This issue is, obviously, bonkers. I mean, a tiny sub-atomic kingdom? An incredibly credulous society that Doom easily conquers due to their naivete? And, yes, a cover that proclaims a "special surprise guest star at the same time as announcing blatantly that it's Ant-Man.

Fascinating, is it not, that all Marvel crossovers so far have involved the Fantastic Four, who have interacted with the Hulk, Spider-Man and now Ant-Man. Will we get any crossovers not involving the FF any time soon? Still, I fear for Ant-Man. The Hulk's title was cancelled soon after he appeared in Fantastic Four #12. Can Ant-Man's tenure in Tales to Astonish be coming to an end? It would be such a terrible shame...! 

And, awkwardly, this issue is really rather good, and shows the FF, who finally seem to be morphing into explorers rather than crime fighters, to be better in stories involving shrinking than a certain Henry Pym. Ouch. I suppose he can console himself with the fact that Sue apparently fancies him... after earlier declaring that they "can't ever be sure that he really exists". First Hulk, now Ant-Man... the FF seem to be perennial sceptics when it comes to the existence of other super powered individuals.

This is a fun little romp, ending with the Thing literally batting away the invasion fleet of the Lizard Men of Tok, which is not a sentence I ever imagined myself typing. I'm enjoying Fantastic Four... and, oh goody, the next title in the Order is the next issue.

Fantastic Four #15

 "Good grief! Another power-mad genius for us to contend with!"

The quote above says it all- the Mad Thinker is not exactly the greatest villain of all time, just being another arrogant clever villain, this time the conceit being that he plans things to the second, until Reed defeats him with the "x-factor", or an unpredicted event which the Thinker somehow failed to foresee for reasons that aren't entirely clear... but at least Mr Lumpkin gets another mention! 

Still, it's a surprise that the Thinker becomes such a fixture for the FF, being so dull, and nowhere near as cool as his Awesome Android, overpowered though it seems here. There are some cool moments though, such as our first real experience of Ben's rivalry with the Yancy Street Gang, and Reed again using that gun thingy from issue #1 to summon the team- I think a fixture of these early days? It's also nice to see a bit of wry irony in Stan's captions, describing the Thing as "as lovable and shy as ever".

Interestingly, even as late as this issue the FF are as much crimefighters as they are explorers, with the Thinker seen very much as a gangland figure. It'll be interesting to see that change. Overall, though, a decent enough issue but nothing special. The FF need a far bigger canvas than this sort of stuff. 

 

Fantastic Four #14

 "Why don't you go get a job as a food tester in a poison factory!"

Another strong issue here, and fascinating in many ways. But the sexual politics? Ouch, the 1960s were certainly another time... 

The opening is cool- the FF literally became the first to land on the Moon last issue, that should be a big deal, and so it is, with huge, adoring crowds and lots of publicity. It's a fun little scene, complete with what can only be described as Reed-mania, a full year before the Beatles, already establishing themselves in the UK as Macmillan's premiership is fading away, arrive in the USA.

After an amusingly hi-tech exit, though, it's back to the Baxter building, where they all relax... except Sue, who does some cleaning, because, er, naturally no one questions that it's women's work. And, after a moment where we're reminded of how Sue is torn between Reed and the Sub-Mariner, she types up Reed's notes for him!!! 

We now turn to the actual threat, as the Puppet Master decides to control Namor, who is still searching for his people, to indirectly seek revenge against the Fantastic Four. Of course, it would be far easier to just control the FF directly, but no, apparently not, because "my revenge will be all the sweeter". Ok then.

So what's the plan? He gets Namor to lure Sue to him, alone, and then uses her, the only female, as a peril monkey. Oh dear. So the FF take the bait... alongside Alicia, whom the Thing decides to bring along, ostensibly to stop her crying (sexual politics again with the hysterical woman trope!), but in reality because the plot will later require to suggest her father may be controlling Namor. Naturally, no one objects to putting a blind young woman in danger, because, er, all hail the almighty plot. 

After the Thing conducts some petty vandalism in the car park it's down into the depths of the ocean, where the FF seem to find the Sub-Mariner rather easily. We end, after some enjoyable and creative combat scenes, with the FF suspecting the truth, following Alicia's inevitable prompt, as the Puppet Master is undone by- and I can't believe I'm tying this- Chekhov's octopus.

Bonkers. Utterly bonkers. And magnificent. 

 

Fantastic Four #13

 "Stop tryin' to worry us, you blasted animated rubber band!"

The premise of this issue seems to contain a large quantity of bonkersness- a Communist scientist, not content with trying to beat the USA to the Moon as part of the space race, also wants to get bombarded with cosmic rays and get powers greater than those of the Fantastic Four. So far, so sensible. But his three companions on this journey are not three fellow Soviet citizens... but a gorilla, a baboon and an orang-utan. Er, why? Still, bonkers it may be... but this issue really, really works. And we seem to be in a real sense of transition into the FF being explorers more than crime fighters.

As we begin, Reed has invented a new kind of meteorite-based rocket fuel which will enable him (not NASA!) to get to the Moon, six years before 1969 and just two years since President Kennedy (still alive at this point) had pledged to put a man on the Moon, and bring him safely home, by the end of the decade. Well, job done. 

Naturally, this is done to "keep up with the reds" and... what's this? Our simian-obsessed Soviet scientist, similarly independent of his nation's space agency, launches a rocket of his own at the exact same instant as Reed and, at their firm insistence, Sue, Ben and Johnny? 

This is cool, though. Said scientist becomes Red Ghost, to be a moderately successful villain with the ability to phase through objects and, um, the less said about the other primates the better. But then the comic takes a turn for the awesome- the blue area of the Moon, with air and the ruins of a mysterious lost civilisation! And, while hi-jinks with the Red Ghost continue, we meet the Watcher, unnamed at this point. On the one hand, he's as we expect- like all of his kinds, pledged definitely never, ever, to interfere. Well, except this one time, but this is a one off, and we'll certainly never find him doing anything of the sort ever again. Interestingly, though, he's shown as extraordinarily powerful here, almost omnipotent.

We conclude, after a captive Sue had earlier compared the apes to the "communist masses, innocently enslaved by their evil leaders", with the unsubtle and inevitable sight of the apes revolting against the Red Ghost which is... yeah. still, this is possibly the best Fantastic Four issue so far with its hints of a more cosmic perspective.

Fantastic Four #12

 "Miss Storm, a pretty young lady can always be of help- just by keeping the men's morale up."

Ah, General Thunderbolt Ross. Such a feminist paragon. So is Reed, who replies "That's just the way we feel about Sue, General!"...

Anyway... ladies and gentlemen, with this crossover, between what are, as of the beginning of 1963, Marvel's biggest properties, we can sort of say that this is a shared universe. A caveat, though: the existence of crossovers, nothing new in comics in 1963, does not a fully formed shared continuity make. Yet. But it'll be fun to see that emerge, develop and evolve.

Anyway, we start with some fun little moments. Ben and Alicia have been to see a performance of Beethoven's Fifth, although Ben prefers New Orleans jazz. And, when Thunderbolt Ross hires the FF to get the Hulk, blamed for a naughty bit of sabotage, Reed comments, after seeing some footage, that the Hulk seems to exist, implying that this had been in doubt. Er... pot, kettle, Reed? 

Johnny, teenage auto whiz that he is, has redesigned the Fantasti-car, by fan demand(!) with a very impressed General Ross as its first passenger. And the FF meeting Bruce Banner and Rick Jones is a big moment.

Of course, the Hulk is innocent, the true culprit is- you guessed it- a communist spy, caught by the Torch after, er, leaving a membership card in his wallet. If only today’s Russian spies were this rubbish.

The fight between Hulk and the FF (and especially the Thing!) is both enormous fun and no longer than it needs to be. All is satisfactorily resolved- and it’s left nicely ambiguous whether Reed suspects Bruce of being the Hulk.

Excellent stuff, and a real watershed.

Fantastic Four #11

 "I haven't exactly got any super powers, but I can wiggle my ears real good, and..."!

Here we have the debut of Mr. Mxyzptlk the Impossible Man, an omnipotent yet irresponsible trickster. I suppose the half of the issue dealing with him is amusing and entertaining enough. And, although I know this is an incidental detail, I'm surprised to see a police officer in New York referred to as an "inspector". This is the usual term here in the UK at least, but I get the impression that the USA (San Francisco aside, I think?) largely uses military type titles like "lieutenant" or "captain" instead?

Be that as it may, the first story, supposedly depicting a day in the life of the FF and with no external threat, is much more fun and interesting- even if it does have the Thing turning back into Ben Grimm for five minutes yet again, and yet another origin retelling. 

We get some comic relief with some fan letters, and then we meet "Mr. Lumpkin"- no first name as yet. 

The FF are all dressed in very Mad Men type fashions- this is still (just!) 1962, after all. And Reed is seen smoking a pipe once more! 

We get some fascinating backstory. Reed and Ben are old mates from uni, so therefore of a similar age, and both are veterans of the Second World War, so can't be any younger than about forty. Sue, meanwhile, is described as Reed's childhood sweetheart- so the age gap must presumably be less than we might have previously assumed, despite Sue having a (much) younger brother in his late teens? But we're reminded, once again, of the love triangle with the Sub-Mariner that is sadly keeping them apart. This may not exactly be deep and three-dimensional relationship drama, but at least it convinces more than certain parallel situations. Looking at you, Donald Blake and Jane Foster...

This is good stuff. At this point, after a wobbly start, Fantastic Four is the best Marvel ongoing title, although no single issue has reached the heights of the Spider-Man story in Amazing Fantasy #15. 

 

Fantastic Four #10

 "Lead me to that little ol' ray, daddy-o!"

It's fascinating seeing the evolution of these early issues- and, overall, Fantastic Four is by now a far superior comic to Ant-Man in Tales of Suspense or the Torch stories in Strange Tales, especially. Oh, there's bonkersness, certainly, but also moments of real quality.

So the plot is fairly straightforward- after being thrown into space in #6, by a million to one chance Doctor Doom was rescued by the extra-galactic and extremely powerful Ovoids, an alien race we'll be encountering a handful more times in the future. He learns body swapping powers from them and swaps bodies with Reed, and hi-jinks ensue, hi-jinks which seem to come to an abrupt end as Doom's body swap is ended by the shock of his being found out, and it seems to have been a one time deal...? Anyway, he's shrunk out of existence, so we definitely won't be seeing him again, right?

This is more than a little bit bonkers, but it's also fun. And there are quite a few fascinating little details here. The opening scene, with Reed studying Sue's invisibility, is a nice moment. Alicia is described as Ben's "girl friend" and by this point is considered a friend to the whole team. And, er, Sue at one moment has to deal with a sexual pest who, even though it's 1962, the comic makes clear is intended to disgust us... and then causes a motor accident through sheer carelessness. Yeah.

Reed and Sue have a fascinating discussion concerning the love triangle with the Sub-Mariner, in which Reed states that "I thought we had an understanding" for "when the time was right". Yet, in these early issues... Reed seems to be, say, in his forties? And Sue, the Invisible "Girl" has a teenage brother, so are  we looking at a twenty year age gap? Nothing wrong with that, of course, provided that the younger party is old enough to give fully informed consent, but it's very striking.

We also have our first instance of the fourth wall being broken, as Stan and Jack appear, albeit with faces obscured. These are still early days, but the feeling of potential with this book is getting stronger and stronger.

Fantastic Four #9

 "I like a woman with spirit!"

I must admit, this issue is bloody good. It's a quirky and intriguing central concept, and there's some good characterisation- particularly with regards to the Sub-Mariner, a very nuanced character.

From the very start, the FF are broke, bankrupt, selling all their stuff and dissolving what seems to be their business partnership. At first I thought this would be a ruse- but no. They genuinely are broke. Their once colossal wealth (at last it's confirmed where it came from- Reed's patents) is all gone, thanks to Reed's bad investments. And this is a nice touch, I think. Reed may be a genius, and may plausibly have been overconfident in his investments.

We also find that Alicia, only introduced last issue, is already a regular character, with a nicely nuanced relationship with the Thing. This sort of thing really adds depth and nuance. And yes, it may be silly that the issue starts with Sub-Mariner watching telly in his solitary undersea home... but the framed picture of Sue is a nice visual touch.

Namor, of course, is plotting to get Sue for himself, so he offers the FF... ahem, one million dollars(!), no doubt a princely sum in 1962, for a film. But the three men are all lured into traps and, well, Johnny's is vaguely racist! I love how Reed's trap seems to literally be the actual Cyclops (no, not that one, not yet) from The Odyssey. 

The ending is... well, Namor's behaviour towards Sue is more than a little #MeToo from the perspective of 2026, but it's a satisfying conclusion, with the Sub-Mariner feeling honour-bound to pay up, ending the team's financial woes.

After all the bonkersness I've trawled through... well, this is still very Silver Age but it's genuinely good. 

Fantastic Four #8

 "Sufferin' snakes... what's that?"

I'm happy to say that, while being utterly mad as one would expect for 1962, this issue was a rather fun read, even if I did raise an eyebrow at Reed being able to use his elasticity to absorb bullets... and fire them back!

This is the first appearance of long-running FF villain the Puppet Master, whose bonkers voodoo abilities have come about because of... radioactive clay. Of course. What else? His puppetry skills are highly impressive, though, to say the least. He even makes a little model prison governor grab a key ring from a little model desk drawer, which is positively superhuman/

We also meet Alicia, shown here as a very naive damsel. From her first appearance she likes Ben, but (Yet again, Reed briefly turns the Thing human again) prefers him on the rockier side. A surprising amount of their eventual dynamic is here already.

Puppet Master himself is surprisingly one note here, and his apparent death makes it seem as though he may not necessarily have been intended as a recurring villain at this point. But it's a good, solid story with lots of set pieces and the team feeling very well-established at this point. A huge improvement from last issue. Can this title sustain the improvement?

Fantastic Four #7

 " A portable self-contained TV receiver! Amazing!"

This issue is... well, as silly as any in the surprisingly disappointing run of Fantastic Four up until now. I mean, Kurrgo, Master of Planet X? Another random alien, who begins the issue with some old-fashioned "as you know, Bob" style exposition? Even so... there have been worse issues. Like, say, the last one.

I suppose there are a few interesting points, like the probable influence of The Day the Earth Stood Still on the robot (with its "atomic scanner") sent to collect the FF. But the over-the-top horseplay between the Thing and the Torch is just too much. And we have a highly advanced alien civilisation which faces imminent doom but can't flee their planet because they literally couldn't be arsed to build more than two spaceships. Yes. literally. This plot makes zero sense.

But then the ending becomes truly bonkers. Reed saves the population by shrinking them to fit inside the two existing ships... so how will they pilot them now? And then Kurrgo just randomly dies of hubris, and Reed decrees he never actually created an antidote but just lied about it. Er... 

I'm sure Fantastic Four will get good fairly soon. Right? 

Fantastic Four #6

 "Hahahaha! Who can doubt the genius of Doctor Doom now?"

This is... well, very silly indeed, just like all previous issues of Fantastic Four. There's some very bad science- a magnetic "grabber" that attracts all objects, not just those containing iron; the Baxter Building being lifted up, taken into space and yet returned afterwards as though nothing had happened; the Sub-Mariner bounding from meteor to meteor in space... this is completely mad. Also, oddly familiar, as I was halfway through reading this when I realised I'd seen it before. In 1966 there were several short-lived and very cheaply animated cartoons based on Marvel characters, including the Sub-Mariner, and it turns out this issue was adapted. It was bonkers there and its's bonkers here.

So the less said about the plot the better. Surprisingly, despite some strong characters and solid potential, Fantastic Four so far has been very silly and, well, not that good, really. We can only plod on and hope things improve, as they seem to be doing with The Incredible Hulk.

There are some interesting things to note in terms of lore, though. The Baxter Building is named for the first time, and we get a rather cool diagram of what all the secret rooms contain, various vehicles and so forth, including a "long range passenger missile" capable of reaching anywhere on Earth... once again, though, how can the FF afford this, as surely many nation states could not?

Other firsts include the mention of unstable molecules, out of which the FF's costumes are made. And the first hint of the Thing's rivalry with the Yancy Street Gang! But... well, at this point, Fantastic Four just isn't very good.

Fantastic Four #5

 "Fool! You think you can defeat Doctor Doom so easily?"

It has to be said that the design of Doctor Doom's costume is really, really great... and the design for Darth Vader's costume also owes a great deal to it! That aside, though... this is just bonkers. Fun, but bonkers.

We begin at the FF's headquarters, on the top floor of a skyscraper in what is now explicitly New York, and... the Human Torch is reading The Incredible Hulk in a subtle plug! There's still been no hint as yet of a shared universe- is this inclusion of the comic a suggestion that perhaps that wasn't yet envisaged at this point?

But soon, Doom attacks the FF and Reed gives us the potted origin story of this master of both magic and science, hungry for knowledge and power. And, yeah... he's expelled from uni while literally in a hospital bed, his now-disfigured face bandaged. Bit harsh?

Doom takes them all to a castle in an undisclosed location which is "minutes" from New York, albeit in a super-fast helicopter thingy. Is this within the United States? At no point in this issue is there any mention of Latveria. Is Doom not yet its ruler? Of course, at this point I assume it had not yet been dreamt of.

We then come to the main plot. What does Doom want? Well, to use his Time Platform (a first appearance!) to travel back in time and steal Blackbeard's treasure, which contains items made by Merlin (who thus existed in the Marvel Universe) which Doom can use to rule the world. Ummm...

Oh, and the Thing IS Blackbeard and, if not for circumstances, would have happily stayed in a world where he was somebody, even if it meant doing without twentieth century comforts, medicine etc. And, if all that wasn't enough bonkersness, there's more- the Torch gives his flame "the intensity of atomic heat", which somehow turns some of the water in the crocodile infested (because of course it is, although no visible laser beams are strapped to their reptilian heads) moat.

Bonkers. Utter bonkers. I love it. Oh, and Doom escapes, just as Namor did last issue. And Torch juuuust so happens to hope aloud that said Atlantean never finds Merlin's jewellery. Mmm hmm...

Fantastic Four #4

 "One side, woman! I got me an idea!"

It's weird to think that this is the Sub-Mariner's first Silver Age appearance... yet his last Golden Age appearance was only in 1955, seven years previously. But it's amusing to think how Marvel opted for nostalgia at such an early point. Indeed, it did that with the character of the Human Torch, and it's amusing to see how the cover has the modern Torch without a face, much like his 1939 predecessor.

Anyway, we begin in the FF's "secret skyscraper hideout", and once again I look forward to an explanation of how they can afford this, as well as such gadgets as the Fantast-car which, we now learn, can split up into four individual parts. Nice. And events follow on from the end of last issue, but Torch is missing, having flounced out after a dramatic argy-bargy with the Thing- and, yet again, it's striking how much real vitriol there is between the two of them at this stage. This is more than just banter, and it seems the Torch genuinely intended to leave the FF for good,

Anyway, it's Ben who finally finds Johnny, but Johnny gets away when the Thing (very) briefly turns human again, a nice little running sub-plot... and, beneath the panels, we get questions like "What is the Hulk?", a very nice teaser for a new comic which will be arriving very soon.

By an incredible coincidence, the hotel Johnny ends up in happens to be the one containing a bearded, amnesiac Sub-Mariner. And it's Johnny who deliberately restores his memory by, er, dropping him in the sea, as though that was certain to work. It does, though... and Namor finds out that his kingdom has been destroyed by (what else?) atomic experiments, so it's time to destroy humanity... with a massive monster which is called Giganto, because of course it is. Yet again Marvel's existing monster genre bleeds into the new superhero stuff.

But the best bit is where, I kid you not, the Thing straps an actual nuke to his back, lets Giganto swallow him, dumps the bomb and escapes through the monster's gob, which is a whole other level of bonkers. And then the threat is basically resolved by the fact that Namor suddenly fancies Sue... and wants to marry her. Well, that escalated quickly, and now the Torch can apparently create tornadoes somehow because the plot requires it...

This issue is magnificently bonkers.

Fantastic Four #3

 " I'm disappointed in you, Reed! You almost had him, and then he slipped through your fingers!"

This issue begins to feel a bit more Marvel from the start, with the cover showcasing the Fantasti-car and the new costumes, which are introduced halfway through, designed by Sue... although Ben won't end up wearing the whole thing. We're also introduced to the FF's huge and expensive-looking secret HQ, crammed with Batcave type stuff. The question must again be asked- how are the FF paying for all this?

The opening scene is a nice little set piece as the four of them see a show by Miracle Man, a stage magician and (very) minor Marvel villain for future years, who is nevertheless destined to get his own Top Trumps card in the late '80s. Hilariously, the Thing is making a token attempt to disguise himself in the audience, and it's fun to see the character humiliate the FF, and Ben especially.

Reed tempts fate by musing that it would be unfortunate if the Miracle Man should turn to crime, while Sue, in giving out the team's new costume, speaks of "crime fighting". At this point, then, the team are being envisaged as crimefighters as opposed to explorers.

The best thing about this issue is the unreasonably critical police commissioner, who is hilariously rude to Reed. I certainly hope to see him again. We then round out the issue, after yet another origin recap and some basic character stuff with Ben and Johnny, with Reed revealing that Miracle Man was just a hypnotist all along, and his powers were just illusions... well ok. Best not to look too closely at the details of that.

Still, this is a pretty good issue and we're starting to see the team slowly morph into becoming the FF we know.

Fantastic Four #2

 "No wonder our leaders dare not invade Earth until the Fantastic Four are stopped!"

Issue #2, and we have Skrulls! But, well, they're drawn by Kirby in a very cartoonish fashion, and they're very silly to boot. 

Like the first issue, this is very much rooted in the monster books Marvel had been producing, and doesn't yet feel fully like a superhero title. There are still no costumes, and Reed is still dressing like Don Draper from Mad Men. Indeed, given his apparent age (about 45?) and pipe smoking ways, it's likely that the character would have fought in the Second World War, an odd thought.

We begin with Skrulls framing the Fantastic Four for various crimes, in order to get them imprisoned and out of the way so their orbiting fleet can conquer the planet, which at least makes sense. Interestingly, the FF are very much known to the general public.

We get a recap of last week's origin, and... well, not much characterisation as yet. Ben is still very bitter and anti-social, quite reasonably, as his so-called friends address him not as "Ben" but "Thing"!

The art is still very functional, and the pages feel crowded with lots of panels in this multi-part story in which rather a lot happens. The FF are attacked by the US army, captured... and Johnny is rather alarmingly put into an asbestos cell! Of course, they all promptly and entertainingly escape, and head to "one of the Fantastic Four's many secret apartment hideouts"- wow. They seem to have an awful lot of resources, especially while being fugitives. What's their source of income, then...?

The FF's defeat of the Skrulls is... well, as absurd, ridiculous and over the top as one could possibly imagine, involving panels from Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery- both still monster books at this point- among other things. 

We end with the Thing, for the first time, very briefly becoming Ben Grimm again, as the FF now prove their innocence with utterly ridiculous ease. And... the three remaining Skrulls are hypnotised and forced to spend the rest of their lives on Earth as cows. Er, perhaps a bit harsh...?

All in all, very silly indeed. Marvel isn't Marvel yet. But strangely compelling in its silliness!

Fantastic Four #1

 "You've turned into monsters... both of you! It's those rays! Those terrible cosmic rays!"

Yes, it's a bit of a sudden change of direction to start reviewing comics. So... why am I doing this?

Simply put, I've had a temporary but rather unpleasant medical condition for the last year and a bit, meaning physical discomfort . This is making it increasingly hard to concentrate on TV and film, the main focus of this blog. The good news is that I should be right as rain after surgery next month, followed by a few weeks to recover, and I'll be watching and blogging all the usual stuff.

But what to do in the meantime? Well, I can still read well enough, and will still be blogging novels. I will try to keep blogging TV and film as much as I can. But I could do with something that will allow me to blog with relative frequency... so I'll be reading all Marvel comics, online, according to the Complete Marvel Reading Order (fellow Brits, you may need a VPN), starting with this issue! I may not go beyond the early '90s but... we'll see.

So... it's August 1961. The same time period as Season One as Mad Men. The Sixties won't start swinging for a while yet. It's still very much the Atomic Age, the Cold War is in full swing, between the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both the USSR and the USA put a man in space earlier this year.

And, in terms of comics, it's the Silver Age. And... well, we'll say "Marvel" for clarity, but this is really Timely Comics, known for its pulp-style stories of monsters, aliens and mad scientists- certainly not superheroes for the most part, not since they went out of fashion just over a decade ago. Captain America, the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner have, it seems, had their day.

Yet a certain Distinguished Competition has had great success, after years of retreating to just Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, of expanding its roster of superhero titles... and Marvel needs to do something. Things are not going great.

Enter two men in their forties, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Much has been said over the years over how Kirby's contribution to the plots has been underappreciated, but we must be careful not to dismiss Lee as a mere hype merchant, either. This thread I will, I'm sure, keep returning to, but Lee is very much on record of saying that, at this point, he was thinking of leaving the comics industry and this was a last throw of the dice, him finally doing a comic exactly the way he wanted. And, well, that clearly worked.

I'm very much aware that the Fantastic Four, being essentially explorers, owe much to Challengers of the Unknown, which Kirby had recently done at DC. Indeed... this issue in many ways seems and feels more like an Atomic Age monster comic than a superhero comic- there are, for example, no costumes at this point. And this is very much baby steps for Marvel- Kirby's art, while very good for what this is, is by no means anywhere close to being as sublime as it will eventually become, great though the cover is. And the dialogue is... melodramatic, and also wordy. The narration, while poetic at times, is surprisingly foregrounded: there's certainly an authorial voice to this.

The narrative, perhaps reflecting the pre-existing style, is split into four. The first is... odd, with Reed Richards summoning the others with some weird signal thing. Sue Storm is with "society friends" when she hears the signal, reacting to her "vow" and leading to some hi-jinks with a taxi. Ben Grimm, at this point, looks much less rocky, and is far more grumpy and anti-social, saying "bah" a lot. The events seem to take place in "Central City", a DC-esque fictional location, not New York. And... the FF are very much treated as hostile by those in authority, with the US government trying to get Johnny. This sequence showcases the characters' powers, but... it's odd, it's uneven, it feels experimental, and the characters are far from fleshed out at this point.

The second part of the narrative is the familiar origin story, with the cosmic rays. Even this has some unexpectedly fascinating little details, though. Reed was rushing the rocket and cutting corners on safety in order to beat "the Commies"- you can really feel the sudden urgency of the space race in 1961, the year the US quickly rushed Alan Shephard into space in order to keep up with the Soviets. And Sue goads Ben by calling him "a coward" despite his very reasonable safety concerns. The love triangle over Sue between Reed and Ben is surprisingly raw.

Part three gives us actual plot, with atomic plants (this being the Atomic Age) being targeted from underground, including in French Equatorial Africa, reminding us how long ago this is! "Monster Island" is from right out of pulp and B-movies, the monsters (one with three heads!) being pure Ray Harryhausen. Mole Man is... well, not the most classic of villains, basically an incel who flounces, self-pityingly, to the centre of the earth, losing much of his sight... and then gaining supernatural senses and mastery over the monsters for reasons which are in no way explained. And yes, he explains his rather rubbish plan to the FF "before I slay you".

This is by no means the finished article. It certainly doesn't feel like Marvel at this point. And yet... the fundamentals of the key characters have real potential, and I can see why this was such a success.

Fantastic Four (2015)

"Its clobbering time!"

This may just possibly be the worst film I have EVER seen. It really is that bad, and it's depressingly clear that Fox only made the film to retain the rights- not the only time this has happened with a Fantastic Four film, unfortunately. You can certainly understand Marvel's disquiet.

So what's wrong with the film? Well, Reed Richards is blatantly too young; the character of Doctor Doom is mishandled in exactly the same way as the otherwise excellent 2005 film, portraying him as simply an arrogant scientist who may as well be American; and it does the bloody origin again, which is something I keep banging on about as something films should avoid as they're essentially just exposition and it's best just to skip to the action.

But what's truly unforgivable about the film, aside from the cast's utter lack of charisma, is that it utterly fails to do this. It's boring. Literally nothing exciting happens until the last ten minutes. It takes a lot to make a film about the Fantastic Four that's just dull, but this has managed to do it.

I suppose you could say that the film successfully conveys the horror of Ben Grimm's situation, and it's nice to substitute another dimension for cosmic rays, but this film has no other redeeming features. This is one to be watched only for the purpose of slagging it off in blogs, which is my way of trying to justify wasting my time on this dreck.

Fantastic Four (2005)

"A few days in space. It'll be great. What's the worst that could happen?"

I can't remember where, but I recently read an interview with Stan Lee (he's 93, you know) in which he expressed the view that this film was excellent, really captured the four main characters and the dynamic between them, but that the use of Doctor Doom as a character was misconceived. This blog post is essentially me agreeing with him. Who am I to contradict the great Stan Lee? And, moreover, he's right.

(Incidentally, I love Stan's cameo in this film playing Willie Lumpkin, for once not only an actual character from the comics, but one he created).

The four main characters are perfectly written and played. Special praise has to go to Michael Chiklis as Ben, a perfect piece of casting, but Chris Evans as Johnny is also superb, and a very different performance from the same actor's portrayal of Captain America.

However, while Julian McMahon plays the role he's given very well indeed and even wears the costume at the end, this is not Doctor Doom but an entirely different character, which is a shame. That isn't enough to stop the film being very good, but it's a definite black mark.  

Still, I like the way the origin is not dwelt upon, and the script portrays all of the characters exactly as they should be. The relationship between Ben and Johnny, in particular, is perfect. This isn't the best Marvel film adaptation ever, but it's certainly a decent attempt.