The Fantastic Four #1–102, 108, Annual #1-6 (1961-71) by Jack Kirby (with Stan Lee)
REVIEW BY RICH KREINER:
Starting with the fourth issue, it build itself as "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!" and Fantastic Four was able to deliver this promise in a way no other Silver Age comics could. A great deal has been made of how Marvel characters were more popular than those at their "Distinguished Competition" at the time because Marvel heroes were "flawed" and had "everyday" problems. But these were still superhero comics and we still need to see them doing superheroic stuff. It was the balance between the outlandish and the human which made the FF stand out, the rhythms of storytelling which allowed characterisation to blossom in the midst of world-shaking chaos. Not only were the foundations of the Marvel Universe laid down in these pages - Doctor Doom, the return of the Sub-Mariner, the Black Panther, the Watcher, the Silver Surfer, the Inhumans - this bounty of four-colour imagination was balanced by a great deal of humour, empathy and wonder. The Thing in a Beatles wig, his persecution at the hands of both the hot-headed Torch and the Yancy Street Gang, the Invisible Woman's frustration at Mister Fantastic's absent-minded professor tendencies, Willie Lumpkin's bid for membership... These small touches were what gave the series heart.
And the heart was pumping for the most muscular of Sliver Age spectacles: namely, the visual elan Kirby brought to the series. Silver Age Marvel was indisputably Kirby's finest moment, and the FF was his showcase. Kirby's art grew progressively more polished until it reached the solid, blocky dynamism that remains the standard for superhero comics today. The generosity of Kirby's storytelling, the detail brought to every panel, to every stance, to every fight scene, fleshed out a world he dared us to believe in. Even the photo-collages, quaint as they now look, pushed the limits of what "cosmic" meant for the fanboy imagination.
In short, the versatility of the series - especially within the constraints of a relatively obvious genre - was remarkable. It could be comic on one page and homespun on the next. The coming of Galactus was earth-shattering, but the marriage of Reed Richards and Sue Storm was equally momentous. Few have come even close to re-capturing what Kirby and Lee did on Fantastic Four - and to be honest, the formula hasn't always remained in favour over the years. But this remains the classic model, the superhero comic that all others should be measured against.
No comments:
Post a Comment