What do you think?
Rate this book
Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #8
Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four, Vol. 8
Pony up, True Believer, the amazing eighth manic Masterworks featuring the First Family of Funnybooks is coming your way! Collecting an ironclad cadre of consecrated classics, this ones packed with more drama than you can shake a Skrull at!
Lets break it down: the Silver Surfer pursued by none other than the world-devouring Galactus; the FF vs. Spidey, DD and Thor in a barnstorming brouhaha; a fantastic voyage into the Microverse to battle the Psycho Man; the Thingcured!; the first appearance of
Annihilus; Crystal, the Inhuman, joins the FF, and one of comics most historic moments, the birth of Franklin Richards, it just doesn't stop!
This ones a humdinger so chock-full of excitement its ready to burst! And its all brought to you by no less than the minds that made Marvel magnificent, Stan and Jack!
Nuff Said!
Collects The Fantastic Four #72-81, Annual #6
Lets break it down: the Silver Surfer pursued by none other than the world-devouring Galactus; the FF vs. Spidey, DD and Thor in a barnstorming brouhaha; a fantastic voyage into the Microverse to battle the Psycho Man; the Thingcured!; the first appearance of
Annihilus; Crystal, the Inhuman, joins the FF, and one of comics most historic moments, the birth of Franklin Richards, it just doesn't stop!
This ones a humdinger so chock-full of excitement its ready to burst! And its all brought to you by no less than the minds that made Marvel magnificent, Stan and Jack!
Nuff Said!
Collects The Fantastic Four #72-81, Annual #6
272 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 2012
13 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,564 books2,350 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 13, 2015
**Buddy Read with the Shallow Comic Readers Group -- theme for the 4th week: The Fantastic Four!!***
Over the past year, I've been reading Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four (and a few Avengers). I'm up to volume 8, which collect The Fantastic Four #s 72-81 plus Annual #6. We're still with the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby powerhouse on the creative team here.
Compared to the volume before, this was a bit, well, meh. It's not as though Lee/Kirby ran out of steam, but some of the ideas just weren't that interesting. First off, on the last page of the previous volume, Reed and Sue have decided to leave the team because of Sue's pregnancy, ostensibly to make sure Sue doesn't get hurt. This volume, then, opens up with the FF really the Fantastic Two, as The Thing and the Human Torch battle it out with the Silver Surfer, who once again (it seems) thinks it's time to teach humanity a lesson. Reed comes back to help the boys out, the Surfer learns his lesson, all is well.
The next story guest-stars Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Thor, and has some interesting continuity with the Daredevil and Thor books. Dr Doom had previously taken over DD's body, and so in this story, the Fantastic Three end up fighting the real DD, because no one can figure out a way to tell if it's the real deal or Doom in DD's body again. Along the way, Spidey and Thor get involved, and in true Marvel fashion, the heroes fight each other instead of acting like heroes and sitting down to a nice cup of tea and getting to the bottom of the mystery. This story read like filler, to be honest.
The Silver Surfer comes back rather soon, because Galactus is hungry again and may not keep his word about not harming the Earth. Galactus is on the lookout for his former sentry to find him more worlds to devour, but the Surfer, enjoying his recent freedom, escapes to the microverse. Ultimately, the Fantastic Three have to follow him and convince him to talk some sense into Galactus. While the Surfer returns to the macroverse, Reed and company decide to stay and fight the PscyhoPirate Man instead of returning to the Earth and fighting the bigger threat of Galactus. That didn't make a lot of sense to me.
Anyway, Psycho Man is defeated and Silver Surfer takes care of Galactus. This was around the time the Surfer got his own magazine, and that may be the reason he was the hero here. The thing is, Galactus just wasn't as big a threat as he was in the past, and solution to the story was rather bland. In the background is Sue Richards, bedridden with the Inhuman Crystal (Johnny's girlfriend) to keep her company. This sets up a subplot for the rest of the book. The cosmic radiation that gave the FF their powers has affected Sue's blood, and both her and the baby are in danger of dying if an antidote can't be found.
Before that can happen, though, the boys head out to Wyatt Wingfoot's reservation (Wyatt was a college classmate of Johnny's and had take part in their adventures in Wakanda some time before). This story was about a communist oil company trying to take over the oil rights on the reservation so the reds build a giant robot that looks a lot like a mythical god of the Native Americans. At least, I think that's what happens, as I lost interest quickly and sorta skimmed this story.
Somewhere in this volume was yet another story where Reed finds an antidote to turn The Thing back into Ben Grimm, but considering it was "been there, done that," I wasn't too impressed with it. They were fighting some villain with big super powered gloves or something pretty damn silly.
The problem surrounding Sue and her baby finally takes center stage and Reed, Johnny, and The Thing have to enter the Negative Zone to find the cure. Along the way, they encounter Annihilus, who later becomes a big Marvel baddie. They fight over some cosmic tube or something that Kirby would later use in DC's Fourth World books, escape the Negative Zone by the skin of their teeth, and save both Sue and the baby, who, of course, is Franklin.
In the last issue, the FF become the FF again when Crystal joins the team after showing Reed that she's not a wall flower but actually more powerful than any of the other members of the team.
So, no real big battles here, nothing earth-shaking. The birth of Franklin Richards is probably the biggest story here. Although there are plenty of zany cosmic type adventures, they're rather pedestrian compared to what Lee and Kirby brought us before.
Overall, I enjoyed the read. Kirby was banging the shit out of some comic art here, ably assisted by Joe Sinnott on inks throughout the book. Stan Lee says in the introduction that he (Lee) love melodrama, and it shows, although it's not as bad as it was in the early FF days. It is, however, easy to see why Reed Richards became such a dick later on in his career. He was definitely battling Superman for dick of the decade here. http://superdickery.com/
Over the past year, I've been reading Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four (and a few Avengers). I'm up to volume 8, which collect The Fantastic Four #s 72-81 plus Annual #6. We're still with the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby powerhouse on the creative team here.
Compared to the volume before, this was a bit, well, meh. It's not as though Lee/Kirby ran out of steam, but some of the ideas just weren't that interesting. First off, on the last page of the previous volume, Reed and Sue have decided to leave the team because of Sue's pregnancy, ostensibly to make sure Sue doesn't get hurt. This volume, then, opens up with the FF really the Fantastic Two, as The Thing and the Human Torch battle it out with the Silver Surfer, who once again (it seems) thinks it's time to teach humanity a lesson. Reed comes back to help the boys out, the Surfer learns his lesson, all is well.
The next story guest-stars Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Thor, and has some interesting continuity with the Daredevil and Thor books. Dr Doom had previously taken over DD's body, and so in this story, the Fantastic Three end up fighting the real DD, because no one can figure out a way to tell if it's the real deal or Doom in DD's body again. Along the way, Spidey and Thor get involved, and in true Marvel fashion, the heroes fight each other instead of acting like heroes and sitting down to a nice cup of tea and getting to the bottom of the mystery. This story read like filler, to be honest.
The Silver Surfer comes back rather soon, because Galactus is hungry again and may not keep his word about not harming the Earth. Galactus is on the lookout for his former sentry to find him more worlds to devour, but the Surfer, enjoying his recent freedom, escapes to the microverse. Ultimately, the Fantastic Three have to follow him and convince him to talk some sense into Galactus. While the Surfer returns to the macroverse, Reed and company decide to stay and fight the Pscyho
Anyway, Psycho Man is defeated and Silver Surfer takes care of Galactus. This was around the time the Surfer got his own magazine, and that may be the reason he was the hero here. The thing is, Galactus just wasn't as big a threat as he was in the past, and solution to the story was rather bland. In the background is Sue Richards, bedridden with the Inhuman Crystal (Johnny's girlfriend) to keep her company. This sets up a subplot for the rest of the book. The cosmic radiation that gave the FF their powers has affected Sue's blood, and both her and the baby are in danger of dying if an antidote can't be found.
Before that can happen, though, the boys head out to Wyatt Wingfoot's reservation (Wyatt was a college classmate of Johnny's and had take part in their adventures in Wakanda some time before). This story was about a communist oil company trying to take over the oil rights on the reservation so the reds build a giant robot that looks a lot like a mythical god of the Native Americans. At least, I think that's what happens, as I lost interest quickly and sorta skimmed this story.
Somewhere in this volume was yet another story where Reed finds an antidote to turn The Thing back into Ben Grimm, but considering it was "been there, done that," I wasn't too impressed with it. They were fighting some villain with big super powered gloves or something pretty damn silly.
The problem surrounding Sue and her baby finally takes center stage and Reed, Johnny, and The Thing have to enter the Negative Zone to find the cure. Along the way, they encounter Annihilus, who later becomes a big Marvel baddie. They fight over some cosmic tube or something that Kirby would later use in DC's Fourth World books, escape the Negative Zone by the skin of their teeth, and save both Sue and the baby, who, of course, is Franklin.
In the last issue, the FF become the FF again when Crystal joins the team after showing Reed that she's not a wall flower but actually more powerful than any of the other members of the team.
So, no real big battles here, nothing earth-shaking. The birth of Franklin Richards is probably the biggest story here. Although there are plenty of zany cosmic type adventures, they're rather pedestrian compared to what Lee and Kirby brought us before.
Overall, I enjoyed the read. Kirby was banging the shit out of some comic art here, ably assisted by Joe Sinnott on inks throughout the book. Stan Lee says in the introduction that he (Lee) love melodrama, and it shows, although it's not as bad as it was in the early FF days. It is, however, easy to see why Reed Richards became such a dick later on in his career. He was definitely battling Superman for dick of the decade here. http://superdickery.com/
September 10, 2017
When I was a kid, I would read reprints of the original X-Men comics when I could get my hands on them. I enjoyed them a great deal, but I always felt that I was getting a look into just a small window of the early Marvel Universe. I wondered what I was missing, but didn’t have any way of getting my grubby little hands on anything other than the odd comic here and there.
In recent years, thanks to the glories of the internet (and Marvel Unlimited), all of the Silver Age Marvel titles are just a click of a mouse away, and over the past few years I’ve worked my way through most of the 1960’s Marvel comics. Along with The Amazing Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four gets my vote for the best Marvel title of its era. Taken as a whole, this volume was my favorite Fantastic Four collection to date, and quite possible the best Marvel Masterworks collection of comics published through 1968. The heart of this collection is a great Galactus storyline involving the Silver Surfer and Micro World, but other strong plots involve Ben being “permanently” changed back to human, the introduction of Annihilus, and the birth of Sue and Reed’s child. Classic artwork by Jack Kirby complements the storylines and makes the collection a joy to read.
Silver Age stories can seem awfully dated at times, and the style is not going to appeal to all readers. But I find them to be great nostalgic fun, and the Fantastic Four collections are about as good as they get. This volume is no exception. 4.0 stars, recommended!
In recent years, thanks to the glories of the internet (and Marvel Unlimited), all of the Silver Age Marvel titles are just a click of a mouse away, and over the past few years I’ve worked my way through most of the 1960’s Marvel comics. Along with The Amazing Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four gets my vote for the best Marvel title of its era. Taken as a whole, this volume was my favorite Fantastic Four collection to date, and quite possible the best Marvel Masterworks collection of comics published through 1968. The heart of this collection is a great Galactus storyline involving the Silver Surfer and Micro World, but other strong plots involve Ben being “permanently” changed back to human, the introduction of Annihilus, and the birth of Sue and Reed’s child. Classic artwork by Jack Kirby complements the storylines and makes the collection a joy to read.
Silver Age stories can seem awfully dated at times, and the style is not going to appeal to all readers. But I find them to be great nostalgic fun, and the Fantastic Four collections are about as good as they get. This volume is no exception. 4.0 stars, recommended!
June 28, 2023
Collects The Fantastic Four #72-81, Annual #6
The Fantastic Four #72
Silver Surfer story
The Silver Surfer is fed up with humanity and is going around destroying things but the FF stop him and in the end the Surfer decides "There is a spark of divinity in all who live, and think... and strive!". So the FF let him leave. An odd tale for sure.
The Fantastic Four #73
Guest starring Thor, Spider-man, and Daredevil. No one trusts each other because Doom has threatened to attack, so they think Daredevil is actually a Doom clone. So they all fight each other until things get cleared up.
The Fantastic Four #74
Galactus!
Thing and Surfer still feud over Alicia. Galactus's Punisher is in town. Galactus is hungry enough to violate the pact he made to leave Earth unharmed. Galactus is trying to find the Surfer but he's gone into hiding saying "there are worlds within worlds"
The Fantastic Four #75
Galactus is still trying to find the Silver Surfer. He creates duplicates of the FF to attack them. Silver Surfer is in a micro-dimension having shrunk himself down. Reed promises to find the Surfer for Galactus to call off his attack.
The Fantastic Four #76
The FF become the world's first Micronaughts on the hunt for the Surfer. the microuniverse is stuper cool and they find another enemy with more strength than The Thing. The Surfer agrees to go to Galactus.
The Fantastic Four #77
Psycho-Man is an enemy that lives in the micro-world. Surfer is succesful in getting Galactus to spare Earth again. Psycho-man discovers Galactus is way more powerful than him and calls off the fight with the FF.
The Fantastic Four #78
The Wizard is out of jail and comes to attack. Reed has a new potion for Ben, so he's human again but if he turns back to The Thing, he's The Thing forever. Sue is pregnant and the doctor warns her the child could have strange cosmic powers.
The Fantastic Four #79 "This Monster Forever"
Of course, Ben needs to turn back into The Thing to save the day. Reed is worried about the child being born a freak.
The Fantastic Four #80
Wyatt Wing-foot is exploring his family's land. They are an ancient tribe, and the medicine men tell stories about an ancient evil totem being alive again. Wyatt runs into the Tomazooma, a huge beast with an elaborate costume and mask. It's a cool design. Wyatt realizes this isn't the totem, but a machine created by an oil company to scare the tribe off the land. FF come in and help, but this is Wyatt's story and he saves the day.
The Fantastic Four #81
Crystal made a FF costume for herself. Since Sue is pregnant (and hasn't been in the previous issues) Crystal is joining the team. The Wizard attacks. This guy is maybe the most frequent villain in Kirby's run! Crystal defeats him.
The Fantastic Four Annual #6
Sue is about to give birth. Reed finds a solution to the cosmic radiation that threatens to kill Sue and the unborn child in the Negative Zone. A bad guy Annihilus from the Negative Zone attacks and the FF almost get stuck in the Anti-matter zone. They get back and the baby is born!
The Fantastic Four #72
Silver Surfer story
The Silver Surfer is fed up with humanity and is going around destroying things but the FF stop him and in the end the Surfer decides "There is a spark of divinity in all who live, and think... and strive!". So the FF let him leave. An odd tale for sure.
The Fantastic Four #73
Guest starring Thor, Spider-man, and Daredevil. No one trusts each other because Doom has threatened to attack, so they think Daredevil is actually a Doom clone. So they all fight each other until things get cleared up.
The Fantastic Four #74
Galactus!
Thing and Surfer still feud over Alicia. Galactus's Punisher is in town. Galactus is hungry enough to violate the pact he made to leave Earth unharmed. Galactus is trying to find the Surfer but he's gone into hiding saying "there are worlds within worlds"
The Fantastic Four #75
Galactus is still trying to find the Silver Surfer. He creates duplicates of the FF to attack them. Silver Surfer is in a micro-dimension having shrunk himself down. Reed promises to find the Surfer for Galactus to call off his attack.
The Fantastic Four #76
The FF become the world's first Micronaughts on the hunt for the Surfer. the microuniverse is stuper cool and they find another enemy with more strength than The Thing. The Surfer agrees to go to Galactus.
The Fantastic Four #77
Psycho-Man is an enemy that lives in the micro-world. Surfer is succesful in getting Galactus to spare Earth again. Psycho-man discovers Galactus is way more powerful than him and calls off the fight with the FF.
The Fantastic Four #78
The Wizard is out of jail and comes to attack. Reed has a new potion for Ben, so he's human again but if he turns back to The Thing, he's The Thing forever. Sue is pregnant and the doctor warns her the child could have strange cosmic powers.
The Fantastic Four #79 "This Monster Forever"
Of course, Ben needs to turn back into The Thing to save the day. Reed is worried about the child being born a freak.
The Fantastic Four #80
Wyatt Wing-foot is exploring his family's land. They are an ancient tribe, and the medicine men tell stories about an ancient evil totem being alive again. Wyatt runs into the Tomazooma, a huge beast with an elaborate costume and mask. It's a cool design. Wyatt realizes this isn't the totem, but a machine created by an oil company to scare the tribe off the land. FF come in and help, but this is Wyatt's story and he saves the day.
The Fantastic Four #81
Crystal made a FF costume for herself. Since Sue is pregnant (and hasn't been in the previous issues) Crystal is joining the team. The Wizard attacks. This guy is maybe the most frequent villain in Kirby's run! Crystal defeats him.
The Fantastic Four Annual #6
Sue is about to give birth. Reed finds a solution to the cosmic radiation that threatens to kill Sue and the unborn child in the Negative Zone. A bad guy Annihilus from the Negative Zone attacks and the FF almost get stuck in the Anti-matter zone. They get back and the baby is born!
February 26, 2023
At its best, the Lee/Kirby FF run is a showcase for Jack Kirby’s ideas and visual energy, with Stan Lee pushing that energy up yet another level with his hyperactive, bombastic scripting. Yes, I’m a Kirby fan more than a Lee one but most accounts of the collaboration agree that the “Marvel method” meant Jack took more and more of the lead in plotting and was the driver of the comic. Until he wasn’t.
Volume 8 is the weakest FF volume for a long time, mostly because whatever synergy between art and story there once was has broken down. Annoyed by what he saw as Lee’s sabotage of the HIM/Warlock story in Vol 7, Kirby has backed away from plotting and the collaboration has lost its fizz. Lee is spinning his wheels and killing time with old ideas - it’s never a good sign when the Wizard shows up twice in one stretch of issues. Kirby is still drawing the hell out of each page - and with Joe Sinnott inking every panel really pops - but he’s also shifting to his late 60s style of big, 3 or 4 panel per page compositions, which was a terrific fit for Thor but doesn’t work so well on FF, where Lee’s scripting relies less on thunderous captions and more on banter.
Though there’s still plenty of *that* to go around. In fact with Sue mostly sidelined by pregnancy and Reed by worrying about it, there’s a strong lads’ night out energy to many of these adventures, with Ben and Johnny to the fore. If only Stan could think of something - anything - to do with Ben other than trot out the “can Alicia really love a monster?” plot again.
But then playing the hits is very much Stan’s style in these issues. There’s a lot of callbacks to the comic’s recent high point - we get a return engagement with Galactus and a load of visual and thematic nods to “This Man… This Monster” in other stories. And given the original ideas in play include Tomazooma The Living Totem perhaps we should be thankful for that.
For one issue, though, it all clicks and we get an FF story with both creators on form and seeing eye to eye. Annual 6 - the birth of Reed and Sue’s child - has the comic shake off its lethargy and rise to the ground-breaking occasion, with inventiveness, high melodrama and comic moments which actually land. A reminder of what this team could do - and until recently were doing - which pulls the grade up a star on its own.
Volume 8 is the weakest FF volume for a long time, mostly because whatever synergy between art and story there once was has broken down. Annoyed by what he saw as Lee’s sabotage of the HIM/Warlock story in Vol 7, Kirby has backed away from plotting and the collaboration has lost its fizz. Lee is spinning his wheels and killing time with old ideas - it’s never a good sign when the Wizard shows up twice in one stretch of issues. Kirby is still drawing the hell out of each page - and with Joe Sinnott inking every panel really pops - but he’s also shifting to his late 60s style of big, 3 or 4 panel per page compositions, which was a terrific fit for Thor but doesn’t work so well on FF, where Lee’s scripting relies less on thunderous captions and more on banter.
Though there’s still plenty of *that* to go around. In fact with Sue mostly sidelined by pregnancy and Reed by worrying about it, there’s a strong lads’ night out energy to many of these adventures, with Ben and Johnny to the fore. If only Stan could think of something - anything - to do with Ben other than trot out the “can Alicia really love a monster?” plot again.
But then playing the hits is very much Stan’s style in these issues. There’s a lot of callbacks to the comic’s recent high point - we get a return engagement with Galactus and a load of visual and thematic nods to “This Man… This Monster” in other stories. And given the original ideas in play include Tomazooma The Living Totem perhaps we should be thankful for that.
For one issue, though, it all clicks and we get an FF story with both creators on form and seeing eye to eye. Annual 6 - the birth of Reed and Sue’s child - has the comic shake off its lethargy and rise to the ground-breaking occasion, with inventiveness, high melodrama and comic moments which actually land. A reminder of what this team could do - and until recently were doing - which pulls the grade up a star on its own.
January 23, 2022
More classic Fantastic Four stories, with lots of energy and some changes for the title team. Plotlines include a return for Galactus, who comes looking for his herald, the Silver Surfer, a jaunt into the Microverse and some shenanigans from the Wizard, who forces Ben Grimm to return to being the Thing once more after Reed restored the hero to human form.
There is also an absolutely bananas story where the team goes to Wyatt Wingfoot's reservation to fight "The Living Totem." It feels like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were doing their best to update tropes and respect native peoples here, but woof, it's awkward for modern readers.
The show-stoppper in this collection has the men of the team venturing into the Negative Zone to retrieve some rare element needed to aid the Invisible Woman in the last days of her pregnancy. We get the first appearance of Annihilus, complete with some great "demented cosmic tyrant" scenes and plenty of weird, evocative art from Kirby.
There's a lot to enjoy here, and the finale sees the team moving in an interesting direction, with Inhuman Crystal joining the squad to stand in for Sue as she's on maternity leave. Definitely recommended for classic Marvel fans.
There is also an absolutely bananas story where the team goes to Wyatt Wingfoot's reservation to fight "The Living Totem." It feels like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were doing their best to update tropes and respect native peoples here, but woof, it's awkward for modern readers.
The show-stoppper in this collection has the men of the team venturing into the Negative Zone to retrieve some rare element needed to aid the Invisible Woman in the last days of her pregnancy. We get the first appearance of Annihilus, complete with some great "demented cosmic tyrant" scenes and plenty of weird, evocative art from Kirby.
There's a lot to enjoy here, and the finale sees the team moving in an interesting direction, with Inhuman Crystal joining the squad to stand in for Sue as she's on maternity leave. Definitely recommended for classic Marvel fans.
August 18, 2023
This collection features a large number of favorite issues from my childhood. I ruined the value of my dad's issues from reading them so often. Sue Storm is the first pregnant superhero (I think); Wyatt Wingfoot sets the stage for a beautiful issue where the FF face Montezuma; Grimm gets a chance to be normal but chooses to be the thing forever to save humanity; they have enter the negative zone and fight Annihilus while Sue is in Labor. Great issues we read over and over.
February 11, 2023
The storytelling and dialogue style that persists keeps this at the 3 star level for me, but That One splash page of Galactus sorely tempted me into bumping this volume up to a 4
October 22, 2023
This volume includes some classic epics from the hands of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. It all begins with Reed and Sue contemplating their departure from the team and retiring from adventuring now that Sue is pregnant. But the Watcher and a misunderstood threat from the Silver Surfer pull them back. Next up is a typical Marvel mash-up as only Kirby could deliver as the FF have to battle Daredevil, Spider-Man and Thor. After that Kirby delivers a 4-part masterpiece with Galactus again threatening the Earth and only the presence of the missing Silver Surfer can save the planet. And if that wasn’t enough, Kirby takes us to the wild and mind-boggling world of Sub-Atomica (aka the Microverse, aka the Quantum Realm) and the team has to contend with the Psycho-Man once again. Upon returning the FF have to deal with the Wizard and his new Wonder Gloves and The Thing has been transform, perhaps permanently, back into his human form of Ben Grimm. Then a threat from the Mad Thinker emerges that forces Ben to make a grave, life altering decision. There’s a quick visit to Wyatt Wingfoot out west and then the fateful day arrives and Sue goes into labor, which means Reed, Johnny and Ben head for … the Negative Zone? It seems that this superhero soap-opera wouldn’t be complete without a complicated childbirth and a unique substance found only in the Negative Zone will save her and the baby. But the introduction of Annihilus threatens to end their mission almost before it has a chance to begin. And to wrap up the volume, the FF gains a new recruit: Crystal of the Inhumans. And she arrives just in time to send the Wizard flying with his tail between his legs in utter defeat. Yet another Kirby and Lee collection of masterpieces.
August 16, 2020
This collection of Fantastic Four stories deals with Sue's pregnancy, Crystal playing a larger role on the team, and some interesting cosmic stories that take the series to new lands full of interesting characters and grand sci-fi stories. Issue 72, and 74-77, contain some fantastic Silver Surfer stories (including a foray into the "Micro-Verse") that are some of my favourite Fantastic Four stories so far in the series. The 6th annual contains the first appearance of Annihilus and a great double-size issue foray into the Negative Zone. It's always a blast to see Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott draw space and cosmic power, and these stories don't disappoint!
This collection suffers though from the lack of Sue Storm. Sitting out most missions because of her pregnancy it becomes a book all about Reed, Ben, and Johnny going on adventures on their own. Without Sue the series feels lesser, and also extremely dated with how her pregnancy is handled in the minds of the boys. Towards the end Crystal stops taking care of Sue and takes a more active role on the team which is genuinely interesting to see. Compared to Sue she doesn't have the prospect of marriage and motherhood to deal with, and is quicker to stand up to Johnny than Sue ever was to stand up to Reed. I'm not sure if Crystal is actually better because Stan Lee grew as a writer in the decade since Sue was created, or if she was just made different so that she would contrast Sue, or if it's because Crystal's elemental powers means Jack Kirby gets more control over how she reacts in the art, but either way it's a good change.
This collection suffers though from the lack of Sue Storm. Sitting out most missions because of her pregnancy it becomes a book all about Reed, Ben, and Johnny going on adventures on their own. Without Sue the series feels lesser, and also extremely dated with how her pregnancy is handled in the minds of the boys. Towards the end Crystal stops taking care of Sue and takes a more active role on the team which is genuinely interesting to see. Compared to Sue she doesn't have the prospect of marriage and motherhood to deal with, and is quicker to stand up to Johnny than Sue ever was to stand up to Reed. I'm not sure if Crystal is actually better because Stan Lee grew as a writer in the decade since Sue was created, or if she was just made different so that she would contrast Sue, or if it's because Crystal's elemental powers means Jack Kirby gets more control over how she reacts in the art, but either way it's a good change.
March 1, 2021
Read with my 4.5-year-old twins, who are FF super fans and continued to enjoy this set of issues. (However, issue #81 genuinely terrified one of my kids, who had previously been Crystal's biggest fan--when she went all-out with her powers against the Wizard, he got super scared.)
I continue to enjoy the Kirby/Lee run on FF, although the almost-complete absence of Sue from this set of issues was a bummer. It was an all-men-all-the-time romp, and it got a little old. I imagine that at the time these issues were published, having Sue pregnant was a really big deal and not something that had been done in super hero comics before. It felt exciting here. But to basically lose her from the book completely made me sad. Even my kids were asking what was going on with her. (And way to spend time with your pregnant wife, Reed...) I guess because Crystal is a woman, she has to exclusively look after Sue because only a woman can do that, too. Sigh.
Annual #6 was an exciting journey into the negative zone. I liked the battles against Annihilus and the visuals of the NZ as well. But after all Reed went through to get the power from the Cosmic Control Rod to save Sue and the baby, we never get to see or even hear how this power is used to save them. That felt like an important part of the story that was not addressed.
I continue to enjoy the Kirby/Lee run on FF, although the almost-complete absence of Sue from this set of issues was a bummer. It was an all-men-all-the-time romp, and it got a little old. I imagine that at the time these issues were published, having Sue pregnant was a really big deal and not something that had been done in super hero comics before. It felt exciting here. But to basically lose her from the book completely made me sad. Even my kids were asking what was going on with her. (And way to spend time with your pregnant wife, Reed...) I guess because Crystal is a woman, she has to exclusively look after Sue because only a woman can do that, too. Sigh.
Annual #6 was an exciting journey into the negative zone. I liked the battles against Annihilus and the visuals of the NZ as well. But after all Reed went through to get the power from the Cosmic Control Rod to save Sue and the baby, we never get to see or even hear how this power is used to save them. That felt like an important part of the story that was not addressed.
June 25, 2023
The Invisible Girl gets pushed out when she becomes a mother. She is replaced by Crystal from the Inhumans. So we have moved on from Invisible Girl talked down to because she is female to Crystal talked down to because she is a girl. My favorite line is the very last one spoken in this volume. Crystal is officially accepted to the team and Human Torch says: "If anyone messes with us, she'll whump 'em with a powder puff!". Ah, 1968.
February 3, 2019
More Kirby art and less Lee dialogue makes these issues somewhat less painful to read than what's come before.
August 25, 2021
Just pure fun, if outdated with it paternalistic machismo.
September 17, 2023
Fantastic Four #72-81, Annual #6
January 30, 2020
Gems include FF/Surfer rematch, FF v. DD/Spidey/Thor, return of Galactus, Ben choosing to remain the Thing, debut of Annihilus, & Crystal joining FF to fight Wizard
August 26, 2015
Overall, this is the weakest set of Fantastic Four issues yet. Annual #6 is the only stand out issue. Annual #6 has the debut of Annihilus (who starts off kinda generic but has amazing design), some amazing space artwork, and some great monster design. But it also strands all the women in the maternity ward while the Fantastic Three go to the Negative Zone. The rest of the issues are mostly misses. 72 is a pointless Silver Surfer story, 73 is an even more pointless crossover with Thor, Spiderman and Daredevil. 74 through 77 are a Galactus/Silver Surfer/Psycho Man/Subatomica storyline with some great art and some fast paced action, but overall it's pretty slight. 78 and 79 are another "Ben is cured but choses to become the Thing again" story. For a total re-run, it has a few high points (some Ben/Johnny antics in 78, an unpowered Ben fighting an android in 79), but the finale makes even less sense than usual. Issue 80 is straight up racist. Issue 81 is a decent introduction to Crystal as Sue's replacement, but pretty slight.
July 29, 2014
Fun times, man, even if a few of the plots are a bit hinky. Great Kirby artwork, melodramatically glib Lee scripts. With Sue pregnant and sidelined, this book features more a Fantastic Three, but there is a silver lining in her diminished role: far less misogynist treatment of the Invisible Woman.
April 30, 2015
This volume contains reprints of issues 72 to 82 and the sixth annual, which features the birth of Franklin Richards! The Silver Surfer guest stars as Galactus returns, amongst some other superheroes, in this pretty standard collection of FF fun.
February 9, 2016
The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.
October 26, 2012
What wonderful nonsense!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews