Review of
Fantastic Four (1961) #1
Published:
November 1961
Avg User Rating:
(3.67)
Theres a certain frantic charm to this issue, its like watching someone invent a genre while sprinting. Everyone talks in declarative sentences, the origin story is handled in a single breathless flashback, and then bam: Mole Man and his kaiju show up to make sure the book technically qualifies as action-packed. The characters are templates more than people, Reeds the brain, Bens the brawler, Sues the support unit, and Johnnys a teen with a lighter and a death wish. No one gets a moment to breathe. Mole Mans a one-note villain with vibes of rejected Universal Monster pitch, but his creature designs are fun, even if they feel like Kirby doodled them weeks earlier for a different book.
The layouts are stiff and overstuffed, page after page of rectangular panels just barely containing the action. Every composition feels like its one millimeter from falling apart. Kirby hasnt hit his later groove yet; these pages are loud but not lyrical, big but not bold. There's almost no sense of rhythm or pacing, just forward momentum at all costs. The kaiju dont fit in the panels, the humans dont really interact with the space theyre in, and every background either disappears or turns into a nondescript void. And the army straight-up tries to nukes Johnny Storm over a city skyline, and we all move on like thats normal behavior. Incredible.
And yet, theres something, something, flickering in the margins. The team dynamic, as thinly sketched as it is, has an undercurrent of genuine tension. Johnnys not like other boys (cars and found family > girls, and no, were not taking questions), Bens already channeling tragic horror movie monster energy, and Reed is clearly one lab coat away from ruining everyone's lives for science. Theres no real emotional depth yet, but the idea of emotional depth is present. You can feel the potential writhing under the surface like its waiting to mutate. Right now its a concept trapped in a mediocre comic. But the DNA is there, and that counts for something.
The layouts are stiff and overstuffed, page after page of rectangular panels just barely containing the action. Every composition feels like its one millimeter from falling apart. Kirby hasnt hit his later groove yet; these pages are loud but not lyrical, big but not bold. There's almost no sense of rhythm or pacing, just forward momentum at all costs. The kaiju dont fit in the panels, the humans dont really interact with the space theyre in, and every background either disappears or turns into a nondescript void. And the army straight-up tries to nukes Johnny Storm over a city skyline, and we all move on like thats normal behavior. Incredible.
And yet, theres something, something, flickering in the margins. The team dynamic, as thinly sketched as it is, has an undercurrent of genuine tension. Johnnys not like other boys (cars and found family > girls, and no, were not taking questions), Bens already channeling tragic horror movie monster energy, and Reed is clearly one lab coat away from ruining everyone's lives for science. Theres no real emotional depth yet, but the idea of emotional depth is present. You can feel the potential writhing under the surface like its waiting to mutate. Right now its a concept trapped in a mediocre comic. But the DNA is there, and that counts for something.
