Review of
Fantastic Four (1961) #1
Published:
November 1961
Reviewer Rating:
Avg User Rating:
(3.67)
This is definitely one of the most iconic and important comic books ever published by Marvel Comics, being the start of the entire Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, when it comes to the quality of the issue itself it really is not very good at all.
While the origin story of the Fantastic Four is memorable the origin isn't interesting and is very short only being 5 of the 25-page story. The members of the Fantastic Four are shells of the great and enjoyable characters they would eventually become, Johnny Storm, in particular, having barely any personality in this issue. The Thing is the highlight having the most engaging story from the start being the only one that didn't want to go on the mission, but being the one who gets the worst of the powers when they arrive back on Earth becoming a monster. Unfortunately, this story is barely touched upon here.
Instead, we have the Fantastic Four joining forces for the first time to battle the Mole Man who is a very lame first villain for the team to face. Although I would have thought that Ben would be able to relate to Mole Man's hatred towards humanity for their dismissal of him simply because he is ugly, but that wasn't even brought because Ben isn't even there when Mole Man tells his backstory. What a missed opportunity for something of value to come from this part of the story.
There is also the intro to the comic where the separated team is summoned by Reed Richards for the first time. They are all doing something at the time so they immediately stop what they are doing in order to get there causing havoc in the streets. I feel like this part of the story was supposed to play up the mystery as to who these people are and how they got their powers, but it doesn't work considering how much time it takes from the main story which could have been fleshed out more if given more page space.
Stan Lee's dialogue is clunky and blunt with characters saying exactly what they are doing. This is something that I don't he ever improves on even when the stories get much better. Jack Kirby's art is pretty poor as well especially Thing who looks extremely lumpy and in some panels, it looks like he's melting. The Human Torch doesn't look like a man that has burst into flames, but far closer to flames in the vague shape of a person. It is obvious that Kirby is used to drawing monsters all the time with all of the monster comics he drew for Marvel during the 1950s, but they don't look that good here, which makes me think that maybe he was getting bored of having to draw similar monsters all the time?
The only part of the issue that I find all the important is the origin itself which takes a back seat to the crumby introduction and the Mole Man story at the end which don't give me much joy. I actually enjoyed this issue much more when I first read it, but coming back to read it now after having read all of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four run this issue is pretty weak in comparison to what is to come.
While the origin story of the Fantastic Four is memorable the origin isn't interesting and is very short only being 5 of the 25-page story. The members of the Fantastic Four are shells of the great and enjoyable characters they would eventually become, Johnny Storm, in particular, having barely any personality in this issue. The Thing is the highlight having the most engaging story from the start being the only one that didn't want to go on the mission, but being the one who gets the worst of the powers when they arrive back on Earth becoming a monster. Unfortunately, this story is barely touched upon here.
Instead, we have the Fantastic Four joining forces for the first time to battle the Mole Man who is a very lame first villain for the team to face. Although I would have thought that Ben would be able to relate to Mole Man's hatred towards humanity for their dismissal of him simply because he is ugly, but that wasn't even brought because Ben isn't even there when Mole Man tells his backstory. What a missed opportunity for something of value to come from this part of the story.
There is also the intro to the comic where the separated team is summoned by Reed Richards for the first time. They are all doing something at the time so they immediately stop what they are doing in order to get there causing havoc in the streets. I feel like this part of the story was supposed to play up the mystery as to who these people are and how they got their powers, but it doesn't work considering how much time it takes from the main story which could have been fleshed out more if given more page space.
Stan Lee's dialogue is clunky and blunt with characters saying exactly what they are doing. This is something that I don't he ever improves on even when the stories get much better. Jack Kirby's art is pretty poor as well especially Thing who looks extremely lumpy and in some panels, it looks like he's melting. The Human Torch doesn't look like a man that has burst into flames, but far closer to flames in the vague shape of a person. It is obvious that Kirby is used to drawing monsters all the time with all of the monster comics he drew for Marvel during the 1950s, but they don't look that good here, which makes me think that maybe he was getting bored of having to draw similar monsters all the time?
The only part of the issue that I find all the important is the origin itself which takes a back seat to the crumby introduction and the Mole Man story at the end which don't give me much joy. I actually enjoyed this issue much more when I first read it, but coming back to read it now after having read all of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four run this issue is pretty weak in comparison to what is to come.
