"The 'TOTALLY' Fantastic Four"-(The Classic 60's & 70's)

"The Fantastic Four" exploded into the world of comic books in November,1961 with their very own title! This truly 'fantastic' series was created by Stan 'The Man' Lee (Writer / Editor) and Jack 'King' Kirby(Artist / Co-plotter); ushering in the 'Marvel Age of Comics'. Thus began one of  the most exciting, well-read, classic comic book series!

Scientist Reed Richards; along with his girlfriend, Sue Storm; Sue's younger brother, Johnny; and Reed's friend / college room-mate / pilot, Ben Grimm; embarked on a mission into outer space. While in space, the four travelers were bombarded by cosmic radiation, changing their lives forever! After crash-landing back on Earth, they began to discover just what those changes were. Reed could stretch his body in all different ways and distances; Sue could turn invisible (and later create invisible force fields); Johnny could burst into flame (without harm), shoot bursts of flame, and fly while covered in flame; Ben was covered with a rock-like skin coating, which gave him super-strength and endurance. They decided to use their abilities for the good of mankind and took on the title "The Fantastic Four" (Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic; Sue Storm (later 'Richards' / The Invisible Girl (later 'Invisible Woman"); and last, but not least, Ben Grimm / The Thing.

Issue #4 re-introduced The Sub-Mariner (sometimes hero / sometimes villain from the 1940's), who became a frequent nemesis during the early days. Issue #5 introduced Victor Von Doom / Doctor Doom, who is probably their greatest enemy of all time! Issue #12 marked their first encounter with the Hulk (leading to the historic 'Thing vs Hulk' battles in issues #25 & 26)!!!  Lee and Kirby created another master-work, when they introduced The Silver Surfer (who became a major superhero) and the planet-devouring Galactus, in issues #48-50 (and let's not forget The Watcher). Some of the other notable villains of that era include---The Frightful Four; Blastaar; the Kree & the Skrull races (including The Super-Skrull); and Annihilus. Other superheroes that were introduced in the series included (besides the already mentioned Silver Surfer)---The Inhumans & The Black Panther (the first mainstream Black superhero). There were also times when others would substitute for members of the F.F., including Crystal & Medusa (from The Inhumans); and Powerman (Luke Cage).

The double-sized 'Annual' issues featured some spectacular story-lines including---Sub-Mariner becomes King of Atlantis (#1); Origin of Doctor Doom (#2); The Wedding of Reed & Sue (#3); The battle between the Human Torches of two eras (#4); and the birth of Franklin Richards (Reed & Sue's son) & the coming of Annihilus (#6)!!!

After the Lee / Kirby period (102 issues straight through), other truly 'fantastic' writers (Roy Thomas; Gerry Conway; Marv Wolfman) and artists (John Romita Sr.; John Buscema; Rich Buckler; George Perez) joined the fold. No wonder the magazine was dubbed "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine"!

"The Fantastic Four" have been in 4 different TV animated series---by Hanna Barbera (Sept. '67'-Mar. '70'); by De Patie-Freleng ( Sept '78'-Dec '78', which featured H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot in the place of The Human Torch); "The Marvel Action Hour" (Sept. '94'-Feb. '96'); and "Fantastic Four-The World's Greatest Heroes" (Sept. 2006, ended after 26 episodes). Note: I wish they would release the '67-70' Hanna Barbera series on DVD (it was my favorite!). The stories were very true to the comic book.

"The Fantastic Four" have also been the subject of 3 movies. The first one was produced in 1994 (by Roger Corman). It was never released theatrically,but was a lot of fun in its own special low-budget way. Alex Hyde-White played Mr. Fantastic; Rebecca Staab played The Invisible Girl; Jay Underwood played The Human Torch; Michael Baily Smith played The Thing; and Joseph Culp played Doctor Doom. 2005 brought the first of 2 blockbuster big-budget feature films. The Fantastic Four was portrayed by--- Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic; Jessica Alba as The Invisible Woman; Chris Evans as The Human Torch; and Michael Chiklis as The Thing. Doctor Doom was played by Julian McMahon (they all did a wonderful job!).They returned for a well-made sequel in 2007 ("Fantastic Four-Rise of The Silver Surfer"). Laurence Fishburne supplied the voice for the CGI produced "Silver Surfer". I've heard that they are planning another F.F. movie (a re-boot with a new cast) for 2015. They could dig up enough 'fantastic' plots from the comic books to last a lifetime. The Fantastic Four series has set an extremely high standard!!!