Fantastic Four The First 60 Years: Comics, Creators, Characters, Culture

Sixty years ago I was a young boy. My mother and I were walking down a city street in Pontiac, Michigan. We were on our way to the Salvation Army store.

About a block away from the store was a sidewalk magazine and newspaper vendor.

Hanging from one side of his booth was wire comic book rack. I was at the ripe old age of nine and had been reading comic books (mostly DC and Harvey) since I was five years old.

While mom looked at the magazines I spotted a comic book that look completely different that the other titles.

On its cover was a quartet of people fighting a huge green monster breaking though a city street. Besides the monster there was a humanoid shaped, rocky, orange smaller monster. Upon looking closer I realized he was also a superhero. What!?

I asked my mom for a dime and purchased Fantastic Four #1, rolled it up and stuck it in my back pocket to read later.

I can hear the collective groan from comic book collectors everywhere. If I had known then what I know now I never would have mishandled the comic book.

Titan Magazines has just released Fantastic Four The First 60 Years: Comics, Creators, Characters, Culture, both as a softback and hardback magazine.

The publication traces the FF from the title’s genesis and the launch of the Marvel Comics Universe all through the decades up to the present time.

As a kid and young teenager my favorite FF stories took place in the 1960s with the introduction of such characters as Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Silver Surfer, The Black Panther, Moleman, The Inhumans and other incredible characters that helped form the fledgling Marvel Universe.

I marveled at the FF adventures into the Microverse, The Negative Zone, outer space, time travel and other incredible locations.

What made the titles so special was the interplay of the characters one to another. They often squabbled, broke up, disagreed, had personal problems, were emotional and most of all acted like real human beings not just cookie cutter superheroes.

Writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby let their imaginations run wild as they created some of the most incredible stories ever devised for comic books.

From the FF Lee and Kirby, along with other Marvel artists and writers, would expand the Marvel Universe to include hundreds of characters, locations, storylines and more.

The magazine follows The Fantastic Four through the decades. Interesting and informative text filled with fascinating facts is accompanied by cover and interior art both in color and in black and white.

Key stories, events, character and story crossovers and special artist and writers spotlights fill out the issue.

If you are a Fantastic Four fan then this is the magazine for you. More than just containing pretty pictures the magazine elves into what makes the FF so special and its importance in the Marvel Universe and the history of comic books. 

Job 19:25 (NKJV) “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;”