How to Start Reading the 1960s Fantastic Four Comics by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee?

[@mikeneale2459]

EXCELLENT! KIRBY WAS THE FIRST ARTIST I KNEW. AND THE COMICS THAT MADE ME A COMIC BOOK JUNKIE! THANK YOU, JACK KIRBY!

[@joshsalwen]

When I was a teen, my mom knew a Marvel inker, Dan Greene. He told a story of paying his rent when he was getting started by painting Silver Surfer on his landlord’s wall. Early FF got a whole generation of artists interested in comics. I mostly read comics in the 1980s. My friend was into John Byrne FF, but I never got it. I respect FF, but I want to like it more than I actually do. Great video.

[@alienboytoys]

Wow! I love your entire vibe! How high quality this video essay is. How high quality your writing is and designs! Keep up the great work!!

[@ronhobbs463]

I've read all the Kirby FF's, mostly from my childhood. I own am almost complete run of 60's FF's in beautiful condition.. They were the World's Greatest Comic Magazine.

[@Lewis9700]

Kirby was incredible wasn't he?

[@HalloranIllustrations]

I was a big fan of the Skrull stories. The old story of alien invasions was a favorite of mine since childhood.

[@MythwrightWorkshop]

Actually, Wertham was more instrumental in the resurgence of superheroes than in their demise. He mainly attacked the array and gamut of crime, horror, and suspense comics that had outpaced and surpassed superheroes in popularity. His indictments, and their effects, actually helped (albeit somewhat ironically) the resurgence of the superhero genre as it tended to have a more kid-friendly outward veneer. Whatever negative effects that Wertham's somewhat pointed campaign against EC Comics (the company that took the brunt of his attacks) had on comics broadly, the genre of kid-oriented superheroes benefited. What is far more likely to have "killed" superhero--and paper comics more generally--was forgetting the evergreen marketing aspect of orienting them primarily to a child-young adult audience. Chasing the "buck" by going after speculator cash and the older adult market (one that always ages out faster than the kids' market) is glaringly more suspect.

[@jagathon777]

I agree with your reading choices. "This man... This Monster" is one of the best of all time. Put it up there with "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man".

[@witsendpod]

That’s another great issue. Swamp Thing’s “Burial” story comes to mind. The list goes on.

[@JaimeTanner-b2i]

"They Shoot Hulks, Don't They?" By Harlan Ellison. "Feeding Billy", "Jewel in the Heart of the Atom".

[@davidj.thompson]

One issue, I can't remember which, involved Ben (who's transformation had been reversed) and Alicia were at a cafe for lunch, with Ben feeling great. Of course, down the street, the NYPD were ransacking the lair of the Mad Thinker and released a powerful android, which then headed down the street, swatting people aside. Ben pulls off his suit-coat and tries to hold it off. Being just human at this point, he gets his ass handed to him. At one point he gets tossed back to his table and feels around for a briefcase there. I guess the gauntlets inside were being transported for Reed, for some reason. The gauntlets blast Ben with gamma radiation and he becomes the Thing again. He punches the android then goes picks it up and swats the machine so hard it appeared to break the sound barrier, at least. Then, he litterally walks alone into the sunset because Aliicia, he decided, would fall out of love with him.

[@AnthonyJstark-vz4so]

Awesome video!! Can't get enough of 👑 Kirby 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@davidj.thompson]

I remember the multi-page issue with Anniliius(?) "the living death that walks". It took place, I think, mostly in The Negative Zone. That was in 1967 and I was 11 amd it got me hooked on Marvel, the Four and Jack Kirby's artwork.😍 Oops! You DO cover it!

[@russellsmith1605]

Outstanding video! Very informative

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

I went to art school. And when I entered I told them ' I wanted to do comics '; they laughed at me because they thought there was no money in there. Jack and Stan are the titans of most badasses in the universe. Everything I like in design in some way must have aspects of Jack's design work.👍❤️💯

[@echovalley11]

beautiful video, thank you

[@RamManNo1]

“Dated” is such a ridiculous term I hear people saying about not liking older comics. Them being dated is in fact what makes them fun and interesting.

[@Rob-z7k]

Silver age omnis are new to me..and love them wayyyy more than todays computer drawn comics

[@1912papa]

You earned a subscription with this video. Well done.

[@simonrhoden7869]

Wow I love this, I can see the love and hard work out into this! Id say this is incredible but I feel marvelous and fantastic describe the video better! Thank you for this

[@RonDale-jy8et]

My recomendation would be FF# 38-40!! "The Battle of Baxter Building storyline FF caught in an atom bomb blast losing their powers and then discover that Doom has taken over the Baxter Building... Great story! Also the Doom steals the Surfer's Power Cosmic story...!! So may great stories until approx the time that SILVER SURFER came out leading to a rift which had been brewing between Stan & Jack for a long time...!

[@lukeyznaga7627]

Man, you dont get those kind of bright colors from crummy digitized comic books nowadays. The older comic books and magazines were so much better.

[@petermcmillan3446]

You didn't get those bright colors in the original comics. Most of the pages shown in this video are of ugly modern reprints.

[@basscot17]

You definitely sold me on reading F starting from the Galactus story. Thus far I've only read issues 48-54. I'm really interested in it, but I have a hard time getting into heavily worded silver age material. Only Spidey is easy for me on that front. As I've understood, and as you also describe, the latter half brings in the most interesting concepts. That said, I surely will read annual 2! I've read criminally few stories about DOOM

[@mikebelbin]

Great essay.

[@kimbelsimpson7535]

Once Jack Kirby changed his art style from the 40s to early 60s I became a hard-core fan of his work when he worked for both Marvel and DC Comics.

[@timothymarkin4481]

Nobody ever talks about the makeup of the FF resembling The Sea Devils: four people with a brainy leader, his girlfriend, her younger brother, and the two-fisted adventurer. IMHO that resembles the quartet moreso than The Challengers; though I won’t argue that was obviously an influence as well, with Kirby’s involvement.

[@mercurywoodrose]

They were born the same year I was born. My earliest comic book memory is the cover that says shall man survive with a guy smashing a board and all the characters falling down.

[@witsendpod]

Always appreciated those bombastic issue titles.

[@kimbelsimpson7535]

I've had every one of those early Kirby FF comics you recommended even that Thor origin of Galctus story.

[@samclark3879]

Make Mine Marvel! I grew up with this stuff. Kirby will always be the King!

[@theghosttiger1446]

I'd love to see them recreate all of those comics in a well designed cartoon show.

[@rbiznezz2]

Very thorough!! Thank you!

[@witsendpod]

Thank you for watching.

[@brucedavis3816]

I ve noticed that with Jack Kirby his drawings have, especially with facial features, an apelike overly strong square jaw!! Especially henchmen!!!

[@dabbzgaming]

Can't wait for the MCU to continue the tradition of wiping out Doom's Romani heritage >:(

[@MelissaLovesComicBooks]

I'll take a Colletta inked comic book any day over Ayers or Roussos. I wish Marvel would reissue FF #1-30 with someone keeping Kirby's layouts and reinking them.

[@eriklarsen9942]

Love paying homage to the foundation(s) of what people think of as the Marvel Universe...A couple of comments: those early stories were definitely products of their times... if you read them as they came out, you were probably also reading a dozen or more other stories at the same time. Which means that you didn't necessarily have a inkling about how impactful some of the art and stories were... especially if you were a pre-teen (like me) who didn't really know much else. I started on FF in the early 70's, buying an issue every month and devouring anything that Marvel put out. But, by the early 70's, Kirby's art, although still very dynamic, was starting to look a bit dated to me when compared to artists like Neal Adams, Jim Starlin, or Jim Steranko, and my friends and I didn't care for it. It was only as I got older that I started to appreciate his art more and more.

[@ThayerManns]

As a 11 old in the 60s this comic confused me I couldn't tell if the thing or Dr.Doom was the villain. Not as clear cut as DC at the time

[@kimbelsimpson7535]

Young Jack Kirby looks and talks like a 30s gangster.

[@3dartistguy]

It was Stan Lee who told Kirby to have the Fantastic four fight god, so they cane up with Galactus.

[@MrPatrickAnonymous]

FF 48-50 is all gas, no brakes. And the truly insane thing is the Galactus trilogy is wrapped up halfway through FF 50. Today, that trilogy would be a year-long event with a six month build up

[@lukeyznaga7627]

Martin Goodman was not a good president or CEO. He was a sting. Under later management, Marvel boomed and did great.

[@mitchvuksanovich]

What I LOATHE is how these Legendary characters and storylines have been "modernized" for current audiences...Iron Man was Born in Vietnam...I'm Surprised that the Captain America movie was so Close to the Original storyline...Most of these ALL happened in the 60's...The Charm of those Days should be kept in the film versions.

[@kimbelsimpson7535]

I always thought that Challangers of the Unknown was a Silver Age DC Comic.

[@waynemallette8668]

The early stories mixed reality with fiction, same as today. Same playbook.

[@Lewis9700]

So frustrating that the FF was such an iconic comic book, yet their MCU screen adaptations are crap

[@MythwrightWorkshop]

The problem is likely the "too many cooks" issue. Many of the better superhero franchises have a single-creator's vision (not a committee's agenda) behind their clarity and success.

[@petermcmillan3446]

I think it's a tribute to Jack Kirby at his dynamic best that the action in the comics just can't be translated to another medium. The X-Men were given a sci-fi treatment, Spidey was always about teen angst - but the FF can't be toned down or reduced to a family drama. The optimum experience of the FF is in Kirby's pages.

[@sloan58]

I remember 25 cent comics brand new.

[@3dartistguy]

How could not endorse fantastic four no 28 where they had to fight the original X-men?