Fantastic Four No. 1: Panel by Panel

One of the many blogs I read is <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.newsfromme.com/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.newsfromme.com/" target="_blank">News From ME</a>. The ME being Mark Evanier. If you like musicals, comics, comedy, magic, show biz, Mark has one of those memories from all those areas and shares stories all the time. He's a writer of books, comics, TV shows, it'd ben difficult to collect all his credits in one location. One of his credits was being an assistant to Jack Kirby...yes, THAT Jack Kirby.When he said this book was being published, I pre-ordered is right away. When Mark speaks about a project I listen. When he mentions one he's involved with, I pay attention.I've been a comic fan for as long as I can remember. Mark wrote many of those comics I read as a kid. Mostly funny animal comics. I still remember an issue of the Hair Bear Bunch where everything on the menu of the restaurant they were at had cole slaw, so the one who disliked cole slaw decided to get a gumball and instead, got cole slow from the machine. It's weird to think about things like that.At any rate, when Mark mentioned that he had an essay in the books, even though I'd read so much about Mark's time with Jack Kirby, I wanted to get this book.Yes, I've read Fantastic Four many times over the year. I had the version that came with a record and that helped me learn to read. I read reprints, digital editions, and broken up versions. I've seen this comic many times. But never like this.The creators got a hold of an original Fantastic Four #1 in near mint condition and did high quality scans of the pages. They blew up each panel giving it a page of its own. The entire comic is in the back in its original size on the pages. Also included are essays, one being by Mark. It's amazing to see the up-close detail in the panels and see the coloring and letting. Beyond that, the amazing art Kirby created when almost nothing like this existed. As Mark says in his essay, this book changed comics forever.It's true.

For the fan who loves the look of original comics printing - up close and personal!

excelent

If you like early Jack Kirby Fantastic Four and you like Chip Kidd you'll like this book. Nuff said.Excelsior!

Imagine that someone scanned a copy of Fantastic Four #1 at, I don't know, let's say 10,000dpi. You could enlarge the image so much that if you were viewing it on a desktop computer, you could zoom in on a single letter until it fills the screen, and you still wouldn't see any pixelization.That pretty much describes Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel To Panel. It's essentially a reprint of Fantastic Four #1, but with the panels blown up to jumbo size. In 2005, Marvel published a book called Maximum Fantastic Four, which is basically the same thing, but at the same time it's not. Maximum Fantastic Four used re-colored, enhanced images taken from stats. The images used in Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel To Panel are sourced from high-quality scans of an actual genuine real copy of FF #1.In addition, each page of FF #1 is discussed and analyzed from an artistic point of view. Very interesting, very readable, and you don't need a degree in Art History to be able to understand it.For me, the main attraction of Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel To Panel, the reason I wanted it, was the supplemental material in the back. Specifically, full-page scans of an original copy of FF #1 in the back of the book - every page, including the ads. Think of it as a Facsimile Edition that’s part of the book, not a separately bound supplement or insert designed to be removed (as is the case with the replica comics included with the expensive books published by the Folio Society).It should be understood that Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel To Panel is not intended for people who just want to "read" Fantastic Four #1. In terms of "bang for your buck," there are much better choices out there. For example, Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four, Vol. 1, which reprints issues #1-10, or Fantastic Four Epic Collection: World's Greatest Comic Magazine, which reprints the first 18 issues. If you've never read the early Fantastic Four comics and want to get a sense of what they were all about, you'll be much happier buying one of those.Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel To Panel is designed for those who want to “look” at Fantastic Four #1, the published comic book - to see it as a physical object. It's interesting if you're into that sort of thing... and I am. Unfortunately, they made one major screw-up.In 2006, Marvel published a comic book called "Marvel's Greatest Comics: Fantastic Four #52" (MGC). It was essentially a Facsimile Edition - that term wasn't around back then, but that's what it was - of the comic book that introduced the Black Panther. A complete replica of the entire issue, including the advertisements. Not to be confused with the Facsimile Edition of FF #52 that came out in 2022, MGC had one major flaw. For some inexplicable reason, "Marvel's Greatest Comics: Fantastic Four #52," although published and printed in 2006, was designed to appear as if it were an actual comic book from the 1960s that had aged 40 years. The results were terrible. The printing was too dark, and the book itself had a slimy "feel" to it. MGC was so bad that I think even a completist might have a hard time justifying ownership of a copy.The designers of Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel To Panel were going for the same effect. They wanted the finished product to look as if you were holding an actual physical copy of FF #1 that was printed in 1961, and to that effect the producers didn't want to "clean up" the images too much.There’s a difference between strict adherence to the source material and “tweaking” it slightly where necessary. I understand the producers' intent from an artistic point of view, but from my perspective as a reader I can't agree with their choice. This is not an auction catalogue where you need to see the actual condition of the item being offered for sale, and I think the pages should have been “brightened” up a little more, to make the viewing experience more pleasurable. It could have been done without hurting the artistic integrity of the pages.It’s especially noticeable with the “facsimile edition” section. Having the pages bordered in black makes it even worse; it makes for an unpleasant viewing experience. I don’t like saying that, and I really wish I didn’t have to.I think the concept of the book is great, but the producers’ decision to prioritize the “vintage” look is a serious drawback, and for that reason I can’t recommend it per se. If you’re interested in this kind of book, you’ve probably already decided to buy it regardless of this review or any other. The best I can say is that you’ll probably feel the same way about Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel To Panel as I do; disappointed, frustrated... but at the same time, glad you have it.

Where to start?The quality of book scanned is extremely poor for a book focusing on one issue of a comic. The pages are so heavily yellowed the scans could be from a 1960s Charlton book, this is clearly not the Near Mint FF#1 comic others have commented about here. The Cover is shown towards the back of the book. I understand why they didn't prominently display it. Torn corner, massive spine roll, cover crease, etc. These scans are from a much loved version of FF#1. Couldn't they find a better version of this book for this project? For comic collectors out there, I'd be floored if this book graded anywhere near a 4.0.The page layout seems to choose the path of making it as difficult to follow the story as possible. The panels are scattered hap-hazard on the pages and there is a lot of weird sizing issues as well. A notable scaling issue is a Kirby splash page. The page that starts Chapter 3 (the Fantastic Four meet the Mole Man) is a single splash page. In the book, they blow the page up into a two-page spread and thereby cut the bottom of the page off. Reed and Ben are heads and the text for the page is missing.Avoid...

I’m not sure who this book is for. It’s a weird idea for a book in the first place… to take every bit of FF 1 and enlarge it. Can’t recommend it.

Superbe volume mais la couverture était déchirée. Pour 15$ je passe l'éponge mais ça m'arrive souvent de recevoir des livres qui sont des retours d'autres acheteurs. La boite de livraison était intacte mais la couverture déchirée... Franchement amazon ne se force pas sur la qualité des volumes qu'ils envois. Ça ne vaut pas plus que le 15$ demandé.

The book itself is of course a nice object but if the idea behind this seemed clever at first, in the end, I think it did the artwork no favor. The actual normal-size reprint of the issue at the end is the better way to appreciate Kirby's work. The panels being massively blown up did not end up working for me at all except in some rare cases, and I was surprised that some of the material was even cut entirely. It's a nice flip-through but it is a rather shallow experience.

This is an amazing book, a book devoted to a small and fairly short comic 'FF 1' that basically started the Marvel age (you can argue for Rawhide Kid, Dr Droom etc) and this shows the panels at super close up. This has been, apparently, done before but not with an unrestored FF 1, no fancy colouring and cleanups have been done here, this is the comic in the raw and literally 1/2 inch from your face. It also has a number of articles that are informative suggesting details about the origins of the comic, there are many theories (for me it is basically still a monster comic book and the super hero side of it really only kicked in later). It has also the original comic with all the ads which is just the best ... just to see it in a form that you are not going to get in the sanitised Marvel Masterworks / Omnis, it has a very different look. You can feel as if you are turning the pages of that 20,000+ quid comic book. It is a quality book throughout, hardback, glossy, slick and well designed as would be expected from Chip Kidd etcI only hope Abrams bring out a Spider-man one as well and perhaps X-Men ?? (I am not holding my breath for an Ant-man one). I would love to see the main 10 original titles out in the raw and not cleaned up. Also, a similar one perhaps for the old Golden Age Captain America / Marvel comics 1 etc ??? Can only hope. Abrams keep bringing out excellent comics related books... all are worth checking out

I originally wrote a negative review of Fantastic Four Panel by Panel, as the layout design is very difficult to get used too.I was expecting a panel per page analysis, not a blow up of pages divided into sections.However, if you think of it as the physical version of Marvel Unlimited "Smart Panel" view, it makes more sense, and is probably a better experience than the surrounded by white space they went with with the previous special edition.