Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comics Magazine (Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comics Magazine (2001-2002))

The material gathered here originally appeared as a 12-issue maxi-series from Marvel back in 2001, and was published to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the FF’s first appearance in 1961. Conceived and plotted by Erik Larsen and Eric Stephenson, it’s a wholly charming and entirely convincing attempt to capture the look, feel and spirit of the original Kirby-Lee series. Which, considering that was the most significant series in the history of superhero comics, is no mean feat (that, by the way, is a fact, not an opinion: just like all philosophy is essentially an extended footnote to Plato, all superhero comics since 1961 are essentially an extended footnote to the Kirby-Lee FF).The story here takes place between issues 100 and 101 of the original series (the Kirby-Lee run ended with 102), and its recreation of the visual and verbal style – and the feel – of Marvel Comics in 1970 is quite remarkable. I was reading them at the time and trust me, you can’t see the join. It’s uncanny. To add to the fun, most of the other Marvel characters of the era put in appearances (the only notable absentees, apart from those whose adventures took place in the past or the future, are the Pyms, the Black Widow, the Black Knight, and Ka-Zar). Larsen and Stephenson get the details right, too. There’s Clint Barton as Goliath. Captain Marvel still has white hair. The Falcon’s in his original green duds. And Dr. Strange is in his short-lived superhero suit (technically, Doc was in temporary retirement at the time FF 101 was published, but I think that’s a forgivable oversight). There’s an even an incidental reference to “Chamber of Darkness”. Now THERE’S an Easter Egg for connoizers.The story, which is continuous though almost all the chapters are self-contained, concerns a scavenger hunt by Doc Doom in order to capture a set of super-technological doohickies with which he can seize the cosmic power of Galactus and, in the process, do away with the FF and anyone else who might oppose him. The two Erik/Erics were correct to opt for an FF story set in the latter days of the Lee-Kirby run. For all the greatness of the original run, it started to tail off from its peak by mid-1967 and the final few issues are notably uninspired (the last really good one is #94). This joyous tale gives it the big finish it never had. In fact, Kirby and Lee probably couldn’t have given it a finish quite like this. The plot is complex and draws quite deeply on continuity. A year or two later, the likes of Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart could have come up with something like this, but Jack was so spontaneously imaginative he wouldn’t have had the discipline to create and stick with such a tightly structured, carefully-paced story, while Stan, whose forte was dialogue and not plotting, wouldn’t have had the imagination.The really remarkable thing here is the verisimilitude to the original material. A big factor in this must be the fact that Larsen, one of (relatively) modern comics’ greatest Kirby acolytes, does the layouts for 9 of the 12 chapters, and the layouts for the other three are by Keith Giffen, one of his few peers in this regard. Other fine artists working in the Kirby tradition here include Bruce Timm, Ron Frenz, Tom Scioli and Steve Rude. There are some other, less obviously Kirby-based artists here, too, including big names like John Romita Sr and Rick Veitch. In fact, there are so many artists present, the visual consistency with the original material is quite something. It’s partly the layouts, of course, and it’s partly because everyone is trying really hard. One thing that makes a huge difference is the presence in all but one chapter of inker Joe Sinnott, who inked the majority of the original run. He inks a few pages in each issue, and his clean but dynamic work provides both class and a genuine connection with the original material, and sets the tone for all the other inkers.The scripting is also handled by various writers, including but not limited to Stephenson, Timm, Jeph Loeb and Kurt Busiek. They all do a fine job in capturing the Stan Lee voice. Stan himself scripts the final chapter. And whatever you think of Stan Lee – my own views are decidedly mixed – no-one can write a Stan Lee script quite like Stan Lee. Readers of a certain age are however warned the scripts contain things that give them the screaming abdabs, such as thought balloons and narrative captions (entirely acceptable parts of comics grammar which a couple of generations of fans object to because they don’t realise comics aren’t movies).I got a solid five stars of entertainment out of this book but I’ve rated it four overall. This is because much of its appeal to me is down to nostalgia, and how effectively the many creators worked together to make me feel like I was back in junior school. Readers who are in junior school now might also enjoy its energy, clarity and punchy narrative drive. It’s the people in the middle I’m not so sure about. So I’d say it’s a book which can be enjoyed by young and old, but anyone inbetween may struggle to see why the rest of us are having so, so, much fun.