Customer Reviews

44 Years of the Fantastic Four

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

44 YEARS OF FANTASTIC FOUR compresses decades of comic books (20,000 pages according to the box, and I'm not counting them to argue) onto one DVD-Rom.

In some ways, the collection is better than those bulky, expensive Marvel Masterworks editions because you get the original coloring, the occasional nicked cover or yellowed page, all the original ads, Bullpen Bulletins, and letters pages.

In short, even though readers view this collection on a computer screen, it's closer in many respects to the actual act of perusing a vintage issue of "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!" And the scans -- saved in two-page increments to better capture the occasional double-page layout -- look great!

And for the price of ONE Masterworks volume, you get an entire 44-year run!

They're all here: the classics, the long runs of solid stories, and the periodic dud. Readers can follow the team from its earliest days under Stan Lee and Jack Kirby when they stuck to the company's forte of giant monsters and aliens (hence, the Thing, the Mole Man and his band of underground misfits, and the Skrulls) through their grand experiments in the cosmic (Galactus, the Silver Surfer, Him, the Inhumans), a run of comics creativity that has seldom, if ever, been equalled.

Then follow the team through a darker period in the 70s when various creative teams floundered in the gigantic wake of Lee and Kirby's departure. Sure, there were some good stories (specifically, the Thomas/Wein/Wolfman era of scripting which included art by George Perez for too short a span), but there were a lot of dogs, too.

The book was reborn under John Byrne, who took over as writer and artist in the early 80s and restored the team to its glory days with the returns of Doctor Doom (the ultimate FF baddie), Galactus, and a healthy mix of the cosmic and day-to-day adventures.

Once you've finished those stories, you still have 15 MORE years of continuity on hand. Really, it's quite an imposing database of adventures, including all the specials and annuals, too. If, like me, you've read many of these before, you'll still find the occasional surprise or story you've forgotten. (For me, so far, it was finding an FF annual completely illustrated by the great Steve Ditko!)

I'm dropping one star, not for the collection itself, but for the lack of simple documentation to make the first-time user's experience with Acrobat Reader more enjoyable. In some ways, I prefer the CDisplay program for reading comics on a computer, as it is more intuitive and novice-reader friendly than Adobe.

However, a one-sheet page of instructions about issues specific to reading comics with Adobe would have shaved an hour's worth of frustration from my initial experience. For example, checking "use single-key accelerators to access tools" under the "General" section of "Preferences" (accessible through CTL+K) allows readers to use keyboard shortcuts while reading full screen.

And you'll want to read these full screen, instead of peeking at them through the Reader window. To access full-screen capabilities, use CTL+L. Once you've done that, increase the size of the page to a comfortable level by holding down CTL + SPACE BAR while clicking with the mouse. Then, you can easily scroll up or down each two-page scan. With a little practice, you'll soon be reading comics on the computer as easily as you read an actual comic book. But better instructions would have improved the process considerably.

A great collection, and a novel way to store thousands upon thousands of books and access them easily. Recommended!

This DVD collects all FF issues including annuals. The company has scanned in all the pages (including ads, Bullpen page, letter pages, and back cover) from actual issues. A few of the pages are scanned in slightly crooked, but this could also be the printing on the originals.

I thought it might be difficult reading the comics on a computer screen, but after a few pages I liked turning a page with the push of a button. If you have a bright monitor or laptop, the colors should look nice.

Make sure that you upgrade to Acrobat Reader 6 (included on the disk) so that the Marvel watermarks don't show on your screen. If you try to print a page the watermarks will (I believe) appear.

Overall, a wonderful addition for those who have the original issues (as I do) but can't read them because of their value, for those who don't want to buy a bunch of the Masterworks titles, for those who want to see the comics with the original colors and printing quality, and for those who want to read all the issues in color. The cost of the total collection may seem high, but think about buying over 550 comics. That's less than a dime an issue--more than I paid years ago!

As Marvel does more of these, they may "crash" the back issue market. People who have the comics may decide to buy these DVDs and sell their back issues.

Highly recommended.

I'm not really going to review this product, I'm only going to tell you that there is an updated collection coming. Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer - The Complete Comic Edition It has everything this collection has, but continues through Dec. 2006, with a total of "over 575 issues" of Fantastic Four. It also includes 185 Silver Surfer issues (Aug. 1968 through Dec. 2004).

From what I've counted, the Fantastic Four from Nov. 1961 through Dec. 2006 and all annuals comes to around 569 issues. You'll notice there are at least 6 unknown comics if I've counted correctly. I hope the Giant-Size comics are included this time.

Having bought this version almost a year ago, I will buy the new version, but I thought it only fair to let everyone else know.

This is truly the killer application for comic book collectors. You get the comic's whole run from its auspicious origins in 1961 to its current incarnation at the end of 2004, in a tiny DVD that you can carry anywhere. The thrill of reading classical issues in all their colored glory is not to be missed, particularly for those not reprinted so far. I especially enjoyed the Impossible Man and Molecule Man origin stories. Seeing how particular adventures ended is also great fun, since I owned some comics from the generally undistinguished 1980s, but didn't know how things turned out. Being able to read the entire John Byrne run of the mid-eighties was spectacular. It's even better than his work at the X-Men, and almost as cool as the Lee-Kirby years. This is so much better than the Essentials, since it's in color and so much cheaper, plus it includes the original ads and letter pages. It also beats the Masterworks series not only on account of price, but also because it has the original colors. It's as good as owning the complete collection, but it will take up less space and hence will generate less nagging from mothers or wives. This is a must have item, with perhaps the best price/quality ratio I have ever seen. Can it be improved? Sure. Why not take advantage of the possibilities of computers and create an index of all characters that would allow the reader to see all appearances of a character over the years? Why not create an index of writers and artists, so that one may quickly get a view of their work? Cross-referencing is the next step the good people at Marvel must be working on. But there's no reason to wait for that. Even as it is, this DVD is not just good enough. It is great, like the Fantastic Four themselves.

I think this is the greatest thing to happen to comic fans in a long time. What you get here are issues 1-519 of comicdom's first family, the Fantastic Four. It's all here folks, and for the price, it's a flat out steal. The Lee-Kirby run (1-102) alone makes it worth the price of admission, but throw in 519 issues, plus annuals and you've got yourself a deal.

The only thing about this set I don't enjoy is that I have to be on my computer to read it, but that's a small price to pay for this greatness. The product itself is very good, with high-quality scans of the comics in full color. It's a single disc with nothing to install (provided you have the latest version of Adobe). When you look at the prices of the Marvel Masterworks, or even the black and white Essentials which only collect a few issues of the title, compared to what you get for the price with this, it should be an easy choice. Overall this is great for first time readers or collectors who wish to supplement their collections. I highly recommend this product

In this one you get to see each issue with all the ads and editorial comments and letters pages. I have gotten all the way up to 1972 and try to read at least 6 issues a night. At this rate I'll be done be done in a few months. It's great to see all the annuals in this one. I hope that marvel makes a portable comic viewer for this someday. This is a landmark in comic book products and I'd I'd like to see all the other characters on this format!

In this age of electronics, this is a nice alternative to have readable copies of these stories. I got into the FF back in the 70's and stuck with the title for a run between issues 200 and 300. Still, the earlier tales are classics. Being able to see these books again, in their entirity (ads, letter columns and all) is great. Even the b/w versions in the Essentials volumes don't match up to this - plus you get a full run for the cost of three Essentials that only take you up to the mid 60's number-wise. Unlike the Spider-Man set from a few years ago, this one is on a single DVD-ROM (one disk vs. 11 CDs for Spidey) and it takes up little space on the shelf. That's a plus!

OK, so I got some old comics but I never found number 79.
I always wondered what happened in that one.
I read 78 and 80 many years ago, but there was always holes in the story.
Now I can find out exactly what happened without paying a small forture for a collectors item.
I will never be able to afford all the different comics and bound reprint collections to own all of the "FF."
Now for a relatively small amount of money, compared to the cost of every comic at it's original cover price,
I own every individual comic and then some. Wow, unique.
This is kind of different. It works as promised, so I can read any story I want.
A story I own that is packed away in one of several boxes from my youth,
or a new one that came out when comics were the last thing on my mind.
I won't buy many of these collections. But having one presents the possibility
to go through one title and see its history. Few people had this option until this product came out.
Give it try. See what you think. It will take a lot longer to go through than a TV series that costs the same.

This set (and the already-released X-Men and Avengers sets) are hopefully the start of something big in comic collecting. I'd love to see this done by DC and other publishers, and definitely want more of these from Marvel (upcoming sets include Amazing Spider-Man, Mad Magazine, and Ultimate X-Men, and sets for the Hulk, Daredevil, and Captain America were hinted at as well). This is a great way to get an entire run on a comic book title (including ads, letter pages, etc.) without tracking down and paying a fortune for the original back issues.

I did drop a star since it doesn't include books that crossed over into the title (not a problem with me, but I'm sure other people might have issues with it). But otherwise, this set is fantastic (no pun intended).

It's so great to have these all in one place. The quality of the scans is amazing, you can fill your screen with a panel & not lose any quality of resolution. My only complaint is with the way the 2 page layout works with Adobe Acrobat format. It's not really made for reading facing pages. If Marvel had them as single pages, it'd be a lot less klunky. All in all, a great product. My son and I are having a great time reading them together, from start to finish (the Spiderman set, too). I recommend it highly.