Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The World's Greatest Comic Magazine... Most of the time., December 22, 2004
I have all of the first three "essential Fantastic Four" volumes, and I have no problem at all with saying that this one is my favorite. All the way through to the end of volume 2, the stories were okay, but basically blah as far as super-powered action goes, but almost immediately as soon as volume 3 starts, the intense stories begin. The thing is captured by the enemies of the Fantastic Four and brainwashed, quite convincingly, and since this ain't a mush mag, he doesn't just "break out" of the brainwashing.
The stories move on into the wedding of Reed and Sue that is interupted by just about everyone EXCEPT the Sub-mariner, who up to that point, one would expect to be the first one to object to such a union. This is a wedding unlike any other, full of cameos by every other major super-hero and super-hero team in the marvel universe up to that point.
This volume also contains two of my favorite of the early FF sagas; the time when Dr. Doom stole the powers of the Silver Surfer and the first coming of Galactus.
Although I tend to favor the latter over the former because of its larger cosmic physics and the fact that it implemented more (at the time) revolutionary sci-fi concepts, both have the charm of showcasing a superbeing who threatens the safety and/or freedom of the Earth's people, and who is WAY more powerful than the entire Fantastic Four combined. In both cases, a clever method was needed to pull off a victory, making them, in my mind, top-knotch tales.
But don't for a minute think that this particular fruit salad is without a single sour grape. The original introduction of the inhumans (which, for some reason, I have heard others refer to in a positive light) is also included, and although for the sake of completeness I wouldn't change that...
I mean... I LIKE the inhumans as characters, but their original introduction just stunk. When I first read it a long time ago, I forgave it because I thought I might have missed the issues where they EXPLAINED what was going on, but when I read this volume, I realized they really DIDN'T explain what was going on, which was a big disappointment to me.
My gripes include the fact that they wait quite some time before explaining Triton's powers, thus making him largely unlikable during the first couple sagas with him, the fact that no one ever learns why Medusa was working with the bad guys, no one ever learns the truth about Black Bolt losing his voice, they never quite straightened out who wanted who to go to the great refuge and Maximus just kinda came out of nowhere, as did virtually everything surrounding the character, including but not limited to his involvement in Black Bolt's "accident," the true nature of his powers and how he got hold of Black Bolt's crown in the first place. I'm like Reed Richards. I love knowing stuff. So naturally, I disliked the introduction of the inhumans.
But on the whole, this is a really cool volume containing some awesome stories and some sweet battles and of course, plenty of Ben & Johnny's killer arguments. Definitely worth the read.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jack Kirby at his best!, March 24, 2003
This is not only an excellent book, but it is also a classic study at how important an inker is on the penciller. Starting in issue 44, Joe Sinnott took over as inker of Jack Kirby's work and the result is startling. Sinnott dramatically improved the art and brought out the talent that Jack Kirby has.
The stores themselves and mixed, but the Galactus tale still holds well including the introduction of the Silver surfer. My personal favorite is the battle with Dr. Doom after he stole the Silver Surfer's powers. Doom pontificates in all his bravado and the FF finally realize (du) they are out of their league. If you've ever wanted to see why the silver age of comics was the silver age of comics, get this book!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The World's Greatest Comic Magazine lives up to the name, May 6, 2003
Here began the best years of The Fantastic Four. Writer Lee developed real (albeit sometimes hokey) characters (this is, after all, a comic book) who each spoke in a voice unique to them (often lines of dialogue were attributable even without the pictures), and artist Jack Kirby reached his creative Marvel peak. A must for any fan of the genre, but particularly for the FF afficianado.These stories teach two important lessons about the collaborative medium that is the comic book (particularly the dramatic/action/adventure/superhero book). The first is the importance of writing. Yes, you can tell a story with pictures alone, and Jack Kirby was better than almost anyone else at doing that. It was, after all, Kirby's talent in this regard (along with Steve Ditko's) that led to the development of what came to be known as "The Marvel Method", with artists drawing and often plotting before one line of description or dialogue was written). But just as the sound era made John Ford a better director (THE IRON HORSE is a very good silent picture; STAGECOACH-- made only a dozen years later-- is a great film), likewise Stan Lee's dialogue made Jack Kirby's great art into a great comic book. You only have to read much of Kirby's later work (especially for DC). While incredibly creative, imaginative, and powerful in its artistic vision, the dialogue (written by Kirby himself) is often stilted and, unless adopting an obvious accent, lacks specific characterization. The second lesson is finding the right inker. Joe Sinnott's inking of Kirby's FF pencils took everything to a higher level: a vast improvement over Vince Colletta's earlier FF efforts. Yet even this is situational. Colletta's inks of Kirby artwork on Thor was the perfect match of inker with penciller with subject, just as the Kirby-Sinnott collaboration was perfect for the FF (and just as Syd Shores' inks were perfect for Kirby's Captain America). Very few inkers are good for all artists on all titles (Frank Giacoa comes to mind as being able to do this, and maybe Tom Palmer, but not many others). And so in Volume III of THE ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR, "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" begins to live up to its billing. See for yourself.
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