Product Description: They were visionaries. Explorers. Imaginauts. They were Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. And like their creations - the Fantastic Four - they continually strove to overcome the impossible and achieve the extraordinary. Now, the first three years of their landmark run on Fantastic Four - issues #1-30 and Annual #1 - are collected in one oversized volume.
Fantastic Four Omnibus In the fall of 1961, Jacob Kurtzberg of New York City's Hell's Kitchen York teamed with fellow Manhattanite Stanley Lieberman to put some pizzazz in Martin Goodman's monster comic book line, and came up with a quartet of off-beat heroes who would launch the Marvel Age of Comics. Today it's hard to say who is more famous, the creators or their creations.
Better known as Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, these two men largely were the House of Ideas, and nowhere did they demonstrate it better than in the pages of The Fantastic Four. Collected here are the first thirty seminal issues and the first summer annual, complete with pinups and letters columns and even in-house ads and special features, but all on much better paper and with more vibrant colors than the original stories.
Whether you're an aging Baby-Boomer whose mother threw out the dog-eared copies you used to keep under your bed, or a neophyte who never heard of Dr. Doom until the first Fantastic Four movie, this is a wonderful book that will remind (or show) you why The Fantastic Four deserved the title of "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine."
Great stories but.... I think these are the finest comic books ever produced but I took off one star for the format. It's just too big and unwieldy when trying to read. You can only read it comfortably by setting it down on a table. The Marvel Masterworks format is much better. They only need to add the letters pages and the few little special features (There are only about 5 pages of unused artwork at the back of the book) and the Omnibus becomes unnecessary.
the BEST way to read the F.F. early issues an earlier reviewer mentioned that it's better/easier to read these issues through the DVD-Rom and I would disagree with that because it's never as comfortable to go scrolling up and down each page of a book like this when you can have each issue reproduced in mint condition and read them all at your liesure in a comfy chair or in bed and appreciate the early brilliance of Lee/Kirby. It simply does NOT get better than this. Cannot recommend it highly enough. My question is when does the next TWO F.F. Omnibuses come out? We desperately need F.F. #31 thru 65 and then #66 thru 100 to wrap up the entirety of the Lee/Kirby run. Marvel, HURRY!
The start of the Marvel age of comics Really what can one say about Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's Fantastic Four. Its a groundbreaking concept that you as the reader get to watch mature in 30 + issues in one book and in color. Its different than other super hero books as these members have great emotional reactions between both the evil foes and themselves. Its a Super hero comic soap opera as every issue became a cliff hanger. Jack Kirby makes this book live with his dynamic art. Stan's no slouch with stories either. Its a decent price to pay and is put together well. Many Marvel books have gutter problems, this one doesn't. Do yourself a favor and either re-live these books or start with some timeless super hero stories, its a winner !
An excellent volume This includes the first 30 issues of FF plus the first annual. The book itself is hardcover, high quality glossy pages with each issue in the order it was released. The book is over 800 pages and each page is comic book size. Each issue is reprinted with the cover page and the letters page. At the back there are some alternate covers for certain of the issues, an original plot outline for the first story, as well as essays from Lee, Thomas and others.
For me, I prefer this to the dvd alternative, but that comes down to your own personal preference of reading pages or a screen, plus space to keep books as well as cost. I would love to see the entire series out in this format, even if it would run around 15 volumes. Hopefully, Marvel will at least issue a few more volumes, though.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
