Beginnings of The Fantastic Four & The Marvel Age…

The Fantastic Four-  “That name captures the prominence of the team in canon, as celebrity superhumans and scientific patrons who provide leadership to governments and other superheroes alike. But it’s also true of their importance to comics history. Fantastic Four was the first superhero comic to begin developing long-term stories for its heroes and villains across multiple issues. This continuity would grow to encompass the entire Marvel Universe, making the Four the literal “first family” of Marvel!  Their debut, Fantastic Four #1, was the first issue to utilize the creative process between writer and artist which became the famed “Marvel Method”. It would soon catapult Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to icon status and become standard across the industry.  But more than that, it was the first time a superhero comic was written with a more adult audience in mind. It was the shocking success of Fantastic Four #1 among college students that convinced the major publishers to revitalize superhero comics after 20 years in the doldrums and showed comics creators the way forward. It is no exaggeration to say that without the publication of Fantastic Four #1, superheroes would not hold their current significant place in the cultural zeitgeist. It is Marvel’s First Family, and this era-defining first issue, which made the last 60 years of mythmaking, movies and merchandise possible.” -Mythic Markets   

I'll try not to bore you all with too much more info on the team members themselves, but this was the first flawed superhero team of sorts. The team concept and origin derives from an earlier creation by Kirby named the Challengers of The Unknown in the 1950's by DC. A similar origin story to the two teams is shared, one a plane crash, the other a rocket crash, and then dedicating their lives to doing good. The headquarters looks the same, even the story themes and main enemy being a sorcerer are closely linked between the two. 

We won't go any further speaking of the Challengers of the Unknown, but we do want to show the relevance of Kirby's involvement of the Fantastic Four, in case anyone was wondering if Stan Lee came up with the characters, concepts etc. It was only until last year in which Marvel added Jack Kirby as not only the co-creator artist behind The Fantastic Four, but also the co-writer, which is huge. What we've learned in the last decade or so is that Kirby was much more than an artist, but one of the best storytellers of our time. Now back to the Fantastic Four and the team...

This was a team we could all relate to, which bode well for kids, teens and adults alike. We had The Thing, which from the outside is a gruesome individual, but a softy with a heart and a sense of humor on the inside. You had Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl, who was the “it” girl, appealing to mom’s and young women of the era with the newest hairdo and married to the smartest man in the world Mr. Reed Richards, a scientist who can also stretch like no other! And last but not least, the Golden Age hero, returned to the Silver Age, teenage heartthrob Johnny Storm, blond haired blue eyed who could “flame on” into the Human Torch! A different kind of hero team, but we’ll of course be centering in on The Thing since our subject art features him. 

Stan Lee wrote to a fan after the release of issue #1 that same month in August explaining to stay tuned for Fantastic Four future issues and that there will be suits among other characters and so on. Seeing this fan letter response from Lee we know the plot and art was drawn earlier. This also goes in line with our subject art Comics Code Authority stamp on the back of late September 1961. After Kirby penciled the page, presumably in Summer of '61, it would be sent to dialogue, lettered and inked before it was sent to Comic Code Authority for approval. 

According to Grand Comics Database “GCD”, the “on sale” date for issue #3 was 12/12/1961, cover date of March 1962. In comparison, issues #1 cover date of November ‘61 had an “on sale” date of 8/8/1961, and issue #2 cover date of January ‘62 had an “on sale” date of 9/28/1962. It’s interesting issues #1 and #2 had roughly a month and a half difference hitting the newsstands, but issue #3 was nearly 2 1/2 month release after #2. If we had to guess based on the information above, seeing issue #3 had a CCA date stamp of 9/61, we could conclude the following; If issue #3 is 3 months apart from the art board completion and the “on sale” date, #1 date stamp would be late April, early May ‘61 with an “on sale” date of 8/8/1961 and #2 being completed in late June or early July ‘61 being “on sale” 9/28/61. 

Though we can’t see the art from issues #1 and #2, we can still take a lot from issue #3. Going back to “March” being crossed out on the header and replaced with November, It begs to question when the Miracle Man stories plot and art was completed or what it was originally slated for? Was this story and the teams suits and headquarters originally going to be introduced in issue #2? It's of course hard to say, but as we’ve discussed with other character development  in this era, the initial plot would run at least the first 3-4 issues, which would make sense to have their suits, car and headquarters all debuting in a later issue if they’re “mapping out” key elements. Not to mention Submariner returning from the Golden Age in issue 4 to attempt to boost sales. We can conclude based on the letter to a fan during the release of Fantastic Four #1 in August and Lee mentioning what's to come in issue #3 and #4 to follow, Kirby's layouts and art board was completed shortly after or around the same time as issue #1.

Furthermore, knowing how Kirby worked at this time, he more than likely plotted and did layouts for the first 3-4 stories right away. Meaning issue #1, the teams origin to at least this issue #3 where suits were given and the headquarters was established, it would make sense for Kirby to have penciled, or at least layed out all fairly close in time. This is also why we see Lee attempting to make changes to the art before being lettered and inked. Furthermore, Lee spent more time micromanaging this issue's art over any other since the success of this title was crucial for the overall brand of Marvel being its flagship title early on.