The Fantastic Four

A little difficult to sum up the Fantastic Four in any one volume, so, here, a reprint from Simon and Schuster from 1979, with a cover by Bob Larkin, and some extra interior words by Stan Lee, featuring stories from Fantastic Four #4 (cover by Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky) with Sub-Mariner, #48-50 (covers by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott) with Silver Surfer and Galactus, and #86 (cover only) and #87 (covers by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott) featuring Doctor Doom.

Fantastic Four #4 and #48 (May, 1962 and March, 1966)

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Fantastic Four #49 and #50 (April and May, 1966)

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Fantastic Four #86 and #87 (May and June, 1969)

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Perez Marvel Holiday Special

George Perez has contributed a lot of art to Marvel over the decades, but he hasn't done too many Christmas based drawings....at least until the Marvel Holiday Special of 1994.

Made that much more special, as it also has a rare drawing of Spider-Man, and even X-Men Iceman and Wolverine (though George did draw a lot of the Beast when he was an Avenger).

Sad that he didn't doing anything inside, but the stories are: Beast/Iceman by Kurt Busiek, James Fry and Neil Vokes; Captain America by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake; the Thing by Gregory Wright and Mike Manley; Silver Surfer by J. M. DeMatteis, Mindy Newell, Rick Leonardi and Al Williamson; Spider-Man by Karl Bollers and Gray Morrow and the X-Men featuring Wolverine by Karl Bollers and Sal Buscema as the Marvel heroes get ready for Christmas.

 

Marvel Comics Index Avengers And Fantastic Four

Continuing a look back at how readers tracked comics back before digital downloads and the internet, with two more issues of George Olshevsky's Marvel Comics Index.

This time around, focusing on the teams of the Marvel Universe, specifically the Avengers and the Fantastic Four!

The Avengers, Defenders and Captain Marvel

There was a time heroes in the Marvel Universe worked alone, at least until the threat of Loki, with plans to use the Hulk against his brother, Thor, united Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp with those two other heroes to form....the Avengers, as happened in their first issue in Avengers #1 (September, 1963, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby).

The third volume of the Marvel Comics Index series, The Avengers, Defenders and Captain Marvel, was dated August, 1976, so it was a little later than originally planned, but it had lots of information within it, all under a front cover by Neal Adams, and special back cover by Franc Reyes!

This issue covers a bit of the history of teams in the Marvel Universe, from the All-Winners Squad of the Golden Age to the recent teams of the Invaders (though set before the All-Winners, as they were a post-WWII group) and the Champions (the more recent to be covered in later issues of the Indexes).  This issue even gives a list of the members and brief histories of them (for any that won't have Indexes of their own, based on a format by Murray Ward).

The issues covered here are:

Black Knight #1-5 (May 1955 to April 1956)
(Though the Index makes a great deal about only covering post Fantastic Four #1 events, it does cover these 5 issues, about Sir Percy, the ancestor of the Black Knight who was a member of the Masters Of Evil, as well as Dane Whitman, who was an would become and Avenger, their relationship covered in Marvel Super-Heroes #17).

Avengers #1-151 (September 1963 to September 1976)
(The original Avengers formed in Avengers #1, but the Hulk teamed up with the Sub-Mariner, and left the group in Avengers #3, with Sub-Mariner leading to the discovery of Captain America from WWII in Avengers #4, who would change the Avengers forever, leading them against foes like Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil, Kang and Wonder Man.

All the remaining original Avengers got a little too busy to stay with the group, so Captain America had to assemble new members, which included Iron Man foe Hawkeye, and ex-Brotherhood Of Evil X-Men villains Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, all starting in Avengers #16.  Giant-Man and the Wasp returned (with he taking the name of Goliath), facing foes like the Swordsman, Living Laser, the Red Guardian and the Grim Reaper, while Hercules joined the team (and Black Widow hung around as well).

The team met the current Black Knight, added Black Panther as a member, then the Vision, while fighting Ultron and a new Masters of Evil, with Goliath becoming Yellowjacket, and Hawkeye becoming Goliath., and then fighting the Squadron Sinister, then their alternate counterparts, the Squadron Supreme, then the Kree-Skrull War with the Kree Captain Marvel.

Hawkeye and Ant-Man took their original identities back, Black Widow briefly joined, Swordsman rejoined with new member Mantis, the team fought the Defenders, Thanos, the Legion of the Unliving, learned more of the Vision and Ultron, fought the Squadron Supreme again, and the X-Men's Beast joined, with new heroes Moondragon and Hellcat leaving for a while in Avengers #150).

Avengers Annual #1-5 (Sep 1967 to January 1972)

(The first couple of Avengers Annuals had new stories tied into the regular issues of the time, but the last three annuals had reprints of important tales in Avengers history).

Giant-Size Avengers #1-5 (August 1974 to 1975)
(Larger issues like annuals, focused on the Vision and Scarlet Witch, as well as Mantis for the first four issues, with Kang, as well as having reprints, and the fifth was all reprint).

Captain Marvel #1-46 (May 1968 to September 1976)
(The alien Kree were introduced in Fantastic Four, but they sent one of their own, Captain Mar-Vell, to Earth, and he faced the Sentry #459 and established a secret identity for himself and met Carol Danvers in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 and #13.  Those were to be indexed later, this covers his early battles....

...then his change into a new costume, and getting bonded with Hulk and Captain America friend, Rick Jones, with the two of them facing Thanos, the Controller, the Super-Skrull and so much more after over their run of issues, with Captain Marvel becoming a universal protector and facing Nitro, even if they had a break in their run a few times).

Giant-Size Captain Marvel #1 (1975)
(Published towards the later issues of the run, this reprinted Captain Marvel's encounters with Captain America and the Hulk, though the Hulk issues had pages edited out for space!)

Weird Wonder Tales #7 (December 1974)
(An odd issue of 1950s and 1960 reprints, featuring Dr. Arthur Nagan, Jerold Morgan and Chondu the Mystic, who would come together to menace the villains turned heroes of the Defenders!)



Defenders #1-39 (August 1972 to September 1976)

(The Avengers were the cause of the Defenders, as sometimes menaces to mankind, Hulk and Sub-Mariner had teamed up before....and, after one brief gathering in two issues of Sub-Mariner with Silver Surfer, it was Hulk, Sub-Mariner and Dr. Strange who came together to fight Yandroth in Marvel Feature #1 that formed the Defenders.  The trio worked together again, fighting Dormammu in issue #2, and Xemnu the Titan in #3, before this non-team finally had regular meetings starting in Defenders #1 (August, 1972), with Silver Surfer joining the team in Defenders #2.

The non-team continued to add members who had been villains, with the addition of the Valkyrie in Defenders #4 and Nighthawk of the Squadron Sinister in Defenders #14, as well as having Hawkeye hang around for a bit as Loki and Dormammu battled, igniting the Avengers/Defenders War between their two titles.

As menaces grew, like the Sons of the Serpent, Nebulon and the grouping of the Headmen, the team gained temporary allies like Luke Cage, Daredevil, Yellowjacket, the Son of Satan, traveled to the future of the Guardians of the Galaxy and even a female version of a Black Widow foe, the Red Guardian).

Giant-Size Defenders #1-5 (July 1974 to July 1975)
(The Defenders even joined the Giant-Size craze of the 1970s, with five issues, half new stories and half reprints of individual stories of each Defender, all tied in to the current events in issues of Defenders).






This team book also had lists of every member who joined each team, as well as a little history on each team member that was not due to receive their own Marvel Comics Index, a break down of team membership issue by issue, some corrections of mistakes of previous issues, explanations of why the book was late, and an outline of future volumes of the series.




The Fantastic Four And The Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four #1 (November, 1961) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby started the current Marvel Universe, as well as introducing Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch and the Thing, as these four people came together after a mishap involving cosmic rays grounded their spaceflight and gave them super powers.  So, it would make sense that the fourth Marvel Comics Index of July, 1977 would cover this team, all under a stunner of a cover by Jim Steranko, that also featured the Silver Surfer.

The Fantastic Four fought many monsters (of the type faced in many old Timely books like Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales and Tales To Astonish) that were on Mole Man's island, as well as invading aliens like the Skrulls in their second issue, and all these and so much more would become the basis for what followed.


The issues covered here are:

Marvel Boy #1-2 (December 1950 to February 1951)
(Still, a look back at features before the FF, with Marvel Boy, Timely's second character of that name, who fought alien menaces with technology from Uranus).

Astonishing Tales #3-6 (April 1951 to October 1951)
(Marvel Boy's tales continued with a title change to Astonishing Tales before his feature ended, though Marvel Boy did grow up and get revived in issues of Fantastic Four....kind of, as the Crusader).

Fantastic Four #1-180 (November 1961 to March 1977)

(The Fantastic Four kicked into high gear when they got their own headquarters and uniforms, and started facing Doctor Doom on a regular basis, while meeting with other members added to this new Marvel Universe, and expanding on the ideas they had already introduced.

The Fantastic Four continued to add enemies and friends around their Baxter Building confines, such as Molecule Man, Diablo, the Frightful Four, the Inhumans and the Black Panther over the years, as their family grew in size as well (and their new friends had foes of their own as well).

The Fantastic Four also had a few epic tales involving the Silver Surfer, the herald of Galactus, and his battles trapped on Earth, facing Doctor Doom, who wanted his power cosmic for himself, and how the Fantastic Four helped the Silver Surfer for a time as well.

Still, the Fantastic Four added a member for a while, the Inhuman, Crystal, with her elemental powers, but even then, her time with the team would come to an end, as did Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run on the title.  New members like Medusa and Luke Cage would join for a bit, and the Fantastic Four would continue!).

Fantastic Four Annual #1-11 (1963 to 1976)
(Bigger than usual events, with in depth stories on Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom, the wedding of Reed and Sue, the meeting of the original Human Torch and the current one of Johnny Storm, the teaming of the Inhumans and the Black Panther against the Psycho-Man, and the birth of Sue's baby as the team faced Annihilus....led the first six FF Annuals.

Then, they were reprint books including issues of the annuals above, until the most recent covered in the index, with the Fantastic Four meeting the World War II based Invaders!).

Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 (May 1974)
(This stand alone issue featured a Thing/Hulk battle, long a staple of the Fantastic Four since Hulk first met the team back when he had his original title. 

The title of this book changed with its second issue).

Giant-Size Fantastic Four #2-6 (August 1974 to October 1975)
(Taking over from the previous title, the book had new tales with reprints in back, including the introduction of the mutant Madrox the Multiple Man, then started reprints Fantastic Four Annuals to fill its pages.).

Human Torch #1-8 (September 1974 to November 1975)
(Wonderful reprints of the solo strange tales of the Fantastic Four's Human Torch, including the introduction of the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete, along with a few pre-FF reprints of the original android Human Torch of the 1940s and 1950s).

Silver Surfer #1-18 (August 1968 to September 1970)
(Starting off with a flashback tale of how Norrin Radd of Zenn-La gave up his life and love, Shalla Bal, to save his world from the hunger of Galactus, the saga of the Silver Surfer on Earth would unfold.

Running afoul of the underworld Mephisto, Silver Surfer lived a tortured life on Earth, trying to escape the barrier which trapped him on this world, forever apart from his love, thought to be a menace to all by the end of this run of stories (which led him to work with the Hulk and Sub-Mariner, and later to be a Defender).

The index also has its usual updates from previous issues like the Conan index, cross index of writers and artists, as well as character cross index as well as a list of future issues, which would include focuses on original Avengers Thor, Hulk and Iron Man, and more!

Darkseid Meets Marvel

Jack Kirby created some of the most important concepts for Marvel Comics, such as the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and the X-Men, along with their friends and foes. 

"The King" also created Darkseid, one of the vilest villains of the DC Universe, the ruler of the planet of Apokolips, the evil side of the New Gods.

Seems like those heroes should protect us from that fearsome foe, but they weren't in the same universes....

...or, were they?

Two special comics show they could reach each other....

Marvel and DC Present #1

In Marvel and DC Present Featuring The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans #1  (1982), the two teams of heroes seem to exist on the same world, and face the menace of Darkseid as he tries to revive the power of the Dark Phoenix in "Apokolips...Now" by Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson and Terry Austin.

Darkseid plans to breach the Source Wall and to do that, tries to collect the memories of the Dark Phoenix from the X-Men, but while doing that, it also alerts the Titans' psychic, Raven, to have visions of a fiery bird, which her alien team mate of Starfire recognizes as the Dark Phoenix.  Deathstroke the Terminator is there to prevent trouble in case the X-Men retaliate, and has a battle with Wolverine (at the time, two of the greatest fighters of their respective universes, but in one universe here).  Professor X even makes use of Metron's Mobius Chair, and after the Dark Phoenix is  revived, the two teams work together (called collectively the X-Titans, showing a little favoritism to the Marvel heroes, as their regular writer did script this tale) to stop Darkseid's plan.

An ambitious story, made all the more enjoyable that it was all done in one issue, as were most of the team-ups between DC and Marvel characters in the day, such as the two Superman/Spider-Man tales and one Batman/Hulk tale, but this tale also signaled the end of the company crossovers for a time. 

Darkseid Vs. Galactus: The Hunger

Many years later, Darkseid faced off against the world-eater of Galactus in Darkseid Vs. Galactus: The Hunger (1995) by John Byrne, as DC and Marvel brought back their intercompany team-ups.

Here most of the battles are between the subordinates of the main villains, as Galactus plans to eat Apokolips, with Silver Surfer facing off against Darkseid's Para-Demons, as well as the New Genesis warrior of Orion, as well as covering the origins of Galactus, the Silver Surfer and the founding of the two worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips.  Galactus does indeed finally land on Apokolips, only to find the planet devoid of life, and thus useless to the eater of worlds, though Darkseid fought tooth and nail to keep this worthless garden, simply because it was his.

The Big Two Crossovers 

Darkseid had a small role in the DC Vs. Marvel mini-series of 1996, where he confronted the evil Thanos (worshiper of Death), and likely the result of that battle was shown in JLA Vs. Avengers (2003 and 2004), where Darkseid showed off a new accessory a bejeweled glove (the Infinity Gauntlet), which, the Lord of Apokolips was unable to use (likely due to the fact that its infinite power was only that in the Marvel Universe, not in the DC Universe).

Jack Kirby 100 Amazing Heroes

As what would be Jack Kirby's 100th birthday approaches, a quick look back at Amazing Heroes #100, from August 1, 1986, featuring a cover drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by Steve Rude.

Kirby, surrounded by the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion in the inset, and an action shot below, with Captain Victory, the Fantastic Four (Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, Thing and the Human Torch), Thor, Darkseid, Mr. Miracle, Captain America and Bucky and the Silver Surfer....some of the King's best known creations at the time.

Included in the issue: A few comic creators thoughts/pictures on Jack Kirby (including Scott Shaw! and Michael T. Gilbert), Greg Potter going through Jack Kirby's comic career, Mark Evanier interviewing Jack and Roz Kirby, Richard Howell looking at 10 Jack Kirby stories, Greg Theakston looking at Kirby's art and R. A. Jones giving his overview of Jack Kirby's work.

Worth looking at, as it gives an overview of the King's work, while he was still producing more, and has the benefit of he and his wife commenting on it.

Also worth mentioning, Amazing Heroes #47 from May 15, 1984, that has Amazing Heroes' only other Kirby cover....with a focus on Jack Kirby's return to DC (and the New Gods) in the 1980s.  Ironic....that as the New Gods returned, so was Star Wars (see the upper left-hand corner)....

....and may "the Source" be with you if you know of the similarities between Star Wars and the New Gods (ultimate evil leader of the bad guys, who regularly tortures and kills his followers, secretly being the father of the most notable fighter on the good guys' side, a mystical power that surrounds us all and the most adept can use, including the old man who trains the secret son....).

Superman's Marvelous Team-Ups!

Superman has made quite a splash in the movies lately, working with Batman and Wonder Woman....

...but, being a great guy, Superman also worked with various Marvel heroes back in the day.

Here's a look at a few of those intercompany crossovers between DC Comics and Marvel!

One With Four

First up, is the tale from  Superman / Fantastic Four #1 from April of 1999 by writer/artist Dan Jurgens and inker Art Thibert with "The Infinite Destruction".

A meeting of the first super-hero and the first family of comics should be large....and this one was indeed, with a throwback to tabloid size no less.  It also started with a large concept....what if Galactus caused the destruction of Krypton?  No Elseworlds here, as Superman found an old computer message from Jor-El stating so, but it did send Superman in search of the world-eater, even resulting him Superman becoming a herald of Galactus, no less, and giving the Fantastic Four and the Cyborg Superman (himself with origins tied to the Fantastic Four) a bit to content with.  A bit odd, as it was hard to match Superman with all four members (the Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch and the Invisible Girl) of the team, but still a galaxy full of fun reading.

Gamma Back In Time

Next, going back to a simpler time for both members of the team-up, is writer Roger Stern, penciller Steve Rude and inker Al Milgrom for July of 1999's Incredible Hulk vs. Superman #1 and "Double Lives".

This was a story told in flashback, with Superman thinking back to the early days of his (and Hulk's) career....with Lex Luthor being contracted to build a Gamma Ray device by  General Thunderbolt Ross of the U.S. Army to stop the Hulk (though Clark Kent knows he'll use Bruce Banner's device to stop Superman).  Cooler still was a little encounter between Rick Jones and Lois Lane....  A tale that looks back at a simpler time in comics, sadly in a more regular sized comic instead of a larger one, but still it has a good time showing readers a different view on super-hero intercompany crossovers, and should leave most readers satisfied as well.

Surfing The Crossover

It's a battle in space and across dimensions with "Pop" for Silver Surfer/Superman #1 (November, 1996) by writer George Perez, penciller Ron Lim and inker Terry Austin.

The story says it's a team-up of Superman and the Silver Surfer, but the best part of the issue is that it is a battle of Fantastic Four foe, the Impossible Man, and Superman's 5th dimensional menace, Mr. Mxyzptlk.  The two cause quite a bit of trouble by switching the heroes in time and space, and this is truly a chance to sit back and enjoy the shenanigans that these two tricksters get up to.  Odder still is how easily Superman fits in the world of the Fantastic Four, as both Silver Surfer and Impossible Man both got their start in Marvel's first family title....

Twice With Webs

Spider-Man met with Superman twice, first in Marvel Treasury Edition #28 (July, 1981) by writer Jim Shooter (with plot suggestions by Marv Wolfman), pencils by John Buscema, and inks by Joe Sinnott (for the characters) and Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, Steve Leialoha, Walt Simonson, Bob Layton, Brett Breeding, Joe Rubenstein and Bob Wiacek for the backgrounds, and a front cover by John Romita and Bob Larkin with "The Heroes And The Holocaust".

Quite the collection of the Marvel Bullpen here....though quite a few of these folks would go on to have success at DC Comics as well!

This was the second team-up of Superman and Spider-Man, this time around facing off against Superman foe, the power-draining Parasite, and sometime Spidey foe but better known for facing the Fantastic Four, Latverian monarch, Dr. Doom.  Better still, this tale also included a few other characters from Marvel and DC Comics, giving us the treat of seeing Superman face the Hulk for the first time, as well as seeing your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man encounter Wonder Woman....

....and you can see that on the back cover by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott.  A little leaning towards Marvel with this team-up (as Parasite was more of a stooge, manipulated by Dr. Doom), but seeing DC heroes dealing with these problems still made for a great read.

The start of it all, the tabloid sized Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1 of 1976 with "The Battle Of The Century!" by writer Gerry Conway, penciller Ross Andru and inker Dick Giordano (with Neal Adams touching up some Superman images, John Romita Sr. doing the same for Peter Parker, and Terry Austin inking the backgrounds...with Carmine Infantino doing a rough design on the cover, and it being finished by Ross Andru, and inked by Dick Giordano and Superman being touched up by Neal Adams, and Terry Austin inking the backgrounds as well).

With all that, you'd think the book would be nothing but credits....but, there was a story there as well.

Superman puts Lex Luthor in prison, while Spider-Man does the same with his foe, Doctor Octopus...just so happens, it is the same prison and the two escape together, and end up working together, just as WGBS/Daily Planet and the Daily Bugle are working together (which results in Clark Kent meeting Peter Parker, as well as Morgan Edge and J. Jonah Jameson), as well as putting both Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson together....to be kidnapped by what looks to be Superman.  It was really Luthor in disguise, but that brings out the real Superman, as well as Spider-Man, and after a brief brawl (where Luthor helps Spider-Man with a dose of red sun radiation to make him closer a match for the man of steel....), the two heroes realize who the real villains are, and team-up to take them down (and save their ladies) at the orbiting HQ of the Injustice Gang.  All in all, exactly how a big team-up should go down, all the way through to the back cover by Ross Andru (with Neal Adams redrawing Superman), and inked by Dick Giordano.

Best of all, these stories were all reprinted in 4 volumes of DC/Marvel Crossover Classics from 1991 to 2003, along with a few other crossover tales as well. 

Most of those stories involve Batman meeting various Marvel heroes, like Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Punisher, Captain America and the Hulk, but there are a few more, with Green Lantern meeting Silver Surfer, Darkseid meeting Galactus, and even the New Teen Titans working with the X-Men.

More details on Batman's various team-ups are here, and likely we'll cover the rest sometime soon.  It seems Batman and Superman are enough to worry the rest of the Marvel universe on most days.... 

Of course, there was a meeting of the JLA and the Avengers as well, but that also deserves a looking into all on it's own, as this team up had history long before it happened in 2003.