Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Fantastic Four

John Byrne — Byrne, Baby,…

Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #233, August 1981

Continuing our week-long tribute to The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, in honor of the late summer weather at the California coast.

John Byrne’s 5-year run on Fantastic Four is rightfully considered an all-time classic, and it’s certainly on my short list of “desert island” omnibuses. (I have no idea how these books survive the shipwreck with me, but let’s stay on point.)

I always loved the Fantastic Four – and in fact, although I may be in the minority, I definitely enjoyed Hanna Barbera’s short-lived FF animated series from 1967 a bit more than Spider-Man, which aired in the same block.  With a few exceptions, the FF cartoon stories felt much more authentic to the comics than Spidey, although he definitely had the better theme song. FF only lasted 20 episodes, and has never been “officially” released in home video.  (So much for staying on point.)

The Human Torch, as the youngest member of the FF, was always the most relatable to me, and always a favorite. (He could fly… He could burn stuff… He could fly…)

Byrne. Fantastic Four. Human Torch. Cover scene. Most of the boxes are checked on this great action page, with Byrne on story, pencils and inks. He rebuilt the FF sandbox —and played in it expertly and creatively.

Flame on!

Review of John Byrne FF Artist’s Edition

Marie Severin — Fighting Fire…

Original Art and The Artists

Sub-Mariner #44, December 1971

Summer came very late to the Southern California Coast this year, so in honor of the warm weather and cool surf, we’ll stay with The Human Torch and The Sub-Mariner for a few more posts.

This great battle page, penciled by Marie Severin, and inked by Jim Mooney, features Sub-Mariner vs. the contemporary Human Torch, Johnny Storm.  This a feud that started in Fantastic Four #4 in 1962 (Torch is the one who discovers an amnesiac Namor living in NYC) and continued intermittently through the silver and bronze ages. 

Along for the fun this time is the giant sea-beast Krago, woken from his slumber by Subby’s enemies to wreak havoc among us, and to have Namor blamed. Krago is apparently NOT related to Giganto, another giant sea-beast Namor himself brought along in FF #4. How many species of giant sea creatures are there anyway? And to think I was worried about the occasional shark. 

What can you say about the late great Marie Severin, easily one of the most versatile talents to ever work in comics? Penciller, inker, colorist, occasional letterer, caricaturist, production artist, cover designer, satirist… and so on. Hands down, an amazing career, made even more so because she needed to make her bones — more than once — in a thoroughly male-dominated industry.

Marie passed away almost exactly a year ago, and many well-written tributes speak to the scope of her career: Marvel.com, The Comics Journal, and the New York Times all provide good starting points to this remarkable creator.

John Buscema — Going Underground

Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four 128, November 1972

This cool page is from a two-part story that features most of the “underground” characters from the Marvel Universe at that time in a super-villain soap opera (seriously): Mole Man, Tyrannus and Kala, Queen of the Netherworld — her only previous appearance was Tales of Suspense 43! 

Here we get The Mole Man and his villainous accomplices defeating the full FF — all the characters are on this page.

I have a soft spot for ‘ol Moley since he was the first Marvel “villain” (FF #1) but, face it, overall he’s pretty lame, and his appearances were relatively limited at this point. As the Marvel Universe became more expansive, the subterranean “inner space” characters logically took a backseat to the far more interesting cosmic entities that reside in the MU.

I also have a soft spot for the six-panel page where the panels are vertical, rather than square. Overall, it’s a much more dramatic look, and much less common than other layouts. (At least at that point.) All in all, a nice Buscema FF page from his great run, and once again, terrific inks by Joe Sinnott.