Anatomy of a Classic: Fantastic Four #50

 

 

As some of you already know, I’ve been steadily working my way through the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby run on Fantastic Four for the first time ever, and today, you get one of the results: an in-depth analysis of Fantastic Four #50, what it meant for comics storytelling and how it forms the foundation of modern comics.

I ended up doing quite a bit of research (by which I mean I read a lot of comics) in preparation to write this article, and as long-winded as I get over at ComicsAlliance, there were actually a couple of things I didn’t get to mention about the aftermath of the issue.

For one, it didn’t go unnoticed by the Distinguished Competition, specifically ISB favorite/greatest comics writer of all time Bob Haney, who parodied the Galactus saga a year later in the pages of “Metamorpho,’ where a two-foot tall alien called the Thunderer, heralded by “Neutrog the Forerunner,” arrived on Earth and could only be defeated with a guitar that shot laser beams. I covered this story way back on ISB classic, and finally reading its inspiration makes it even better. Also of note, Haney referred to Metamorpho as “The World’s Second Greatest Comics Magazine (But He Tries Harder).” I think it’s pretty clear that the guy was a fan of Stan and Jack — the stories read like affectionate parodies rather than vicious ones.

It’s also worth noting that while today it’s almost universally seen as a classic, fan reaction to the story at the time seemed about as mixed as you’d expect. There actually aren’t too many letters discussing the Galactus story in the following issues (though the Black Panther’s appearance shortly after was met with a lot of discussion, and rightfully so), and what did get printed actually seemed to trend towards the negative.

In the article, I mention the letter complaining that Galactus was a “run-of-the-mill” villain, but a letter in FF #56 goes a little further:

The Fantastic Four reached new heights of glory with the advent of the Inhumans, but they have been steadily going down the drain ever since. The first step was the appearance of Galactus in #48. Galactus: A scientific menace with a devilish apparatus for the elimination of all life on Earth… blah!!! He was defeated, after the retribution of the foolish Silver Surfer, in three issues of pure trash. […] The next thing you know, the FF will be fighting ‘The Creature from Beneath the Garbage Can’ with his uncanny ‘Onion Gun.’ Finally, the Earth is saved as the FF defeat him with Reed’s ‘Fantasti-kitchen Rubbish Disposal Unit!’ Enough!! Enough new menaces for the FF to battle! Enough super-scientific hogwash! It’s time the FF met (or should I say, re-met) some of their old foes. Perchance the Sub-Mariner.

This letter absolutely blew me away. I mean, not being into Galactus is one thing, but writing in to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966 to tell them to stop creating new characters? Yeesh.

At least it’s a nice reminder that comics readers didn’t just suddenly lose their minds with the advent of the Internet.

14 thoughts on “Anatomy of a Classic: Fantastic Four #50

  1. I look forward to your words on Fantastic Four 51, which was frankly…the best issue of all time.

  2. It occurs to me that you’re just now reading Lee/Kirby FF, and yet you’ve been up-to-date on Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose. This means something. (Probably that you hate life.) :)

  3. We want names! Tell us the name of this letterhack so we can go whack him bloody with an old rolled up copy of said comic!

    No wait, just make it Marvel’s Greatest Comics #35 — why ruin a classic on him when the reprint will do?

  4. Sadly, Lee and Kirby did wind down the introduction of new characters a while after FF #50. Someone somewhere (likely in The Jack Kirby Collector) ran a chart of Awesome Original Character/Concept Introductions in the FF, and it tapered off sharply after the introduction of the Enclave, Him and Psycho-Man (issues #66-#67 and Annual #5). From there until #102, the only real notable debuts were Agatha Harkness, Franklin Richards and Annihilus.

    I’d heard it was because Kirby felt jilted for not being tapped to draw the Silver Surfer series, which debuted during that time. And so that Kirby spark fizzled and he ended up going through the motions during his last couple years with the FF. But who can say for sure?

    So maybe Russell Bullock, Jr. (the letter writer) got his reward after all. Bastard.

  5. Chris, since you’re just now working your way through silver age Marvel using the DIT DVD I’ve got to ask if you’ve read the rest of silver age Marvel. The Lee/Ditko Spider-Man for example will blow your mind with how quickly everything shifts between issues 1 and 50 (and hammer home the point that all of Marvel seems frozen at the moment that Lee left for the west coast).

  6. “There are forces at play that even the smartest man on Earth can’t fathom, that all the Thing’s strength can’t punch out, that the Invisible Girl can’t hide from, that can snuff out the Human Torch’s youth and energy.”
    That’s beautiful.

    On an unrelated note about about Marvel letters columns, I love reading old Amazing Spider-Man letters. Fans were writing in upset as early as when Betty Brant and Gwen Stacy were interested in him! It’s totally a precursor to internet comments, but it’s suprising that even before the 60s were out some readers complained Spider-Man’s heyday and central theme (unloved social loser tries to be a hero) were already gone. Guess they sided with Ditko.

  7. I’ve tried to post intelligently regarding a.) your excellent insights regarding a comic (or bunch of comics) any self-respecting comic blogger (this is an oxymoron HAR HAR but seriously folks) should’ve encountered and b.) my academic examination of Kirby, postmodern literature-ists (Junot Diaz, m-f’ers!), and hardcore metal-sign literary criticism (Gerard Genette, m-f’ers!), but s#!% keeps futzing up, for realz, in re: the space internet. So, I guess, I’ll email?

  8. Junot Diaz’s use of Kirby is wonderful: he explains the condition of the “Third World” using images from Kirby, basically reconstructing and adapting the old science fictional “What if an advanced civilization did to us what we’re doing to our colonial subjects?” trope from the pov of those subjects. I’m sure the letter Chris reprints in his article will be oft-cited by scholars working on that kind of thing.

  9. Chris, since you’re just now working your way through silver age Marvel using the DIT DVD I’ve got to ask if you’ve read the rest of silver age Marvel.

    I’ve read big chunks of Spider-Man (via Marvel Tales and Spider-Man Classics) when I was younger, which pretty much formed my love of the character. I think reading from #1 to the death of Gwen Stacy might be my next big reading project once I hit FF #108.

  10. Josh, you’re onto it, but in “Oscar Wao,” he doesn’t just employ Kirby references at the narrative level; his very stylistics and form are indebted to Jack and Stan. The FF and the New Gods play a huge role within and without the text. It’s literature that functions linguistically by invoking comics’ form, thereby begging a different linguistic interpretation that we would bring to, say, classical literature. It’s overdue jiu jitsu, flipping the question, “can comics be high art?”

  11. I first saw the Galactus Trilogy in the FF’s oversized Treasury Edition, the same kind they used to reprint the first Thor-Hercules fight. And it was BIG, as these stories deserve. Hey, anybody know if there’s a cd-rom of all the Kirby issues of Thor around? I’d love to see the issues where Galactus meets Ego, the Living Planet.

  12. Wow, man, that was an incredible article. I’m officially blown away. Please give us more of this highfalutin stuff in the future.

  13. I just read that Metamorpho story this weekend, so I had the flip side of your experience with the two stories. The kid who provides Metamorpho with the laser guitar reminded me a bit of Peter Parker, but I’m not sure that was something they were going for. I also though the bit when Metamorpho and Element Girl had literally been blown to atoms was Kirby-esque.