A journey into space changed the history of American comics.
In 1961 the publishing house that would become Marvel (known as Timely and then as Atlas) is in full crisis, even close to bankruptcy. Stan Lee, who is its editor in chief and has worked there since he was a kid as publisher Martin Goodman is his in-law, will likely have to change jobs. Jack Kirby, despite having created twenty years earlier for the Capitan America publishing house, is a great designer who is now having difficulty finding work. He returned to Goodman after working for years for Superman and Batman National (the future DC Comics), at the time the leading comic book publisher in the United States.
Yet the two have produced one of the most important books in the history of American comics: “Fantastic Four” number one, which comes out with a cover date of November 1961, sixty years ago. The publishing house is safe and the superhero comics would never be the same again.
Within three years Lee with Kirby or with other great authors (Steve Ditko and Bill Everett in primis) gives life to the so-called Marvel Universe: among others, Spider-Man (1962), Hulk (1962), Iron Man ( 1963), the X-Men (1963), the Avengers (1963), Daredevil (1964). They are superheroes, but tormented, the so-called, according to a lucky definition, “superheroes with super problems”.
And it is already evident in the first issue: the scientist Reed Richards, friend Ben Grimm, Richards’ girlfriend Susan “Sue” Storm and her brother Johnny go into space to beat the Soviets (Susan pushes the recalcitrant Ben to follow them by doing leverages on its anti-communism) but, outside the earth’s atmosphere, they are hit by cosmic rays, acquiring superpowers.
Reed can stretch his body, he becomes Mister Fantastic, Sue has the power of invisibility (and later he can also create force fields), he is the Invisible Girl, Johnny can catch fire and fly, he is the Human Torch, Ben becomes a monster covered in stone, it is the Thing. They choose to fight the villains under the name of Fantastic Four.
“1961 changed American superhero comics forever, it is a watershed date – says the scholar and collector Giovanni Nahmias. – Before superheroes were seen almost as demigods, now the hero is bourgeois, he is common. The powers of the Fantastic Four are not harmless, for Ben, who has become a monster, they are indeed a real curse. And Reed blames himself for not shielding the spaceship well against cosmic rays Even if in recent stories he is cleared and their transformation is attributed to the machinations of an alien dictator ››.
The powers of the Marvel heroes must be managed with responsibility, as can also be seen in the subsequent characters, first of all Spider-Man who was born the following year.
“Lee and Kirby’s are an incredible partnership, in a few years in the series they give life to a series of exceptional characters, from the evil Doctor Doom to the devourer of planets Galactus to the melancholy alien Silver Surfer. And the number one of the Fantastic Four is an authentic pop art work ››.
Another characteristic of the characters is the fact that they are not real superheroes: they have a uniform, not a costume, and no secret identity, they are more like explorers, who live in a skyscraper, the Baxter Building.
“The Fantastic Four are heroes for mid-20th century America – says American scholar Adam McGovern. – They are space explorers, and they were born in the decade in which man managed to land on the moon.
They travel out of a spirit of adventure, not colonialism (if anything, their enemy, Doctor Doom, is a colonizer). Plus, they’re a family, not a superhero team. And they are linked to previous characters such as the Fabulous Five led by the pulp hero Doc Savage or the same Challengers of the Unknown created a few years earlier by Kirkby himself ››.
But, compared to the Challengers (and Lee’s influence is probably seen here), who all seemed to be the same interchangeable character, the Fantastic Four have well-defined characteristics and often quarrel with each other.
“Seeing them argue broke the sugary harmony that had previously seemed obligatory among superheroes – says the designer Paolo Leandri. – It gave a patina of realism as opposed to the uncompromising fantasy of the stories: on the one hand weird criminals like the Puppeteer and the Mole Man and on the other the bickering of the Thing with the gang of thugs of Yancy Street ››.
From Kirby’s farewell to the present day
Kirby made the series until 1970, when he left Marvel due to conflicts with Lee. Upon his return, in 1975, he has time to write and draw a Over the years the Fantastic Four, albeit slowly, age: Reed and Sue get married and have two children, Franklin and Valeria, now teenagers. After Lee and Kirby the most interesting cycle remains that of John Byrne in the Eighties, where for a time Ben was replaced by She-Hulk, the Hulk’s cousin (green and strong like him, but much more beautiful and affable). The Fantastic Four of the 21st Century seems like a series in search of identity: the films of 2005 and 2007 went almost unnoticed even if with the beautiful Jessica Alba in the role of Sue (and it is better to remain silent on the horrid film of 2015). For the celebrations of the sixty years, however, a historic Marvel author such as John Romita Jr. arrives to design the series.
And there is a pinch of Italy: the creator of Rat-Man Leo Ortolani is among the authors chosen for the celebratory number.
Since the age of twelve he has been a fan of Kirby’s Fantastic Four, and it is no coincidence that the reissue of Rat-Man takes up the graphics and format of “The Fantastic Four Giants ››, the series that in the late seventies reprinted the stories of Lee and Kirby.
“Struck by stories and drawings, I have tried to recover their spirit and draw from them for decades – he says. – Defeated, I accepted to be something else, but it was nice to try. Contributing a page to the celebratory issue means it’s been a long time since I was twelve. And that in the meantime my work has improved! ››.
In the early 1990s he had also drawn a sort of last Fantastic Four story, tracing back to the end of the Lee and Kirby cycle, recently read and appreciated by Marvel writers and editors.
“I have no idea if my story will one day see the light in the US too, but it doesn’t matter, the important thing is that Tom Breevort and Mark Waid, pillars of Marvel, liked it. I received compliments from them that will be enough for me for the rest of my days ››.
The Fantastic Four sounds like an old-fashioned series but the basic idea, a loving, albeit dysfunctional, family of adventurers still has a certain charm. And perhaps McGovern is not mistaken in concluding by saying: “The Fantastic Four is an idea that will never die! ››.