Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 60-63

A day after I added the Sucked rating, I find the need to add another.  ‘Sucked’ seems unfair to this run.  It’s still a classic, and shouldn’t be egregiously penalized for the social norms of its time, nor the loquacious, melodramatic writing stylings of Stan Lee.  And Jack Kirby, while not at the top of my personal favorites list, is undisputed in his place on the Mount Rushmore of seminal comic artists.  

So it gets the first ‘Disliked’ of this project.  Because I really did not enjoy myself.  I had to force myself through every issue, and would have quit way early in this run if I were reading just for fun.  On the other hand, I’m not dumping the trade from my collection, because it feels wrong to discard such an important run of issues.  I still respect what they brought to the world of comic culture.  

My final nitpicks with the Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four (This has been a long six days):

1) There’s no way The Thing can swim.  He sinks to the bottom of the river and stays there.  

2) First off, great splash:

But substitute “Blastaar” for “Doom,” and you have a monologue that demonstrates the genericness of this villain.  Plain old cookie-cutter.  (Though Doom has plenty of other things that set him apart.  I’m never knocking Doom.)

3) So after forcing us to endure literally twenty issues of whining and moping from Johnny Storm and Crystal, Lee finally gives their reunion...absolutely zero fanfare.  There’s no grand moment, no display of emotional connection, no profession of love.  No payoff of any kind.  The more I think about the whole subplot, the madder I get.  It was a complete failure of execution from start to finish.  

4) And of course it wouldn’t be a Stan Lee issue of Fantastic Four if the last page of the trade didn’t include one final dig at the weakness of women in a man’s superhero world.  Once more with feeling, Sue:

Thanks, Sue.  Thanks a lot.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Disliked