Fantastic Four #1
Original Release Date: August 8, 1961
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Letterer: Art Simek

Launched from a gun, a special flare explodes in the sky over Central City. The cloud it leaves behind bends and shapes itself into the words "The Fantastic Four". The citizens of the city look on in awe and wonder at such a spectacle. High above them, obscured from view, the leader of the Fantastic Four has decided it necessary to give such a signal.

At the same time in a different area of the city, Susan Storm is alerted to the message in the sky by the friend she had been having tea with. Susan, seeming to know exactly what the sky-written bulletin means, instantly turns herself invisible and leaves her friend baffled as she makes her way, unseen, out of the home and through the streets. Jumping in a parked cab, whose driver decides at just that moment to take a cruise around town, she waits as the car makes it to an appropriate area and announces her intention to leave, of course shocking the cabbie. The driver, surprised and surely a bit afraid, stops the car and accepts the "floating" money offered to him. Then, after the door opens and closes, seemingly by itself, he puts his foot on the gas and gets the hell out of there.

Now we jump over to yet another section of Central City, where we find a rather large man in a trench coat, low hat, and dark sunglasses speaking to a clerk in a clothing store. The employee apologizes for not having any clothing available in the mysterious man's size, who then remarks that it's the same thing everywhere he goes. The clerk, looking past his strange visitor, sees the message in the sky. After seeing the message himself, the big man nods in understanding and removes his disguise to reveal himself as a rocky monster-like being.

Making a rather dramatic exit (also known as breaking through the wall of the store), the rock monster makes his way through the streets to his destination. Panicked police officers fire on the big guy, who decides his only escape is to tear a hole in the very street itself and jump into the sewer beneath. After judging the distance he's traveled, the rather chatty (to himself) creature bursts through the street and into traffic, causing more panic.

Over at a service station we find Johnny Storm getting the engine of his car tuned up and having a friendly conversation with the mechanic when, in the sky (you guessed it, didn't you?), he spots the spectacular sight that has the city up in arms. Frightening the mechanic, Johnny responds to the message by igniting on fire! The man comments, "You're turnin' into... *gasp* a -- Human Torch!" Johnny then leaps into the air, leaving his melted hot rod behind; to fly toward the destination that two others are also on their way to.

Being alerted to Johnny's rather extraordinary appearance and mid-air theatrics, the Mayor calls in the Governor to alert the National Guard. Jets are scrambled to take down the unidentified flying matchstick and when confronted by them, the amazing Human Torch does just what he has to: he melts the fighter jets into nothing (I'll note that this mag was a family friendly book, so the pilots of these war planes ejected to safety), but not before one of them launches a heat-seeking missile. It trails our teen hero through the city until two elongated arms rip it from the sky and throws it out to sea, saving him.

Unfortunately the Torch's flame dies out and he plummets to certain death (yeah right!). The source of those crazy long arms saves our far-out former flaming friend by stretching his body between two buildings to catch him. When the teen has been pulled from danger, we see that four people have gathered... four super powered beings... the Fantastic Four! The leader alerts the team to a very deadly situation... but before we get into that...

In the next scene we jump back in time to the day that four ordinary people gained wondrous powers. Ben Grimm, a pilot, is shouting at Reed Richards, a scientist, that he isn't hip to the idea of flying into space given the fact that there hasn't been enough research done on the effects of cosmic rays they might encounter on such a trip.

Susan Storm pleads with the man over the fact that if they don't do it, the Commies (dating this book? yup) will beat them to it! The woman is shocked at the idea of Ben being a coward. Grimm, never being one to take insults (even if they are indirect), becomes exasperated at the implication of cowardice and agrees to fly the mission into space.

The four (after some arguing over who will go) steal a space shuttle and launch themselves into space. Feeling accomplished that they were in fact the first to reach space (not those damnable Commies!), the group begins to celebrate. Unfortunately the elation comes to an end as the ship enters a cosmic storm and begins being pelted by cosmic rays. Our frightened foursome suddenly feels the effects of the remarkable rays.

Ben, unable to keep his seat at the controls of the ship due to some strange weight upon him, falls to the floor. The ship initiates auto pilot, but this does not save them from the thrashing the space conveyance takes as it hits the ground back on Earth. Our space heroes emerge from the crashed ship and suddenly find themselves with astonishing powers.

Susan disappears and reappears just as suddenly, using her will to do so. Happy that she is okay, Reed embraces his girlfriend, but Ben isn't quite as optimistic about things. Reed takes offense to Ben's insistence that things are not okay. Ben, who is tired of Reed altogether, threatens to beat the ever lovin' crap out of the brainy scientist. But just as quickly as Ben's temper flares, his body begins to change into something hideous. Susan remarks that Grimm has turned into "some sort of a Thing!" Ben rips a piece of a tree from its trunk and takes a swing at Reed with it.

Fortunately for Reed, he is able to avoid Ben's attacks, but he is doing so by stretching his body to amazing lengths! Mr. Richards wraps his pliable appendages around Ben, putting a stop to his attack. Over at the side, Johnny Storm shouts about how the cosmic rays have warped his friends into monsters and suddenly he is engulfed in flame.

Reed decides that since all four of them having such astoundingly astonishing powers, they should use them to serve mankind! The four pick their names: The Thing, The Human Torch, The Invisible Girl, and Mr. Fantastic and thus The Fantastic Four are born!!

Now, back to that deadly dire situation that the four were going to address earlier. Apparently there are cave-ins happening around the world at the sites of atomic plants that swallow them up whole! According to Reed's seismic thing-a-ma-do (that's my technical jargon... patent pending), another one of these bizarre cave-ins is about to occur. Just as Reed predicts, over in French Africa, an entire atomic plant is pulled beneath the Earth via a hole appearing directly underneath! But, this time something happens that explains how such an event occurs: a ghastly galled gargantuan monster arises from the pit and attacks the French African (also known as racists) troops that were guarding the installation. A smaller being comes up from the hole and commands the creature to return home.

Reed, using his superior intellect and coffee-making machine, deducts that they should head to an island located directly between each of the targets. The name of the island? Monster Isle!! So, the four head to the island and are immediately attacked by a three-headed monster. Combining their powers, the team makes quick work of the pushy monster by hurling him into the sea. After performing their dazzling deed, the ground beneath Reed and Johnny cracks open, swallowing and separating them from the Invisible Girl and The Thing. At the bottom of this pit they are assaulted by a blinding light that renders them unconscious. When they wake up later they are suddenly garbed in strange suits that protect them from the glow. It turns out that the glow is from "The Valley of Diamonds" (self-explanatory, really) and beside them stands their foe, The Mole Man!

Back topside the Invisible Girl is attacked by a strange monster, but Ben takes care of it with no problem. After this excitement, the two begin their search for their friends.

Below, in the lair of Mole Man, he explains how and why he came to be. A man unable to get hired anywhere, he set out to find work of his own in the world. Eventually washing ashore at Monster Isle, Mole Man (after losing most of his sight from a fall) became the leader of the underground creatures. Hating the surface dwellers, the Mole Man decided to deprive them of every source of power and so began taking out the atomic plants. His ultimate goal: his mole creatures will attack the surface and destroy the denizens of the world!

The Thing and Invisible Girl arrive, bringing the team back into full force! The Torch leaps into the air, so as to confuse the mighty Mole Man's summoned gigantic pet while Reed grabs hold of the fleeing villain. The four then make their exit, but not before the Mole Man calls his mole creatures into action. Fortunately the Torch uses his brain and seals off the underground cave just as they reach the surface, leaving the Mole Man and his curious coalition of calamities behind. The Fantastic Four jump in their jet, take to the air, and are more than surprised to see the irregular island erupt in flames. Content with the idea that their first encounter with a strange villain left him unable to cause trouble again, they fly off into the sunset.

How's that for an astonishingly adjective-filled adventure through amazing action? I do this all, of course, to honor Stan Lee, who was The Man at not only comics, but the use of such fun words. But yeah, hopefully I've done justice to such an important piece of not only Marvel Comics history, but comic book history as a whole. This is what launched Marvel into orbit back in the 60s; it's what separated them from the bland and cold stuff that DC was putting out at the time.

Marvel's First Family would be nowhere without the more than capable hands and brains of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The combination of Stan's compelling and fun storytelling and Jack's legendary artwork are, of course, the staples of this book and the books that Marvel would be putting out in the subsequent years. I can't begin to explain just how important these two are when it comes to the comic book industry as a whole. Yes, there are other very important people that helped build the business, but to me no one else can come within inches of these two.

So, do I recommend this book? YES! This is where the Marvel Age started folks. The work here is a bit dated in its references (Communists, etc), but it holds up just as well as any other great literary and art work in history. That's just how dynamic it is.

I always suggest picking up the Essential volume of Marvel's classics. You can get the Essential Fantastic Four vol. #1 (the first 20 issues + annual in black and white) for $16.99 ($14.95 for the first printing), but to really get the full effect of Jack Kirby's fantastic (no pun intended. really.) art, you might want to pick it up in one of its various color printings in a trade paperback. The Marvel Masterworks version is a bit pricey ($49.99), so definitely dig for a reprint elsewhere.

I'll finish up this column by providing a link  to a really comprehensive site on Jack Kirby. Enjoy that and I'll see you folks back here next week! Oh, and go see the movie!