Fantastic First

 

I'm not sure I mentioned it but I wrote an article that will appear in Maximum Fantastic Four, a deluxe hardcover reprinting of the first issue of what Stan Lee was soon calling, in all modesty, "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine." I have not seen one bit of this book apart from what I sent in but I'm told it's a "panel-by-panel exploration of the entire issue that captures every single detail and nuance of Jack Kirby's groundbreaking artwork." The historic comic has been digitally-remastered and will be presented in an extra-large format with commentary by Walter Mosley and I'm eager to get my hands on a copy. It's supposed to be out in the middle of November and if you'd like to get your hands on a copy, you might want to pre-order it from Amazon.

One P.S. to what I wrote in the book. In my essay, I addressed the question of the uncredited inker of F.F. #1 and after running through a list of suspects, I wrote, "For now, this author's money says it was [George] Klein who did the decent, but somewhat ordinary interpretation of Kirby's pencils." This is a little more definite than what I've said before but it's even less definite than my current position. I've since seen some additional samples that have convinced me, probably once and for all, that the first two issues of Fantastic Four were inked by George Klein…and probably without assistance. In an upcoming Jack Kirby Collector and somewhere on this site, I'll explain what brought me to this position and present some visual evidence.