Misplaced Pages

#712287

129-609: The four characters traditionally associated with the Fantastic Four, who gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space, are Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), a scientific genius and the leader of the group, who can stretch his body into incredible lengths and shapes; the Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm-Richards), Reed's girlfriend and later wife, who can render herself invisible and project powerful invisible force fields and blasts;

258-457: A kneaded eraser before rendering greater detail. For more detailed erasures, he uses a pencil-shaped white eraser , and to erase large areas, he uses a larger, hand-held white eraser, the Staedtler Mars plastic, which he calls a "thermonuclear eraser", because it "takes care of everything". Artist and former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada begins with sketches much smaller than

387-499: A lead holder , and Sanford Turquoise H lead , which he uses for its softness and darkness, and for its ability to provide a "sketchy" feel, with a minimal amount of powdery lead smearing. He uses this lead because it strikes a balance between too hard, and therefore not dark enough on the page, and too soft, and therefore prone to smearing and crumbling. Campbell avoids its closest competitor because he finds it too waxy. Campbell has also used HB lead and F lead. He maintains sharpness of

516-410: A "secret identity". In Strange Tales #106 (March 1963), Johnny discovered that his friends and neighbors knew of his dual identity all along from Fantastic Four news reports, but were humoring him. Supporting characters included Johnny's girlfriend, Doris Evans, usually in consternation as Johnny cheerfully flew off to battle bad guys. She was seen again in a 1973 issue of Fantastic Four , having become

645-461: A 2H pencil, and after inking his pencils with a Micron pen , he edits his line work on a graphics tablet. Artist Marcio Takara begins his pages with 7 in × 5 in (180 mm × 130 mm) ink thumbnail sketches with which he shows his overall ideas to his editor. When he begins the actual pencils, he keeps them "loose", because he will eventually ink over them himself, and does not require greater specificity. The penciling stage

774-501: A Vanish eraser and a kneaded eraser . Artist Chris Samnee uses 300 series two-ply Strathmore Bristol board. He does not use non-photo blue pencils or any other equipment purchased at specialty stores for preliminary sketching, but uses .9 mm mechanical pencils that he purchases from Target . He describes his pencils as "just awful", and inks them himself, as he cannot envision giving them to someone else to ink. Writer/artist Chuck Austen did his work on Elektra entirely on

903-453: A computer. He prefers uses mostly Macintoshes, but also uses PCs . When using a Mac, he uses Ray Dream Studio , and when using a PC, usings 3D Studio Max . These allow him to take three-dimensional models and break them down into simplified two-tone line forms. He purchases the models from catalogues, or uses ones that he built for Strips using in Hash or Animation:Master . After importing

1032-590: A custom 8 in × 12 in (200 mm × 300 mm) stock because she sometimes finds those dimensions more comfortable and easier to work on more quickly. She also finds the Strathmore 300 series "pretty good" likes its nice texture and greater affordability, but says that must occasionally content with getting a "bleedy batch". Conner uses mechanical pencils with .03 lead because she found it easier to use than regular pencils that require her to stop and sharpen them frequently. Once artist Gene Ha obtains

1161-1099: A double life. Winx Club and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe feature characters who adventure in fantastical worlds which put their inherent superpowers to the test. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , Road Rovers and Street Sharks , the characters' superpowers are the result of being transformed into anthropomorphic animals (either from animals or humans), combined with combat training. Other examples include: Biker Mice from Mars , Toxic Crusaders , Samurai Pizza Cats , Loonatics Unleashed , Darkwing Duck , Gargoyles , Drak Pack , Ghostforce , El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera , The Mighty B! , Three Delivery , Teamo Supremo , Mummies Alive , Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! , The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest , Totally Spies! , Code Lyoko , Storm Hawks , Zevo-3 , Chop Socky Chooks , Butt Ugly Martians , and Kung Fu Dino Posse . Superpowers feature in subgenres of tokusatsu ,

1290-571: A few issues with temporary teams, Mark Waid took over as writer with #60 / 489 (October 2002) with artist Mike Wieringo with Marvel releasing a promotional variant edition of their otherwise $ 2.25 debut issue at the price of nine cents US. Pencillers Mark Buckingham , Casey Jones, and Howard Porter variously contributed through issue #524 (May 2005), with a handful of issues by other teams also during this time. Writer J. Michael Straczynski and penciller Mike McKone did issues #527–541 (July 2005 – Nov. 2006), with Dwayne McDuffie taking over as writer

1419-492: A field on Earth. Upon exiting the rocket, the four discover they have developed incredible superpowers and decide to use these powers to help others. In the first issue the crew talks about Reed Richards' rocketship flying to the stars. Stan Lee's original synopsis described the crew's plan to fly to Mars, but Lee later shortly afterward wrote that due to "the rate the Communists are progressing in space, maybe we better make this

SECTION 10

#1732844446713

1548-525: A flight to the STARS, instead of just to Mars, because by the time this mag goes on sale, the Russians may have already MADE a flight to Mars!" Superpower (ability) A superpower is a special or extraordinary superhuman powers far greater than what is considered normal. Superpowers are typically displayed in science fiction and fantasy comic books , television programs , video games , and films as

1677-568: A form of television characterised by heavy use of special effects. This is embodied by the franchise Super Sentai , known for Power Rangers , and its counterpart Kamen Rider . In Western television, superpowers are often depicted in adaptations of comic books. However, drama series such as Heroes and Misfits are original to television. They use superpowers to heighten the conflicts of otherwise ordinary characters, without strong ties to other superheroic tropes such as codenames or costumes. Penciller A penciller (or penciler )

1806-665: A given day, he prefers to use a 500W incandescent photo lamp, though he believes a 500W halogen lamp is also adequate. He prefers to use a lead holder with H lead for sketching, and 2B lead for shading, which he sharpens with a rotary lead pointer, believing that such leads can be sharpened better than a traditional pencil. He blows up a scan of each page layout to 8.5 in × 11 in (220 mm × 280 mm), and draws "tight" pencils on top of these, which are then scanned and printed on 11 in × 17 in (280 mm × 430 mm) inkjet paper in faint blue line . He prefers Xerox paper because he feels that

1935-441: A harder lead (like a 2H ) to make light lines for initial sketches, then turn to a slightly softer lead (like a HB ) for finishing phases of the drawing. Still other artists do their initial layouts using a light-blue colored pencil because that color tends to disappear during photocopying . Most US comic book pages are drawn oversized on large sheets of paper, usually Bristol board . The customary size of comic book pages in

2064-648: A heavyset but cheerful wife and mother. Ayers took over the penciling after ten issues, later followed by original Golden Age Human Torch creator Carl Burgos and others. The Fantastic Four made occasional cameo appearances, and the Thing became a co-star with issue #123 (Aug. 1964). The Human Torch shared the split book Strange Tales with fellow feature Doctor Strange for the majority of its run, before being replaced in issue #135 (August 1965) by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Silver Age stories were republished in 1974, along with some Golden Age Human Torch stories, in

2193-528: A light box to pencil it, sometimes altering elements in the design such as lighting or other details. Bryan Hitch begins with multiple rough sketches employing different camera angles on paper with a blue pencil, which traditionally does not photocopy or scan, and then selects the desired elements from the rough sketch with a graphite pencil. After picking the initial shapes, he will further emphasize his selections with colored pens, continuing to attempt different variations. He will then, depending on how late in

2322-456: A long run through issue #32 (Aug. 2000). Following the run of Claremont, Lobdell and Larroca, Carlos Pacheco took over as penciller and co-writer, first with Rafael Marín , then with Marín and Jeph Loeb . This series began using dual numbering, as if the original Fantastic Four series had continued unbroken, with issue #42 / #471 (June 2001). At the time, the Marvel Comics series begun in

2451-416: A professional drawing board, he emphasizes that any inexpensive board large enough to hold the paper is sufficient, as he mostly uses a piece of roughly cut chip-board leaning on the edge of his desk. He uses an Apple iMac desktop computer, flatbed scanner and Photoshop to modify his artwork digitally. In contrast to Hitch's work environment, artist Simone Bianchi says that he cannot work unless he

2580-402: A script, a penciller may feel when drawing the scene that there is a different way of composing the scene, and may disregard the script, usually following consultation with the editor and/or writer. Some artists use a loose pencilling approach like Agnes Sedem and Andy, in which the penciller does not take much care to reduce the vagaries of the pencil art, leaving it to the inker to interpret

2709-502: A script, he makes "tiny" thumbnail sketches of each page, and then makes layout sketches on shrunked copies of comic art board, two per page. It is at this stage that he works out the light/dark balance of the page. Though he says about 90% of his artwork are done without photo reference, he will sometimes photograph his friends pose as the central characters, or use a full length mirror to draw himself. He renders minor characters from his imagination. Irrespective of how much sunlight he has on

SECTION 20

#1732844446713

2838-583: A short-lived ongoing Human Torch series. A later ongoing solo series in Marvel's manga -influenced Tsunami imprint , Human Torch , ran 12 issues (June 2003 – June 2004), by writer Karl Kesel and penciler Skottie Young . The series was followed by the five-issue limited series Spider-Man/Human Torch (March–July 2005), an untold tales team-up arc spanning the course of their friendship. The Thing appeared in two team-up issues of Marvel Feature (#11–12, September–November 1973). Following their success, he

2967-547: A sixteen-issue run. Following the summer 2008 crossover storyline, " Secret Invasion ", and the 2009 aftermath " Dark Reign ", chronicling the U.S. government's assigning of the Nation's security functions to the seemingly reformed supervillain Norman Osborn , the Fantastic Four starred in a five-issue miniseries , Dark Reign: Fantastic Four (May–Sept. 2009), written by Jonathan Hickman , with art by Sean Chen . Hickman took over as

3096-454: A spy named Lyja . Once discovered, Lyja, who herself had fallen for Storm, helped the Fantastic Four rescue Masters. Ventura departed after being further mutated by Doctor Doom. Although some fans were not pleased with DeFalco's run on Fantastic Four , calling him "The Great Satan", the title's sales rose steadily over the period. Other key developments included Franklin Richards being sent into

3225-442: A standard Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencil with HB lead, explaining, "It's mushy as all hell but it doesn't slow me down like a harder pencil would." While reading each page of a script, artist Amanda Conner does tiny thumbnail sketches with stick figures corresponding to the story indicated on each page, in order to help her design the page's layout. She then does tighter, more elaborate sketches, though still fairly small compared with

3354-512: A studio assistant to Jack Kirby in the 1970s, says that the considered opinion of Lee and Kirby's contemporaries was "that Fantastic Four was created by Stan and Jack. No further division of credit seemed appropriate." The release of The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961) was an unexpected success. Lee had felt ready to stop working on comics at the time, but the positive response to Fantastic Four persuaded him to continue with comic books. The title began to receive fan mail and Lee started printing

3483-516: A three-issue stint drawn by Arthur Adams , Simonson remained in all three positions through #354 (July 1991). Simonson, who had been writing the team comic The Avengers , had gotten approval for Reed and Sue to join that team after Engelhart had written them out of Fantastic Four . Yet by The Avengers #300, where they were scheduled to join the team, Simonson was told the characters were returning to Fantastic Four . This led to Simonson quitting The Avengers after that issue. Shortly afterward, he

3612-654: A woman) led by a Professor travelling to the Earth’s centre and encountering giant monsters while contending with a human protagonist who is also from the surface world. Although neither Lee nor Kirby ever mentioned the 1959 film Journey to the Center of the Earth as a direct inspiration, publisher Martin Goodman was well known for following popular entertainment trends to attract sales in his comics line. Comics historian R. C. Harvey believes

3741-463: Is Marc Silvestri , who says that he listens to down-tempo chill music while working, in contrast to the alternative rock he listens to at other times. On the Biography & Bibliography page of his website, Erik Larsen explains that he uses a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 2H pencil, and a Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser. However, on the site's Frequently Asked Questions page, he states that he uses

3870-419: Is a traditional pencil cut with a craft knife , which he says can produce a variety of marks, and be used for detail, shading and general sketching. Hitch believes the best results combine both the mechanical and the knife-sharpened traditional pencil. Hitch is particular about his studio workspace, which does not contain a TV or sofa, stating that such things belong in the lounge for relaxation. Despite using

3999-500: Is an artist who works on the creation of comic books , graphic novels , and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors and lettering in the book, under the supervision of an editor. In the American comic book industry, the penciller is the first step in rendering the story in visual form, and may require several steps of feedback with

Fantastic Four - Misplaced Pages Continue

4128-422: Is different from previous ones, for which she characterizes it as "one intense, ongoing experiment." She begins with thumbnails, roughly drawn on printed paper templates. During this stage Staples does not use reference, but does so later in the inking stage. During the thumbnail stage, she gives copious thought to the layouts and staging, making it, in her words, the most important part of the process. After scanning

4257-404: Is listening to music, which he does via stereo speakers placed above his drawing board, and an extensive music collection in his studio. Bianchi uses extensive photo reference and a lightbox to give his artwork a realistic look. He uses a wooden drawing board that he used to draw on flat, but angled it due to back pain that he began having in 2006. Another artist who listens to music while working

4386-476: Is produced digitally, either in part or entirely (see below). From 1949 until his retirement, Jack Kirby worked out of a ten-foot-wide basement studio dubbed "The Dungeon" by his family. When starting with a clean piece of Bristol board, he would first draw his panel lines with a T-square . Arthur Adams begins drawing thumbnail layouts from the script he is given, either at home or in a public place. The thumbnails range in size from 2 inches x 3 inches to half

4515-657: Is reverting to its original numbers, and the book is going away for a while. I'm moving towards the end of Fantastic Four . I just want to reassure people that you will not leave this book with a bad taste in your mouth." In the aftermath of the " Secret Wars " storyline, the Thing is working with the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Human Torch is acting as an ambassador with the Inhumans. With Franklin's powers restored and Reed having absorbed

4644-450: Is settled and they finally made peace. As the Fantastic Four are about to depart Spyre after helping its citizens clean up the Planet (as well as Reed providing the mutates with a variation of the temporary 'cure' he has created for Ben), Skye join them to learn about Earth and every unseen galaxy. When the incoming Kree-Skrull Empyre occur at the same time as teen heroes are being outlawed ,

4773-415: Is the fastest stage for Takara, who does all of his pencil work with an HB 0.5 mechanical pencil, completing two or three penciled pages a day, sometimes even inking all three by the end of the day. Frank Cho produces his artwork on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Pad, which has a vellum surface. To pencil his artwork, Cho uses a Pentel mechanical pencil with 0.7mm HB lead . For erasure, he uses both

4902-512: Is the three-part " Galactus Trilogy " that began in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), chronicling the arrival of Galactus , a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the Silver Surfer . Fantastic Four #48 was chosen as #24 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that, "As

5031-650: The Fantastic Four title, FF continues publication as a separate series. Starting with issue #12, the title focuses upon the youthful members of the Future Foundation, including Franklin and Valeria Richards. In the graphic novel Fantastic Four: Season One , the Fantastic Four is given an updated origin story set in the present day instead of the 1960s. The hardcover compilation debuted at number four on The New York Times Best Seller list for graphic novels. As part of Marvel NOW! Fantastic Four ended with #611, ending Jonathan Hickman's long run on FF titles, and

5160-455: The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's younger brother, who can generate flames, surround himself with them and fly; and the monstrous Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy but benevolent friend, a former college football star, Reed's college roommate and a skilled pilot, who possesses tremendous superhuman strength, durability and endurance due to his stone-like flesh. Since their 1961 introduction,

5289-735: The Kree Empire 's ruthless and tyrannical enforcer Ronan the Accuser ; the Negative Zone 's ruler Annihilus ; the sea-dwelling prince Namor ; the spacefaring Silver Surfer ; the Skrull warrior Kl'rt ; and the Molecule Man . The Fantastic Four has been adapted into other media , including several video games , animated series , and live-action films . Apocryphal legend has it that in 1961, longtime magazine and comic book publisher Martin Goodman

Fantastic Four - Misplaced Pages Continue

5418-454: The Marvel Method . Sometimes a writer or another artist (such as an art director ) will include basic layouts, called " breakdowns ," to assist the penciller in scene composition. If no breakdowns are included, then it falls to the penciller to determine the layout of each page, including the number of panels, their shapes and their positions. Even when these visual details are indicated by

5547-420: The non-photo blue lines printed on them. By 2000, he switched to Crescent board for all his work, because it does not warp when wet, produces sharper illustrations, and are more suitable for framing because they lack the non-photo blue lines. Charest usually prefers not to employ preliminary sketching practices, such as layouts, thumbnails or lightboxing , in part due to impatience, and in part because he enjoys

5676-486: The shonen genre. They are often featured in popular manga, comics and anime such as Dragon Ball Z , Saint Seiya , YuYu Hakusho , One Piece , Black Clover , Naruto , Fullmetal Alchemist , Bleach , Code Geass , Fairy Tail , Hunter × Hunter , Attack on Titan , and My Hero Academia . The types of powers featured vary from series to series. Some, such as Dragon Ball and Fullmetal Alchemist , feature many different characters who have

5805-484: The " Marvel Method ", worked so well that Lee and Kirby used it from then on, and the Marvel Method became standard for the company within a year. Kirby recalled events somewhat differently. In a 1970 Fanzine interview he confirmed Lee's involvement in the creation of the Fantastic Four but took credit for the main characters and ideas, stating "It was my idea. It was my idea to do it the way it was; my idea to develop it

5934-407: The 1960s, such as Thor and The Amazing Spider-Man , were given such dual numbering on the front cover, with the present-day volume's numbering alongside the numbering from the original series. After issue #70 / #499 (Aug. 2003), the title reverted to its original vol. 1 numbering with issue #500 (Sept. 2003). Karl Kesel succeeded Loeb as co-writer with issue #51 / #480 (March 2002), and after

6063-595: The Challengers and the FF have a minimum of decoration. And of course, the Thing's skin is a kind of decoration, breaking up the monotony of the blue uniform." It is important to note, however, that the Fantastic Four wore civilian garb instead of uniforms, which were only introduced (along with the Baxter Building Headquarters) in the third issue of the series following readership feedback. The original submitted design

6192-491: The FF. It is an absolutely vital dynamic between the characters." [emphases in original] Byrne was followed by a quick succession of writers: Roger Stern , Tom DeFalco , and Roy Thomas . Steve Englehart took over as writer for issues 304–332 (except #320). The title had been struggling, so Englehart decided to make radical changes. He felt the title had become stale with the normal makeup of Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny, so in issue #308 Reed and Sue retired and were replaced with

6321-417: The Fantastic Four for a fanzine in 1968, during which time Jack Kirby was also working at Marvel (Kirby himself is interviewed separately in the same publication). When asked who conceived the team, him or Kirby, Lee responded "Both – 'twas mainly my idea, but Jack created characters visually". In the 1974 book Origins of Marvel Comics Lee described the creative process in more detail, stating that he developed

6450-419: The Fantastic Four has been portrayed as a somewhat dysfunctional, yet loving, family. Breaking convention with other comic archetypes, the members squabbled, held grudges both deep and petty, and eschewed anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status. They are also well known for their recurring encounters with characters such as the villainous monarch Doctor Doom ; the planet-devouring Galactus ;

6579-431: The Fantastic Four was a continuation of the work Kirby previously did, and so "more likely Kirby's creations than Lee's". But Harvey notes that the Marvel Method of collaboration allowed each man to claim credit, and that Lee's dialogue added to the direction the team took. Wells argues that Lee's contributions set the framework within which Kirby worked, and this made Lee "more responsible". Comics historian Mark Evanier ,

SECTION 50

#1732844446713

6708-567: The Fantastix with Ms. America taking the codename of Ms. Fantastix. Following the staged bank robbery that the Wrecking Crew committed and their involvement of being hired to humiliate the Fantastix in public, the Fantastic Four gave the Fantastix their blessing to continue using the Baxter Building while the FF operate in a house on Yancy Street with a dimensionally-transcendental interior. In

6837-461: The JLA's strong sales, did direct his comics editor, Stan Lee , to create a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. According to Lee, writing in 1974, "Martin mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The [ sic ] Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes. ... 'If

6966-524: The Justice League is selling', spoke he, 'why don't we put out a comic book that features a team of superheroes?'" Lee, who had served as editor-in-chief and art director of Marvel Comics and its predecessor companies, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics , for two decades, found that the medium had become creatively restrictive. Determined "to carve a real career for myself in the nowhere world of comic books", Lee concluded that, "For just this once, I would do

7095-438: The Thing's new girlfriend, Sharon Ventura , and Johnny Storm's former love, Crystal. The changes increased readership through issue #321. At this point, Marvel made decisions about another Englehart comic, West Coast Avengers , that he disagreed with, and in protest he changed his byline to S.F.X. Englehart (S.F.X. is the abbreviation for Simple Sound Effects). In issue #326, Englehart was told to bring Reed and Sue back and undo

7224-447: The Wolf in 2000. The penciling process that artist Adam Hughes employs for his cover work is the same he uses when doing sketches for fans at conventions, with the main difference being that he does cover work in his sketchbook, before transferring the drawing to virgin art board with a lightbox, whereas he does convention drawings on 11 x 14 Strathmore bristol, as he prefers penciling on

7353-423: The actual size at which he will render the final drawing. He employs a Cintiq drawing tablet when he desires to do a "tighter" digital layout of an illustration. When sketching figures, he will sometimes use photographic reference, and incorporate the photos directly into his sketches during the process of finalizing a layout. Once he makes a final decision on a layout, he will then print it out at full size, and use

7482-455: The aptly titled "Back to the Basics", Byrne began his run as writer, penciller and inker, the last under the pseudonym Bjorn Heyn for this issue only. Byrne revitalized the slumping title with his run. Byrne was slated to write with Sienkiewicz providing the art however, Sienkiewicz left to do Moon Knight , and Byrne subsequently became writer, artist, and inker. Various editors were assigned to

7611-401: The artwork rendered. Conner has created her own paper stock and blue line format on her drawing paper, because, she explains, she likes having those configurations pre-printed on the page, and feels that "sometimes the rough is too toothy and the smooth is too slick." The stock she uses is the 10 in × 15 in (250 mm × 380 mm) Strathmore 500 series, but she also orders

7740-537: The basic characters as well as a story synopsis for the first issue penciller Jack Kirby to follow. Lee noted the involvement of both Kirby and Publisher Martin Goodman prior to preparing his synopsis: "After kicking it around with Martin and Jack for a while I decided to call our quaint quartet the Fantastic Four. I wrote a detailed first synopsis for Jack to follow and the rest is history." Kirby turned in his penciled art pages to Lee, who added dialogue and captions. This approach to creating comics, which became known as

7869-462: The characters' personal lives, having the married Sue Storm and Reed Richards suffer a miscarriage and the Thing quitting the Fantastic Four, with She-Hulk being recruited as his long-term replacement. He also re-emphasized the family dynamic which he felt the series had drifted away from after the Lee/Kirby run, commenting that, " Family —and not dysfunctional family —is the central, key element to

SECTION 60

#1732844446713

7998-463: The comic book's editor , who commissions a script from the writer and sends it to the penciller. Comic book scripts can take a variety of forms. Some writers, such as Alan Moore , produce complete, elaborate, and lengthy outlines of each page. Others send the artist only a plot outline consisting of no more than a short overview of key scenes with little or no dialogue. Stan Lee was known to prefer this latter form, and thus it came to be known as

8127-405: The comic; eventually Bob Budiansky became the regular editor. Byrne told Jim Shooter that he could not work with Budiansky, although they ultimately continued to work together. In 2006, Byrne said "that's my paranoia. I look back and I think that was Shooter trying to force me off the book". Byrne left following issue #293 (Aug. 1986) in the middle of a story arc, explaining he could not recapture

8256-430: The day it is, either redraw the illustration on a sheet of layout paper or use his lightbox to tighten and clean up the drawing, emphasizing that the lightbox should not be a mere exercise in tracing, but an opportunity to refine or change elements in the drawing to make it "clean" enough to be inked. When Hitch transfers the drawing to the final art board, he does initial layouts with a 2H pencil, which he feels provides

8385-504: The dialogue after the story was pencilled. Kirby also sought to establish, more credibly and on numerous occasions, that the visual elements of the strip were his conceptions. He regularly pointed to a team he created for rival publisher DC Comics in the 1950s, the Challengers of the Unknown . "[I]f you notice the uniforms, they're the same... I always give them a skintight uniform with a belt...

8514-424: The figure outlines with a marker in order to emphasize them. He will use photographic reference when appropriate, as when he draws things that he is not accustomed to. Because a significant portion of his income is derived from selling his original artwork, he is reluctant to learn how to produce his work digitally. Jim Lee is known to use F lead for his pencil work. J. Scott Campbell does his pencil with

8643-439: The files to Photoshop, where he fully renders the art at a resolution of 1,200 dpi , creating between five and fifty layers of finished art before flattening it into a single black and white bitmap , plus a greyscale page, if needed. Another artist who does her work almost entirely digitally is Fiona Staples , who switched to that process several years prior to beginning her work on Saga , though her process for that series

8772-493: The finished artwork, approximately 4 in × 6 in (100 mm × 150 mm), and then blows those up on a photocopier to the proper original comic art size, which is 10 inches x 15 inches. She then uses "very tight pencils" to light-box it onto Bristol board , if she intends to have it inked by her husband and collaborator, Jimmy Palmiotti, but will do the pencils "lighter and looser" if she intends to ink it herself, as she already knows how she wants

8901-513: The flagship series include the 1970s quarterly Giant-Size Fantastic Four and the 1990s Fantastic Four Unlimited and Fantastic Four Unplugged ; Fantastic Force , an 18-issue spinoff (November 1994 – April 1996) featuring a young adult Franklin Richards, from a different timeline, as Psi-Lord. A 12-issue series Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comics Magazine ran in 2001, paying homage to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby 's legendary run. A spinoff title Marvel Knights 4 (April 2004 – August 2006)

9030-580: The following issue, and Paul Pelletier succeeding McKone beginning with #544 (May 2007). As a result of the events of the " Civil War " company-crossover storyline, the Black Panther and Storm temporarily replaced Reed and Susan Richards on the team. During that period, the Fantastic Four also appeared in Black Panther , written by Reginald Hudlin and pencilled primarily by Francis Portela. Beginning with issue #554 (April 2008), writer Mark Millar and penciller Bryan Hitch began what Marvel announced as

9159-452: The fourth year of the Fantastic Four came to a close, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to be only warming up. In retrospect, it was perhaps the most fertile period of any monthly title during the Marvel Age." Daniels noted that "[t]he mystical and metaphysical elements that took over the saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the 1960s", and Lee soon discovered that the story

9288-546: The fun he had previously had on the series. One of Byrne's changes was making the Invisible Girl into the Invisible Woman: assertive and confident. During this period, fans came to recognize that she was quite powerful, whereas previously, she had been primarily seen as a superpowered mother and wife in the tradition of television moms like those played by Donna Reed and Florence Henderson . Byrne staked new directions in

9417-581: The future and returning as a teenager; the return of Reed's time-traveling father, Nathaniel, who is revealed to be the father of time-travelling villain Kang the Conqueror and Reed's apparent death at the hands of a seemingly mortally wounded Doctor Doom. It would be two years before DeFalco resurrected the two characters, revealing that their "deaths" were orchestrated by the supervillain Hyperstorm . The ongoing series

9546-523: The gathered heroes assisted the Fantastic Four into causing so much damage to the Griever's equipment, she is forced to retreat in her final telepod or be trapped in that universe. This left the heroes to salvage components from the broken ship to create their own teleport system to return to their universe. The Fantastic Four and their extended family returned to Earth where they find that Liberteens members Ms. America, 2-D, Hope, and Iceberg have come together as

9675-638: The group, due to an overwhelming fan response in the affirmative (93.47%). Stan's comment of ' Nuff Said would from here become an ongoing phrase in Lee's communications with fans. While the early stories were complete narratives, the frequent appearances of these two antagonists, Doom and Namor, in subsequent issues indicated the creation of a long narrative by Lee and Kirby that extended over months. According to comics historian Les Daniels , "only narratives that ran to several issues would be able to contain their increasingly complex ideas". During its creators' lengthy run,

9804-411: The humid weather tends to dampen the paper, he sometimes uses a B lead or 2B lead , which acts like a 4B in that environment. However, his website explains that he uses 6B lead, with some variation. For pieces rendered entirely in pencil, he employs a variety of pencil leads of varying degrees of hardness. After darkening in the construction lines that he wishes to keep, he erases the lighter ones with

9933-453: The key attribute of a superhero . The concept originated in American comic books and pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, and has gradually worked its way into other genres and media. There is no rigid definition of a "superpower." In popular culture, it is often associated with unusual abilities such as flight , superhuman strength and speed , invulnerability or psionics . However, it can also describe natural abilities that reach

10062-550: The lead with a Berol Turquoise sharpener, changing them every four to six months, which he finds is the duration of their grinding ability. Campbell uses a combination of Magic Rub erasers, eraser sticks, and since he began to ink his work digitally, a Sakura electric eraser . He often sharpens the eraser to a cornered edge in order to render fine detailed work. Travis Charest uses mainly 2H lead to avoid smearing, and sometimes HB lead . He previously illustrated on regular illustration board provided by publishers, though he disliked

10191-524: The letters in a letter column with issue #3. Also with the third issue, Lee created the hyperbolic slogan "The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World!!" With the following issue, the slogan was changed to "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!" and became a fixture on the issue covers into the 1990s, and on numerous covers in the 2000s. Issue #4 (May 1962) reintroduced Namor the Sub-Mariner , an aquatic antihero who

10320-426: The mainstream American comics industry is 11 by 17 inches. The inker usually works directly over the penciller's pencil marks, though occasionally pages are inked on translucent paper, such as drafting vellum , preserving the original pencils. The artwork is later photographically reduced in size during the printing process. With the advent of digital illustration programs such as Photoshop , more and more artwork

10449-499: The modeling programs cannot perfect, such as facial expressions, hair, filling in blacks, rendering clothes and wrinkles, etc. To finish the art, he will either print out the "pencils" directly onto Bristol board and finalize them with an HB Tombow pencil and ink them with a #2 nib, or will apply the finishes in Photoshop. Scott McCloud also does his work almost entirely on a computer tablet . Although he sketches his layouts in pencil,

10578-401: The models into Studio or Max , he arranges the angles and other aspects of the scene before rendering them, such as placement of background objects or modifying gestures, while the computer corrects elements such as perspective , foreshortening , proportions, etc. After the files are rendered to Austen's satisfaction, he assembles them into page form using Photoshop , completing details that

10707-471: The mutates who are unable to retain their original forms in the same manner as the Thing, accusing the mutates of being "villains and imperfects"; as a result, through his own paranoia and xenophobia , the Overseer himself is responsible for the fateful creation of the Fantastic Four and mutated his entire race to face a non-existent threat. Revos challenges Mr. Fantastic to a fight over their differences, until it

10836-535: The necessary accuracy and detail, and uses an erasable blue pencil to mark panel frames and vanishing points , which he introduces after the rough stage. He chooses not to put too much time or polish into this stage, preferring to work quickly, lightly and instinctively. He uses a mechanical pencil with 0.9mm 2H lead at this stage for fine outlines and detail work, and a traditional pencil for more organic work, including softer lines, shading large areas and creating more fluid motion. The "best tool of all", according to him,

10965-512: The offices of Marvel Comics and met numerous comics creators . Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard crafted a multi-issue storyline involving the son of Doctor Doom which culminated in issue #200 (Nov. 1978). John Byrne joined the title with issue #209 (Aug. 1979), doing pencil breakdowns for Sinnott to finish. He and Wolfman introduced a new herald for Galactus named Terrax the Tamer in #211 (Oct. 1979). Bill Mantlo briefly followed Wolfman as writer of

11094-475: The original Fantastic Four went to space with Avengers to stop this Empyre, leaving Franklin and Valeria being backed by Spider-Man and Wolverine to defend Earth. In August 2022, Marvel announced that writer Ryan North and artist Iban Coello would launch a new volume of Fantastic Four in November of that year after Slott had concluded his run on the title with issue #46. Ancillary titles and features spin off from

11223-534: The other changes he had made. This caused Englehart to take his name entirely off the book. He used the pseudonym John Harkness, which he had created years before for work he didn't want to be associated with. According to Englehart, the run from #326 through his last issue, #332, was "one of the most painful stretches of [his] career." Writer-artist Walt Simonson took over as writer with #334 (December 1989), and three issues later began pencilling and inking as well. With brief inking exceptions, two fill-in issues, and

11352-488: The peak of human potential, such as advanced intelligence or weapon proficiency. Generally speaking, superheroes like Batman and Iron Man may be classified as superheroes even though they have no actual superhuman abilities beyond their exceptional talent and advanced technology. Similarly, characters with superhuman abilities derived from artificial, external sources, like Green Lantern 's power ring and Tony Stark's Iron Man armor may be described as superpowers, but

11481-428: The penciller's intent. Fun fact, they created this technique in the 1900s in order to find criminals. In those cases, the penciller is usually credited with " breakdowns " or " layouts " and the inker is credited as the "embellisher" or "finisher". According to former Marvel editor Gregory Wright , John Buscema was a noted penciler whose breakdowns included all the structural essentials that enabled inkers to complete

11610-508: The power of the Beyonders from Doom, the Richards family is working on travelling through and reconstructing the multiverse, but Peter Parker has purchased the Baxter Building to keep it "safe" until the team is ready to come back together. A new volume for the Fantastic Four was released in August 2018, written by Dan Slott , as part of Marvel's Fresh Start event. The first issue of the new series

11739-466: The published version. However Earl Wells, writing in The Comics Journal , points out that its existence does not assert its place in the creation: "[W]e have no way of knowing of whether Lee wrote the synopsis after a discussion with Kirby in which Kirby supplied most of the ideas". It is also notable that the Fantastic Four's first adventure in 1961 depicts a team of four adventurers (three men and

11868-477: The regular team of writer and Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco , penciller Paul Ryan and inker Dan Bulanadi took over, with Ryan self-inking beginning with #360 (Jan. 1992). That team, with the very occasional different inker, continued for years through #414 (July 1996). DeFalco nullified the Storm-Masters marriage by retconning that the alien Skrull Empire had kidnapped the real Masters and replaced her with

11997-480: The remainder of his work is done digitally, explaining in his 2006 book Making Comics that he had not used traditional materials like Bristol board, pens or brushes in years. After sketching layouts, which he says are "pretty tight", and include the full script, he scans them into an 18-inch tablet/monitor to use them as a guide for lettering them in Adobe Illustrator . After completing the lettering, he exports

12126-475: The rougher, vellum surface rather than smooth paper, preferring smoother paper only for brush inking. He does preliminary undersketches with a lead holder , because he feels regular pencils get worn down to the nub too quickly. As he explained during a sketch demonstration at a comic book convention, during this process he uses a Sanford Turquoise 4B lead , a soft lead, though when working at home in Atlanta, where

12255-417: The same types of powers. Others, like One Piece and Bleach , feature characters with a wide range of different powers, with many powers being unique to only one or a few characters. Superpowers are commonly used in animated television . In shows such as Ben 10 , American Dragon: Jake Long and Danny Phantom , young protagonists are bestowed with transformative powers which lead them to live

12384-401: The serendipitous nature in which artwork develops when produced with greater spontaneity. He also prefers to use reference only when rendering objects that require a degree of real-life accuracy, such as guns, vehicles, or characters of licensed properties that must resemble actors with whom they are closely identified, as when he illustrated the cover to Star Trek: The Next Generation: Embrace

12513-418: The series and wrote a crossover with Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #42 (May 1980). Byrne wrote and drew a giant-sized Fantastic Four promotional comic for Coca-Cola , which was rejected by Coca-Cola as being too violent and published as Fantastic Four #220–221 (July–Aug. 1980) instead. Writer Doug Moench and penciller Bill Sienkiewicz then took over for 10 issues. With issue #232 (July 1981),

12642-577: The series produced many acclaimed storylines and characters that have become central to Marvel, including the hidden race of alien-human genetic experiments, the Inhumans ; the Black Panther , an African king who would be mainstream comics' first black superhero; the rival alien races the Kree and the shapeshifting Skrulls ; Him, who would become Adam Warlock ; the Negative Zone and unstable molecules . The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement

12771-613: The series re-imagined the team as young adults. It ran for 60 issues (Feb. 2004 – Feb. 2009). The issues were repackaged into four-issue graphic novel volumes. The characters continued to appear in other Ultimate Marvel franchises, including Ultimatum . Ultimate Reed Richards became a mainstay of both the Earth-1610 and Earth-616 continuities as the villain the Maker . In 2008, they also launched Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four , an out-of-continuity series aimed at younger readers. Although it

12900-482: The series regular writer as of issue #570 with Dale Eaglesham and later Steve Epting on art. In the storyline "Three", which concluded in Fantastic Four #587 ( cover date March 2011, published January 26, 2011), the Human Torch appears to die stopping a horde of monsters from the other-dimensional Negative Zone . The series ended with the following issue, #588, and relaunched in March 2011 as simply FF . The relaunch saw

13029-437: The size of the printed comic book. He or an assistant will then enlarge the thumbnails and trace them onto illustration board with a non-photo blue pencil , sometimes using a Prismacolor light-blue pencil, because it is not too waxy, and erases easily. When working on the final illustration board, he does so on a large drawing board when in his basement studio, and a lapboard when sitting on his living room couch. After tracing

13158-428: The storyline Point of Origin , the Fantastic Four entrust Alicia, H.E.R.B.I.E., Franklin and Valeria to protect Earth while they begin their mission to learn a further origin of the cosmic radiation that granted them their powers in the first place, piloting a new space ship called Marvel-2. While in the middle of a space adventure to find the origin, the Fantastic Four are attacked by a group who believed themselves to be

13287-596: The superheroes of Planet Spyre, the Unparalleled . Reed and Sue are separated from the Thing, Human Torch is revealed to be the soulmate of the Unparalleled member named Sky, and they learn that the Unparalleled's leader and the Overseer of Planet Spyre, Revos, was responsible for the cosmic rays that struck the team on their original trip, as he wanted to stop them coming to his planet. Revos subsequently mutated his people to "prepare for their return" before trying to eradicate

13416-449: The surface of marker paper tends to get smudgy or oily. When importing art to modify in his computer, he uses Photoshop . Artist Jason Shiga penciled his 2011 graphic novel Empire State: A Love Story (Or Not) with a yellow No. 2 pencil on copy paper, before transferring it with brushed ink via a lightbox. Artist Jonathan Luna uses 14 x 17 Strathmore Bristol board, which he cuts into 11 x 17 pieces on which to draw. He draws using

13545-523: The team assume a new name, the Future Foundation , adopt new black-and-white costumes, and accept longtime ally Spider-Man as a member. In October 2011, with the publication of FF #11 (cover-dated Dec. 2011), the Fantastic Four series reached its 599th issue. In November 2011, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fantastic Four and of Marvel Comics, the company published the 100-page Fantastic Four #600 (cover-dated Jan. 2012), which returned

13674-568: The team, Giant-Size Super-Stars , began in May 1974 and changed its title to Giant-Size Fantastic Four with issue #2. The fourth issue introduced Jamie Madrox , a character who later became part of the X-Men . Giant-Size Fantastic Four was canceled with issue #6 (Oct. 1975). Roy Thomas and George Pérez crafted a metafictional story for Fantastic Four #176 (Nov. 1976) in which the Impossible Man visited

13803-486: The thumbnails, he will then clarify details with another light-blue pencil, and finalize the details with a Number 2 pencil . He drew the first three chapters of " Jonni Future " at twice the printed comic size, and also drew the fifth chapter, "The Garden of the Sklin", at a size larger than standard, in order to render more detail than usual in those stories. For a large poster image with a multitude of characters, he will go over

13932-506: The thumbnails, she enlarges them and uses them as rudimentary pencils, and "inks" over them in Manga Studio , and later colors the art in Photoshop. One of the advantages Staples sees in working digitally is the ability to dispense with tight pencils in favor of making corrections in an ad hoc manner, as she finds penciling in great detail and drawing such art a second time in ink to be boring. A comic book penciller usually works closely with

14061-400: The title to its original numbering and featured the return of the Human Torch. It revealed the fate of the character of Johnny Storm after issue #587, showing that while he did in fact die, he was resurrected to fight as a gladiator for the entertainment of Annihilus. Storm later formed a resistance force called Light Brigade and defeated Annihilus. Although it was launched as a continuation of

14190-607: The title was relaunched in November 2012 with the creative team of writer Matt Fraction and artist Mark Bagley . In the new title with its numbering starting at #1, the entire Fantastic Four family explore space together, with the hidden intent for Reed Richards to discover why his powers are fading. Writer James Robinson and artist Leonard Kirk launched a new Fantastic Four series in February 2014 ( cover dated April 2014). Robinson later confirmed that Fantastic Four would be cancelled in 2015 with issue #645, saying that "The book

14319-402: The type of story I myself would enjoy reading.... And the characters would be the kind of characters I could personally relate to: they'd be flesh and blood, they'd have their faults and foibles, they'd be fallible and feisty, and — most important of all — inside their colorful, costumed booties they'd still have feet of clay." Lee provided one of his earliest recorded comments on the creation of

14448-460: The way it was. I'm not saying Stan had nothing to do with it. Of course he did. We talked things out." Years later, when specifically challenged with Lee's version of events in a 1990 interview, Kirby responded: "I would say that's an outright lie", although the interviewer, Gary Groth , notes that this statement needs to be viewed with caution. Kirby claims he came up with the idea for the Fantastic Four in Marvel's offices, and that Lee merely added

14577-472: The wearer is not necessarily superhuman. In fiction and fantasy, superpowers are often given scientific, technological, pseudoscientific, or supernatural explanations. They come from sources such as magic, technology, or the character's own physiological nature (being an alien, a supernatural being, or a mutant). Superpowers and ESPers are a commonly used concept in Comics , manga and anime , particularly in

14706-438: The world believing them to be clones of the original members of the Fantastic Four. The series ran for 8 issues (Jan. – Aug. 1996), serving as a companion to Doom 2099 —an original Marvel 2099 title featuring an individual claiming to be the original Victor von Doom . In 2021, the series was brought back for a single issue. In 2004, Marvel launched Ultimate Fantastic Four . As part of the company's Ultimate Marvel imprint,

14835-434: The writer. These artists are concerned with layout (positions and vantages on scenes) to showcase steps in the plot. A penciller works in pencil . Beyond this basic description, however, different artists choose to use a wide variety of different tools. While many artists use traditional wood pencils, others prefer mechanical pencils or drafting leads. Pencillers may use any lead hardness they wish, although many artists use

14964-401: Was Sue Storm's first solo title. Adam Hughes drew the cover for all five issues. The Fantastic Four is formed after four civilian astronauts are exposed to cosmic rays during an unauthorized outer space test flight in an experimental rocket ship designed by Dr. Reed Richards. Pilot Ben Grimm and crew-members Susan Storm and her brother Johnny Storm survive an emergency crash-landing in

15093-549: Was a favorite on college campuses. The Fantastic Four Annual was used to spotlight several key events. The Sub-Mariner was crowned king of Atlantis in the first annual (1963). The following year's annual revealed the origin story of Doctor Doom. Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) presented the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Lee and Kirby reintroduced the original Human Torch in Fantastic Four Annual #4 (1966) and had him battle Johnny Storm. Sue Richards' pregnancy

15222-550: Was a star character of Marvel's earliest iteration, Timely Comics , during the late 1930s and 1940s period that historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comics . Issue #5 (July 1962) introduced the team's most frequent nemesis, Doctor Doom . These earliest issues were published bimonthly. With issue #16 (July 1963), the cover title dropped its The and became simply Fantastic Four . In Fantastic Four #19 (October 1963), Stan Lee announced that Reed Richards would remain leader of

15351-401: Was also modified to include the iconic chest insignia of a "4" within a circle that was designed by Lee. Given the conflicting statements, outside commentators have found it hard to ascertain who created the Fantastic Four. A typed synopsis by Lee for the introductory segment of the first Fantastic Four issue exists and outlines the characters and their origins, with various minor differences to

15480-1020: Was announced in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967), and the Richards' son, Franklin Richards was born in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968) in a story which introduced Annihilus as well. Marvel filed for a trademark for "Fantastic Four" in 1967 and the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the registration in 1970. Kirby left Marvel in mid-1970, having drawn the first 102 issues plus an unfinished issue, partially published in Fantastic Four #108, with alterations, and later completed and published as Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure (April 2008), Fantastic Four continued with Lee, Roy Thomas , Gerry Conway and Marv Wolfman as its consecutive regular writers, working with artists such as John Romita Sr. , John Buscema , Rich Buckler and George Pérez , with longtime inker Joe Sinnott adding some visual continuity. Jim Steranko also contributed some covers during this time. A short-lived series starring

15609-585: Was canceled with issue #416 (Sept. 1996) and relaunched with vol. 2 #1 (Nov. 1996) as part of the multi-series " Heroes Reborn " crossover story arc. The yearlong volume retold the team's first adventures in a more contemporary style, and set in a parallel universe. Following the end of that experiment, Fantastic Four was relaunched with vol. 3 #1 (Jan. 1998). Initially by the team of writer Scott Lobdell and penciller Alan Davis , it went after three issues to writer Chris Claremont (co-writing with Lobdell for #4–5) and penciller Salvador Larroca ; this team enjoyed

15738-534: Was given a solo strip in Strange Tales in 1962 to bolster the title's sales. The series began in Strange Tales #101 (October 1962), in 12- to 14-page stories plotted by Lee and initially scripted by his brother Larry Lieber , and drawn by penciller Kirby and inker Dick Ayers . Here, Johnny was seen living with his older sister, Susan, in fictional Glenview, Long Island , New York, where he continued high school and, with youthful naiveté, attempted to maintain

15867-460: Was given his own regular team-up title Marvel Two-in-One , co-starring with Marvel heroes not only in the present day but occasionally in other time periods (fighting alongside the World War II -era Liberty Legion in #20 and the 1930s hero Doc Savage in #21, for example) and in alternate realities . The series ran 100 issues (January 1974 – June 1983), with seven summer annuals (1976–1982) and

15996-456: Was immediately followed by the solo title The Thing #1–36 (July 1983 – June 1986). Another ongoing solo series, also titled The Thing , ran eight issues (January–August 2006). A six issue miniseries written by Walter Mosely , entitled The Thing , was released in November 2021. In April 2019, Marvel Comics announced that it would publish Invisible Woman , a five-issue miniseries written by Mark Waid and drawn by artist Mattia De Lulis. This

16125-506: Was launched by Marvel as a continuation of the Fantastic Four title in 2011, FF continued publication as a separate series after the regular series resumed in 2012. From issues #12, the title focused on the youthful members of the Future Foundation, including Franklin and Valeria Richards. A second volume was launched as part of Marvel NOW! by Matt Fraction and Mike Allred depicting a substitute Fantastic Four team starring Scott Lang , Medusa , She-Hulk and Ms. Thing. The Human Torch

16254-548: Was met with strong sales, and a positive critical reaction. When the Future Foundation is threatened by the Griever at the End of All Things, Mister Fantastic plays on her ego to convince her to provide him with equipment that will allow him to summon his teammates. When Human Torch and Thing are reunited with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, the other superheroes that were part of the Fantastic Four at some point in their lives also arrived, including, unexpectedly, X-Men 's Iceman . With

16383-518: Was offered the job of writing Fantastic Four . Having already prepared a number of stories involving the Avengers with Reed and Sue in the lineup, he then rewrote these for Fantastic Four . Simonson later recalled that working on Fantastic Four allowed him the latitude to use original Avengers members Thor and Iron Man , which he had been precluded from using in The Avengers . After another fill-in,

16512-516: Was playing golf with either Jack Liebowitz or Irwin Donenfeld of rival company DC Comics , then known as National Periodical Publications, and that the top executive bragged about DC's success with the new superhero team the Justice League of America . While film producer and comics historian Michael Uslan has debunked the particulars of that story, Goodman, a publishing trend-follower, aware of

16641-467: Was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and initially illustrated by Steve McNiven in his first Marvel work. There have also been numerous limited series featuring the group. In 1996, Marvel launched the series Fantastic Four 2099 , part of the company's Marvel 2099 imprint which explored an alternate future of the Marvel Universe. The four protagonists inexplicably find themselves in 2099, with

#712287