Product Description

Relive more of the FF's classic exploits as they stand united against Dr. Doom, Annihilus, and Galactus! Featuring the first appearances of the Kree and the microversal Psycho-Man! Guest-starring Spider-Man, Daredevil, Thor, and the Warlock formerly known as Him! Lee and Kirby were the ones who started it all, and they kept it going in these cosmic tales! Collects Fantastic Four #64-83 and Fantastic Four Annuals #5-6.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #393337 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 536 pages

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Four Volume 4
First let me say that I AM a nostalgic fan and not a critic who can't risk looking out of place; and I like this volume. It is certainly not as good as Volume 3 but I re-read the volume again and it still brought back many memories for me.
In my opinion this volume is full of fast moving, well-written and superbly drawn stories. Starting with the introduction of another alien race The Kree who appear by proxy in the first two tales here but come to the fore in some great story arcs over the next decades.
Then the first appearance of the biologically engineered HIM (Adam Warlock), the Inhumans and the Black Panther join the FF to fight Psycho-Man the crazed ruler of a sub-atomic world; followed by a great 4 part tale featuring the Thinker who turns the Thing against the FF.
The Silver Surfer appears twice, first trying to force the world to live in peace before realising the error of his ways, the other is another 4 part story where Galactus re-appears searching for his ex-herald as the Surfer hides in Psycho-Man's sub-atomic world. From the sub-atomic the FF return to the Negative Zone where they meet Annihilus as they search for a cure for Reed & Sue's child.
The Wizard also appears twice, the second time just as Crystal of the Inhumans joins the FF as a replacement for Sue after the birth of Marvel's first family's first child, Sue & Reed's son Franklin Benjamin Richards.
The volume ends with Maximus the Mad taking control of the great refuge and imprisoning the Inhumans' royal family before the FF join in and help rout Maximus and his cohorts.
These tales are mostly of a pretty high standard and some of Kirby's full page spreads still look amazing to me even in black and white. Whilst it may not be as good as Volume 3 it is still a pretty solid collection and in no way worth just 2 stars.

A Lee and Kirby tour de France more like!
Essentiall Fantastic Four volume 3 is amazing. It reprints what is quite possibly comics most legendary run of issues, including the introduction of the Inhumans, the Silver Surfer, Galactus and the most critcally adored issue Jack and Stan ever published: This man This monster. It even had Dr Doom taking up surfing.

This volume which following directly from all those legendary issues is a MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT.

Don't believe the nostalgic fans or the critics who can't risk looking out of place; The emporer has got no clothes on and this volume stinks.

A quick flick through the volume to look at the original comics cover art will get your hopes up, most of the big hitters from the last volume make appearances so it looks like more of the same. Things start pretty well too. The first couple of issues introduce the Kree and Him (later Warlock), both Marvel mile stones that comcis fans new and old will enjoy. But five issues in things take a sudden turn downwards. From then on all the stories follow the same lazy pattern; the FF meet a villian and have a punch up.
These are some of the laziest comics I've seen and I was astonished at how bad things got and how quickly in this volume. It's as if Stan and Jack stopped caring about the book (they both produced fantastic work in other titles at this time; '67 to '69).
Jack Kirby's art work is usually a real pleasure even if Stan's pen was running a bit stale that month; but not so here. Instead we get the same character poses issue after issue. Even the crazy Kirby-esq machinery starts to look a bit tired. The longer the volume goes on the more the plot holes gape and the repeated action poses grate. Also we get more and more one page panels, most of which are not at all spectacular and seem like filler.
Things pick up towards the end with King Size special no' 6. The story rattles along nicely and Kirby monsters 'The Borders' are a site to behold.
But overall this volume isn't worth owning unless you are collecting the whole Essentials series. In fact, I would advise FF fans who haven't read it to keep away or stop after issue 67 as the rest is just not worth the disappointment.
In conclusion then, it may not be the worst Essential volume (the X Factor books can claim that prize) but it's certainly the most disapponting.
That's the 3rd time I have used the D word (or a derivative of) in this review. But this book is such a let down that it deserves at least 3 more:

Essential Fantastic Four volume 4 is a disappointing disappointment that will disappoint any one who read volume 3. Leave it on the shelf.

More Kirby classics...
Jack Kirby, eh? What a guy. As if the glories of volume three - Galactus the World-Eater, the electronic jungles of Wakanda, the Negative Zone - hadn't been enough to convince us of his brilliance, he just ploughed straight on, and in this volume you can see the results: the galaxy-spanning Kree aliens, the microscopic marauder Psycho-Man, more craziness with The Inhumans, the jaw-dropping Human Beehive, and more Kirby dots than you can shake The Thing at. Forget the annoying Stan Lee-isms coming out of the characters mouths. Ignore the word balloons and the sometimes formulaic plots. Just look at the art. You will never see such overwhelmingly alien worldscapes in all of comics.

In one early issue in this book, there's a full-page image of Alicia Masters standing in front of a gigantic, indescribable... thing... with an expression of amazement on her face. That's pretty much how I feel about this collection. It's weird and glorious and brilliant and totally bizarre. Unquestionably worth five stars.