By Dan Brown

Hey y’all, I just finished my latest reading project.

I had set myself the goal of reading the first 200 issues of Fantastic Four in order. It took me months, but I finally got it done.

The verdict? 

The first 100 of those issues are great, the rest . . . well, it was the 1970s. 

I’m also now convinced the creative team of artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee wasn’t an equal partnership – Kirby was the real force behind the book’s success. 

More on that in a moment.

About my reading projects: From time to time, I set myself a goal so I get the most out of my comic habit. I’ve read lots of FF in the past, but there were still some gaps I wanted to fill in my knowledge of Marvel’s First Family. 

For example, I knew the frenemy character Thundra came from Femizonia, an alternate future where warrior women rule the world, but I had never seen her origin story.

So I set out to read the first nine volumes of The Essential Fantastic Four, the black-and-white compilations collecting all issues from the team’s debut issue in 1961  to No. 207.

Kirby and Lee were the original creative pairing on the series (Fantastic Four No. 1 is considered the starting point for the Marvel Age). Kirby left the title, and the House of Idea, in 1970 after issue 102. That original burst of cosmic creativity is still considered among the best runs in comics history.

After the King departed for DC, the title struggled to find a consistent tone and look. I’m betting no one wanted to follow Kirby – it would be like being in a band and your opening act is the Beatles. How could you hope to top what came before?

So artists like Rich Buckler, Keith Pollard, John Buscema and Sal Buscema cycled in and out of the lineup. Such names as Len Wein, Bill Mantlo and Roger Slifer did the same on the writing side. They all tried their best.

I started reading FF as a kid in 1977 with issue No. 183. This was a time when superheroes like the Thing and Mister Fantastic would regularly lose their powers, so there was more of a focus on supporting players – the afore-mentioned Thundra, Tigra, the Impossible Man, and so on. The series was a riot of guest stars.

Writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez were a highlight of those later years, but their time was fleeting. They would later reunite at DC on New Teen Titans.

And one thing is impossible not to notice. Lee stayed on as scripter until issue 125 following Kirby’s exit. What struck me is how bad the writing and dialogue were without Kirby – my conclusion, he was writing FF on his own since the beginning. 

I’m sorry if this offends Lee partisans, but go back and check for yourself. It’s clear as day. At the risk of sounding like a Kirby fanatic, which I am, the guy went on to create the Fourth World web of interconnected properties at DC. Meanwhile, Lee stopped writing monthly books and was booted upstairs to the publisher’s office.

And my next reading project? I’ve cracked the first of the two colour omnibuses containing sometime Canadian John Byrne’s run on FF, which picks up close to where the Essential titles leave off. 

Here we go again!

Would love to know what comics you’ve been reading lately. Let me know in the comments!

Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 34 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.