Fantastic Four #1 Review

To celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the Fantastic Four I thought I would go way back, and review the very first Fantastic Four comic. However i'm only going to review the first chapter because otherwise this review would be to long. Since this is their origin story I do not need to give a summary like I usually do so let jump straight into Fantastic Four #1 and see if it holds up 50 years later. The cover is pretty good, not as iconic as Action Comics #1 or Amazing Fantasy #15 cover but it is still pretty good. The comic opens with Mr.Fantastic shooting a flare in shadows, the flare then forms the words "The Fantastic Four!"

We then cut to Susan Storm who see's the the flare. She turn's invisible, and leaves for the mission. We then cut to a man in a trench coat tring to buy clothes but the man at the shop say's there's nothing that fits him there. The man sees a flare, and takes of his trench coat revealing that he's the Thing.

A police officer see's the Thing, and thinks he's a monster. In order to get away the Thing goes into a sewer. We then cut to an automobile repair shop, where Johnny Storm is working. He also see's the flare, and spontaneously combusts. Then flies away. The mayor call's the national guard, thinking aliens have invaded. They send fighter jets after the Human Torch.

The jets however catch on fire, so naturally the National Guard tries to nuke him. Kind of an over reaction. Anyway Human Torch is saved by Mr. Fantastic who stretches his arm, and throws the nuke safely into the water. They all gather inside, the weird thing is the Thing is wearing his trench coat again even though he gave it to the store clerk. Anyway we now a flashback explaining how they got their powers. Ben is arguing with Reed about how dangerous it is to go into space due to the cosmic waves that seem to inhabit all of space in the Marvel universe. However Susan calls Ben a coward, and he angrily agrees to go into space.

They go to the spaceport, and instead of going to get clearance our brave heroes steal the spaceship. Well now everything bad that happens to them is there own fault.

Anyway they take off into outerspace. But since the ship doesn't have proper shielding they are hit by cosmic waves. They crash back down to earth where they all feel weird. Everyone seems ok, but Susan starts to turn invisible. Johnny's worried that it's permanent but she turns back to normal. Reed and Ben start to argue, and I'm completely on Ben's side right now. Anyway Ben starts to become the Thing. Susan then says one of the most unintentionally hilarious lines ever..

Ben tries to hit Reed with a tree but Reed stretches out of the way. Johnny starts to freak out, and he spontaneously combusts. He's amazed that he's able to fly. Reed tells them they have to use their powers for the good of mankind. The story ends with everyone agreeing, and they become the Fantastic Four.

This comic was pretty good. The characters where likable(most of the time), and the art was great for the 60's. There are some nitpicks like Ben's ability to magically put on a trench coat on even though he left it a store miles away, and the fact they stole a spaceship. Overall this story is a pretty good first issue, and I would love to review the other two stories later on.

Rating: 3/5