It seems remarkable now that the Fantastic Four began as a “me too” comic book, designed to steal some sales from DC’s new super-hero team title Justice League of America who had first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28, published in March 1960.
Marvel’s editor Stan Lee was tasked by publisher Martin Goodman to create a new team of super-heroes. In his book Origins of Marvel Comics, published in 1974, Lee wrote, “For just this once, I would do 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 —they’d still have feet of clay.”
Here, succinctly put, is the modus operandi of Marvel’s success: relatable characters. In comparison, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman look staid and dull compared to Marvel’s new inventions.
Importantly, Marvel characters’ powers were more often triggered by science, not mysticism or as part of a remote “super-race”. Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hulk and Fantastic Four gained their powers through exposure to radio-activity in some form. Iron Man built his own armour using scientific knowledge and a limitless budget. Ant-Man and The Wasp transform through Henry Pym’s biochemical inventions. Other important developments would follow: the genetic mutation and social ostracising of the X-Men; the myth culture and cosmic settings of Thor; the sorcery of Dr. Strange.
On page 1 of Fantastic Four we meet Reed Richards, scientific genius; Susan Storm, Richards’ girlfriend; Johnny Storm, Susan’s younger brother; and gruff Ben Grimm, Richards’ best friend. Each character responds to a flare signal from Richards—Grimm abandons his shopping spree, Johnny is having his car serviced, and Sue interrupts her tea party. We then flash back to the protagonists taking part in a test flight in an experimental rocket ship built by Richards. They are bombarded by cosmic rays and return to Earth where they find themselves transformed, with bizarre new abilities. Reed Richards becomes Mister Fantastic and re-shape his body to inhuman proportions. Susan Storm is the Invisible Girl who can make herself invisible. Johnny Storm is a modern reinvention of Timely’s The Human Torch. Ben Grimm is transformed into a monstrous humanoid with rock-like skin and super-strength.
Significantly, the Fantastic Four do not have secret identities, but maintain a high public profile and enjoy celebrity status. They often argue and fight with each another but remain a solid and effective team. In this same issue they fight The Mole Man in the first of their super-hero adventures, but after the drama and invention of their origin story, this first outing falls flat. More and better was to come.