The Marvel Age really begun with the Silver Age, the 60’s, with the Fantastic Four #1 (1961) , and Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 re-tells their story across the years! The fateful rocket launch of the FF first told by the immortal team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It has been re-told many times including the Ultimate Fantastic Four. In the life story mini-series, the first one covered Spider-Man, ages the characters in real time. Peter Parker started in the 60’s, like the original character, to the 2010’s. This series celebrates the FF who are having their 60th anniversary special with Fantastic Four #35 in August! You already have that one on your pull list, right? Daniel Acuña is the cover artist, it has the spaceship over a very spherical design of the team in normal clothes and superhero forms. There are Fantastic Four films, but it may be the Marvel Cinematic Universe version to be directed by Jon Watts. Fantastic Four: Life Story offers possibilities.
The 60’s is brought to you by Mark Russell, he wrote the Marvel Snapshots Captain America #1 (2020) issue, with art by Sean Izaakse, he also drew Emprye: Fallout Fantastic Four #1 (2020). It is April 1961 at the White House, President John F. Kennedy has a meeting with two scientists, bepectacled, bald Ricardo Jones and Reed Richards with a streak of white at his temples. I would actually like Reed to have the salt and pepper after the launch or in the next issue. Ricardo Jones, this was a character like the depiction in this comics who first appeared in Fantastic Four #50 (1966) by Lee and Kirby. The president notes the failures of the space program and also the headline of the Russian cosmonaut. On April 12th of that year, Yuri Gagarin is the first person to orbit the Earth. Richards promises a launch in three months. Izaakse’s artwork has some of the character faces of Mark Bagley and a bit of Jim Cheung.
The agreement is made that Dr. Richards is put in charge of the flight of the Cassandra 4 and Jones with ground control. I really like the name of the spacecraft, the prophetess of the Trojan War, it has been retconned Marvel-1 in Fantastic Four #14 (2019). Next, Reed tells Sue Storm about the cancellation of the flight by Jones. He was concerned about Reed’s anti-matter fuel and says research will be needed until 1982! Anti-matter has only been found as a few nanograms in particle accclerators in 2017. Of course, Reed is more advanced than any human in his discoveries. Sue keeps hope alive, this is her strength, saying that the ship will be dismantled the next day. She is in a lab coat so may be a fellow scientist and joins the crew. Of course, we also have her teen brother, Johnny, volunteering while eating ice cream. He hints that he can cancel the mission with a phone call. Reed wonders about a pilot and Johnny says he has an idea. Ben Grimm, is drunk after losing his piloting job, at the Runway bar.
He hoped to get married to his girlfriend Sally. Johnny points out Ben to the others. A few problems here, one, it was always Reed’s longtime friendship with Ben that put trust in his piloting skills, he was the jock and Reed was the geek. Two, it is kinda confusing how a teen could know a hard drinking pilot. Here is the other part, Ben is drunk, in this version, doesn’t have military experience. I’m not certain why anyone would trust him to make a spaceflight. They manage to get past the guard, Cliff, and appear in their flight suits. This is basically their super suits which Reed says are inflammable. There is no helmets, oxygen tanks, or communication. Kinda silly for a spaceflight. Reed tries to reassure Sue that if Ben can hit the abort button to safely return them. Ben launches, the first time, but this airplane pilot has no problem? Reed finds a problem with the cosmic rays interacting with the anti-matter.
Johnny ignites and Sue fades away. This is usually when they return to Earth. Reed wants Ben to hit the abort button, but he has transformed. Reed reaches out, stretching painfully, and hits the abort. The parachutes are deployed and Reed is roused by the security guard, Cliff, and says he saw a vision. Galactus, massive and cosmic, winds drawn in by his gapin mouth. Reed describes it as “the death of everything.” It seems like this flash of Galactus disrupted the mission. Interesting, but I would think a more comic book explanation would be the Negative Zone. If there is a MCU version, I think the space program that was being set up by S.W.O.R.D. (seen in WandaVision) could have been set up by the flight of the FF and they were lost in the Negative Zone. A new FF MCU movie should not have Dr. Doom anywhere until a later movie!
Reed could detect some disruption, but it disappears, a trace of the Negative Zone. The powers of the FF could activate on Earth and they return to space to investigate what happened, but end up trapped in the Negative Zone until current time. Their return and adventures would be exactly the thing to inspire people after the Blip. The FF are given a parade as the first astronauts, again I think they should be low key, not the celebrity superheroes yet. Ben Grimm resentful of Reed is understandable, but Sue is the calming factor for him. He should always be a part of the family not estranged. They fight Mole Man, one of the foes from the first issue, Reed and Sue marry, this was in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965). Reed still struggles with the vision of Galactus and has to face the jealousy of Ricardo Jones. The issue ends with the birth of Franklin Richards, this was in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968), but the issue ends in 1969. Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 has places the FF in history and part of the real world, but also keeps some of their comic book adventures!
Four Unstable Molecules out of Five!
#FantasticFourLifeStory, #StanLee, #JackKirby, #MarkRussell, #SeanIzaakse, #RicardoJones
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