Last year, the first issue of Planet Comics met its goal on Kickstarter, and last month, I was able to print the issue and start sending it out. Here it is! It exists!
The Abominable Snowman can change your life.
Last year, the first issue of Planet Comics met its goal on Kickstarter, and last month, I was able to print the issue and start sending it out. Here it is! It exists!
This is one of the middle pages in the issue, and Ben's cigar plays almost as big a role as he does as he attempts to check in.
Colors for this issue were from Petra Goldberg, over Sal Buscema pencils and Don Heck inks.
Lots of great Thing shots on this page. He's in every panel!
The story itself is a bit predictable - the main villain actually dies at the end of the story - but I've always liked Tigra because my first introduction to the Fantastic Four were issues where she and Thundra were hanging around the team for a bit. This is the first issue of Two-in-One I ever read, too, so it's a real treat to get a color guide from this very issue.
I also got some new FF animation artwork!
These new pieces all come from the 2006 Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes cartoon. Someone listed a bunch at once on eBay and I managed to grab a handful.
For whatever reason, Sue and Doom seem to be the toughest team members to get when it comes to animation art, and it worked out that way this time, too. I got some featuring Ben, Reed and Johnny. I hate how Johnny's hair is drawn in this show, though it looks okay in this one.
There's Reed, doing what he does...which is stretching.
Yep, still...uh...still stretching.
Okay, that's it!
Executive producer Josh Weinstein posted this on Twitter a few days ago. The bottle of mermaid mead was apparently given to some of the folks who worked on the show. Maybe one will (quietly?) show up on eBay one day!
Bean & Mora, together forever on my shelf (or at least 'til an earthquake.) pic.twitter.com/QyJ8dL90oW
— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) January 17, 2021
I'm not entirely sure why the folks at the show decided to send me this box, but I'm extremely grateful for it. I would no doubt be watching this show in any case, but I guess it gets me to try and spread the word a little more than I otherwise would have. If you're not watching this show - and especially if you like Futurama - then you absolutely need to! Check it out on Netflix!The fine folks at @Disenchantment HQ sent me a box of stuff in anticipation of tonight’s season 3 premiere on @Netflix! For your enjoyment, I unbox it before your very eyes: pic.twitter.com/sm74VoOPDd
— Jeff McClelland (@JeffMcClelland) January 14, 2021
Now, with one look at this almost obscene item, you might be questioning whether this is actually an officially licensed product, rather than an Etsy project gone terribly wrong. I'm here to tell you that no, this travesty has the official Marvel stamp on it. It is real and it is terrible.
This product came about, as many Fantastic Four items do, in 2005, the year of the first Fox-produced FF movie. The movie itself was okay at best, and that describes many of the scores of products that came out in conjunction.
I've seen this lamp referred to as a "popcorn" lamp because of the plastic bead material that comprises the head sculpt. The head itself is quite pliable and rubbery.
Here's another closer shot with more detail. It reminds me a little bit of the bead art you could make yourself with the unbelievably dangerous use of a clothes iron. Do they still sell those?
In this shot, you can also see the cheap, lifeless stickers used for Mr. Grimm's eyes and mouth. At least they got his blue eyes right, but sheesh, those are both really bad.The Ultimate Fantastic Four series was fairly unremarkable during its 60-issue run, failing to distinguish itself in any real way from the "proper" Marvel Universe version of the FF. Showing up on the publishing schedule years after other Ultimate line of books made their impact, the series is probably best remembered for introducing the Marvel Zombies concept in issue 21.
After the series had ended and most of the Ultimate books were coming to a close, the Ultimate FF characters, in a string of miniseries, started to deviate a bit more from their regular universe counterparts: Reed for some reason became a villain, "The Maker"; the Thing shed his rocky exterior to become a purple energy being (though they soon gave him back his classic look); Sue and Ben got engaged.
In all, the Ultimate Fantastic Four weren't very memorable as characters or as a series, but still, 60 issues is a pretty good run for a title, and it stands as the third-longest running FF series after the core title and Marvel Two-in-One. The title had a very brief relaunch as "Ultimate FF" a few years later, but that series was cancelled after only six issues.
I recently came across a page of original art from the first series, and I managed to get it for a pretty good price. Here it is, with art by Tyler Kirkham:
This particular page comes from issue 54 of the series, part of the "Salem's Seven" storyline that ran for four issues. Kirkham was the series artist for 10 issues, from #50 until the series was cancelled with issue 60 (skipping #56, which was pencilled by Eric Basaldua).
Top Cow, an imprint of Image, provided the art for these final issues, with Kirkham's pencilled art skipping the inking stage and going straight to colors. Kirkham's pencils are very tight, I suppose, but the art always came off feeling a bit unfinished to me.
And here's a shot of the very top of the page, in which we can see the title and artist, but not the issue number.
This is the first page of original art from the Ultimate Fantastic Four title I own, and I'm glad to have it, even if it is from a rather forgettable series.
Read the story for free here! I've been involved with FUBAR for about five years now, and there are a lot of stories that I'm...