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Fantastic Four #1 Comic Book Issue Guide
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| We look at Fantastic Four #1, as we analyze and interpret the first issue of what became the Marvel Comics Universe, featuring a shared world where Marvel’s characters interact. Featuring the first appearances of the Fantastic Four, and their first supervillain, THE MOLE MAN! |
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| Issue |
Fantastic Four #1 |
 Fantastic Four #1 Cover (1961) |
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| Release Date |
August 8, 1961 |
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| Cover Date |
November, 1961 |
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| Creators |
Writer/Editor
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Artists
- Pencils: Jack Kirby
- Inker: George Klein
- Colorist: Stan Goldberg
- Letterer: John Duffy
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| Order of Appearance in Marvel Universe Issues |
1
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| Characters |
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| Heroes/Protagonists |
Fantastic Four (team)
1st App
 The Fantastic Four (FF#1) |
Mr. Fantastic
1st App |
Invisible Woman
1st App |
The Thing
1st App |
Human Torch
1st App |
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| Villains/Antagonists |
- Mole Man
- Monsters of Monster Isle
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The Mole Man (Harvey Elder), was a nuclear engineer with genius-level intellect, who felt rejected by society due to his unusual appearance. He left society and found the entrance to an underground world where he was able to dominate and make himself ruler over various Subterranean creatures and races. |
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1st App of Mole Man |
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 Mole Man (FF#1) From FF #1 |
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Monsters of Monster Isle |
 Monsters of Monster Isle (Fantastic Four #1) |
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| References
To other Marvel Issues
& Notes |
- None
- As this is literally the first issue in what would become Marvel’s Silver Age (i.e. the birth of the Marvel Comics Universe), there are no references or citations to other comics.
- It is interesting to note, however, that the code name chosen by Johnny Storm is identical to a character from Marvel’s Golden Age, the (original) Human Torch. No reference is made to the fact that there was another superhero by that name some two decades earlier. The original Human Torch would later become a part of the new Marvel Comics Universe, along with continuity connecting the original Timely and Marvel comics to the new Silver Age.
- Stan Lee sought to do something different with this new superhero team, and instructed Jack Kirby to NOT draw them as wearing superhero costumes. This changed in FF #3, when the team debuts their new blue and white uniforms. Interestingly, the astronaut suits they wear in FF #1 sport the blue and white motif we later see in their original costumes
- While not explicitly stated in the text, the battle between Mole Man’s monster and the French troops in French Africa must have included fatalities among the soldiers. We see the monster’s giant hand crushing a French tank, and it is hard to imagine that the crew managed to bail out first.
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| Tropes and Memes |
- Early Marvel comics often used familiar tropes and themes. In FF #1, we see the mad scientist trope combined with the rampaging monster trope, plus an atomic age trope in the casual use of atomic technology in this issue, and the tried and true, space age trope as we see our heroes rocket into space.
- We also see the first Silver Age use of the “he/she seems to have died, but may have survived somehow,” trope. Mole Man supposedly got blown up at the end, but Reed Richards suspects Mole Man may return.
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| Next Appearances |
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| Fantastic Four |
FF #2 |
The FF returns in their second issue and they encounter the alien Skrulls. |
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| Mole Man |
FF #22 |
Mole Man returns, and his Moloid followers are introduced in this issue. |
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| Key Words
Characters |
Fantastic Four, (team) Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards), Invisible Girl (Susan Storm), The Thing (Ben Grimm), The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Mole Man (Harvey Elder), Monsters of Monster Isle |
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| Key Words
Tropes/Themes |
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- Mad Scientist trope
- The Rampaging Monster trope
- Atomic Age trope
- Space Age trope
- “He/she seems to have died, but may have survived somehow” trope
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- Text and analysis, © History Guy Media.
- Images copyright of Marvel. Use of images is permissible by Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
- Images care of Marvel Unlimited.
- Information found at Marvel Fandom Database referenced in this work.
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