Episode 60 – Fantastic Four Part 1: The Early Years

In this episode, Curt and Kevin launch into a four-episode deep dive into the world's greatest comic magazine, The Fantastic Four, with a look at three key stories from the 1960s and 70s! First up, it's the book that started it all (and gave birth to the Marvel Universe): Fantastic Four #1! Who are these mysterious figures who answer a strange signal in the sky? Where and how did they get their fantastic abilities? And when bizarre monsters attack atomic plants across the globe, can they stop the reclusive Mole Man from destroying the surface world? Next, it's a race against time in Fantastic Four Annual #6! Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm must brave the outlandish antimatter universe known as the Negative Zone to save the life of Susan Richards and her unborn child. But can they survive the murderous warlord Annihilus and his dreaded Arena of Execution? After that, it's on to the swingin' 70s for Fantastic Four #140-141! Annihilus is back, and he's got Susan and the Richards' young son Franklin in his deadly clutches! To save the universe, Reed Richards pays a terrible price, resulting in The End of the Fantastic Four! Do these fantastic fables have the pedigree to join that First Family of fabulous funnybooks known as … The Comics Canon? Things Discussed in This Episode: Incredibles 2 Has the MCU been trolling us? Jack Kirby at the height of his powers The iffy science of the Negative Zone Reed Richards' bizarre defense of Sue in FF #11 IS this the World's Greatest Comic Magazine? FF#141's cameo in The Ice Storm The problem with following the FF blueprint Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius Black Science Marvel Two-in-One The Terrifics Join us in two weeks as we time-travel into the 1980s for a look at two titanic figures—John Byrne and the world-devouring Galactus—in Fantastic Four #242-244 and #261-262! Until then, please rate us on iTunes, send us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, and we may read your comments in an upcoming episode. And as always, thanks for listening!