Friday, July 11, 2025

Ironically Iconic Images from Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 5 - the 1973 to 1975 era

Happy 7/11 Day, aka Slurpee Day!

1977 Hulk cup

Most of my early comic book purchases were made at the 7-11 in Colonial Heights, VA, near my hometown of Matoaca. Two of them were quite significant and memorable:

#1) I was flipping through a comic in the backseat of our Chevy Impala (it's a wonder I didn't get sick!) on the way to said store where I first saw the House Ad for Godzilla #1.  And lo and behold, when I arrived, it was there right on the spinner rack! Truly, one the most thrilling comic book purchases in all my 48 years of collecting (only a few months at that time).  A couple of years ago (2023) at the Baltimore Comic-Con I discovered an artist (Doctor Chopper) who creates 3D art from comic book clippings. He had one of that very same House Ad, which now is proudly displayed in my study along with some other Godzilla collectibles.  Whenever my granddaughter, Athena, comes over I sing her the theme song from the 1978 cartoon and we count all the Godzilla's (figures and comic images) in the room:

Up from the depths

Thirty stories high

Breathes Fire

His Head in the Sky 

Godzilla, Godzilla, Godzilla ...

And Godzoooooooky!

If you want to know, I currently have ten. (And eight year old me liked the cartoon much better than 55-year old me.)


 
Only 8 are shown in this photo.

Blogger get your stinkin' Times New Roman paws out of my post! I want to use Arial, not to be confused with Ariel.

#2) Now, I have an underdeveloped jaw, which is probably why I'm quickly developing a turkey-neck in my advanced years (I hate it!).  So when I was young, the dentist said I had to get six adult teeth removed to make room for my remaining teeth to drop.  They had to put me under to perform the oral surgery.  I was promised by my mother that I would be able to buy one comic for each tooth!  She knew what motivated me. (It would've been $2.10 before tax [6 @ 35 cents] or $10.67 in 2025 dollars.)  So, after counting backwards as I began to breath the gas, the next thing I remember is my mother and sister walking me out the back door of the dentist office.  I think I was around 8 years old.  Not only could I barely walk, but I was still in a post anesthetic fog where my vision (and brain) wasn't fully cleared yet.  However, I was bound and determined that I would pick out my comics that day before we went home.  And we did.  Probably the closest time I've ever been to being in a semi-drunken stupor (I'm a teetotaller).  I was going through those spinner racks (there were usually two) trying to find something I wanted/needed. (The image in my head is similar to the vaseline covered lens of a Dark Shadows dream sequence - my peripheral vision was nonexistent.)   And wouldn't you know, I have no rememberance of what I got that day!

But that's not what I had decided to write about this morning.  More after the jump break...

After a brief (and I mean brief) pause, I resumed my Fantastic Four reading again.  I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 5, which consists of MMW FF #13, #14, and #15 (and a bit of #12), ranging from issues #126 thru #163.  Not having a working vehicle some days (my 2003 GMC Safari van has been sidelined in the driveway for a couple of months as we await funds for a repair) leaves me a lot of extra reading time when I'm done with work for the week.  What struck me is that there are a lot of iconic images from the 1973 to 1975 era, ones that showed up in other non-traditional comic merchandise in the mid to late '70s.  

I take the dust jacket off because I have to read this heavy thing on my lap!


First up is issue #126, which is the first homage to/recreation of the cover of FF #1.  It includes a retelling of their origin.  A slightly modified version of this comic was one of the Power Records offerings, which I'm pretty sure I picked up at my first-grade book fair.  You can always tell where they've rewritten some dialogue by the larger/different style font.  This was mostly done to keep the book as a stand-alone story, expunging any references to previous stories, or to make it more youth-friendly, or for a more dramatic portrayal.  I can't tell you how many times I read/heard this comic (it was a lot), and thanks to the internet, you can too here!





The back cover, which graced all the Marvel superhero records, largely comes from the splash page that immediately came after the origin sequence.  This was also used as one of the 1977 Marvel Slurpee cups.




Next, we have issue #143, which features a great FF vs. Doctor Doom cover, with one exception.  That's not the Invisible Girl, it's Medusa!  Sue was separated from Reed and would file for divorce in a few issues because (in #141) he made Frankin a vegetable (he didn't turn him into broccoli; he turned off his brain) to keep him from blowing up the world!  This cover would be repurposed for the Stan Lee Presents The Fantastic Four Pocket Book (1977).  Only they replaced "Red" with Sue!  That's my original copy, shown below; you can tell by how well-loved it is.  Unfortunately, those books are unreadable even with glasses at my age, way too small!!  The thing is, I never knew of the switch until just the other day, mainly because my collection was a bit incomplete for much of this run, and I'm still missing some issues.  It was one of the reasons why I decided to read this Omnibus.


"Can you feel the love?"

As produced by "60 Minutes"!

Non-bold or circled numbers are issues I need.

Finally, we have issue #159.  This is a cover I saw a lot of because it was the image on my spiral-bound Mead notebook (see #8 here), where I have some of my earliest drawings. (Alex Ross, eat your heart out!).  I really hope I remember where it is!  Alas, it's the only one I didn't find.  When I do, I'll update the post with more pictures.  Such a bummer.


Years ago, I wrote a few MMW FF reviews for ComicsAnd (#17 & #18), which included a picture of my beloved MEGO Human Torch and The Thing.  Just this week, the Disney Store released new versions of all four figures!  Sadly, they sold out immediately (again).  Now, if someone happens to be going by a Disney park, you might be able to find one for me in the wild...  Of note: is the use of the Centered "arch" FF Logo, one of the best in my opinion, although the four-circle-headed version is my favorite. 

So, these are all iconic images for me.  And it makes sense that they would be used in products because they would've been "recent" when the items were produced.  What makes them ironically iconic is that it was a non-traditional time for the FF.  Sue was off the team, the Human Torch was "naked" (no shorts lines) and wears red, Medusa was a member (99% of the time wearing her mask) [she joined per Black Bolt's decree not because they asked], Women's Lib, Ben is his most teddy-bearish,  Reed is at his most defeated, they were encountering a lot of B-string villains (one with a hockey get-up), etc.  As shown below, there's even a big deal of Johnny getting a more modern haircut.  We're on the cusp of everything still being in "real" time (versus Marvel time), with months actually being months, and Ben had still been in World War II.



Bonus: Johnny goes to see his old girlfriend, Dorrie Evans.

I'm not objective enough to say these are subpar stories, because I had a scattering of issues from this era (only now reading them in complete context), and I'm still having fun reading them.  From the letter's pages (something the Omnis have over the Masterworks), many fans were also really digging the changes.  I liked the two-part Fabulous 50's Shaper of Worlds issues, even if the analogy was somewhat over the top.  And Rich Buckler comes aboard doing his best impression of Kirby (see his great Silver Surfer page below); the fans were becoming the creators. As Gerry Conway says in one of the forewords, they were making comics that they would've wanted to read as a kid. But they kept things going, and while mildly weird from today's perspective, you can't argue with the fact that it worked!  And this was the era where The Thing got to star in his own title (Marvel Two-In-One), which lasted 100 issues.  I really hope they capture Ben's dialogue well in the new movie, because it's probably my favorite aspect of his character.

from #156

I'm seeing the James Gunn Superman movie this afternoon, with a whole slew of Superman books to read waiting in the queue.  Will Supes muscle out the FF in my reading priority?  Time will tell...



 

 

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