Fantastic Four #11 – Review

By: Matt Fraction and Christopher Sebela (writers), Mark Bagley (penciler), Joe Rubinstein (inker), Paul Mounts (colorist)

The Story: With time running out for Reed, Sue, and Ben, the Fantastic Four find themselves caught between the future and the past – more literally than you’d think.

The Review: The Fantastic Four are known as the first family of comics, but those who haven’t visited the Baxter Building lately might not know how apt the moniker is. Reed has just come clean to the rest of the team about his, and by extension their, condition and Valeria is having a hard time accepting it. Mind you that being Reed Richard’s daughter doesn’t do much to teach you your limits, but, though the issue focuses on seemingly reasonable attempts to reverse the disorder, Fraction and Sebela write Valeria’s uncertainty brilliantly. Small strokes paint a picture, revealing the stakes if she should fail and the pain of a child who doesn’t quite know that their parents will be there tomorrow.

Other characters get comparatively less attention. Some, like Ben, need to be a little more substantive, but Fraction is clearly able to do a lot with a little and things like Johnny’s relationships come through strongly, even when he’s not in the scene.

Fittingly for the Fantastic Four, there’s plenty of big ideas and science. At times the, admittedly considered, time travel jargon can be a bit dense, and I wouldn’t fault anyone for getting lost in Valeria’s plans. Time travel is often a hard genre to follow and, though the writers have some interesting ways of bringing new things to the table, the cost of such innovation is a lack of clarity in some places.

This ambiguity also extends to the storytelling in a few key places. Franklin’s struggles in particular come kind of out of nowhere and disappear without much explanation beyond ‘he’s Franklin Richards’. The time bomb also threw me, sending me scurrying back to previous pages to check if I missed something.

My Day With Gene Colan & Friends

Today, I had the honor of meeting artist Gene Colan and legendary inkers Steve Leialoha and Joe Rubenstein at Lee’s Comics in Mountain View, California. As many of you may or may not know, Gene Colan is one of the key artists behind the early runs of Iron Man, Daredevil, Howard the Duck, and Tomb of Dracula.

It’s been troubling over the last decade with the loss of many golden and silver age artists. And we almost lost Gene this year when he fell very ill. In fine fashion, however, the comic industry rallied around Gene and raised money to get him through his time of need.

Well, I’m very happy to report that Gene not only appeared healthy today, but energetic as well. I can’t begin to convey how great it was to see him around adoring fans and peers. Steve Leialoha and Joe Rubenstein have both inked over his pencils in the past and they had nothing but great things to say about him. Many thanks to the Lee’s Comics staff, Lee Hester, and Chandler Rice for coordinating a fun-filled event. It’s one I won’t soon forget.

– J. Montes

Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko – Review

By Blake Bell

Blake Bell’s history of artist Steve Ditko’s career begins with a seemingly prophetic story from Fantastic Fear # 5 (1953). Lawrence Dawson is a bed-bound invalid whose meager self-worth cripples him into hatred for the world. When a new drug allows him to live a normal life (which subsequently imbues him with super-elastic powers), Dawson chooses to seek revenge on the world and take the fortunes that are apparently “owed” to him. His elastic condition, however, becomes too much to control, leaving Dawson to steal the only cure and impetuously killing the only man who can help him. In the end, Dawson, because of his haste, avarice, and egocentricity, literally liquefies himself. This is Ditko’s very first published work.

Many argue that Ditko’s departure from Marvel Comics in 1965 was the result of a man tired of not getting recognition for his work, and who sought, disastrously, to attain the fortune “owed” to him. Bell elucidates the situation and takes the reader back to a time before red and blue tights and big city lights, to a small Pennsylvania mining town and bespectacled young man. The Ditko family was a modest but loving home, filled with encouragement for the family talent: drawing. From an early age, Steve Ditko was raised on comics that were cut from the newspaper and sewn together into a clothe-bound book by his mother

Despite this love and encouragement, Ditko remained shy. Bell relates a story where Ditko returned home for the holidays after moving to New York City as a illustrator. Always committed to meeting his deadline, he worked in his parent’s kitchen on a breadboard, basking in the company of his immediate family. Yet, when one of his cousins or other relatives would enter the room, he would become noticeably uncomfortable.

Bell notes other awkward reactions. While sharing a studio with fetish artist Eric Stanton from 1958 to 1968, Ditko inked a few of Stanton’s seedy stories. If it weren’t for Ditko’s immeasurable inking style, no one would be the wiser. Whenever he would be confronted with the Stanton material, which was unaccredited, the artist denied his affiliation with it outright. On one occasion, Ditko rebuffed an inquiry made by fellow artist Joe Rubenstien, saying: “No I didn’t… There’s no proof.”

Ditko’s rejection of the erotic work may simply be out of embarrassment or possibly his Objectivist beliefs. Heavily influenced by the works of Ayn Rand, Ditko reasoned that his work at Marvel Comics in 1965, namely the incredibly successful Spider-Man, was insufficiently respected and compensated by the company. He demanded, as Bell notes, for proper creative credit and more pay even before the “King of Comics”, Jack Kirby, dared to do so. His departure from the company was intended to find better pay and greater autonomy in comics; he found the latter, but at the cost of the former.

Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko is an effervescently written history about this peculiar and tremendously talented writer and artist. With additions of reprinted strips and un-inked pages, Bell strips away the heavily shaded corners of this man’s life and helps the reader better understand him. Unlike his first published character Lawrence Dawson, Ditko hasn’t melted into the carpet; through his amazing comics and struggle for artists’ rights, he is far from dripping away into nothingness. (Grade: A)

–Steven M. Bari