Yesterday, I finally got around to getting my kids’ library cards set up in Hoopla on their iPads, and now they are reading old Captain America and Spiderman comics.
While checking out Hoopla’s comics selection—it’s actually quite good—I noticed that they have a collection of the original run of Fantastic Four. I have read maybe two Fantastic Four issues in my entire life, so I checked it out for myself and have been reading it for the last day.
I kind of love how dysfunctional they are in the early issues. Maybe this continues throughout the series, but every few pages so far, one of them is pissed off at one or all of the others. Johnny Storm seems like an immature jerk (he’s supposed to be a teenager, I think, so that makes sense), and Ben Grimm is constantly resentful at having been turned into the Thing and has some serious anger-management issues.
Some other random observations so far:
- Considering how big a deal the Skrulls end up becoming in the Marvel universe, they are pretty pathetic in their initial introduction.
- I know he has a long history in Marvel comics and its precursors, but I will never, ever be able to take Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner seriously. Dude with funny eyebrows and a receding hairline running around in his briefs, with a pretty random assortment of powers that make no sense. Also, why does he have wings on his ankles?
- Reed Richards seems like a know-it-all.
- Dr. Doom is pretty great. I guess all the Latveria stuff comes later? So far, he just seems like a mad-scientist type who is also into the magic. Even with his shark-painted helicopter, he still manages to be an impressively menacing villain.
Between reading this stuff myself and the kids getting into comics, I am considering re-upping the Marvel Unlimited subscription that I let lapse a few years ago.