To make their new team stand out, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had tried to eliminate as many of the conventional trappings of superheroes as possible, including costumes.
But reader response informed Lee that costumes were a must, so he quickly corrected course.
And that’s why the cover of the third issue became irresistible to me. These were clearly superheroes with colorful uniforms, a bucket-like flying car, an orange monster pal (At 7, I loved the color orange) and, best of all, a flying, flaming teenager with an intriguingly blank face.
I’d never heard of the Golden Age Human Torch who’d inspired this one, and I was inclined to love any hero who could fly.
Inside, even more fun — heroes with a cool array of super powers, an apparently omnipotent, Mandrake-like caped villain commanding a giant monster, a team headquarters in a skyscraper (complete with diagram), a “Fantasticar” that could split into four separate flying sections, a rocket helicopter.
Everything a boy could want for his dime.
“Miracle Man is shown to be incredibly overpowered,” observed the Comics Archeology web site. “Although since this is VERY early in the team’s career, it’s not that hard to be more powerful. If THAT gets the Thing mad, just wait until he meets the Hulk or Thor.”
The stage magician get-up should have been a tip-off to readers. The Miracle Man essentially WAS a villainous version of Mandrake, the successful newspaper strip hero St. Louis-born Lee Falk had introduced in 1934.
Early on, Mandrake’s magical powers had been real, making him effectively omnipotent — just like the Miracle Man. Seeing the dramatic problem inherent in that, Falk shifted the character so that he only used super-hypnosis to seem omnipotent — just like the Miracle Man.
Mark Engblom wrote:
ReplyDeleteDespite the shifting details and veracity of the FF’s publishing genesis, it’s clear that it was an edict from Martin Goodman (Stan’s boss) to create something emulating the success of DC’s Justice League.
As such, I would think it much more likely that Goodman (rather than fan letters) pushed Stan further to give the FF proper superhero trappings. Though I don’t doubt they received fan feedback (even at that extremely early point in Marvel’s new direction), it doesn’t seem likely Stan would go “all in” based on (likely) a few letters. Much more likely would be the pattern most of the histories bear out: Goodman, notorious copycat publisher wanting his own JLA, didn’t see enough similarity by issue #2 and pushed Stan to make it even more like the competition’s hit super team.
I replied:
Maybe. But Stan paid a lot of attention to letters, so either theory might be correct. Also, Stan was probably already sensitive to the idea that eliminating TOO many superhero conventions would cost them sales.
Stan Lee: "In the first issue of the Fantastic Four, I didn’t have them wear costumes. I received a ton of mail from fans saying that they loved the book, but they wouldn’t buy another issue unless we gave the characters costumes. I didn’t need a house to fall on me to realize that — for whatever reason — fans love costumed heroes."
Bob Doncaster wrote;
ReplyDeleteI used to love those diagrams like the Baxter Building, the Batcave and Challengers Mountain.
ReplyDeleteMichael Fraley wrote:
Those early "real magic" Mandrake stories were so much fun. Just unbridled strangeness. Like Flash Gordon and Popeye during that same period, I assume it got a creative vasectomy, courtesy of Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Bud Sagendorf remembered Segar's foul mood when he got the note to tame down Popeye and make the old salt "nice."
Jorge Cook wrote:
ReplyDeleteI like your post, Dan, it took me back in a very good way. Funny how I can remember those days more clearly than yesterday. Maybe I have more reason to remember them, they were always new and full of wondrous surprises!
Thanks Dan.