Fantastic Four:First Family Digest

Back in 2005 Marvel comics put a series of black and white digest that usually reprinted 3 issues. I had heard nothing about this but on a trip to my local comic shop I saw them up by the register. They were only a buck so I picked up 2. Got home flipped through them and realized these would be something great to add to my treat bags I give out on Halloween. So I went back and bought about 20 of each of the digest the shop had.

This digest is titled Fantastic Four:First Family. And it is black and white reprints of the first 3 issues of the FF series from the 60's. The cover is a reprint of the now classic cover to FF#1. The first issue we get two stories. The first story is the now well known origin of the FF. Reed Richards,Ben Grim, Sue and Johnny Storm go up into space in a spaceship of Reed's design. Well turns out the shielding on the ship isn't good enough. And they all get a huge does of radiation. The ship crashes back on Earth and they each discover they had developed super powers. The second story in this issue is all about the Mole Man attacking New York city. And this is were the image on the cover comes from. For some reason this reprint doesn't give the credits. But I know the story is by Stan Lee and the art is by the great Jack Kirby. While the artwork is good it isn't as good as the later Kirby artwork on the Fantastic Four series. But this issue is a good overall introduction to the team.

The second issue has the FF facing off against the alien race the Skrulls. This is the first appearence of the Skrulls. They are a race of aliens that can shift their shape into anyone. So the Skrulls start off impersonating the FF and causing all kinds of trouble. At the end of the story Reed hypnotizes the Skrulls and they change into some cows and forget that they are Skrulls. This storyline is later used as the basis for the great Skrull Kill Krew mini from the mid 90s. Kirby's art on this issue is a huge improvement on the first issue.

The final issue in this digest is a reprint of the third issue of the Fantastic Four.In this issue we get the first appearence of the Fantasti-car and also it is the first time the FF get their now familiar costumes. Outta the three issues in this digest this is my favorite cause they fight the Miracle Man. Who has always been a villian I enjoy. The FF first meet the Miracle Man when he is doing a stage show. And it seems he is all powerfull and can do almost anything. But after he goes on a crime spree,Reed figures out Miracle Man's secret and the FF quickly disposes of him.

As far as I know this digest plus two others are the only ones Marvel did. I have no idea why cause these are a great cheap way to introduce new readers to some of the classic Marvel silver age stories. Fantastic Four:First Family gets a B+.