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Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine
Not Rated
Documentary
This documentary we learn a little about Marvel Comics in the early Sixties and the development of the Fantastic Four and its characters. We hear about the work of Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the addition of new characters like the Silver Surfer, Kirby's departure from Marvel in 1970 and the influence of other writers and artists on the series, and changes over the decades.
06-05-2007
59 min
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Key Crew
Producer:
Jon Mefford
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Chris Claremont
Christopher S. "Chris" Claremont is a British-born American comic book writer and novelist, known for his 1975–1991 stint on Uncanny X-Men, far longer than that of any other writer, during which he is credited with developing strong female characters, and with introducing complex literary themes into superhero narratives, turning the once underachieving comic into one of Marvel’s most popular series.
Steve Englehart (/ˈɛŋɡəlhɑːrt/; born April 22, 1947) is an American writer of comic books and novels. He is best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s. His pseudonyms have included John Harkness and Cliff Garnett.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Steve Englehart, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917–February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learnt to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.
After serving in the European Theatre in World War II, Kirby produced work for DC Comics, Harvey Comics, Hillman Periodicals, and other publishers. At Crestwood Publications, he and Simon created the genre of romance comics and later founded their own short-lived comic company, Mainline Publications. Kirby was involved in Timely's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, which in the next decade became Marvel. There, in the 1960s, Kirby cocreated many of the company's major characters, including Ant-Man, the Avengers, the Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, the Silver Surfer, Thor, and the X-Men, among many others. Kirby's titles garnered high sales and critical acclaim, but in 1970, feeling he had been treated unfairly, largely in the realm of authorship credit and creators' rights, Kirby left the company for rival DC.
At DC, Kirby created his Fourth World saga, which spanned several comic titles. While these series proved commercially unsuccessful and were cancelled, the Fourth World's New Gods have continued as a significant part of the DC Universe. Kirby returned to Marvel briefly in the mid-to-late 1970s and then ventured into television animation and independent comics. In his later years, Kirby, who has been called "the William Blake of comics," began receiving great recognition in the mainstream press for his career accomplishments, and in 1987 he was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. In 2017, Kirby was posthumously named a Disney Legend for his creations not only in the field of publishing but also because those creations formed the basis for The Walt Disney Company's financially and critically successful media franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Kirby was married to Rosalind Goldstein in 1942. They had four children and remained married until his death from heart failure in 1994, at the age of 76. The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honour, and he is known as "The King" among comics fans for his many influential contributions to the medium.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jack Kirby, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Jim Lee (born August 11, 1964) is a Korean-American world-renowned comic-book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He is currently the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey Award, Inkpot Award, and three Wizard Fan Awards.
Known for his incredibly detailed and dynamic artistic style, Lee is one of the most revered and respected artists in American comics. A veritable legend in the industry, he has received numerous accolades and recognition for his work, including the Harvey Special Award for New Talent in 1990, the Inkpot Award in 1992, and the Wizard Fan Award in 1996, 2002 and 2003.
Prior to his current post at DCE, Lee served as Editorial Director, where he oversaw WildStorm Studios and was also the artist for many of DC Comics' bestselling comic books and graphic novels, including ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER, BATMAN: HUSH, and SUPERMAN: FOR TOMORROW. He also serves as the Executive Creative Director for the DC Universe Online (DCUO) massively multiplayer action game from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE).
Jim Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1964 but moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri when he was young. After graduating cum laude with a BA in Psychology from Princeton University in 1986, he started his professional career at Marvel Comics where his work on the X-Men continues to hold the all-time sales record for single-issue sales at an incredible 8 million copies sold in one month.
In 1992, he started his own production company, WildStorm Productions, and co-founded Image Comics, an independent comics company that quickly grew to become the third largest North American publisher. Two of his creations, WILDCATS and GEN 13, saw life beyond comics as a CBS Saturday morning cartoon and as a DTV animated movie distributed by Disney, respectively. In 1998, DC Comics purchased WildStorm Productions and Lee left Image Comics to join the DC Entertainment creative team.
In 2010, Titan Books released the 300-page artbook of Jim Lee’s DC Comics work titled ICONS: THE DC & WILDSTORM ART OF JIM LEE. In 2011, Lee was integral in the launch of DC Entertainment’s NEW 52 initiative, designing the new, more contemporary costumes for some of the DC universe’s most iconic characters, including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber /ˈliːbər/; December 28, 1922–November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics, which later became Marvel Comics. He was Marvel's primary creative leader for two decades, expanding it from a small publishing house division to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries.
In collaboration with others at Marvel—particularly co-writers and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko—he co-created iconic characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, the Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow. These and other characters' introductions in the 1960s pioneered a more naturalistic approach in superhero comics. In the 1970s, Lee challenged the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority, indirectly leading to changes in its policies. In the 1980s, he pursued the development of Marvel properties in other media, with mixed results.
Following his retirement from Marvel in the 1990s, Lee remained a public figurehead for the company. He frequently made cameo appearances in films and television shows based on Marvel properties, on which he received an executive producer credit, which allowed him to become the person with the highest-grossing film total ever. He continued independent creative ventures until his death, aged 95, in 2018. Lee was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. He received the NEA's National Medal of Arts in 2008.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Stan Lee, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
George Pérez (/ˈpɛrɛz/; June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling The Avengers for Marvel Comics, and returned to the franchise in the 1990s. In the 1980s he penciled The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics' top-selling series. He penciled DC's landmark limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, followed by relaunching Wonder Woman as both writer and penciller for the rebooted series. In the meantime, he worked on other comics published by Marvel, DC, and other companies into the 2010s. He was known for his detailed and realistic rendering, and his facility with complex crowd scenes.
Description above from the Wikipedia article George Pérez, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
John Victor Romita Sr. (January 24, 1930 – June 12, 2023) was an American comic book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man and for co-creating characters including Mary Jane Watson, the Punisher, and Wolverine. Romita is the father of John Romita Jr., also a comic book artist and husband of Virginia Romita, for many years Marvel's traffic manager.
His first comics work was in 1949 as a ghost artist for Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel, through which Romita met editor-in-chief Stan Lee. In 1951, Romita began drawing horror, war, and romance comics for Atlas Comics (previously Timely), and also drew his first superhero work, a 1950s revival of Captain America. He began working exclusively for DC Comics from 1958–1965 and was the artist for many of their romance comics. During these years, Romita further developed his ability to draw beautiful women, which he later became well-known for.
Romita joined Marvel in 1965, initially drawing Daredevil comics. In 1966, Spider-Man artist and co-creator Steve Ditko left Marvel, and Romita was chosen by writer Lee as the new artist for The Amazing Spider-Man title. Within a year of Romita becoming the Spider-Man artist, The Amazing Spider-Man rose from Marvel's second-best-selling title to the company's top-seller. Romita brought a new romance style to Spider-Man comics that soon became the new house style for the character. In June 1973, Romita was promoted to Marvel's art director and heavily influenced the look of Marvel comics throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002.
Description above from the Wikipedia article John Romita Sr., licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in Lubbock, Texas, Alex made his artistic debut at three when, according to his mother, he grabbed a piece of paper and drew the contents of a television commercial he'd seen moments before. By age 13 he was scripting and drawing original comic books. Ten years later? He was hired by Marvel Comics to illustrate Marvel's central characters in the comic book event, Marvels (1994).
Having established himself creatively and financially with superhero projects, Ross turned to the real world with Uncle Sam, a 96-page story that took a hard look at the dark side of American history. Like Marvels, the individual issues of Uncle Sam were collected into a single volume - first in hardcover, then in paperback - and remain in print today. Ross would eventually go on to win the Comic Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Painter. He won so many times that the award was officially retired.
Alex's work has celebrated the 60th anniversaries of Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman with fully painted, tabloid-sized books, depicting each of these characters using their powers to inspire humanity as well as help them.
In recent years, Ross has applied his artistic skills to outside projects with comic book roots, including a limited-edition promotional poster for the Academy Awards. In 2015, Alex was chosen by Apple Corps LTD to be commissioned as the first artist in over 30 years to paint the Fab Four. Driven by the Beatles legendary music and inspired by the generation's new trends in art, "Yellow Submarine" is a classic of animated cinema. Alex has often been referred to as 'the Norman Rockwell of comics' yet his "Yellow Submarine" piece reveals the similarly powerful influence of master surrealist Salvador Dali, whom Alex has also recognized as a guiding influence on his style.
Forty years ago, Spider-Man learned that with great power comes great responsibility. Looking at Alex Ross, it's obvious the lesson took.
Looking back, it makes perfect sense that Alex Ross would become one of the world's most preeminent and well-respected comic book artists. It's a job he's been preparing for nearly all his life.
Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz (born May 3, 1958) is an American artist known for his work in comic books—particularly for Marvel Comics' New Mutants, Moon Knight, and Elektra: Assassin. He is the co-creator of the character David Haller/Legion, the basis for the FX television series Legion.
Sienkiewicz's work in the 1980s was considered revolutionary in mainstream US comics due to his highly stylized art that verged on abstraction and made use of oil painting, photorealism, collage, mimeograph, and other forms generally uncommon in comic books.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Sienkiewicz, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Walter Simonson (born September 2, 1946) is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' Thor from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned work Star Slammers, which he inaugurated in 1972 as a Rhode Island School of Design thesis. He has also worked on other Marvel titles such as X-Factor and Fantastic Four, on DC Comics books including Detective Comics, Manhunter, Metal Men, and Orion, and on licensed properties such as Star Wars, Alien, Battlestar Galactica, and Robocop vs. Terminator.
Simonson has won numerous awards for his work and has influenced artists such as Arthur Adams and Todd McFarlane.
He is married to comics writer Louise Simonson, with whom he collaborated as a penciller on X-Factor from 1986 to 1989.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Walter Simonson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer best known for his work on DC Comics titles The Flash, Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright as well as his work on Captain America, Fantastic Four and Daredevil for Marvel. Other comics publishers he has done work for include Fantagraphics, Event, Top Cow, Dynamite, and Archie Comics.
From August 2007 to December 2010, Waid served as Editor-in-Chief and later Chief Creative Officer of Boom! Studios, where he also published his creator-owned series Irredeemable and Incorruptible.
In October 2018, Waid joined Humanoids Publishing as Director of Creative Development before being promoted to Publisher in February 2020.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Mark Waid, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Leonard Norman Wein (/wiːn/; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
