Fantastic Four Sketchafex Gallery

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Last Updated: April 23, 2012 ...

  • Page 5: Inhumans page - added team sketch

Fantastic Four themed pages consisting of mainly RA sketchafexes from RA's CA, WoM and FFA releases.

For this web site, I have found it better to scan the entire 9-pocket (a.k.a. page), rather than to put each sketch up as an individual scan. Besides for those of you who know me, I am very obsessive about how my pages are arranged .

Currently I have 11 "full" pages of RA's FF-related sketchafexes. Below, I give a brief summary of what is in each page, just to the right of the thumbnail for that page.

Note: Click the thumbnail to open a new window to see a larger-size view of the page.

Table 9: Fantastic Four related Sketchafex Cards

Fantastic Four Page 1

Page 1: The Team

To me, this page has what could be considered scenes from various FF issues:

  1. FF#1 - Four Hands together
  2. FF#1 - portion of cover where the monster has Sue
  3. FF#3 - First Appearance of the Fantasti-car
  4. FF#? - Any issue with a Group drawing
  5. FF#50 - This could be considered a team portrait from FF #50. Reed is holding the 'Ultimate Nullifier', and is ready to hand it to The Watcher after using it to defeat Galactus
  6. FF#84 - FF goes to Latveria to confront Dr Doom. There were probably many issues where FF went to Latveria, but #84 - 86 stands-out to me
  7. FF#85 - Doom battles Reed
  8. FF#85 - Doom defeats the team
  9. FF#260 - portion of cover where Sue finds Doom's Mask

Fantastic Four Page 2

Page 2: Reed and Sue Richards

This page highlights the "happy" couple, though "nerdy"Reed appears to be getting Sue upset at him again (slot 4).   When I first saw the samples for the Complete Avengers sketches available, I liked this David Day "Sue in Force Field" sketch (slot 6), so I was pleased when I pulled it.

Slot 2 shows Reed's father, Nathaniel Richards (FF #272) whom supposedly died when Reed was young. Actually, he had created a dimensional and time travel machine, and left this reality. In his time travels, he is believed to have fathered Kang.

Row 3 highlights their son Franklin (slot 8) (whom was born during the SA-era, FF Annual #6). Agatha Harkness (slot 7) who is a "witch" became Franklin's nanny/protector in FF #94. H.E.R.B.I.E. (slot 9) is not a SA-era character having been created by Byrne in FF #209. I thought HERBIE was created as a playmate for Franklin, but now having read #209, I realize now I was mistaken.

Fantastic Four Page 3

Page 3: Johnny Storm

This page highlights the Human Torch, as seen in slots 1 & 2.

Slots 3 - 6 show the Torch with some common pairings ...

  • FF#4 - Torch vs. Namor
  • tormenting the Thing
  • first meeting of Wyatt Wingfoot and Johnny, as his college room-mates at Empire State University (FF#50). Wingfoot was one of the first American Indians to appear as a hero in comics.
  • I particularly like the slot 6 sketch by Simons which looks very Kirby-ish, of the Torch battling Spidey. Those two both being sometimes-loner teenagers, often "feuded" when meeting in the streets of NYC

Row 3 shows three of Johnny's lovers:

  • Crystal is the elemental Inhuman, whom he first met (in FF#45) and fell in love with. She later also became a member of the FF replacing Sue during her first pregnancy.
  • Nova (Frankie Raye) (FF#244) started out as a girl-friend of Johnny (FF#164), until she was give the Power Cosmic by Galactus, and acted as one of Galctus' heralds.
  • Lyja is a Skrull who first appears in FF#265, impersonating Alicia Masters, and eventually marrying Johnny. They have a long on-and-off again relationship. Her first appearance as Lyja Lazer-fist is FF#357.

Fantastic Four Page 4

Page 4: Ben Grimm

This page highlights the Thing. The Thing in classic hat and trench coat (slot 2), is a sketch that has "sentimental value" to me. It was obtained for me by the late Tom Carter. He said when he saw it, he knew that I would like/want it because of the reference to Yancey Street, a place from SA-era issues of FF (such as #29). The sketch in slot 4 shows the Thing using his patented battle cry !! Then Namor proceeds to kick his butt in slot 5 .

Slot 3 shows the one love-of-his-life, Alicia Masters, the blind sculptress, and step-daughter of the Puppet Master.

I like the 3 Simons sketches in row 3 since they all have the Kirby-ish look to them. The Thor vs. Thing sketch is from their battle in FF #26.

Fantastic Four Page 5

Page 5: The Inhumans

This page highlights the Inhumans, which is to me one of the GREAT creations of Lee/Kirby during the SA. They created a whole world of super-beings, with their own history and culture. Technically the Inhumans were first introduced in FF #45, but Medusa and Gorgon had already been seen in earlier issues of FF.

The list of Inhumans is:

  1. Black Bolt, leader/King
  2. Medusa, wife of Black Bolt and Queen
  3. Crystal, sister of Medusa
  4. Maximus (the Mad), Black Bolt's insane/power-hungry brother
  5. Gorgon, cousin to Black Bolt
  6. Lockjaw, the Royal family's HUGE pet dog
  7. Triton, cousin to Black Bolt
  8. Karnak, cousin to Black Bolt, brother of Triton
  9. post-SA version of Inhumans

Fantastic Four Page 6

Page 6: Classic SA-era Villains

This page highlights what I consider to be some of the "classic" villains during the SA-era:

  1. Moleman (FF#1) was the FF's first foe, and has appeared often in FF lore
  2. Submarner (FF#4) was reintroduced to comics in the SA-era when Johnny found Namor in NYC looking like a bum. Johnny dropped him into the ocean reviving him of his memories. Namor and the FF would tangle often after that. Namor later became a semi-hero in the Marvel Universe.
  3. Dr. Doom (FF#5) is not only one of the great villains in FF universe, but all of comics !! Victor Von Doom and Reed Richards originally met as college room-mates (FF Annual #2); later to become long-time antagonists.
  4. Puppet Master (FF#8) uses radioactive clay to make puppets of people that he can then control. Though not wearing a costume, and not "as cool" as many comics villains, I consider him an important villain in FF lore.
  5. Super Skrull (FF#18) is able to mimic the powers of each of the FF.

    6. The Frightful Four (FF#36) was a team created to be the "Anti-FF".
  6. The Wizard, who first appeared in 'Strange Tales' #102, as a foe of the Torch, invented a hi-tech costume, and he became the leader of the Frightful Four
  7. Sandman was originally one of the first Spider-man foes (ASM #4) but was recruited by The Wizard to the team
  8. Medusa who had come to explore the world outside of Attilan (the Inhumans hidden world) suffered from amnesia, which allowed The Wizard to recruit her to the team
  9. The Trapster was originally known by the lame-name of Paste Pot Pete, who first appeared in 'Strange Tales' #104, also as a foe of the Torch.

Fantastic Four Page 7

Page 7: Obscure SA-era Villains

This page has what some would consider "obscure" villains, mainly because they made only a single or a couple of appearances in FF comics. But since these are villains I remember from my SA-era days, and esp. since Simons drew many of them the way they looked back then, I made a page of them

  1. The Red Ghost (FF#13)
  2. The Mad Thinker(FF#15)
    Note - the NKII model Android shown is from FF#70
  3. The Awesome Android (FF#15)
  4. Rama-Tut (FF#19), supposedly comes back from the future as Kang (Avengers #8)
  5. Molecule Man (FF#20)
  6. Diablo (FF#30)
  7. Dragon Man (FF#35)
  8. Klaw (FF#53)
  9. Psycho-Man (FF Annual#6)

Fantastic Four Page 8

Page 8: Cosmic Beings

This page highlights what I consider to be characters not from this planet !! Some would be considered heroes; some would be considered villains; and others are something "in-between" ?

  1. Silver Surfer (FF#48), first Herald of Galactus
  2. Galactus (FF#48)
  3. Uatu the Watcher (FF#13)
  4. Impossible Man(FF#11)
  5. HIM (later to become Adam Warlock) (FF#66)
  6. Paibok the Power Skrull (FF#358)
  7. Ronan the Accuser (FF#65) of the Kree Empire
  8. Annihilus (FF Annual#6) is from the Negative Zone
  9. Blastaar (FF#62) is also from the Negative Zone

Fantastic Four Page 9

Page 9: Guest Appearances - Heroes

This page shows some of the Marvel heroes which have made appearances in FF comics, esp. during the SA-era.

  1. Spider-Man (ASM#1) where he actually tried to join the FF, so his relationship with the FF started-off from "day one".
  2. Hulk (FF#12) and again in the classic FF's #25/26 where the Hulk battled the Thing, and even the Avengers made an appearance.
  3. Nick Fury (FF#21) before he was with SHIELD, worked in the CIA, and met with the FF regarding the threat of the Hate Monger
  4. Captain America (FF#26)
  5. Iron Man (FF#26)
  6. Dr. Strange (FF#27)
  7. Daredvil (FF#39/40) in a classic double-issue story ('And a Blind Man Shall Lead Them'), helps the blind FF retake the Baxter Buiding from Dr. Doom.
  8. Black Panther (FF#52)
  9. She-Hulk (FF#265) as a replacement for the Thing on the team

Fantastic Four Page 10

Page 10: FF#28 - FF vs. X-Men

This page represents one of my favorite childhood issues of FF. The Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker (with Awesome Android in tow) team-up to get Prof. X to order his X-Men to capture the FF. Simons seems to be the only artist that acknowledged this issue. He drew the X-Men as Kirby did for this issue, even drawing Marvel Girl with the style mask that Kirby used on that issue. Therefore, it was a no-brainer for me to attempt to get one each of the X-Men.

Fantastic Four Page 11

Page 11: The Legend Joe Sinnott

This page is to highlight the artwork of Silver Age era artist/inker Joe Sinnott. Since he does just head shots, and he is reported to have only done 49 sketches for FFA (making them rare and pricey ?), I was only planning on getting one for my FFA collection. But after seeing his penciled sketches for the 1998 MSA series (see my MSA Gallery 1), and enjoying seeing his inked/colored style for FFA, as usual, I got carried-away, and I wound-up doing a complete page of his FFA sketches .