Rating: 
Summary: Jack Kirby's best work!
Review: I have to say that this book is so cool! Jack Kirby was a genius and the way Marvel Nd Stan Lee tried to take credit for all of his creations was a shame! This book does Jack Kirby Justice! Even though it's in black and white, it still has that ol' Jack Magic. The Fantastic Four are really re-hash Kirby characters (The Challengers of the unknown) who were D.C. characters. I recommend this book to all comic book fans. When Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four , HE created something truly Fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Yet another great graphic novel that's like a real NOVEL
Review: I love graphic novels as much as the next collector and have just about everything listed by Amazon. Not exactly everything, but a great percentage. This graphic novels should actually be rated and listed the same as regular novels, because the dynamics of their stories, not just the fantastic artwork, takes you away to places that novels, such as STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, CHILDHOOD'S END, FOUNDATION, RINGWORLD, STAR TREK novels, DARKEYE: CYBER HUNTER and so forth, take you. All are extremely imaginative and have visually-gratifying narrative/dialogue not too far removed from graphic novels such as this or any other. Broaden your minds, but hang on to the graphic novels as well!
Rating:
Summary: BLAST FROM THE PAST
Review: I was watching a Stan Lee interview on TV. And saw in the back ground some comics with the word's ESSENTIAL. So I looked them up on Amazon.com.Way cool! In the early 60's as a kid I was a chronic comic book reader. Into the 70's discovering Rock 'N' Roll I tended to drift away from them. Sold them all to the local "used book" store, to stock up on Deep Purple,Alice Cooper,Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath lp's. Tryin' figure? When I read they were only in Black and White, no color. I'd get a couple to check them out, know what I mean? 20 issues for under $, not bad for a check out,lol.
Half way into the first story, you don't even notice the color being there or not. Remember, your imagination is what powered these story's in the first place,right? So now I've gotten THOR,X-MEN,HULK,DR.STRANGE,IRON MAN,AVENGERS,SILVER SURFER and SPIDERMAN. Vol.1's of course. I intend to get alot more in the future. But the bottom line is this. If you want to follow the all important story's as they intertwine with each other. You need to start right here, right now! THE FANTASTIC FOUR are the greatest fighting team of all time!!
I'm watching to see what issue THE THING first said "It's Clobbering Time!" **Side note** I looked up the value of the comics I had. And I could buy my house twice! So I only gave this 4 stars because lack of color. But the price makes up for it. So it is 5 star's. Would have been interesting if they left the advertising in for some laugh's. But they didn't so it is packed with the adventure you crave and lust for. These are my new collection now. So please don't buy any,okay }:-) I don't want them to run out or raise the price,do to supply and demand };-) There I go sounding like Dr. Doom, I'm sorry,lmao!!
Go ahead and get them, okay? Great x-mas or Father's daygift for Dad if he's in his 40's+
Rating:
Summary: I loved the book
Review: My name is Joshua Doss I am 12 years old. I loved Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Essential Fantastic Four book. Every night I would read their book. Before I read their book I had a 3rd grade reading level and I was in the 6th gread. Now that I have read it my reading level has gone back to normal. P.S. I can't wait for volume 2# to come out.
Rating: 
Summary: In black & white??? Why bother?
Review: One of the poorest and most insulting product decisions ever made in the history of comic book reprints was Marvel's inexplicable cheapskate-ism with this extensive series of colorless repressings of the great, old Marvel titles from the early 'Sixties superhero revival. Yeah, it's great to have the stories back in print, but good lord, what were they thinking? Don't fool yourself: reading old Marvel comics in black & white is not really the same thing as reading old Marvel comics. The original colors were so vibrant and unrestrained! The books were so much fun to look at and so sensuous to behold! By contrast, this is like reading those shabby Mexican or UK pulps from the 1970s that treated the same material with such blatant disregard. Hopefully folks in the know will still buy the infinitely nicer, full-color "Marvel Masterworks" reprints instead & let Marvel know that quality and respect for the material does matter. Meanwhile, it makes me sad to imagine kids today growing up thinking that this is how these books were meant to be read. Bleahh.
Rating: 
Summary: "Essential" stories. Flawed format.
Review: The format of the Essential series is softcover, black and white (many times muddy), printed on cheap, pulpy paper. The classic stories in these books deserve better treatment by Marvel. Do yourself a favor and instead buy the Marvel Masterworks series, which are hardbacks, printed in color, on high quality paper. They are worth the difference in price.
Rating: 
Summary: The Essential Fantastic Four
Review: This book is a collection of 20 comics. Not any odinary comics but 20 comics that changed the Comic genre and the world. The art work is done by the late Jack kirby who was a genius. His best art will be re-printed in volume 3 and 4. Nevertheless enjoy a genius at work. Kirby maintained he created the FF. The book is in B&W that shouldnt matter here, in fact its a distinct advantage as we get to see Kirbys art in its true glory before the colourist got to it. Please forgive the racist over-tones of anti communist and anti Russian feeling, America was going through a bad time in the 60s regarding this matter. Buy the book you may never get to read these comics again. Every true comic fan has to read them once.
Rating:
Summary: Cheesier than a Spanish omlet, yet suprisingly entertaining
Review: This is, by far, the cheesiest, corniest collection of comics I have ever read in my life. Incredible unrealistic things happen just at the right time, villains attack with no purpose, plots are left with holes the size of doughnuts in them. And yet... It's fun. It's a whole lot of fun. Sure it's kinda stupid sometimes, but you'll cheer on Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben none the less! After all, isn't that what comics are supposed to be?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent selection, but in black and white.
Review: This volume contains the first 20 issues of the Fantastic Four and the first Annual. Right from the starting blocks, Lee and Kirby created one of the freshest and durable set of characters in comics' history, as this volume proves. These stories contain the germs of the Marvel Universe to come: IE the return of the Submariner, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, the Watcher, etc. Lee and Kirby didn't waste any time in producing cutting edge stories. However, this volume is black and white, and while that cuts the cost down, it does detract from the artwork.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic First Impressions
Review: You're broke and you love superheroes. Well, you're in luck because you've just hit the jackpot! It's argueable that better superhero stories have been written, but nothing can compare with the Kirby and Lee creation and subsequent run of Marvel's Fantastic Four. The writing is simplistic, but it gets better as the series goes on. This cheap print of the first 20 issues is just the tip of the iceberg. Volumes 2 and 3 just keep getting better and better. This trade is not meant to be a collector's item and it makes no attempt to be the definitive edition of the Fantastic Four's first adventures. It simply is what it is, a amazingly cheap way to read the first adventures of the Marvel's First Family.
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