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Summary: the fantastic just got spectacular!
Review: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby really hit their stride with the issues reprinted in this volume. You don't need to know their pasts, origins what's gone before etc. The sheer inventiveness of the characters, situations etc, really show a great love for the genre, with Lee's plotting going from strength to strength and Kirbys pencils containing the thick black lines that he made an artform of. These stories just grab you by the collar and pull you onto their non-stop merry-go-round: You will not want to get off!
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Summary: The Peak of the Silver Age of Comic Books
Review: The silver-age of comics hit its peak with this run of Fantastic Four. This is when Jack Kirby's artwork was at its best and Stan Lee's writing was at its best. Every issue reprinted in this volume is a classic. As far as the medium goes, this is the best of the best and there will probably never be anything in the comic medium to equal or surpass this era. So far, only Alan Moore's "Watchmen" has been close to re-creating the magic of the silver age (1956-1969). Marvel should re-issue the entire run of Marvel Masterworks...
Rating:
Summary: The Peak of the Silver Age of Comic Books
Review: The silver-age of comics hit its peak with this run of Fantastic Four. This is when Jack Kirby's artwork was at its best and Stan Lee's writing was at its best. Every issue reprinted in this volume is a classic. As far as the medium goes, this is the best of the best and there will probably never be anything in the comic medium to equal or surpass this era. So far, only Alan Moore's "Watchmen" has been close to re-creating the magic of the silver age (1956-1969). Marvel should re-issue the entire run of Marvel Masterworks...
Rating: 
Summary: The reproduction is poor
Review: The star of the show is the artwork. Kirby and Sinnott carried the FF to their peak. Lee's writing is at its best. The color is spectacular .... HOWEVER ... I would caution people AGAINST buying this book, because the reproduction is so poor, the art is often a twisted misrepresntation of the originals (an honored part of my collection I have enjoyed for years) and the text is often hard to read! Marvel should be ashamed of themselves. They ought to take more pride and honor their history. Instead, their shabby reproduction does more harm than good to the grand legacy of Lee, Kirby and Sinnott.
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Summary: An enjoyable visit to some classic "FF" stories.
Review: The stories by Stan Lee were juvenile and pre-teen oriented, but I expected this. Kirby's artwork was simply superb! I've read rumblings about the reproduction and how its hurt the inking by Sinnott, but having never seen the originals I can only say that I was impressed even by the inking. If there is a difference between the originals and this reproduction, then I can only imagine how it must have looked. This was a fine trip down memory lane that was well worth the price. Very enjoyable to see stories that were printed about the time that I was born in 1967. Again - stories are pre-teen and juvenile (but I'm a kid at heart so "nuff said") and artwork and inking by Kirby and Sinnott that is stunning! I got off on this!
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Summary: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!
Review: These are the stories that started the "Marvel Age of Comics". Really good stuff. Lee and Kirby changed the way superheroes were presented. Before this, superheroes didn't have personal problems, or ever argue with each other. Great characters here, in entertaining stories. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!
Review: These are the stories that started the "Marvel Age of Comics". Really good stuff. Lee and Kirby changed the way superheroes were presented. Before this, superheroes didn't have personal problems, or ever argue with each other. Great characters here, in entertaining stories. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Jack Kirby Made them Fantastic!
Review: This book has beautifully reprinted the first ten issues of the Fantastic Four. Credit is given to Jack Kirby but not enough. Though the book is a beautiful reprinting of classic MARVEL, it should tell the fans how the Fantastic Four really came to be. After all the concept of the super team was nothing new to Jack Kirby when he first penned the first issue of the Fantastic Four. Really the Fantastic Four are recycled characters of Jack Kirby's "Challengers of the unknown" comic book done for the D.C. Comics before Jack Kirby returned to Marvel. This book brings back the memories of the early Fantastic Four adventures. My favorite issue is the introduction of Dr. Doom. There's always something exciting going on in every Panel. Jack Kirby's artwork was and still is to this day awesome! The fact that the first ten issues are all compiled in this book is really something because if you were to go out and try to buy issue one to ten,you'd be in the poor house. If you don't own a copy of this book, What are you waiting for ? Kirby's comic book creations will clobber you. Jack Kirby really created something special when he re-worked the challengers of the unknown. Jack Kirby single handedly saved Marvel comics with this super team. This book is really worth your time. When you pick it up, you can't put it down. The Price is just right to. If you love comics, this book has to be in your collection. Thank's for the Fantastic Four Jack Kirby.
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Summary: Fantastic Four Masterworks - FF #51-60
Review: This book reprints a grand run of Lee-Kirby FF covering the period immediately after the first Galactus saga. It contains the great "This Man, This Monster" (the greatest Thing story, in my opinion) as well as stories featuring the Dr Doom, the Silver Surfer, the Inhumans, and the introduction of the Black Panther. Lee and Kirby were literally bursting with new ideas at this point in time and the stories seemed to be getting bigger and more grand. Jack Kirby was the most important comic book artist ever and this volume contains some of his finest work. Another reviewer has complained about the computer enhancement of the artwork. There will always be problems in upgrading artwork meant for newsprint to artwork for the higher quality paper. The colors will always seem brighter and more garish. However, if you use the original printing process on the higher quality paper, the colors would look like a bunch of dots. You can't go back to the original newsprint and I feel that Marvel had to do what it could with what it had. I have many issues of this run of FF and the "touched-up" artwork did not bother me or distract me too much. I enjoyed seeing these stories again and I am glad they are collected in one place. I wonder if it would be too much to ask that they do Marvel Masterworks versions of other great runs: Barry Windsor-Smith Conan, Frank Miller Daredevil.... Lee and Kirby at the peak of their powers were a formidable combination. These stories were taken from the time that you literally couldn't wait the month-long interval between issues. The artwork is unmatched, particularly the definitive version of the Thing by Kirby and Sinnott. This book should be given to all new comics writers and artists as the ultimate example of the "Marvel House Style". Easy to read, yet every panel is exciting, dyanamic, and has a purpose. Despite its inherent flaws in the upgrade process, it still deserves the highest recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad reproduction of superb material
Review: This Marvel Masterworks fourth volume of Fantastic Four comics offers issues #51-60 of plus Annual/Special #4. These are the issues that Stan (the Man) Lee and Jack (King) Kirby came up with after the FF reached their absolute height in issues #48-50 where they took on Galactus with the help of the Silver Surfer (who makes a return visit in #55). Included in this collection is the classic "This Man...This Monster" (#51), often considered the best Thing story. We also have the introduction of the Black Panther (#52) as well as Black Bolt and the Inhumans (#53-54), who eventually become involved in a classic four-part Doctor Doom story (#57-60) that is one of the two finest clashes between the FF and the ruler of Latvia. As others have noticed, there is something of a trade off here between the quality of the reproductions, which is less than stellar, and the quality of the original stories, which is just a notch between Lee and Kirby's best work. Actually, this volume is where I think the two co-creators of the series sort of pass each other in opposite directions as Kirby's artwork is just beginning to hit fully stride on this comic and Lee's stories are on the down trend (But how could they not be? The Fantastic Four basically beat a god when they defeated Galactus). You will have to make the on balance assessment as to whether you want to shell out the bucks for this collection.
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