This is a tale that evokes the classic Lee/Kirby era with your own twist. To feel like the book itself is from another era isn't the intention as much as to embrace pop imagery that is eternal. The flat color effect was also meant to amplify a certain mood and style that would connect to more graphic art approaches than I am known for.

Why did you want to present this story in flat color and line work?įirst, I wanted to test whether my basic draftsmanship holds up without fully painted rendering and if my abilities could have worked well when the printing technology was more limited. Being able to connect with some part of that original magic is the storytelling goal, but there is a more substantial need - to simply spend the time living with these characters and immersing in their world. The history of the original creators' run on the book is the benchmark of quality I strive to live up to. Most everything we love about Marvel and comics, in general, came from innovations started from this book. The Fantastic Four's dynamic was Marvel in a nutshell, the human idiosyncrasies coupled with dynamic art and inventive storytelling. What is it about the Fantastic Four that appeals to you and connects with you personally as a storyteller? I thought that it was a unique point of history to touch on, and I'm bold enough to think I should be writing a follow-up.

His suggestion was for me to take a classic Marvel Story like, 'This Man, This Monster' and embellish it with my art interpretation and added content.

Doing a sequel to their most famous single issue is an idea that goes back to something Marvel Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco proposed to me almost thirty years ago.

Fantastic four full circle