The origin
Reed Richards, a scientist convinced he can beat the Soviets into space, takes an untested rocket up with three passengers: his girlfriend Sue Storm, her teenage brother Johnny, and his old college friend Ben Grimm, who flies it under protest. Cosmic rays flood the cabin. They crash back to Earth changed. Reed can stretch, Sue can vanish, Johnny burns, and Ben is trapped inside an orange rock body he never asked for and cannot escape. Reed did that to his best friend, and he knows it.
What makes Fantastic Four different
This is the book that built Marvel. Before Fantastic Four #1 there was no Marvel Universe, no Doctor Doom, no Silver Surfer, no Galactus, no Black Panther, no Inhumans, no Negative Zone. Lee and Kirby invented most of it in a single decade on this title. And unlike every team book since, they are not a team, they are a family, with no secret identities and a public address in Manhattan. They bicker, they resent each other, and Ben Grimm has spent sixty years being the tragedy at the centre of it.
Where to start reading
The full reading order
Fantastic Four #1recommended
The first Marvel comic in any meaningful sense. Historically enormous, and a serious key issue. As a reading experience it is rough, so read it for what it started rather than for the story.
The Coming of Doctor Doomessential
Doom arrives fully formed and immediately becomes the best villain Marvel has. Includes the college flashback that later writers keep returning to.
The Galactus Trilogyessential
A god arrives to eat the Earth and his herald changes sides. Kirby invented the Silver Surfer mid-issue, and Stan Lee did not know who he was until the pages landed. Widely regarded as the high point of the entire Lee and Kirby partnership. Start here.
This Man, This Monsteressential
A single issue about Ben Grimm and a jealous scientist. Frequently named the best single issue Lee and Kirby ever produced. Quietly devastating.
First appearance of Black Pantheressential
The first black superhero in mainstream American comics, two years before the political party took the name. A significant key issue in every sense.
John Byrne's runessential
Byrne wrote and drew, and deliberately went back to what made the book work at the start. Considered the second great era of the title, and the best run after Lee and Kirby for a long time.
Dark Reign: Fantastic Fourrecommended
Jonathan Hickman's prologue. Reads standalone, and sets up everything that follows.
Hickman's Fantastic Fouressential
Reed decides to solve everything. Hickman builds a sixty-issue epic across two titles about fatherhood, legacy and Doom. The best modern run on the book by a distance, and the direct road into Secret Wars.
FFessential
The title becomes Future Foundation mid-run. Confusing to buy, worth the effort. Read FF #1-11, then alternate Fantastic Four #600 onward with FF #12 onward.
Waid and Wieringo runrecommended
Warm, funny, and the most purely enjoyable modern FF if Hickman's scale puts you off. Unstable Molecules and Imaginauts are the standouts.
Ryan North's runrecommended
Standalone science-fiction stories, one per issue, no continuity homework. Genuinely the easiest jumping-on point in print right now.
Chasing any of these Fantastic Four issues?
Whether you are hunting a key, thinking about selling a collection, or just want to talk comics, I am always happy to hear from you.