By special request from reader CJ, here's a Christmas song to get us in the mood. (Hey, it's only three weeks away.) So let's now listen to the mighty Jim Reeves with his version of Mary's Boy Child. All together now...
Saturday, 4 December 2021
FANTASTIC FOUR No. 1 PANEL By PANEL - A CONCISE REVIEW... (Updated)
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Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel By Panel is essentially 'take two' of Maximum Fantastic Four, first published back in 2005. The new 2021 version is intended to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cosmic Quartet's first appearance and contains a 'reprint' of their debut issue, photographed from an actual published comic from 1961, as are the close up panels which precede it.
It doesn't work, and I have to be frank and say that I was disappointed with the book when I browsed through it earlier today. Why? Because the publishers have used an extremely grubby and dilapidated copy of FF #1 and the paper discolouration is far too evident, as is every blemish and imperfection on each page. Unlike the Maximum edition, which used clean and recoloured proofs for the panels (it didn't contain the issue in its original form), Panel By Panel uses them as they originally appeared (though enlarged) and Ben-Day dots just don't lend themselves to being increased to several times their normal size.
It all might have worked had a cleaner, brighter copy of FF #1 been utilised, but I suppose they had to go with whatever was available, which was a ragged, dirty copy that looks like it's suffered from damp. The essays are interesting, but I'd suggest only buying this book if you won't miss the money it costs to purchase it.
Conclusion? Interesting, though very far from being an essential 'must have'.
Footnote: Also, the book doesn't quite live up to its name, as I've just noticed at least one panel is completely missing (I'll check for others later), and many others are cropped, resulting in only partial images, not complete ones. One partial panel has been 'manipulated' to include its caption from the 'off-screen' side and, what's more, the caption has been reduced in size, resulting in the lettering being much smaller than an accompanying speech balloon. Tsk! My disappointment continues to grow.
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