John Romita Jr. Joins Fantastic Four For A Giant-Sized 60th Anniversary Issue

[JayC]

This year, Marvel Comics is proud to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Fantastic Four! Home to concepts and characters that revolutionized comic book storytelling, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s beloved creations have enjoyed one of the most memorable sagas in comic book history and this year will see some of greatest adventures yet! Following the highly anticipated BRIDE OF DOOM storyline, August’s FANTASTIC FOUR #35 will be a special giant-sized spectacular that will see series writer Dan Slott teaming up with legendary artist John Romita Jr.

Recently returned to the House of Ideas, Romita Jr. is back to bringing his incredible artwork to Marvel’s biggest heroes, starting with this celebratory 60th anniversary issue for Marvel’s First Family. FANTASTIC FOUR #35 will launch a brand-new storyline that will see every iteration of the iconic villain Kang teaming up for a devious plot that will unravel across Fantastic Four history!

The entire Kang bloodline is out to destroy every era of the Fantastic Four! How can Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny hope to survive simultaneous attacks across their lifetimes by Rama Tut, the Scarlet Centurion, Kang the Conqueror and Kang’s final descendant, the sinister Scion?! Still dealing with the repercussions of Doctor Doom’s climactic wedding, the groundbreaking changes to the Fantastic Four’s status quo are just beginning. Plus: Mark Waid and Paul Renaud deliver dramatic new insights into the origin of the fabulous foursome in an all-new anniversary tale and a third story written and drawn by Jason Loo in his Marvel Comics debut!

“I’ve read, and been told by much smarter people, that ‘luck is the residue of design’ so I won’t even attempt to claim I designed the events of these last few months, but I will take this kind of luck any day any time,” Romita Jr. said. “I was lucky to begin my career with Marvel and now am extremely lucky to re-connect with Marvel. That’s an enormous amount of good fortune. I sincerely thank all the folks up at Marvel, and Disney, who worked for this fortunate re-connection to happen.

“To add to all this, and I hate to add a third section to my good fortune, is the opportunity to start off with a huge project, which is the 60th anniversary of the Fantastic Four! It is an honor and extreme privilege to be asked to work on this along with a friend and former collaborator, Dan Slott! Along with ink artist JP Mayer, I am looking forward to this being up for viewing in August!”

Check out Mark Brooks’ cover below, spotlighting FF members past and present, interior art from John Romita Jr., and be on the lookout for more exciting news about the Fantastic Four’s fabulous 60th anniversary celebration.

FANTASTIC FOUR #35
Written by DAN SLOTT, MARK WAID & JASON LOO
Art by JOHN ROMITA JR., PAUL RENAUD & JASON LOO
Cover by MARK BROOKS
On Sale 8/25!

[sentinelofliberty41]

I have my issues with Dan Slott but I'm really tempted to get this. Seems like a good read for anyone into the FF.

[RyanDaly]

Count me among those who think Romita, Jr.'s best days are behind him, and he really needs a strong inker. However, I think the Fantastic Four might actually be a good fit for him these days. I'm definitely interested in how this turns out. 

[Atlantis]

I want my Invisible Woman clear translucent action figure! I saw it in a book I like! Make the thing in the book I like, be here, now! 😠

Seriously what IS the hold up?? They did such a great job on the Dr. Strange astral form and just recently, the hologram Iron Man...get it together.

[sentinelofliberty41]

3 hours ago, Atlantis said:

I want my Invisible Woman clear translucent action figure! I saw it in a book I like! Make the thing in the book I like, be here, now! 😠

Seriously what IS the hold up?? They did such a great job on the Dr. Strange astral form and just recently, the hologram Iron Man...get it together.

I would snatch this up so fast. Wish it would happen. 

[Gigantor]

1 hour ago, sentinelofliberty41 said:

I would snatch this up so fast. Wish it would happen. 

Make the Thing at his correct scale Hasbro!

[Hogun]

I love Dan Slott's run. But I am hoping Johnny settles down and stays with Sky. I am tired of seeing Johnny's and Sky's relationship being unstable.

[SpiderS]

I love JRJR but I still prefer his style before 2000s, there was something different about his art back then, now Mark Brooks is the artist who evolved from more caricture-ish cartoon style into more realistic but still distinctly comic book style. 

[Emnems80]

As much as I enjoy collecting anniversary issues I just can't with JRJR's artwork. Even pre 2000 I wasn't a fan either.

[Atlantis]

33 minutes ago, Emnems80 said:

As much as I enjoy collecting anniversary issues I just can't with JRJR's artwork. Even pre 2000 I wasn't a fan either.

Yes. He was really good when his dad inked his work back on the Roger Stern run. Now those were comics!!

[leokearon]

I like JRJR's art but not Slott's writing.

[Gigantor]

Bob Layton's inks also made JRJR's Ironman pencils look great as well!  Layton, Perez & Byrne are my all time top 3 classic Ironman artists.

[Atlantis]

Oh how I miss the days when you could open a Fantastic Four comic and see the works of truly great craftsmen. Kirby of course will always have his place, but I'd say he was matched and even surpassed by the likes of John Buscema,  Joe Sinnot,  John Byrne, Keith Pollard, George Perez, and Rich Buckler. 

Make Mine Marvel!!

[ADour]

31 minutes ago, Atlantis said:

Oh how I miss the days when you could open a Fantastic Four comic and see the works of truly great craftsmen.

Yeah, too bad now you open a Fantastic Four issue and you see this:

   

Hey, waitaminute. These are beautiful. And they're from recent comics! Golly!

[Gigantor]

1 hour ago, ADour said:

Yeah, too bad now you open a Fantastic Four issue and you see this:

   

Hey, waitaminute. These are beautiful. And they're from recent comics! Golly!

Seen just as good if not better from Kirby, Sinnot, Perez & Byrne. 

[ADour]

47 minutes ago, Gigantor said:

Seen just as good if not better from Kirby, Sinnot, Perez & Byrne. 

This isn't a contest, gramps. That being said, Kirby? Definitely since he was a visionary. Sinnott? Wasn't he an inker and not penciler? Perez and Byrne? Eeehhh. Plus their layouts were definitely more in the traditional sense.

Getting that out of the way, my point is that you can definitely open a Fantastic Four comic and "see the works of truly great craftsmen." You can boo-hoo all you want at modern comic art by cherry-picking bad artists from the good (as if the Silver and Bronze Ages didn't have their fair share of bad artists), but you can't deny that the panels above are a beautiful combination of pencils and colors.

[Gigantor]

Perez & Byrne =Eeehhh"? Yeah, you just lost all credibility as a judge of comic art. "Gramps"? Kirby/Sinnot were before my time. I'm of the 80s Perez/ Byrne/ Layton/ Lim era.

[ADour]

11 hours ago, Gigantor said:

Perez & Byrne =Eeehhh"? Yeah, you just lost all credibility as a judge of comic art. "Gramps"? Kirby/Sinnot were before my time. I'm of the 80s Perez/ Byrne/ Layton/ Lim era.

I think you're misconstruing my message (which is not uncommon for you). I'm not saying Peréz or Byrne are "Eeehhh." I'm actually a fan of Peréz work, especially his Avengers run with Kurt Busiek. I'm saying that I don't find them comparable to the particular flare of the pages I posted above by R.B.Silva.

However, I'm glad to hear that only now I've lost my credibility. You'd lost yours in... too far ago to remember.