Fourthman Reviews: Fantastic Comics #24

On SCHWAPP, I'm endeavoring to open things up to allow others to be part of the blog. Someone I've always respected the reviews of would be Lee Newman aka FourthMan at Newsarama. He's, also, part of the team over at Ultimate Comics.

Next Issue Project #1: Fantastic Comics #24
Published by Image Comics Written and Illustrated by Various

The idea behind the Next Issue Project is awesome in and of itself. With all the attention being paid to reviving Golden Age characters in the likes of books such as The Twelve or Project Superpowers, it is often forgotten how much of this material was presented. In the Golden Age, the anthology was king. Conventional wisdom has the golden age starting around 1933. It is important to note that Superman did not appear until 1938 and that is when super heroes began their domination of the medium. Before then, comics could be any number of things. The Next Issue Project takes long cancelled golden age titles that have fallen into the public domain and revives them fresh for our more modern sensibilities.

Fantastic Comics debuted in 1939 and was published by Fox Syndicate. As you can see in the cover of that first issue, Sampson was also on the cover as were blurbs for all the characters promised in Image’s first issue. Indeed, all these characters and more make appearances in this book. Image has taken the time to reproduce the size and page count of the comic as well as put some vintage styled ads in the book as well. Either for their future entrants in the series or mock ads that contain the credits for the issue or what may very well be vintage ads, these commercials solidify the feel and look of the original book.

Much care is taken in the stories themselves as well. There are straight up homages to the era as in Larsen’s Sampson tale. Here colors bleed into lines and the pages have an aged look. The story even feels like an old story with a dubious moral being portrayed. In fact, the unflinching freedom of the era is a theme throughout the book. The creators put away their inhibitions and PC manuals and make the stories fun. Amazons are scantily clad, sexy, and ready for action.

Sampson is not the only metahuman presented here. Mike Allred and Joe Keating deliver the most impressive story in the book playing with many of the same characters that Ross and Krueger are fiddling with over at Dynamite. However, as is usual of the work that Allred allows his pencils to grace, the story here is more metaphysically inclined then Project Superpowers.

The rest of the anthology is delightful, from Andy Kuhn’s Casanova-esque take on Yank Wilson to the Prince Valiant like “Golden Knight”. I would find it hard to believe that there is not at least one story in this giant comic that would appeal to everyone. Heck, even B. Clay Moore produces a prose piece that would be just as at home in the back of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The package itself is also appealing. Image has chosen to produce this on a heavy card stock paper. When the pages are in their more natural white, they are brilliant; allowing the colors and thin lines to jump off the page. With a cover that most certainly pays homage to the original, this is one of those books that literally jumped out of the boxes as we were processing our delivery last Tuesday. It is the kind of book that makes us pause for a moment. There are very few things that draw the entire crew away from the day long task. Not even the power of Walking Dead or Planetary can stop all of us from trying to get home before dark. However, this book and last year’s Marvel Vault had even Alan Gill, owner of Ultimate Comics, pleased to take a break from the labor intensive task at hand to give it a once over and bask in it’s glory. I have heard grumblings here and there over the $5.99 price tag, but being a huge fan of the Ignatz series of golden sized books from Fantagraphics, I can tell you this book is a bargain in almost every sense. What other book with that price tag boasts artwork from the likes of Allred, Larson, Sienkiewicz, Ashley Wood, and others with top notch stories from Joe Casey, Moore, and Scioli? Not even Popgun offered an a list like this.

While most definitely an exciting collection for the pure comics enthusiast who longs for the days of Kirby, Ditko, and Stan Lee; this book also crosses a broad spectrum of interests, styles and stories. Image should be proud to produce an anthology of this caliber. Here is hoping that the Next Issue Project sustains a long and healthy run.