In part because folks are still recovering from Comic-Con and not paying attention to me but in part because it's still just generally busy here at Kleefeld Headquarters, I'm going to pull out an article I wrote a decade or two back concerning how the Fantastic Four have been portrayed in media outlets within the Marvel Universe. It's old enough now that I'm 100% sure I'm missing some more recent significant incidents, but I think it's still interesting for the earlier historical stuff...

One of the things that made the Fantastic Four stand out from other superhero comics was that the characters were, if not media-savvy, at least very aware of the media from early on. This document will highlight some of the Fantastic Four's appearances in the Marvel world of media exploitation.

Shortly after the Fantastic Four gained their powers, Reed Richards began to feel guilty for having "destroyed their lives." So he made a very conscious decision to make them all into celebrities, hoping that their fame might make up for their hopes of having normal lives.

Being the first of a new generation of heroes for the Marvel Universe, the FF naturally attracted a great deal of media attention early on, including front page headlines on the Daily Bugle and Daily Globe. (Fantastic Four #2, Human Torch Vol. 2 #1) Their first encounters with the Miracle Man and Dr. Doom saw the front pages of the Bugle as well. (Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons, Fantastic Four #238, 294) The Human Torch received more coverage in both news and gossip columns from the Daily Chronicle and IBC television for some of his solo exploits. (Strange Tales #102, 103, 119) The FF were even awarded a trophy of gratitude at a televised ceremony from the Capitol. (Fantastic Four #7)

With the fame they already generated, it came as little surprise that when S-M Studios released a film featuring the Fantastic Four battling a cyclops, a tribe of fire-proof Africans, and the Sub-Mariner himself, their stardom skyrocketed. (Fantastic Four #9) Further ensuring their celebrity status, Marvel Comics managed to acquire the rights to publish the FF's adventures in comic book form which continue to this day. Although Reed personally oversaw the authenticity of the comic magazine early on (Fantastic Four #10) the group eventually gained enough confidence in the Marvel Bullpen to allow a greater degree of flexibility. (Thing #7, Fantastic Four #176, 262)

Before gaining her super powers, Susan had tried her hand at acting, but was only able to land small and infrequent parts in television commercials. (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 #6, Before the FF: The Storms #3, Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #50) It seems most likely that this was only the fault of a poor agent, as she began receiving sizable movie and television offers once her name became known. (Fantastic Four #14) She soon decided on the leading role in Lost on an Unknown Planet, which evidently had enough set problems to convince her not to pursue acting again for some time. (Fantastic Four #15) If not that, certainly the subsequent talk-show tour didn't leave her very impressed. (Fantastic Four #16)

The Fantastic Four's lives continued to be reported in various media outlets as the news events they generally were. (Fantastic Four: Fireworks #2, Fantastic Four #23, 38, 78) They also began having lead magazine features being done on them in well-respected magazines like Life. (Fantastic Four #24, Marvels #2) But once Reed and Sue publicly announced their engagement, "the world's press goes wild!!" (Fantastic Four #36) with coverage in all the major media outlets, including every magazine from Redbook to Seventeen. (Marvels #2) The wedding itself was even more of a media event with full page headlines running in the Daily Bugle, Daily Globe and Daily Press. (Marvel: Heroes and Legends, Fantastic Four Annual #3)

With the exception of regular media coverage, the FF spent their time saving the world, instead of being celebrities. (Marvels #3, Fantastic Four #78, 112, X-Men: The Hidden Years #20) That changed during a New Year's Eve celebration when Thundra publicly challenged the Thing to a battle in Shea Stadium. The event was billed as the "Fight of the Century" and warranted headlines in the Daily Ledger, Morning Ledger, Daily Sun, and Daily News. The Off-Track Betting Corporation issued odds and Shea Stadium itself sold out. Television crews undoubtably tried filming the event, only to have the two combatants leave the stadium and complete the fight elsewhere. (Fantastic Four #133) The crowd felt cheated and it was this event that perhaps kept the FF from attempting any significant media events for some time afterwards, letting their names only come out in occassional news event. (Fantastic Four #168, 191, 238)

Shortly after the Fantastic Four broke up, Susan received a telegram from Imperial Studios offering her a new lease on her acting career. (Fantastic Four #191) She starred in Henry's Angels, a generally fictionalized account of King Henry VIII where he was married to all six of his wives simultaneously. Filming was interrupted, however, by the Retrievers of Atlantis. (Fantastic Four #195) It is unclear whether or not the film was completed or if footage of the Retrievers was weaved into the final cut.

Once the team re-formed, Dino Lorenzo took a stab at making a Fantastic Four film, which Reed authorized only to earn some money they owed to the IRS. Lorenzo took a great deal of liberty portraying the FF and the group considered themselves fortunate that special effects supervisor Luigi Cantalopé accidentally caused his 15-foot Thing robot to run amok. As an interesting side-note, the Thing's battle with his robotic counterpart stumbled into the set of The Gong Show and was believed to be one of the acts. While the "act" was not gonged, the winner was "Annabelle and her Singing Appendix Scar." (Fantastic Four Annual #12)

Not long afterwards, director Joseph L. Jusko began his Incredible Hulk television series starring Bill Bixby, Sonny Bono, Charo, Howdy Doody, Roger Stern, and Karen Page. Although the series was cancelled after the Hulk and the Thing wrestled through several active soundstages, Ben was still offered a key part in his own television sit-com series: "Thing in the Family." (Marvel Two-in-One #46)

Although Johnny was "out of town the day the contracts needed to be signed" NBC went ahead with the production a Fantastic Four cartoon using the newly-designed HERBIE the Robot as the fourth member. Reed had designs for the robot already and offered them as an alternative, given that robots -- which are legally treated as property -- would have no need to sign a contract in the first place. (Fantastic Four #209) The show, however, was unsuccessful as the representations of characters were decidedly flat and only superficially represented the FF.

Not much later, producer Ted Silverberg convinced Simon Williams to star as the title character in his new ABC series: Monster Man! The show was VERY loosely -- and unofficially -- based on the Thing but included sidekick Kid Monstro and his pet Monstie. As lawyer Matt Murdock pointed out, "whoever thought this show up is a master at treading the line between plagiarism and public domain." The show's concept and real backing, however, came from Xemnu the Titan, who intended to subliminally plant messages in the show to be able to conquer the world. The alien was stopped by Wonder Man and the Thing but Silverberg was still able to take the footage and promote it as The Xemnu the Titan Show. (Marvel Two-in-One #78)

Given the general lack of success the Fantastic Four had in dealing with fictionalizations of their adventures, they began dealing with more documentary aspects of the media. Susan appeared on an hour-long special Woman to Woman with host Barbara Walker. The show was part of a series dedicated to the five most influencetial women in America. (Fantastic Four #245) Ben was recruited for an exhibition boxing match against the Champion that fueled headlines in the Daily Bugle, London Times, Sports Illustrated and Time. (Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7) Johnny had his profile featured in Celebrity magazine and the entire group was spotlit on an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. (Fantastic Four #285) The team was invited to speak at a meeting of the Adventurers Club. (Contest of Champions #1) And, although not exactly intentional or approved, She-Hulk was the centerfold for the best selling issue of T.J. Vance's The Naked Truth. (Fantastic Four #275)

Meanwhile, Ben, while not still an actual member of the FF became one of the original members of the Unlimited Class Wrestling Foundation. Ed Garner, the U.C.W.F. promoter, still played up the Thing's association with the Fantastic Four to help promote the sport on national television. (Thing #28) Although Ben continued to downplay his former role in the Fantastic Four, his unbeatable winning streak kept him very much in the public eye and Garner continued to use the FF angle until Ben's last fight. (Thing #33)

During a brief respite, while the U.C.W.F. made some technological modifications to the arena, the Thing went to visit then stunt-woman Sharon Ventura on the set of Devil Dinosaur. The film experienced any number of technical problems (not the least of which being Godzilla) and ended up not being completed; however, the footage was sold to Ripley's Believe It or Not who most certainly also played up the FF and U.C.W.F. angles. (Thing #31)

The Fantastic Four themselves once again took a respite from the media and limited their media exposure mainly to news events and the inevitable gossip column. (Fantastic Four Annual #22, Marvel Two-in-One #96, Amazing Spider-Man #338, Web of Spider-Man Annual #5, B-Sides #3, Fantastic Force #1, Fantastic Four #299, 300, 362, 377) She-Hulk, on the other hand, became the subject of a Major Motion Pictures' bio-pic detailing her life as a super heroine. Although the script was poor, the effects were cheap, and there were several blatant attempts to disrupt filming altogether the movie was quite successful and ran for at least ten record-breaking weeks. (Sensational She-Hulk #12) It was the success of this movie, combined with the need for extra cash following the destruction of Empire State University, that prompted the Fantastic Four to give the go-ahead for a second attempt at animating their early adventures. The show was done very poorly and, despite a marketing attempt that included action figures, plush dolls and lunch boxes, the show went off the air quickly. (Fantastic Four #396)

It was not long afterwards that Onslaught reared his head. With so many powerful figures rising up to challenge him, it's no wonder that media coverage was so very nearly complete. CNN's Trish Tilby was even on hand to witness first-hand the "demise" of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. (Onslaught: Marvel Universe) The FF continued appearing in the news afterwards, with television stations often using file footage from previous events insterspersed with coverage of tribute ceremonies. (Thunderbolts #1, 2) Of course the media were quick to jump on the story of the heroes' return as well. (Captain America Vol. 3 #1, Thunderbolts #10, X-Men #71)

It wasn't long after the Fantastic Four settled in their new home that they began working the media again. Reed started by arranging a documentary on the FF's life to be filmed by Manoli Wetherell and Neal Conan for NPR-TV. (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #9) He also tried to set up bigger press conferences (Uncanny X-Men/Fantastic Four 1998, Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #52), get their names and likenesses in more periodicals (Peter Parker: Spider-Man #53), and even made an appearance on Politically Incorrect. (Inhumans Vol. 2 #4) Meanwhile, Johnny made a very public display of his romance with the Atlantean, Namortia. (New Warriors Vol. 2 #3, 6, 9)

The biggest media commotion, however, came when Susan announced that she was marrying Dr. Doom. NPR-TV and CNN were on-hand filming the event, and papers from New York's Daily Bugle to Spain's El Pais documented everything they could. (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #27)

After the marriage was sorted out, Johnny turned his eye towards Hollywood as reported in Vanity Fare. (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #35) Surprisingly, of all the members of the FF, he had previously had the least amount of experience with the movie industry. Johnny evidently felt the need to earn some money of his own to contribute to tha Fantastic Four and signed on to star in Hawk Productions' western: Blaze of Glory. (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #37) After training with stunt man Bob Diamond (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #40) Johnny attended the official launch party where Hawk revealed the first images of him as the lead character -- Rawide Kid -- and the film's new name: Blazing Star. The event was covered fairly heavily by the press, not only for the usual reasons, but the party (in all likelihood, intentionally) coincided with the Fantastic Four's anniversary. Retrospectives, biopics, and interviews were published by Time, Newsweek, the Sun, the Globe, as well as several unnamed television stations. (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #50, 60) Shortly afterwards, the Make-A-Wish Foundation's annual Bachelor Auction, with Rosie O'Donnell as host, was televised. Johnny and Ben collectively raised $30,000. (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #50, Second Story) Their success also led them to participate in a similar, Jay Leno-hosted World Trade Center relief auction some time later. (Spider-Man: Sweet Charity #1)

The Fantastic Four, by design, continue to be a market-driven force. T-shirts, bobble-head figures, coffee mugs, snow globes, and comic books featuring their likeness still persist, thanks to the help of a large support staff. (Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #60) Their popularity has led to references by other pop culture icons like Cypress Hill and Linkin Park. While the popularity waxes and wanes with the whims of a fickle public, Reed has gone to extra lengths to make sure that his family maintains a high public profile in some capacity.

Watchmen has become one the seminal comic book stories of the past several decades. It's probably been read and discussed and poured over more than just about any other single work that's come out, certainly since 1970. So it's also fairly common knowledge that Alan Moore's original idea pitch was largely based around the Charlton characters that DC had then-recently acquired, but wasn't doing anything with. DC editor Dick Giordano liked the general story, but didn't want to use the Charlton heroes. Allegedly because it killed them many of them off, preventing their future use. But since everybody knew, even back in the 1980s, that death wasn't permanent in comic books, I suspect Giordano's decision also had something to do with the fact that he helped create many of those very same characters when he was an editor at Charlton.

"Helped create" is probably a bit strong. I gather that he said something more like, "We need some superheroes like Marvel, but only with less powers to make them more mortal." And Steve Ditko came back with a de-powered Captain Atom, a new Blue Beetle and the Question. But since Giordano was heralding this new "Action Heroes" line, it's hard to imagine that he didn't hold some emotional ties to the characters.

You ever actually read those old Charlton stories? You know what? It's all there.

Everything that Moore did in Watchmen? All the elements for it were there in those Charlton books. I mean, obviously, there's no rape scene with Peacemaker and Nightshade, and the Question isn't shown watching his mother whore herself out on a nightly basis, but drawing those types of elements out of what Charlton did publish is not that much of a stretch. There's a seemingly congenial relationship between Captain Atom and Nightshade, but he's still a very cold character. Like Doctor Manhattan and Silk Spectre, they're also the only government-sanctioned heroes of the bunch. Blue Beetle, like Nite Owl, shows a fair amount of insecurity and isn't actually all that effective as a hero. There's even an insult hurled towards the Question about how he doesn't "smell so pure" prefacing Rorschach's stated hygiene problem.

I say that intending absolutely no disservice to Moore; what he wrote with Watchmen is exceptionally well-done on all counts. He doesn't steal or swipe from Charlton; it's just a larger springboard than I assumed. I had always figured that Moore was largely working with character archetypes and could have just as easily been referring to Superman, Batman, etc. No, he was clearly and definitively starting from the Charlton pool.

I'd always heard of the Charlton basis for Watchmen but, until I actually read those Chartlon stories, never really understood just how deep that connection was, and just how much of Ditko's work consequently shows up in Moore's. I originally wanted to see the Action Heroes Archives just to see what Ditko did, but it makes for a surprisingly much deeper understanding of what Moore did as well.

Here are this week's links to what I've had published recently...

The FF's Anniversary is NOT August 8!
http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2026/07/the-ffs-anniversary-is-not-august-8.html

Database as Research Tool
http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2026/07/database-as-research-tool.html

ComicCon@Home Circa 2009
http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2026/07/comicconhome-circa-2009.html

Random Comic Photos In The Library Of Congress
http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2026/07/random-comic-photos-in-library-of.html

Thoreau, Shakespeare & Comics
https://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2026/07/thoreau-shakespeare-comics.html

You ever read Walden by Henry David Thoreau?

Don't bother; it's a crock of shit. I forced myself to wade through it when I was in my 30s and, despite how lauded it often is in literary circles, I found myself almost immediately disliking it. Thoreau struck me as a hypocritical slouch who wouldn't know what self-reliance or responsibility were if they spit in his face, made fun of his mother's army boots, gave him a wedgie and then beat him up and took his lunch money. You ever see that episode of Friends where the woman claims Dead Poets Society was a life-affirming film because she thought it was the worst piece of trash she ever wasted two hours on and she was going to spend the rest of her life trying to make up for that? That's my feeling about Walden.

Now, if you're interested in something philosophical in nature, I'll point to one line from William Shakespeare:

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Act I, Scene III, Hamlet

Most of the speech from which those lines come from is advice a father gives his son, and most of that is rather generic. But what Shakespeare hits towards the end with these lines, I think, does get to the crux of living a life well-lived. If you follow your own path -- a path you actively choose, not one laid down by someone else -- and stay true to it regardless of obstacles or opposition, then your honesty with yourself will give rise to an honest life without regret or remorse.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to claim that I use those words as a credo of any kind, but I have spent a lot of time in my own head over the years and I have a pretty good grasp on who I am and what I believe. I live my life in a way that I can lie in bed every night, and go to sleep secure in the knowledge that I did nothing that day worth losing sleep over. I did my best, learned from my mistakes and, tomorrow, I'm going to do that again.

For the past several years, I've had an idea for a book rolling around in my head. I've done most of my research, and have a pretty good grasp on the subject. I don't know that it'd sell -- in all honesty, it probably wouldn't, given the subject matter: a largely forgotten comic book from the 1940s -- but it's something I'd like to do because... well, no one else is. I haven't yet sat down and written Word One, though, because I haven't really developed a good hook for it. A unifying theme(s) that tie the whole thing together. The best I've come up with is a straight chronological approach. It would work, I suppose, but... meh. I think I need a good hook for the whole thing and that's why I haven't started writing it yet.

BUT...

I'm not sitting here complaining that I haven't done anything. I'm not making excuses to myself for not getting anything done. I've gotten compliments about this blog a number of times in how I'm not one to follow whatever the current comic topic du jour is, and how I speak to things that aren't necessarily popular within the comic community. And you know what that comes from? "To thine own self be true." I know who I am and what I like and where my interests lie. I don't especially care how expertly (or not) the Watchmen movie was made; I don't especially care what DC's next company-wide crossover is; I don't especially care who the next creative team on Uncanny X-Men is.

So I just write about comics' topics that interest me. If you'd like to come along for the ride, that's great! Welcome! If not, so be it. But, if you do get something out of what I have to say, I encourage you to think and talk about it more. I encourage you to get into your own head for a while and roll around the subjects I touch on here. Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I just spouting my own brand of blinkered, philistine pig-ignorance?

I've heard that Jack Kirby didn't want people to imitate him. He took it as a much greater compliment if his work inspired people to go off and tell their own story. Similarly, I hope my work gets you to think your own thoughts. I don't care if you agree with me or not, or respond or not, but take the time to reflect and make up your own mind. Just make sure it's your own mind.

"To thine own self be true."

I was just trolling through the Library of Congress website (as one does) and found a few photos of possible interest to comics folks...

Winsor McCay sketching for the Actors Benefit for Crippled Children, 1908...

From a school for refugee children, 1942. Photo by Marjory Collins...

Wanda Newman and Teresa Phillips at Do Dah Day in Birmingham, AL, 2010. Photo by Carol Highsmith...

Maybe it's just me, but I find this kind of stuff fascinating. How they show the cultural and social impact of comics over the course of American history.

If you're bummed that you can't attend Comic Con in person this year (it formally kicks off tomorrow, but there are some unofficial parties starting this afternoon) I might suggest looking back at this Foxtrot strip Bill Amend did back in 2009. Jason and Marcus* had the Comic-Con@Home experience figured out a decade-and-a-half ago!
* There's a coloring error here -- Marcus is supposed to be Black. I believe this was corrected in the books, but they've never gone back and adjusted the version online.

I mentioned back in June that I had recently returned to using ComicBase as a way to catalog my collection. It's had some substantial improvements since I'd last used it in the early 2000s. (I just double-checked; I still have the physical manual to ComicBase 5, which was released in 2000.) Partially because of that and partially because of what I do differently, I'm setting this database up to be a more functional research tool.

The basic use of such a comic book database like this is pretty simple and straight-forward: to track which comics I have and, as a secondary consideration, which comics I want to look for. Theoretically, a basic list or Excel file would be sufficient in many cases, but that does get a bit tricky when you're considering alternate versions of the same issue or multiple series with the same title. Differentiating those can be done in a variety of different ways, but those could vary quite a bit depending on the publisher and the time period. Do the covers use different artwork, are the cover prices different, did they come out on different dates, do they have different publishers... So to account for all those variations, you need to expand the amount of data you need to track for each issue, and those Excel files can start getting unwieldly and downright ineffecient pretty quickly.

I don't think I need to get any extended explanations on all of that. So let's get to the research angle.

As I'm working on something, I might want to reference a story point I nominally recall, but couldn't pinpoint off the top of my head. But I can use the database to hunt down the issue in question. "I think it was the first story to introduce [character X]." "I'm pretty sure it was drawn by [specific artist]." "I know it occurred right after [some other storyline]." Instead of having to rifle through long boxes trying to track down a specific issue and relying on a half-faded memory, I can do the tracking work digitally and only go to the long boxes (or bookshelves) once I've figured out what precisely I'm looking for. That's almost inevitably going to be a faster process, and I'm less likely to cause additional wear and tear on (particularly) older issues. And in many cases, I might be able to find that the story I need was reprinted elsewhere and I don't have to touch my original issues at all.

As ComicBase also allows for digital comics to be added, there will be many cases where I do not need to even get up from my computer. I have years worth of digital comics on my hard drive already. Some are public domain pieces that have been uploaded for free online, some are review copies I've been sent. I even found a decent stash of more independent comics on my hard drive dating back to 2006-2008 and had Wowio advertisements embedded in them! (For you youngsters, Wowio was an early attempt to act as an ad-supported digital comics hub, but it really started to stall by 2008 and was all but defunct by 2009.) Which means that, as I'm doing those searches that I mentioned above, I can immediately access the digital versions right from that database entry whether I have a physical copy or not.

As a real-world practical example, as I was cataloging my collection, I came across a couple issues of Radio Shack's History of Electronics comics. I have three copies, each from a different year, but the database points out all the other versions I'm missing. Mine were ones I'd picked up from Radio Shack first-hand back in the day, so they're all pretty close content-wise. But seeing that they ranged from 1972 up through 1990, there must have been some pretty radical changes in the story to account for actual technological changes. Having digital copies of a wide range of them, I can directly compare the full range of them to one another and determine what changes needed to happen and how the 1972 version evolved into the 1990 version. Yes, I could theoretically track down physical copies of all of them and make comparisons that way, but this is MUCH faster and more efficient!

And, furthermore, because I've got all this on a database running locally on my home network, that means that I can continue working on things if there are problems with an internet hub or my ISP or something. Or if the digital copies of those books that are currently available online get removed. You hear about it more with movies and TV shows, but the services hosting online media are increasingly juggling licensing agreements all over the place, so what may have been readily accessible one day is gone the next.

(My personal example -- which still annoys me -- I was watching the Marvel show Runaways on Disney+ when they abruptly removed it from their platform just as I was about to begin season 2. The show remained available on Amazon Prime, but only seasons 1 and 3 for some inexplicable reason. After over a year of that being the status quo, all three seasons only recently popped up on Tubi. Who knows how long it will remain there? I mean, it's a show produced by Disney -- you'd think they wouldn't pull down TV shows they actually own!)

My point being that the few years I spent without having a working comics database was more than just an annoyance in not knowing all the comics I had in my collection. It was limiting the amount and type of research I could do, and making much of what I did do more tedious than it needed to be. If all you need is something to keep track of what issues you have or want, that's great -- you might not anything more complicated than a notepad. But in doing the type of work that I do, a robust database can be invaluable in getting quicker and more ready access to the sources I need to do the research I'm trying to do.