This year marks the 60th Anniversary of superhero team Fantastic Four. It appears the celebration of Marvel’s First Family will continue into next year as Abrams has announced a Fantastic Four: Full Circle graphic novel written and illustrated by legendary comic creator Alex Ross. The book will be lettered by Ariana Maher.

This graphic novel marks the launch of MarvelArts collaboration between Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts.

Fantastic Four Full Circle

Fans may recall in his Marvelocity art book a few years ago that Ross revealed designs for a failed reboot pitch for the Fantastic Four. It will be interesting to see if Ross was able to incorporate some of the ideas and designs into this new graphic novel.

Here’s how Abrams describes the Fantastic Four: Full Circle graphic novel:

It’s a rainy night in Manhattan, and not a creature is stirring except for . . . Ben Grimm. When an intruder suddenly appears inside the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four—Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm)—find themselves surrounded by a swarm of invading parasites. These carrion creatures composed of Negative Energy come to Earth using a human host as a delivery system. But for what purpose? And who is behind this untimely invasion?

The Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter, risking not just their own lives but the fate of the cosmos!

Not surprisingly, Ross described the project as a dream come true for him:

“This is the Fantastic Four story I have been wanting to tell for years, and visually it is one of the greatest artistic experiments I have attempted. I’m excited to share this work with everyone, as it unites the two great publishing forces of Marvel and Abrams ComicArts in a bold new collaboration.”

Charles Kochman, Ross’s longtime editor and editorial director of Abrams ComicArts, will edit Fantastic Four: Full Circle alongside Marvel VP of Publishing and longtime editor of the Fantastic Four ongoing comic series, Tom Breevort.

Kochman briefly teased what readers can expect in the graphic novel:

“Alex and I have been working together for close to 30 years, when I was an editor at DC Comics and hired him to paint his very first book cover back in 1993, before Marvels was published. In Fantastic Four: Full Circle, Alex revisits a classic Stan Lee–Jack Kirby comic from the 1960s and introduces the storyline for a new generation of readers.”

Fantastic Four: Full Circle will feature a large format in order to fully showcase the stunning artwork of Alex Ross and to mirror the 1980s Marvel Graphic Novel format. A full-color painted foldout poster retelling the Fantastic Four origin story will also be included.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle will be released on August 2, 2022

1 COMMENT

  1. That’s extremely good news! The FF needs a good revamp, but with exactly that mid-sixties vibe—THAT was their peak of greatness, as Marvel’s flag-ship comic. If that somewhat non-painted look is how Alex Ross is going to do this book then I cannot wait to get it! Ross has got to be the perfect artist for this.

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