Finally the Fantastic Four are coming back.

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Marvel’s new Editor in Chief CB Cebulski has finally moved back to NYC from Shanghai for a fresh start of his own.  And he’s made his Marvel PR debut with a big announcement. Appearing on Marvel twitter with Ryan Penagos a few minutes ago, they confirmed that, at long last, the FF, Marvel’s first family, are coming back in a monthly Marvel series, to be written by Dan Slott and drawn by Sara Pichelli. The book, which hits in August, will feature Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny – the FF that’s you’ve known and loved since the dawn of the Marvel Universe.

The FF have long been banished from the MCU as part of a punitive strike against rival studio Fox, which has the movie rights to the team. Marvel president Ike Perlmutter is said to have ordered the ban, and the FF have been absent since the last issue of the Jonathan Hickman/Ryan Stegman run, #611, which ended back in 2012.

It’s been a long time. But now Disney is going to buy Fox and I guess it’s time to let bygones be bygones.

In the video, Cebulski and Penagos wax enthusiastic about the creative team.   Penagos recalls the time Slott spent 15 minutes telling him a Silver Surfer story idea. Cebulski notes that Slott has “this uncanny ability to have an encyclopedic memory of every thing that ever happened in a Marvel Comic,” adding that Slott also bring new ideas that drive things forward.

They praised Pichelli for her storytelling via body language which, to be fair, is among the elite in comics.

Marvel’s new management team (basically the old team minus Axel plus John Nee and now Sven Larsen) is shaking things up in small ways, although bringing back the FF is pretty major. Comic characters come back from death all the time, but coming back from a rights issue? That’s a very big deal indeed.

UPDATE – the debut story is in the NY Times:

Mr. Slott said the Fantastic Four were in the first comics he ever read back when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had the team meet the cosmic entity Galactus in 1965. “I started my adventures in the Marvel Universe with a freaked-out Reed Richards, the Watcher and the Silver Surfer,” Mr. Slott recalled. “I’ve wanted this for so long.”

Ms. Pichelli was excited about working on the series, but coy. “I can’t wait to draw a lot of the characters, but there’s one in particular I can’t reveal yet,” she said in an email interview. “You will know why they’re my favorite when you read the book!”

Mr. Slott will complete a 10-year-run writing Spider-Man this summer. He is envisioning writing at least 55 issues for the Fantastic Four, which would get the heroes to issue No. 700 (using comic book math, which stitches together three previous series). Fans should be used to these types of shenanigans. Captain America, for example, will reach issue 700 in April, only to be followed up by a new No. 1 in July written by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

 

 

16 COMMENTS

  1. Which was followed in turn by Robinson and Kirk, concluding just before Secret Wars with issue 645 in 2015. Still a long time for the FF to be gone. But like Thor around 2000, I think they needed a good rest. I know I’m eager to see what Slott and Pichelli do with the title. It’s about the best team you can imagine for the characters.

  2. I look forward to buying this as a 99 cent trade, wonder how long they could milk single issues at 499 and still move good numbers.

    Sarah Pichelli is a real good get for art.

  3. I really wish people would stop spreading the “No FF/X-Men because of Fox” rumor as fact. I’m not saying it’s not true but I am saying that it’s just something Bleeding Cool posted and promoted and people *decided* is true.

    I’m pretty sure FF sales were in the toilet after Hickman’s run despite multiple tries, which is a pretty good reason to not publish a comic.

  4. Hmmm. I was hoping it would be Zdarsky. I’ve enjoyed his work on 2 in 1. I loved Slott’s Silver Surfer, but his long run on Spidey was mostly meh (Superior Spider-Man excepted). Glad they are back, but the excitement is tempered by the writer.

  5. >I really wish people would stop spreading the “No FF/X-Men because of Fox” rumor as fact. I’m not saying it’s not true but I am saying that it’s just something Bleeding Cool posted and promoted and people *decided* is true.

    We printed lots of evidence. And then last year, Jonathan Hickman, who wrote Reed’s last story in a monthly book, confirmed it.

    >I’m pretty sure FF sales were in the toilet after Hickman’s run despite multiple tries, which is a pretty good reason to not publish a comic.

    Fraction’s were lower than Hickman’s, Robinson’s had an uptick. The comic was still outselling the likes of Wolverine and Daredevil.

  6. “I’m pretty sure FF sales were in the toilet after Hickman’s run despite multiple tries, which is a pretty good reason to not publish a comic.”

    If only there was only a way to look at how Fantastic Four sales compared with other Marvel titles at the time. OH WAIT.

    https://www.comicsbeat.com/marvel-month-to-month-sales-april-2015-star-of-the-reorders-the-force-awakens/

    I’ve long stopped believing the “Fantastic Four was canceled only because of bad sales” excuse. If that were the case a lot of other books on that list would be canceled sooner and not given a chance to relaunch during ANAD or Marvel Now.

  7. Definitely great news that we’re getting a Fantastic Four title again! Can’t say I was hoping Dan Slott would be announced as the writer though, but we’ll see how things go. Wish they’d have gotten a better artist than Pechelli though (IMO, she’s okay at best).

  8. Since the new team will probably recycle old plots (like most teams on the FF), Marvel should just reprint the Lee-Kirby run from 1961-70 and the Byrne run from 1981-86. This series really needs to be retired.

  9. Rich J- thanks for facts and sales back-up in that post.

    And as a longtime FF fan, I find myself akin to the crabby person at church Easter morning. You know, the one who complains about the crowds and whines, “Where have you all been? I was here every Sunday all year.” I really enjoyed the FF in recent years – especially the Robinson/Kirk run. But…as I try not to be “that crabby person”, I’ll just add my voice to the chorus and say I’m happy about this news. And I loved Slott’s Silver Surfer run so much that I bet I’ll like this run too.

  10. I would have been happy once. Now… With the way the MU is structured, the cynicism, the callous way that heroes and villains shift sides, the near complete lack of accountability… I just can’t get excited for this. Especially when the price tag per issue is probably going to be 4.99. Also the way the title was tossed away and the way it is being brought back emphasizes again that marketing not storytelling is the chief operating principle of marvel comics.

  11. Slott and Andrea DiVito had a pretty good run with the Thing a few years back, I’m going forward with caution but I do have to say that I can’t understand why everyone has to be re-designed when they make these “Big Announcements”.

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