VILLAGE FOUR CAUGHT
Back
in 1969, the Marvel superhero comic "Fantastic Four" featured a
four-part story with unashamed influences from "The Prisoner". This
November, Marvel Comics are including that story as part of their luxury format
hardback Marvel Masterworks series of reprints.
Featuring The Fantastic Four trapped in a picturesque village that is deadlier than it appears on the surface, with Doctor Doom in the role of a Number Two type figure, the influences of "The Prisoner" were always acknowledged by its artist, the late Jack Kirby (the same artist also worked on the unpublished "Prisoner" comic book several years later).
The Prisonereque story (from issues 82 to 85 of the original FF run) takes up 80 pages of the book, with the rest of the volume reprinting issues 86 to 93. Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Volume 9 is priced at $49.99 (around £35.00 UK) for 272 full colour pages. It will be available in US and UK comic stores from mid-late November. As stores sometimes order low on these expensive items it's best to pre-order it as soon as possible if you want a copy. It may also be available soon from Amazon.
Thanks to Lew Stringer for this news item.
News Announced 27/9/2005, Archived 26/12/2005
UPDATE MARCH 15TH 2006
Those same four issues are now being reprinted again, in black and white this time and in softback, comprising part of "The Essential Fantastic Four. Volume 5" along with many other FF stories. It'll be in comic stores in June, 568 pages for $16.99. (These books usually cost around £11 in the UK). Amazon usually stock them too.
ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR
VOL. 5 TPB
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA, JOHN BUSCEMA
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Lee and Kirby spin the classics with characters and concepts that remain among
Marvel's mainstays today! After being lorded over in Latveria by Doctor Doom,
the FF face a new level of grudge match when the Thing is tapped for the fighting
arena of gangster Skrulls! Featuring the enigmatic Inhumans, the Frightful
Four, the Mad Thinker and other enduring opponents! Guest-starring Magneto
and the Sub-Mariner! Plus: classic invasions from under the earth and under
the sea!
Collects FANTASTIC FOUR #84-110 and ANNUAL #7-8.
568 PGS./All Ages ...$16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2162-5
