Fantastic Four #1, November 1961
Great site! http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/fantastic_four_1.html
Brings back a lot of cool memories. I actually had Fantastic Four #1. Yay, me!
I’m noticing in wikipedia that FF #1 came out in 1961. The month on the cover says November.
I’m working on the date math … Nov 1961 is about a year too early for me to be buying comics yet. But I know for sure that the big day was sometime between spring 63 and spring 64. That was 5th or 6th grade. I remember the moment distinctly as an event and location and person, but not for sure the year.
A lot of things were going on at the time. Lost JFK in late 63. Beatles arrive to USA the following spring.
But this Fantastic Four #1 event. It was outside the classroom in elementary school. I can still see the lockers along the wall. My pal had an amazing comics collection and was a pretty tough trader. But, on that day, all of a sudden, he agreed to trade me Fantastic Four #1 for (I think) a Spiderman I had plus 1 or two other comics. Maybe a Flash or Justice League or Aquaman or something. : ) Green Lantern maybe? Not sure. But, anyway … WOW! I could barely believe it when I walked away with Fantastic Four #1! Changed my life for a week or so! : )
As I’m clicking through your FABULOUS collection of early FF covers — GREAT SITE! — I recognize all of them. I must have had all of them. I think, beginning in Fall 62, I had started keeping pace with new FFs (paper route money, mowing lawns, shoveling sidewalk snow, collecting and returning deposit bottles, etc) and somehow, I guess by trading, caught up on all the 1962 FFs. By the time of the BIG ’63/’64 trade in the hallway at Parkville Elementary, I probably had all the FFs except for — number 1.
Where are they now? Long gone. When I went off to college, my aunt/mom didn’t think she needed to consult with me before donating my comics and cards collections to a children’s hospital. I wasn’t happy about it, but, oddly, I wasn’t crushed or furious. By then, my life and energies were going in other directions. And, at the time, the values hadn’t taken off. Most of them were in pretty good condition. Not all.
The comics era was a great one for me.
Anyway, many thanks, MonsterBlog, OneRoom, for providing such a great site!
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It was a movie and another great site that got me thinking about this Fantastic Four #1 thing.
Superman II came on TV. The online TV Guide said it was a 2006 film. That didn’t sound right. Plus, the Gene Hackman character was a REALLY young looking (and, of course, handsome) Gene Hackman. Anyway, the Google hits explained without the need to go to another page. Apparently, somebody associated with the 1980 Superman II film (that sounded better) had re-edited the film in 2006. Not sure why.
Anyway, while scanning the Google hits, I noticed one for Superman Comics #2. Superman II. Superman 2. You know. Clicked to see it and I was reminded that “Superman 1 and 2” were really “Action Comics 1 and 2.” I was also impressed with the cool site.
Here’s the cool site: Superman #1 (Action, 1938) http://bit.ly/Slz7H
By the way, the whole comic is there. Cover, inside cover, story pages. Take a look at that ad in the inside cover. Ads looked like that then. : )
So, naturally, that all made me think of the HUGE favor my comix-savvy pal did for me on that big day in ’63 or ’64 by letting me trade him for Fantastic Four #1!
wb4all 