Fantastic Four #12 cover

By 4 commentsComic Book Illustrator, Sketchbook

This summer I’ve made it a point to squeeze in a little drawing of my own that is purely for “fun.” Its not for money, or for a client or even for my portfolio (Although they all end up there but thats not the primary motive in drawing these) or to make into prints to be sold later on (Although if anyone wants to buy these pieces, send me an email. We can talk!) They are done just because from time to time I like to revisit the characters I enjoyed as a kid and in the way they looked when they were at their best. (I’m sorry but I can barely recognize the X-Men or the Avengers these days. They just look like bunches of people to me in their current designs.)

With this piece, I decided to continue my recent theme of revisiting classic Silver Age Marvel covers by paying homage to one of my favorites, Fantastic Four #12. Here is a look at the original cover as drawn by the King himself, Jack Kirby:

 

This isn’t the first time I’d visit this one. A couple of years ago, I drew an homage to FF #12 using the Archie characters. You can see that one here with colors by the great Anwar Hanano:

 

What do you think of my trip through Marvel’s Silver Age? I’ve got a couple of other ideas in the works and I’ll post them here as soon as they’re done. If you’ve got any suggestions for covers you’d like to see my take on, please let me know in the comments below!

 

Thanks, Everybody!

 

 

 

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4 comments on “Fantastic Four #12 cover”

  2. Dennis Roy

    That’s great! Almost looks like Kirby by way of a 1980s John Byrne homage (which is meant as a compliment). FF#12 was in the proto-Marvel Age before they began to become conspicuously aware of how closely the readers were paying attention to every detail, so when Stan slipped up on a script and referred to the Hulk’s alter ego as “Bob Banner”, or when Kirby couldn’t remember how many fingers and toes the Hulk had, I’m sure they got letters from fans. I should mention that while most people will notice the 3-toed Hulk immediately, fewer people will spot the [i]other[/i] goof that Kirby made on this cover. When Ben Grimm turned into the Thing, he lost one of his fingers and toes, so as the Thing he only has 3 fingers and a thumb on each hand — but on this cover he only has THREE toes on each foot, where normally he has FOUR. Just goes to show that Kirby was only human. And what an appropriate homage, on this, the 100th anniversary of Jack Kirby’s birthday.

    • fernando

      Thanks, Dennis. I’ve always noticed how fast and loose Kirby played it when it came to the fingers and toes of his monster men and I certainly cut him a lot of slack for it. His Hulk circa The Incredible Hulk #3 and Avengers #1 is my favorite Hulk. In current times, Lee Weeks is probably the best at capturing the Kirby Hulk with a contemporary flair. As for the Thing, John Byrne probably is the artist who best captures the “refined” Thing that Kirby left us with after the lumpy Thing of those early issues. Byrne kept the Thing from getting too “cute” and I totally subscribe to Byrne’s “starfish theory” regarding the Thing’s body.

      Y’know I had no idea we were in the midst of Kirby’s one hundredth birthday when I drew this one. Its a happy coincidence!

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