Fantastic Four #6 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In 2003, Marvel established an imprint for all ages. Unlike Star Comics in the 1980s, this imprint would star the heroes of the 616-Universe. First titled 'Marvel Age', the plots were taken directly from the earliest issues to bear the Marvel Comics brand name. Written by Stan Lee and featuring the art of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others. Marvel Age Spider-Man and Marvel Age: Fantastic Four. The retellings would be written by the best and brightest of the Marvel Bullpen with Manga inspired artwork by up-and-coming artists from the Japanese inspired medium. 

In this issue which reimagines Fantastic Four #6 from 1962, the Fantastic Four's most deadliest foes, Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner have joined forces. Doom has invented a device that can control the gravity of any object. The plan is for Prince Namor to visit the Baxter Building under the rise of a proposed truce. While there he will hide Doom's device inside the recesses of the skyscraper. 

It's actually not very hard for the Sub-Mariner to hide the device. While Sue Storm is Mister Fantastic's girlfriend, she's been developing feelings for Namor during their recent skirmishes with the ruler of Atlantis. Ben Grimm and Little brother Johnny Storm want to mop up the floor with Namor. Sue wants to finally have a chance to sort through her feelings. Meanwhile, Reed Richards smells a rat and right he is! Because Doctor Doom has activated his gravity device, sending the Baxter Building into outer space with the Sub-Mariner aboard! Heading directly towards the sun, with the oxygen running thin, I guess only so much can be said about honestly and loyalty when you make a deal with Doctor Doom!

The writing by Marc Sumerak was quite good. I've read this issue a number of times. The original, I mean. So it is a bit weird to experience this plot with references to more modern pop culture icons like Jerry Seinfeld. Though, did kids from 2005, when this Marvel Age issue was published, know who of the comedian and star of a TV series that went off the air 7 years prior? So the references are a bit awkward- too  awkward. But this is something that the big two publishers have been guilty of for decades. But it's also forgivable. Trying to relate to kids is hard. Not everyone can do it.

What, in my opinion, isn't quite so forgivable is the art. I should be a crime to think that you can't make a comic book for children without dipping into the Manga ink well. Sure, Manga is what has inspired a large number of artists who hit the scene in the past 30 years. But it should not be the only style of artwork that young comic book readers are exposed to. Especially for such an iconic family the Fantastic Four. That ever-changing look of characters based on their emotions which is a Manga staple just doesn't work with The Thing or the Human Torch. Heck, it doesn't even work with the plastic fluidity of Mister Fantastic. You'd think that it would considering that he's stretchy. But here, it just looks weird. Blame artist Alitha Martinez for that. However, I'm really confused as I've experienced some of her work before and it did not look like this. Maybe early in her career she tried the Manga route. If so, I am glad it was a phase or the comic collecting world would have been deprived of one of the most talented female artists of the past 2 decades.

If this  wasn't a FF comic book, I probably wouldn't keep it. But just like when I listen to Queen, a bad Fantastic Four comic is better than no Fantastic Four comic book at all!

Completing this review completes Task #8 (Fantastic Four Comic from the 2000s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

Marvel Age Fantastic Four, Vol. 3: The Return of Doom (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Before the advent of Marvel's all-ages Marvel Adventures imprint, the House of Ideas introduced young readers to their most popular characters with Marvel Age. Along with incorporating a handful of Manga inspired titles from Marvel's failed Tsunami line, Marvel Age retold the earliest adventures of Spider-Man, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four. Updated with modern twists, writer Marc Sumerak and artists Alitha Martinez and Joe Dodd followed the original plots of Marvel's First Family created by legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. 

Volume 3 of Marvel Age Fantastic Four, 'The Return of Doom' reprinted the last 4 issues of the all-ages series. 

Issue #9 sees Mr. Fantastic dogged by creditors in 'The End of the Fantastic Four.' Recent bad investments lead Reed Richards to accept an offer from Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner to star in a reality series starring the FF. In a challenge show similar to Survivor, it's a battle for survival as all of Namor 's challenges are secretly rigged as fights to the death!

Issue #10, the title story, ushers in 'The Return of Doctor Doom!' Victor Von Doom has escaped from am orbital prison constructed by Mr. Fantastic thanks to a pair of aliens called Ovoids. From the creatures' space ship, Doctor Doom discovers a way to switch bodies with Reed. Now Doom's mind is in Richards' body and the leader of the Fantastic Four is trapped inside the iron armor of Doom.

After escaping from the clutches of their arch-enemy, the Fantastic Four meet 'The Impossible Man!' In this retelling of the classic second story of issue #11, the are plagued by the madcap antics of the shape-changing visitor from the planet Poppup.

Issue #12 retells the team's epic first encounter with the green colossus, The Incredible Hulk. After another top secret project is destroyed, the United States Army calls upon the FF to investigate. General Thunderbolt Ross is convinced that the sabotage is the result of another Hulk rampage. Dr. Bruce Banner is convinced it's something else and he should know since he's secretly the Hulk!

Featuring modernized versions of some of the greatest Marvel stories ever written, the Marvel Age imprint only lasted from 2004-05. It's predecessor, Marvel Adventures vastly outlived Marvel Age, running from 2005-2012. The success was large part to the addition of Darwyn Cooke who crafted a story Bible that set Marvel's best and brightest into new adventures that were nostalgic without relying completely on the scripts of Lee and Kirby. The artwork was less manga heavy as the Marvel Age books were and reflected a more sleeker style that was more commercial. As with all good things, the imprint was dismantled in order to usher in books based on the Disney XD animated lineup that were set in the Marvel cinematic universe. Being that the Fantastic Four were the property of Fox Studios, young readers were no longer able to find new comic book exploits of Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch by 2013.

Completing this review completes Task #8 (Starring the Human Torch) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Marvel Age Spider-man #18 (Family Comic Friday)

Cover to Marvel Age Spider-man #18. Library edition has a red spine and is titled "Spidey Strikes Back."

  Little treasures like this issue can be found at your local library true believers…

 From 2005, when Spider-man suddenly disappears, newspaper editor J Jonah Jameson declares victory that the Spidey menace is over. A slew of criminals also believe that the city is ripe for their plucking and having been attacking the city in droves. Eager to find out why Spider-man disappeared, the Human Torch has been making rounds hoping to catch up with the wall-crawler during one of these crime sprees. But the Sandman and the Enforcers have also been following the arachnid-clad hero’s routes and now have a member of the Fantastic Four in their sights. Now it’s Johnny Storm who needs saving by his friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

Marvel Age was the first attempt by Marvel to create all-age friendly comics that could appeal to young readers, new-comers, and the comic book connoisseur, Marvel, unlike DC, was more open to this in the early 2000s and I think with the slew of movies and cartoons based on Marvel properties, they won the battle for that generation of new readers.

The one thing the Marvel Age books were missing was a link to the past while being relevant and creative. For example, the first 5 or so issues of Marvel Age Fantastic Four are a near verbatim recreation of the first 5 issues of the original series published in the 1960s. Why, even the lingo was archaic. Thankfully, Marvel got the message and was a little looser with the reins on later series, such as Spider-man. However, there was very little continuity in the Marvel Age books until the imprint was almost complete.

I prefer the Marvel Adventures series that came afterwards. Those books were lots of fun. There was a smidgen of continuity without making readers wait till next month for the conclusion. 4 weeks is a life-time for kids to wait to see what happens next to their favorite super-heroes and I give Marvel major props for understanding this. Generally, Marvel would instead have a theme for their titles that would spend about 4 issues. For example, the Marvel Adventures Avengers would spend 4 issues getting to know each other better, then the next 4 issues fighting mythical creatures, and then another 4 issues adding new members to their ranks. This made for easy reading by having each issue self-contained and yet easy to combine in digest form for binge-reading.

The digest reprints are generally the way to go if you want to collect these issues easily. Single issues do pop up in bargain bins but most comic book stores shy away from all-age titles and thus it’s difficult to find unless you are willing to spend hours searching for these series. A digest is normally retailed at $6-9 bucks and can still be ordered through Amazon and other book dealers. The glue in these is horrid and can easily shed pages like a cat in summer, so treat with care.

As I said earlier, these books can also be found at the library. For Marvel Age titles, they are usually found in a single bound hard-back library edition whereas the Marvel Adventures stuff is almost always on a shelf in digest form with additional binding to stand up to multiple readings. I’ve found these books in several libraries in North Carolina and I am sure you can find these nationwide at libraries that devote attention to graphic novels.

Next week, I’ll explore the Guardians of the Galaxy and talk more about teaming with your local library to get it to be more graphic novel friendly.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars