200 FANTASY
the inking of Joe Sinnott, who had inked most of Kirby’s pencils on the book, helped
establish a visual consistency with Lee and Kirby’s run.
By the early 1980s, with the book’s sales fl agging in comparison to 1960s numbers,
John Byrne helped to revitalize the franchise. Coming on as a regular writer and pen-
ciler (and usually inker as well), Byrne was able to make signifi cant changes to the team
while still showing fealty to the spirit of the comic. Among the larger changes he made
during his fi ve-year run was altering the composition of the team, replacing the Th ing
with She-Hulk as a permanent team member (though the Th ing would later return to
the team after several years appearing in his own solo title). Additionally, Byrne made
changes to Sue Storm’s character. Where her early portrayals had often been sexist,
presenting Sue as a stereotypical damsel in distress, Byrne strengthened the character,
giving her more of a leadership role on the team and even having her change her alias to
the Invisible Woman as an indicator of her growth as a character.
After Byrne’s departure from the book in 1986, Th e Fantastic Four would continue
to feature the writing and art of creators of note. Writers such as Roger Stern, Tom
DeFalco, Steve Englehart, and Mark Waid have all had stints on the title, and artists
the likes of Jerry Ordway, Sal Buscema, Keith Pollard, Mike Wieringo, and writer/ artist
Walt Simonson have drawn it.
For the nearly 50 years since their creation, the Fantastic Four have remained some
of the most prominent pop culture icons to ever come out of American superhero
comics. In addition to introducing some of Marvel’s most popular characters—Doctor
Doom, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, the Skrulls, the Inhumans, the Black Panther—the
Fantastic Four franchise has also branched out into many other media. Th ere have been
two major motion pictures released about the Fantastic Four, Tim Story’s Fantastic Four
(2005) and his 2007 eff ort, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer , as well as an unreleased fi lm
from 1994. Additionally, there have been several animated television shows bearing the
team’s name: Fantastic Four (1967–68), Th e Marvel Action Hour: Th e Fantastic Four
(1994–96), and Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes (2006–7). Add to these repre-
sentations the hundreds of video games, toys, and other merchandise endorsements,
and it seems a near certainty that the Fantastic Four will continue to be a signifi cant
part of comics and popular culture for decades to come.
Selected Bibliography: “Marvel Universe: Fantastic Four.” Marvel Universe Character
Bios 20 ( July 2009), http://marvel.com/universe/Fantastic_Four.
Craig Crowder
FANTASY. In comic books of the fantasy genre, heroes face enemies of immense power
in imaginary worlds where magic or other supernatural elements are present. Most fan-
tasy comic books fall into one of seven subgenres: fantasy derived from myths, legends or
fairytales; epic or high fantasy; historical fantasy; planetary romance ; heroic fantasy or
sword and sorcery; contemporary fantasy; and post-apocalyptic fantasy. Th ese subgenres
are not mutually exclusive and some works contain elements of a number of subgenres.
