In November 1961, after already having illustrious careers in the Golden Age of Comics followed by a decade or so of knocking around with westerns, monster, and suspense stories, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brought the fun of super-hero comics back in a big way. Although not immediately obvious, the release of the Fantastic Four heralded a new Marvel Age of comics. An age in which heroes weren't perfect and didn't lead storybook lives behind secret identities, in which the setting wasn't mythical Metropolis but all-too-real New York City, and in which comics truly became something special again. The characters, Reed Richards, Benjamin J. Grimm, Susan Storm, and Johnny Storm obtained their powers when, in an attempt to beat the Soviets into space, they were exposed to cosmic radiation about their experimental space craft. After a harrowing crash landing on their return to Earth they soon realized their powers were a special gift and responsibility and pledged to work for and protect mankind. As 'Mr. Fantastic', 'the Thing', 'the Invisible Girl' and 'the Human Torch'.
The team saved Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, giving it a pivotal place in the history of American comic books. The FF (as they are commonly known) has remained more or less popular since, and has been adapted into other media, including four animated television series, an aborted 1990s low-budget film, a major motion picture, Fantastic Four (2005), and a sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007.
The comic book series, which famously added the hyperbolic tagline "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!" above the title starting with issue #4 (issue #3 declared itself "The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World!"), dropped the "The" from the cover logo with #16, becoming simply Fantastic Four.
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