Cover pencils to FANTASTIC FOUR #191, initially intended for issue #189, by George Perez. These pencils got lost in the mail, and Joe Sinnott had to ink the cover on a vellum overlay from a photocopy of the pencils.
There’s a note from George to writer/editor Len Wein in the space for the UPC box:
NOTE TO LEN: IN PHOTO THEY’RE IN OLD COSTUMES BECAUSE REED NEVER STRETCHED IN HIS NEW ONE (LEAST WAY, NOT SO HE COULD BE PHOTOGRAPHED.)
A page from FANTASTIC FOUR #10 by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.
In the third and fourth panel, the word balloons have been changed from KISS to SMILE and KISSED to MET, presumably because the Comics Code requested it. In the first panel, YOUNG was previously some other word with an NG at the end, but there’s not enough there to make out what it had been.
There’s also a note to Dick Ayers written inside panel six:
DICK 1/2 VISIBLE 1/2 INVISIBLE
It looks too like that cityscape behind Sue and the masher in panels 3 and 4 was added by Dick Ayers at Stan’s direction—his rough sketch for where to put the skyline can still be detected.
A terrific page from FANTASTIC FOUR #5 by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott. Joe inked only this one early FF issue, but it garnered so much positive mail that Stan kept it in mind—and when he could afford to pay Sinnott better years later, Joe became the regular inker on the series.
A page from FANTASTIC FOUR #55 by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott
Most of Kirby’s border notes remain on this one
HE DISSOLVES WINDOW
HE MISSES SPACE. SHE PITIES HIM.
THING HAS LANDED WHERE ALICIA IS
HE BARGES IN—ALL WORKED
I’LL BET SHE’S GOT
Look at the great job Joe Sinnott does in that middle panel of separating the planes, and of varying the textures of all of the elements within the image.
Everything you ever wanted to know about how Mister Fantastic’s powers work, from FANTASTIC FOUR #16 by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.
A page from FANTASTIC FOUR #93 by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia.
A few bits of Kirby’s border notes remain:
LIKE IT WAS RUBBER
HIS CONTEMPT FOR TORGO AND OTHERS
THEN HE BREAKS METAL (word missing)
SHOULD HAVE BEEN (word missing) INSTEAD
THIS IS THE POTENT END—
Another very early FANTASTIC FOUR page, from issue #3, by Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky. It includes the first diagram of the FF’s Baxter Building headquarters.
A prime FANTASTIC FOUR page from issue #63 by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott. On this particular page, most all of Kirby’s border notes are still extant, so you can see what Stan had to work with while dialoguing.
TRITON USES AIR-JET GUN, HE USED IN THE NEGATIVE ZONE TO RESCUE REED—PROPELS HIMSELF TO ROOF
HE SHOOTS UP SO FAST, BLASTAAR’S SHOT MISSES HIM
EXERTING GREAT POWER, TRITON BELTS BLASTAAR BEFORE HE CAN BLAST AGAIN
TRITON WANGS OUT EVEN HARDER—KNOWING HE MUST KNOCK OUT BLASTAAR OR BE BLOWN TO SIMTHEREENS
Additionally, there are a few legible notes from Stan to production manager Sol Brodsky:
TELL TRITON—TO WAIT! IT ISN’T HIS FIGHT! HE’S DONE HIS SHARE—!
SPACE BETWEEN THESE 2 BALLOONS
SOL: EXPLOSION COMES FROM HIS FINGERTIPS. SEE PAGE 15/2
MORE SPEED LINES
