When did the Fantastic Four lose popularity? 2 2

[The humble Watcher lurking]

They got to make Ben Grimm the star again. People say Jack Kirby patterned the Thing after his own personality.

 

 

 

[ttfitz]

@Cat you should change your name to "CopyCat"!

[Ken Aldred]

On 1/13/2023 at 12:16 AM, The humble Watcher lurking said:

They got to make Ben Grimm the star again. People say Jack Kirby patterned the Thing after his own personality.

 

 

 

Both great examples. FF 51's a classic, and Byrne's MTIO 50's a good read as well. Especially like his version of The Thing as he was originally.

[Ken Aldred]

On 1/13/2023 at 12:16 AM, The humble Watcher lurking said:

People say Jack Kirby patterned the Thing after his own personality.

 

 

[jimjum12]

To answer the OP's question, without relying on my smart, sarcastic mouth, I first lost interest in the FF around the time Buckler took over as regular artist. I missed the Perez run when I was discovering "riding in cars with girls". A catchy cover, FF 244, on a 7-11 spinner, brought me back for the Byrne run. The Byrne issues, for me, recreated the excitement of the Lee/Kirby run. One thing that may have helped this was a shared love between Kirby and Byrne for emerging science, so the source material was kind of fresh. Byrne was a lover of publications like Discover and Smithsonian, IIRC. After Byrne left, I quickly lost interest again and was unmoved until the Claremont era, which was, well, Fantastic. The last event that jump started my interest was Ultimate FF. The FF is a complex team book with lots of moving parts, it's not hard to fall short on the "right creative team" . The rise of the loner hero and anti-hero types have further pulled creative resources away... who wants to stay on top of a team book, when the single characters are more popular and sell better, increasing the chances for bonuses for the best talent. GOD BLESS.... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Doctor Dositheus]

The FF have always been my number one. My first comic was FF 175 (Galactus vs the High Evolutionary). My Volume One collection is approximately 95% complete. I've read every issue pre-Onslaught, and I can say this:

The FF have always cycled up and down in popularity. Like many said, their real popularity in comparison to other titles shrank toward the end of the Kirby run. Don't forget, after Buckler and Perez Marvel was begging people to take it over, but they couldn't get a regular team on that book until Byrne agreed to come on board (although in hindsight, Pollard did some nice work).

Byrne in my opinion wrote some great stories, but made some questionable moves. I loved when Reed was trapped in the past by himself, and think a lot more could've been done there. Personally though, I hated the She-Thing, hated spiky Thing, and hated Johnny & Alicia.

I don't think Simonson was a great fit for the book, and at the time I was not too excited about it. I lost interest around that time but still kept buying them because, well, it's the FF!

 

[Krismusic]

On 1/12/2023 at 2:04 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

 true enough! I remember watching thinking he was unbeatable, which caused my brother who was 6 years younger to cry  happened again with the power rangers several times. I point that out to how much the story involved us with the story, rivited!

Lol ahh the power rangers…  I thought the exact same thing that apocalypse was unstoppable just like how the green ranger when first introduced was kicking all 5 other rangers butts lol… kicked them out of the megazord and all  tommy was awesome… hence why I leaned towards always wanting to be the green ranger when playing with my friends as a kid haha ahh memories unlocked… 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Krismusic

[KirbyJack]

On 1/13/2023 at 7:11 AM, Doctor Dositheus said:

 Personally though, I hated the She-Thing, hated spiky Thing, and hated Johnny & Alicia.

 

All of these were terrible, terrible developments. 

[The lips]

The FF will always come second to me ( behind Spidey ) and I love them dearly. 
That’s simply based on the Lee / Kirby run which I still firmly believe is the greatest run in comic history. 
FF51 is still the greatest single issue of the silver age imo and it’s down to this run and FF1 being the north of the silver age that they’ll always be very relevant even if popularity wanes at times.  

[Danno616]

Based on my perspective from when I was a kid (and later a teen) reading FF in the 1970s and through the 1980s, the FF and, to a large extent, The Thing, were a prominent part of the Marvel Universe until the end of Byrne's run in the summer of '86. By that point, the focus had shifted squarely on the X-Men and Avengers, with Spider-Man always leading the way. By the early '90s, it was all mutants with a triple order of Wolverine, Spider-Man, and the Bronze Age revival characters (Punisher, Moon Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deathlok, Ghost Rider). To me, it seems like the FF have been an afterthought for Marvel ever since then.

I think many of the reasons cited in this thread are valid explanations for the decline or lack of popularity in the FF. For me, the two biggest reasons were the exploding popularity of the mutants swallowing everyone and everything whole and the FF comic never really having hit runs post-Byrne.

[Poekaymon]

I started collecting in the 80s and could never get into FF. The stuff I liked and which I felt was cool and popular at the time was kind of the antithesis of FF—Miller/Moore antiheros, hyper-violence, Claremont X-Men, etc. I would guess that most FF fans started earlier—70s if not 60s. So to answer OP’s question, I’d say early 80s at the very latest.

I did recently get the Hickman FF omnibuses (vol 1 and 2) collecting his 2010 storyline as they got good reviews even by people who claimed to have never read FF before, but I haven’t started it yet.  

[CAMPER49]

I just finished reading the latest FF 48-issue series (2018) mostly written by Dan Slott, over a one-week period. I was surprisingly entertained through most of it, especially enjoyed the six-part POINT OF ORIGIN story arc and the RECKONING WAR story arc. Not a big fan of the EMPYRE crossover arc though.

Then again, I first started buying the FF back in the legendary Roy Thomas Bronze-Age era so I've always had a soft spot for this family of adventure.

Don't write them off just yet, they are still popular in my comic book room. As long as the original four members remain members.

Edited January 18, 2023 by CAMPER49

[rexinnih]

My collecting heyday in the 80's, never really got into the FF. Following the herd, it was Wolverine, X-Men, etc. But I did like Sub-Mariner and collected his Silver Age FF appearances. Still hope they get to the MCU quickly and well done.