Agreed. I'm genuinely surprised that other eras are getting more votes. Variety is the spice of life I suppose.

In addition to the obvious (Marvel's most creative period) the 1960s were the golden age for British comics: the Beano was inspired in this era, and we had everything from TV21 to Look and Learn to satisfy our full colour needs. Ah, the Trigan Empire...  

I know this is a classic comics board, but is it OK to talk about new comics in terms of old comics? I just finished Fantastic Four (2014 edition) issue 4. It struck me that you could make the entire comic from cutting up old issues of the FF. Possibly that is just what the writer did.

This is more obvious in the next issue, judging by online reviews: FF 5 is basically a cut and paste of the past (or at least of the boneless retcon version). This lack of imagination is not unique to the new writer: it is true of pretty much every issue of the past 25 years. I choose the new issue 4 because it's the one I received this morning. Let us see where every page came from.

You don't need to read the new issue to follow this post. My point is that you have already read it, probably a hundred times over.

Page 1 is a text review of the past.

p 2: Johnny is de-powered. This is from FF39 (all numbers are from memory and may be 1 or 2 issues off). Back then all the team lost their powers. That's why Reed created the flaming suit for Johnny, but they seem to have forgotten that. When they cut out the problem from FF 39 the solution must have fallen on the floor.

Johnny's feelings here are Ben's feelings from FF 171 when the same thing happened to him.

p.3-4 (top half): Ben faces the wrecking ball guy. This is from circa FF299.

p.3-4 (bottom half: Ben is immediately beaten. This is from every issue since the 1990s: Ben's role is to be beaten in order to demonstrate the power of the new guys. TVTropes refers to this as the Whorf effect.

p.5 The Frightful Four have a secret master who is more intelligent and more powerful. This is from circa 321-333: Aron the rogue Watcher secretly backs the Frightful Four. (There is some speculation on the boards that it's Aron again this time.)

p.6 New villain is a child replacement for the old villain, with the same powers. Byrne did this better with Kristof, adopted son of Doom.

p.7 New version is sexy and female, thrusting out her booty. This is from Byrne's sexing up of She-Hulk (see FF 275). Though this sexy female version is a teenager so thankfully the booty thrusting is a little restrained and covered up. But still, imagine a male character in that pose. The completely impractical costume - half heavy duty military, half completely exposed - is a 1990s trope that Simonson mocked on the cover of 343.

p.8 Destroying New York: this is a post 1990 trope for the FF (though used in other titles before that) so I can't give issue numbers offhand, but suffice to say, it's ooooooooooooooold.

Regarding sexy costumes, on this page Sue has not just a booty thrust but a wedgy: her costume is basically painted on. This is from DeFalco's boob window cozzy of the 1990s. Thankfully the pre-1990 Sue never wore anything like that: it was pretty much the opposite of her character, as noted in annual 12 I think.

As for the red colours, this is from the Incredibles: now that Disney owns Marvel, it is safe to admit that "The Incredibles" was the Fantastic Four.

p.9 (top half): falling out of the Fantasticar: this is from FF 124. (I will note that back in FF 7 they had enough sense to wear seatbelts.)

p.9 (bottom half): everyone adds their hand to Ben's hand to show they are a team: this is straight from FF1.

p.10 a backup team - the concept is from FF351-353. Ant man is from FF16, She-Hulk from 257, and the Thing costume is from 170. A female Thing is from 310.

Once again the super tough costume leaves a highly vulnerable part, this time the head, completely exposed.

The idea of the new team just standing there as if we are supposed to be impressed by them not doing anything, this again comes from the 1990s and later. 

I will skip over the next ten pages because my interest is severely lacking. The issue ends with a shot of the top cut off the Baxter Building (this is from around FF241 I think), with Shield agents taking control of the building (FF191 or so if memory serves) and Reed put on trial (FF 262 and FF 335)

My problem is not that it's all so old - that would be bad enough. It's that it misses the only parts that actually matter: any feeling of real danger. Nobody ever gets hurt, nothing makes any sense, and the outcome is never in doubt. It tries to fake danger by one of the lamest tropes from the reject bin: claiming that the villains have had their powers increased (how exciting). But if you compare the earlier appearances of these folks you will see their powers, if anything, have been reduced. Which I admit is refreshing in these days of rampant power inflation. The Wrecker on his first appearance could level a building without help. And the Wizard's second generation Wonder Gloves could pretty much do all that stuff without the Wrecking Crew.

In short, it's old but it's not good. But the silver lining is that it points us to stories that WERE good. and for that I am grateful.

Thanks for those links! I started at the beginning of "the comics detective", and what do we find? New information on the Fantastic Four! So much for getting any work done today. Many thanks!

Blogs can be more attractive to outsiders: they are more consistent over time, and you get more information in less space. Five minutes on "legends revealed" gives more information than 5 minutes on a random CBR thread. This attracts more new people. Yes, most blogs are just 1 man discussion boards, but they have more potential as gateways to new readers. IMO.

I've never followed it, but I enjoy listening to anyone who's an expert at what they do, when they have the time to really talk.

Oh I agree, most of the homages are forced. but I love that bronycon one - it's one of my favourites I've removed the statue of liberty example and reworded the later discussion on the topic.

Do you mean the statue of liberty example? That is the only one that was not overtly drawing on FF 1. Good point - I'll move that one. But all the others, as far as I can tell, are either explicit homages or are clearly inspired by FF 1. The one grey area is the Incredibles movie, but so many people have made the connection, and it's such a huge example, that it seemed fair to include it.

Regarding quality, I started with just using actual covers of mainstream comics (there are about fifty of those). But some mainstream covers are uninspired, whereas some fan art is superb: once I opened the flood gates to fan art the numbers soon increased. Granted, some are no more than childish sketches, but others have a great deal of depth. The Fundamentalist Four or the Spanish painting for example. 

Regarding numbers, I would guess that Action 1 probably has more homages, and Amazing Fantasy 15 might beat FF1 but I haven't checked. But I see my role as pointing out the good stuff that others have missed. And art being what it is, that inevitably means adding some dross as well, but tastes vary so I err on the side of including it where possible. I've only consciously rejected two homages, and they were just created for juvenile shock value so I'm not missing sleep over them.