Marvel editor Tom Brevoort provides the introduction to Fantastic Four: 65 Years of the World’s Greatest Comic Covers that does indeed reprint every single Fantastic Four cover from the beginning, in which he speaks fondly about a similar publication he encountered as a young’un.
And while it seems strangely archaic to do something like this, in a world where all the covers are available for viewing digitally in one form or another. But that said, it is somehow strangely pleasing, almost soothing, to have all these covers reproduced at varying sizes, in chronological order. It’s almost visual ASMR.
Most of the covers reprinted at larger sizes are accompanied by quotes from various creators (Stan Lee, John Byrne, Walt Simonson, etc.), plus a couple of movie folk, talking about why those particular ones are their favorites. There are a few new quotes, but they’re primarily from previously published sources. Which is fine, they all fit nicely in this collection.
To gild the lily of the multiple covers inside, this publication itself has multiple variant covers. The one I picked is pictured above, a repurposing of the John Byrne poster from decades back, featuring all the characters Lee and Jack Kirby created during their run. I do have a replica of that old poster up in the shop, but it’s nice to have a copy of the image to take home and admire at my leisure.
So the Sensational Character Find of 2026 is inarguably Verity Pennyworth, the niece of Bruce Wayne’s late butler Alfred Pennyworth. She immediately slots into the position left open by Alfred’s death, and I really hope she doesn’t turn out to be part of some villain’s (or villains’) scheme.
Which got me to thinking…it’s been a little bit since Alfred was offed. He was killed in Batman #77 in 2019, during Tom King’s run on the book. It sort of surprised me that it had only been that long, as it felt a lot longer given how much has been happening in the Bat-franchise.
I keep expecting the “Resurrection of Alfred” big crossover event at some point, in the same way I keep expecting DC to do something to undo the biological children of Batman and Superman. That this change — well, all these changes — remain(s) intact through multiple events and creative teams, and continue to be built upon in mostly effective ways, is something of a miracle.
Alfred appearing as “ghost” of sorts (actually, Bruce imagining Alfred) talking to Bruce throughout Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez’s run, has been a clever way to sort of maintain that classic dynamic. Actually, I should mention, Fraction and Jimenez have been doing a swell job on the comic, filling each issue with a bunch of action and characterization and weird things, and certainly not padding stories out to fill a trade paperback every few months.
NOTE: this new issue contains a Mystery Science Theater 3000 reference that this old MSTie appreciated. Unless it was just a weird coincidence and not intended to be a ref, in which case…I still appreciated it.
Wasn’t Punchline a “character find” as Joker’s new BFF gf some years ago.
Why not resurrect Alfred as The Outsider?
I wasn’t reading Batman at the time, but when it was revealed Alfred was really, truly dead, I expected him to come back as The Outsider so strongly I would have made a Kalshi bet (er, “prediction”) had I known Kalshi existed.
@ Wayne and Daniel T.
Chances are eventually Alfred will come back as The Outsider–or maybe the name will be changed, but he will come back in the guide of some villain before being restored to his old self.
Also, I’m not a Tom King fan, so I dipped out of reading Batman before his run was over, but why wasn’t Alfred revived in the Lazarus Pit? Isn’t that usually what Batman does?
And whatever happened to Alfred’s daughter Julia, who I recall from the Bronze Age in Batman and Detective Comics stories by Gerry Conway and Don Newton?
Also, if Verity goes rogue, will her villainess name be “The Butler,” “The Butlerette,” “The Buttress,” “The Lady Butler,” “The Housekeeper,” “The Maid,” “The French Maid” (if she has partial French ancestry), or what?
As to the Fantastic Four: 65 Years of the World’s Greatest Comic Covers, isn’t the title a bit misleading? I seem to recall that Marvel stopped publishing the FF for several years when 20th Century Fox had the film rights and Marvel wasn’t happy about it. So I don’t think we actually got a full 65 years of FF covers, but more like 62 years of published FF covers.
I used to have that FF poster, and I still love that image. The only character missing, in my opinion, is She-Hulk. I know she wasn’t a Lee/Kirby creation, but she would complete the representation of Byrne’s run for me. Or maybe that’s a separate poster that includes Spinnerette, Terrax, Frankie Raye…
Also, Verity is obviously just Alfred in disguise.
i hadnt realized alfred had been gone so long either, because i skipped everything immediately after his death until fraction started. i’ll spare you the opinions about that whole period beyond “not aimed at me”
@Sean: Whether still canon, Alfred did have a thing with Mademoiselle Marie, so there’s Verity being half-French.
I really do wish Alfred comes back as The Outsider, but not in the white, blocky form from the mid-60s. Use the name again, fer cry-eye.
And if not The Outsider, not a joke name like Punchline.
I think I mentioned this several FF posts ago, but man I LOVE that poster. I’ve had it hanging in one spot or another for 40 years(!)
As a teeneager I would just stare at the poster and try to figure out who I did and did not know. It took me forever to figure out who Prester John (the guy to the right of Wyatt Wingfoot) and the guy from “This Man this Monster” (directly behind Medusa) were.
I know there’s a version of this image where Byrne took out Atuma, which just seems strange to me, but I guess that’s Byrne for you.
@Thom H. – I love the poster as is, but I’ll never say no to a Byrne rendered She-Hulk! He drew the poster image the year she joined the team. I wonder if this was made pre or post #265?
I like the idea of a Byrne only poster with those you mentioned as well as Alden Maas, Kristoff, etc.
What a great poster! I’ve no idea who the big alien is at top-left, which is embarrassing. Two misses are the android Human Torch and Ben’s pal on the gangster skull world from issue #95 (or thereabouts). Is the monster from the Black Lagoon issue near the back?
That is Tomazooma, the Totem Who Walks, from FF #80. It’s a pretty obscure choice. It ended up being a robot that time. A kind of embarrassing story from the perspective of 2026, although the Rawhide Kid did meet the Living Totem, which was an alien.
Yes, the Monster from the Black Lagoon is there, in the back.
@ Andrew Davidson
I think you’re referring to Torgo, and yep, he’s there just to the right of Sue. He kinda blends in to the Big “G”‘s costume so you may have missed him.
The original Human Torch wasn’t included because he’s not a Jack and Stan creation from their run. But, then again the Submariner is there,so who knows?!