Maximum Fantastic Four, Marvel's first self-produced coffee table
art book, is the brainchild of novelist Walter Mosely.
The book presents the inaugural issue of Fantastic Four by Stan
Lee and Jack Kirby from 1961 in a super-size, digitally
re-mastered, panel-by panel format. Mosely¹s introduction and
afterward to the volume will be complimented with an essay by Kirby
expert Mark Evanier.
"Readers will witness a journey through a comic that, though
reprinted many times before, has literally never been seen like
this before," said Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley. "I fully realize
that comic fans have heard statements like that many times in the
past but I say it with the most sincerity I can muster: this is a
book that belongs on the shelf of every single Kirby enthusiast,
Fantastic Four follower and comic-book aficionado."
Growing up African American in the early 1960s and living with a
father who disdained comics, Mosely saw certain truths and
sanctuaries in the world of Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the
Human Torch, and the Thing. As an adult he attempted to recapture
that magic feeling, that moment he "learned that entertainment,
education, and art could all coexist in one form" by blowing up
each page of FF #1 and view its detail in a fresh fashion. Mosely
presented this approach to the art of Kirby as a mass-market book
idea to Avi Arad at Marvel and the result was Maximum Fantastic
Four.
"I wanted to capture the feeling I had as a child when I would
bear down and examine each panel with the kind of scrutiny that
opens up worlds," Mosely said. "I found that when I blew up the
image--each panel comprising its own page--I was able to recreate
that same experience.
"As an adult I can also see the parallels between some of the
greatest painters and Kirby's compositions--from Goya to the
grotesques DaVinci drew, on to some of the most dynamic painters of
our last century. Jack Kirby's unique sense of composition and
narrative put him in a league along with these masters."
Mosely is the author of such books as Lillte Scarlett, The Man
in My Basement, Fearless Jones and the continuing adventures of his
well-loved character Easy Rawlins.
Maximum Fantastic Four, a 224-page book, will feature a
four-color dust jacket that unfolds into a giant full-color
double-sided poster (25² X 36²) and a matte laminated case with
spot UV.
