Connor Braaten
Connor Braaten is a writer born n’ raised in Fresno. He focuses on Op-Ed’s, Non-Fiction, and occasionally Fiction. Raised in the Central Valley, Connor writes about his interest in pop-culture, Fresno and other general topics.
For additional work by Connor Braaten, please read his piece It Took Us By Surprise from the Issue 1.5 of Behemoth Magazine and his work in issues of the publications Aftershock Zine Series.
65 years of Fantastic Four: A Personal Reflection
2026 marks the 65th anniversary of one of Marvel’s premier comic books: the Fantastic Four.
Created by Cartoonist Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1961, Marvel Comics Fantastic Four debuted its first self-titled comic series.
I’m writing this op-ed on the Fantastic Four as a personal reflection on the series, and on a much-beloved run of the series at that.
I was introduced to Marvel’s First Family in 2020. It wasn’t the best year for anyone, but it was a sobering time for me. COVID-19 swept across the world like an unseen comic book force, and I could do nothing but watch the world shelter and disintegrate into a discordant mess of flawed tribalism and rising political tensions. Searching for the next great escape, I turned to my love and safety net in comics.
Comics of all mediums were actually thriving in this pseudo-post-apocalypse. Like all retail stores, comic shops abided by government protocols and shut down before reopening under their state’s social-distancing standards.
On June 10th, two days after my birthday. I went to Heroes Comics in Fresno with my father. I’d turned 20 years old and wanted to get some new comics to celebrate. Before that considerable milestone of adulthood, I was reading Batman at the time–and still am–but I had shifted to works outside popular demand like Hellboy and Japanese serials like Dragon Ball and Akira, and admittedly, I wasn’t really a fan of Marvel Comics. Not that I had a strong dislike for Marvel, but I just never got into their characters. I was, however, always intrigued by the Fantastic Four, having grown up with their 2005 animated series that aired on Cartoon Network. The series had an element of classic Monster cinema that served as my entry point, along with a generally more Sci-Fi serial-adventure tone.
From my local Central Valley comic shop, I picked up the team’s graphic novel Fantastic Four: Grand Design, written and illustrated by cartoonist Tom Scioli. Drawing heavily from works by Jack Kirby, co-creator of the team, Scioli reconciled some of the aspects he didn’t like from Stan Lee's editorial revisions. It left an impression on me as a writer and an aspiring artist. As I tried to stay present on real-world narratives during the pandemic, I found myself drawn instead to the sheer density of Scioli’s imagined one.
Scioli leaned heavily into the space-opera aspects of the series, but the creative run that made me LOVE the Fantastic Four was the early 2000s series run by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo.
To make myself clear, I love many runs of the Fantastic Four; I love John Byrne’s Star Trek-meets-Outer Limits take on the team; it's the basics, but it is a high-quality effort. I love Walt Simonson's borderline manga-epic run that puts most blockbuster movies to shame, and the current run by Ryan North, who has a genuine understanding of science and also a love for dinosaurs, so that’s a win in my book. But Mark Waid, who to many is considered one of the best currently living comic book writers, writing this completely stacked run of the Fantastic Four, could only turn it into a masterpiece of comic storytelling. And it did.
Mark Waid reaffirms that the Fantastic Four are not superheroes, not in the traditional sense. The term Superhero is often used to describe a genre, like science fiction or fantasy; however, superheroes shouldn’t be collected into a genre, but remain an adjective to describe a character who fits a role within a narrative.
Superheroes are often crime fighters (usually with supernatural/human powers) who prevent or apprehend people who commit crimes within a city. Batman is often seen as a classic example of this archetype. These archetypes exist within broad genres and different storytelling styles, but Waid makes it clear that the Fantastic Four members do not seek out criminals, but instead are seekers of knowledge and arbiters of wonder. Often, the Fantastic Four explore the world, encountering people like the Black Panther, Inhumans, Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and plenty of space aliens, not limited to Skrulls, Kree, and the planet-eating Galactus.
Imaginauts is a term invented by the literal PR team Reed Richards hires. This was introduced in the run by Comic legends Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo. It’s a spot-on description, as the PR agent talks about in issue #60: “They’re Astronauts. They’re envoys. Adventures. Explores….Trouble finds them; they’ll kick its ass. But it’s not the job. It just comes with it.”
Waid makes it clear that the Fantastic Four’s goal is to find the wonders of the universe or, beyond that, even. I will not spoil any major plot conclusions or storylines, but to highlight an example of trouble seeking the Fantastic Four: in Issue #67, Waid and Wieringo reintroduce the readers to the true nature of Doctor Doom, one of the main villains of the Fantastic Four. Victor von Doom is seeking out an individual from his past, before his days as the iron-fisted ruler of Latveria. Doom was a humble but highly intelligent Romani boy living in a rural Eastern European countryside. As a teen, he was in a relationship with a girl named Valeria, who made him feel special in this oppressive country he called home. Doom, as a grown man, seeks out the knowledge of various Romani mystics before inadvertently finding Valeria, who turns out to be a true magician in the Romani fashion. At first, Valeria isn’t happy to see Doom, seeing how he became the dictator of their own country, which she escaped from. Doom, seeking forgiveness from his love, makes a vow seemingly to give up his ways, saying, “I am prepared to renounce science in all its forms if you will take my hand.” This is presented at first as a gesture of romantic intent. Dr. Doom is armorless, wearing a tailored green suit (because of course) and a round silver mask to hide his scarred face, which he removes for Valeria as a sign of his unrequited love. Doom is defenseless for all intents and purposes. Valeria is touched by this, as she knows Doom to be a man of his word. Dr. Doom then reveals that this wasn’t to be a renewal of a past relationship but simply a bargain exchange for Doom's use of poor Valeria’s skin as a piece of demonic armor to destroy Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four via powerful demonic magics that Doom had resisted employing but, by this point, was willing to use. Mike Wiering draws this transaction with more pain than any Hellraiser movie can match.
Doom tearfully proclaims, “Dear, dear, Valeria. I will miss you more than anyone will ever imagine… but I will always hold you close to me.”
The splash page reveals Doom’s new suit that adorns his body with demonic markings that glow a hellish red, with green flames emitting out of him like an aura. The rest of the story should be read for itself since it’s just one of the many highlights of this run.
Mark Waid admitted the reason the Fantastic Four have lasted so long is that their stories are malleable and even when classic rogues like Dr. Doom appear, there’s something new keeping them forever relevant.
I hope that if you read this run, you see just how special the Fantastic Four can be when in the hands of great talent.
Sincerely,
Connor Braaten