Fantastic Four: Life Story celebrates 60th anniversary of team in a "radical new way"

FANTASTIC FOUR: LIFE STORY #1 — (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Fantastic Four – the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created superhero team that launched the modern Marvel Universe in 1961 – Marvel Comics has announced Fantastic Four: Life Story, a six-issue limited series from writer Mark Russell and artist Sean Izaakse which goes all the way back to the team's '60s origins and according to Marvel, presents their "illustrious saga" in a "radical new way."

In keeping with Marvel's previous Spider-Man: Life Story limited series, Fantastic Four: Life Story will start in the '60s and follow the team on a chronological history through the subsequent decades, up to the present day.

"Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 will take place in the 'Swinging Sixties' when Reed, Ben, Sue, and Johnny took that fateful journey to space that changed the face of comic book storytelling forever," reads Marvel's official description of Fantastic Four: Life Story #1. "Against the backdrop of the Cold War and the Space Race, a terrible accident occurs that gives them great powers and a terrible secret, entangling them in Earth's history forever as they transform into the world's premiere superhero team."

Russell, best known for his DC work on titles such as Prez and Wonder Twins, will bring his socially savvy voice to the team, embracing the spirit of family and sense of exploration that have become the hallmarks of the Fantastic Four over the years.

"What I've always loved about the Fantastic Four is how it reduces the cosmic struggle of human survival to the scale of a family squabble while treating personal relationships as a matter of truly galactic importance," Russell states in the announcement. "Weaving their story and their world into our story and what's happened in our world over the last sixty years was an important reminder to me of how smart it is to approach life like that."

"Working on a story about Marvel's First Family is not only an honor in itself, but what makes it even more so, is being part of the team that gets to tell such a moving and heartfelt story about these iconic characters, their struggles, and triumphs in a new way that draws on what has come before," adds Izaakse. "If I do my job right, this story will be one that Fantastic Four fans will remember for a long, long time."

Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 features a cover from artist Daniel Acuña, seen above, launches in May. Watch for Marvel's full May 2021 solicitations later this month on Newsarama.

That’s a helluva Galactus image, huh? Is Galactus on Newsarama’s list of the 10 greatest Fantastic Four villains of all time? You bet he is - pretty high up too.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011, and now I'm the Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)