Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, fantastic four, HRL, inhumans, jack kirby, joe jusko, stan lee

Joe Jusko Mashes Up Inhumans/Fantastic Four For Retailer Exclusive Cover

Published Sun, 16 Jul 2017 14:30:57 -0500

I'll admit it, I am an unabashed fan of Joe Jusko. He is an amazing artist and a really nice guy. And every once in a while, he does a piece that blows me away. Recently he posted a work-in-progress series for an Inhumans/FF mashup for Inhumans: Once and Future King #1 Retailer Exclusive cover. And I was so taken by the art as it was coming along, I missed out on something special going on. Here was the first image he shared:

You get the idea of what he's doing here, recreating the original Fantastic Four #1 cover by Jack Kirby with the Inhumans in there place… but using five figures instead of four. And look at that detail work on the monster.

First he added Black Bolt in place of the Human Torch, and we see Karnak in the hand where Sue Storm was in the original. But there is a second figure in the hand — a good place to add that fifth person to the original design.

And Gorgon has taken the place of the Thing, which oddly keeps the color balance of the piece, as Gorgon's outfit isn't far from the Thing's rock color.

He moved Medusa to where Mr. Fantastic had been, which I like a lot. The original cover had Sue Storm in the "damsel in distress" position, a very '60s thing. Medusa here is a much stronger position and Jusko didn't go with the ropes either, but her hair is as close to Mr. Fantastic's stretching power as anyone else on the team. Just as Gorgon's strength is similar to the Thing and Black Bolt can fly like the Human Torch. And at this point I figured the final figure was going to be Triton…

Nope. It's Stan "the Man" Lee himself. This makes the look on Karnak's face perfect. I don't buy many Retailer Exclusive covers, but this one I may have to track down. This one is for Box Blvd.

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