First, it was Batman: The Ten-Cent Adventure. Now Marvel releases its own “cheap” comic (and by cheap, I mean inexpensive, not poorly produced) with Fantastic Four #60 for the incredibly low price of NINE CENTS (15 cents Canadian… boo.) The story revolves around the Fantastic Four attempting to boost their public image by hiring a consultant. Likewise, the premise is similar to Marvel’s goal, which is to attempt to boost the slipping sales of the comic by hiring a new creative team and lowering the price (although the creative team stays, the price is a one-time-only deal.)
One of the reasons you should get the book is the price: at 9 cents, it’s pretty cheap and it’s not some demo issue or something with missing pages like the free comics offered a few months. There isn’t much to the story, but in the end, Mark Waid managed to create a script that does what it’s intended to do, which is to familiarize the newbie reader with the main characters of the book. The artwork of Mike Wieringo definitely complement this book, as it has some detail and adds some sense of
realism.
When Batman: The Ten-Cent Adventure was released, it not only served as a good introductory issue, but it was also a set-up for the Bruce Wayne: Murderer and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storylines. As a result, you’d buy the other comics in order to check out the whole storyline. Fantastic Four #60
is a self-contained issue that doesn’t really lead into any major storylines, although that isn’t a pre-requisite for cheap comics. The only problem I have with the story is the characterizations of the Thing and Human Torch; in some respects, they’re almost like overactive kids.
I highly recommend Fantastic Four #60. Besides the obvious reason (it’s real cheap!), it is a good introductory issue to anyone who has never read the comic book before.
dtm666 