On another forum, someone posted six examples of futuristic vehicles that only Jack Kirby could draw.
That got me thinking about the Fantastic Four's flying car... "the Fantasi-car".
As I recall, in its earliest appearance, it was basically a flying bathtub that could separate into four smaller compartments and hover. I don't recall how long it lasted, but I don't recall it being destroyed nor done-away with. Was it sold in FF #9 when they went bankrupt?
The next vehicle that I recall, is the separating Fantasti-car, but I don't recall it's debut.
I do know that it was wrecked by Dr. Doom in FF #39, but did it ever make an appearance after that?Was it ever repaired? I thought it was pretty cool!
I remember the Pogo Plane, as being the vehicle in FF #64 when they meet the Kree Sentry.
And I remember the legs or fins being sliced off by the Trapster in about #38 or so. Seems it also appeared about #28 in a similar island trap/bomb plot.
Also, there has been a claim that the FF have a Skrull saucer at their disposal, ever since about #2 and used most obviously in FF #90-93. Don't know if that was used by the Avengers in the Kree-Skrull war or later when they made an assault on the Skrull Armada or in the Mega-Bomb Galactic Storm/ Empire spaning war cross-over. Can anyone clarify who had a skrull saucer over the years?
(..Like the Avengers and others used Dr. Doom's time machine, at various times it was in FF HQ or in Doom's castle in upstate NY or even in Latvia. It didn't matter much where it was, if the plot required it to be somewhere easily accessable, it was!)
Has anyone done a comprehensive history of their vehicles and a timeline of when they were introduced, used, wrecked or retired?
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I want to say I recall the original Fantasti-car brought back at some point. Possibly the story line was either a lack of funds or that the new one had been stolen, but I don't recall when. I do know it was well after FF #9.
Oh, and practicality-wise, I always thought the Pogo Plane was ridiculous, at least in terms of using it on Earth. It's basically a huge rocket, and while it probably seemed really, really cool in 1963, it always left me asking "how do they land it? Can it be re-used?"
Moved to the Mr. Silver Age forum, as requested by Kirk G.
At some point, Kirby updated the Fantasti-car so that it no longer resembled a flying bathtub. I'll thumb through my Essentials and get some details. I'm sure it's in Vol 2 or 3.
I think John Byrne used or maybe even brought back the "flying bathtub", again, I'll have to check.
The pogo plane was based on a REAL aircraft. And boy, was it a BITCH to land that thing!
: )
Really practical VTOL jets did not come into being until about 1976. One of them was featured in THE NEW AVENGERS episode "Obsession"!
Roy Thomas got it WRONG. That flying saucer was from PLANET X. It had nothing to do with Skrulls!!
(See FF #7... and again in #11.)
Ah, I think you're right, Henry. I forgot that. The Skrulls didn't reveal or leave a saucer. They escaped with a water tank on top of a NYC bldg...that's what the rocket ship looked like, disguised.
It was Kurgo and the Planet X adventure that delivered a saucer... cause the FF had to be returned SOMEHOW to earth!
I remember this because it was only the second FF title I ever bought and the FF started me on collecting. I still love that cover style with the name and the four of them around it like that. Not sure who drew this cover but I think that's a great shot of the fantasti-car as it was in 1976. I was confused when read says "The principles on which it was built are still sound..." Even as young as I was I knew that scientific and engineering principles do not change.
Fantastic_Four_170_1976_Cover.jpg
Fantastic_Four_170_1976_Page11.jpg
Fantastic_Four_170_1976_Page14.jpg
I'm trying to remember which issue it was... but I'm pretty sure the mistake about the flying saucer was Stan Lee's fault. Roy, if he mentioned it later, was probably quoting Stan, without having done enough research. (Maybe just as well, Roy's the kind of obsessive guy who'd do a 4-issue mini-series to "explain" a writer's mistake in a single word balloon. "It was published, so it MUST have happened! Now, here's WHY...")
: )
It's like when Hulk wound up in Asgard, and The Execution "remembered" fighting him in the future. The Execution NEVER travelled in time! He was in the future because he was still alive there... (Gary Friedrich... sigh)
Sometimes they should just bite the bullet and FIX some of the word balloons when they do reprints.
George Perez & Joe Sinnott! Fun stuff. (Roy was really at his BEST on FF with Perez. Hmm. Kinda like Gerry Conway on JLA, and Marv Wolfman on TITANS. Says a lot about Perez, doesn't it?)
Do you know if he did the cover?
Henry R. Kujawa said:
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