I swore I saw something in the very first issue of the FF about them specifically aiming to get to Venus before the commies. But now I see no mention whatsoever about Venus in the Essentials reprint of that issue. Was it altered? Did I just imagine it? Or did it appear elsewhere (and if so, where)? Thanks.
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I always thought it was to the moon too, Don. That's what made the Venus reference stand out when I saw it (or at least I think I saw it).
I didn't see it in an old novelisation, Luke. Good try, though. I'm beginning to wonder if I saw it in a retcon of the origin after the moonshot had taken place.
Fantastic Four #1 was cover-dated Nov. (1961). The issue will have appeared on the stands a couple of months earlier. I don't know if that's late enough in the year for the issue to have been prepared after Kennedy gave his moon speech in May. Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight was in April 1961. (I hadn't realised how topical the spaceflight origin was before I looked these dates up.)
Stan Lee's synopsis initially refers to Reed's having invented a rocket to fly to Mars. Lee then writes that this should perhaps be "a flight to the STARS". He describes the characters as taking off "for the nearest star".
In the Pocket Books version of the story - probably a straight reprint of the original - the scene where Ben is talked into going begins with him saying "If you want to fly to the stars, then you pilot the ship!"
When the origin was reprinted in Fantastic Four Annual #1 the Human Torch was redrawn to look like his later self. I suppose the dialogue could have been altered too, but I'd think it's unlikely.
The origin was retold by Roy Thomas in Fantastic Four #126. I can imagine Thomas pinning down the point, but I haven't seen that version.
Aha, I think you've nailed it, Luke. It must have been Mars, not Venus. I've read that synopsis, so I probably transposed the Mars bit onto the original story. Thanks!
Hmmm, very interesting, John. Thanks! Looks the the Mars bit from Lee's synopsis did find its way into the comic after all, but perhaps only in issue #2.
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I didn't see it in an old novelisation, Luke. Good try, though. I'm beginning to wonder if I saw it in a retcon of the origin after the moonshot had taken place.
Stan Lee's synopsis initially refers to Reed's having invented a rocket to fly to Mars. Lee then writes that this should perhaps be "a flight to the STARS". He describes the characters as taking off "for the nearest star".
In the Pocket Books version of the story - probably a straight reprint of the original - the scene where Ben is talked into going begins with him saying "If you want to fly to the stars, then you pilot the ship!"
When the origin was reprinted in Fantastic Four Annual #1 the Human Torch was redrawn to look like his later self. I suppose the dialogue could have been altered too, but I'd think it's unlikely.
The origin was retold by Roy Thomas in Fantastic Four #126. I can imagine Thomas pinning down the point, but I haven't seen that version.
"It was my fault that our flight to Mars failed and we nearly lost our lives when we crash-landed on Earth!"
There's no mention of Mars in FF # 1, however. "To the stars" and "into the heavens" are used but not Mars or any other specific place.