Friday, August 5, 2011

Streets Ahead: FF 50th Anniversary Variants

Hey all, Kello here to unveil yet another fantastic feature that is guaranteed to take the internet by storm! Every now and then I'll come across something FF-related (be it fan art, variant covers, apparel, action figures, etc.) that's so cool it could be deemed Streets Ahead. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, "streets ahead" means these items somehow go above and beyond the normal standard of FF excellence. (And yes I totally ripped off the term from the blatantly hilarious TV show Community. See the end of the post for more details.)

Today's Streets Ahead item is the set of ever-expanding Fantastic Four 50th Anniversary covers Marvel has been sprinkling into their releases throughout the year. After all, if the calculator on my computer is correct, 2011-1961 = 50. Wow, the team looks great for their age! Well, except Reed. He looks about right. And Johnny, who looks a little dead. Tangents aside, check the covers, which highlight a sampling of some of the shared shenanigans of Marvel's First Family from the past 5 decades!

(X-men #16 Featuring the Byrne-era lineup.)

(X-Men Legacy# 245 Featuring the FF's most hated foes/ frenemies)


(X-Men #7 With a Rockwellesque homage to the original lineup )

(Fear Itself #1 Featuring everyone's favorite substitute lineup!!!)


(FF #1 Featuring the Frightful Four)

So there you go. Weren't those neat? I hope you enjoyed the inaugural (and probably final) edition of Streets Ahead.

And remember, "If you have to ask, you're streets behind."

3 comments:

  1. Nice idea for a recurring feature, if indeed it does become recurring! Those are some beautiful covers, although I don't get why Marvel made them the variants for such random books. You'd think they'd have at least made them the variants to issues of Fantastic Four, right?

    Of the variants I'd have to say my favorite is the Rockwell-inspired one, with Simonson's FF being a close second. I'll be looking forward to your reviews for those issues!

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  2. I felt the same way about Marvel just slapping these covers on titles all willy-nilly. It seems like a good marketing ploy though, and really, why else do variants exist?

    I think out of this bunch I like the Byrne-era cover the best. Although I will say the Trapster has never looked as menacing as he does on that Frightful Four cover.

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  3. X-Men #7 is great, I do hope January Jones got paid! But I don't like covers starring characters that don't feature in the book - fine, team the FF with the X-Men for an X-Men cover, but otherwise, naw.

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