h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Fantastic Four - Comic Book Heroes - A9670052
Author: Fruitylicious Opti- I prefer to start entries rather than finish them - U231227

Please could people help bulk this entry out. Thanks. Opti

I'll provide you with some more material later perhaps, but first you've got to work on the problems regarding what you've already written.

In your introduction you state that the Fantastic Four helped relaunch the business. This isn't exactly true. They helped revive the notion of superhero comics, not comics in general. Comic books were already quite plentiful at the time. They just didn't feature superheroes anymore. You ought to note that Fantastic Four #1 is considered by most to be the first book in the Silver Age of comic books.

"A group of Astronauts are exposed to cosmic radiation exposure during an interstellar trip and gain super powers. Which are used to fight off the evil enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom"

Exposed to cosmic radiation exposure? Drop the second exposure. Your second sentance isn't very accurate either, in addition to being incomplete. Doom didn't appear for several issues. The first enemy the FF faced was Mole Man and his minions. Doom did of course evolve into the arch-enemy of the FF (and Reed in particular) later.

"Characters

The characters in the Fantastic Four may have influenced the characters found in the incredibles. For they carry similar traits."

A section detailing the influence the FF have made on our culture shouldn't be called Characters. Readers expect a section called Characters to be about the characters. In this case, the FF can be most accurately characterized as a family. If you want to do a section on the influences made by the FF, you might give it a more accurate title, and put it towards the end of the entry and not the beginning. You havn't even dealt with the characters themselves yet, and you're already discussing their influence.

"Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)

The leader of the group the Fantastic Four is none other than Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), who having come into contact with cosmic radiation has obtained the super power of being able to stretch his body. Mister Fantastic is a talented scientist however when the interstellar trip goes wrong he blames himself for what has happened and is guilt ridden. But from this bad accident comes something good for him the ability to lead the Fantastic Four and save the humanity, the earth and the universe from a number of threats such as the evil Doctor Victor Von Doom."

The trip taken by the FF wasn't interstellar. The rocket merely went into space, not to another star system. You say that Reed is guilt ridden, but you don't explain why in enough detail. His main source of guilt is the disfigurment of his best friend Ben Grimm.

Your description of The Invisible Woman is missing a huge amount of important information. Originally, she was called the Invisible Girl and her name was Susan Storm. She and Reed didn't marry for quite a long time, and didn't have children until much later.

In your description of The Human Torch, you make it seem as though Johnny was twelve years old when the incident occured. Saying that he's less intelligent than Reed is an unfair description. Reed is one of the most intelligent people on Earth. 99.9% of the population is less intelligent than Reed.

Your opening sentance for The Thing seems to be attempting to steer clear of any family connection with Ben. While Ben may not technically be related to the others, he's as vital a part of the family as any other regarless of bloodlines. You also never give him a decent description. You say he's hard as a rock, but that doesn't mean anything. Superman is as hard as a rock as well, but they don't look anything alike. The Thing needs a detailed description of his physical features.

Every time you mention Doom, you call him "Doctor Victor Von Doom." While this may very well be his name, stating it this way every time leads the reader to believe that people actually call him that. He's known as Doctor Doom, Doom or simply Victor. You also make it seem as though Doom is the only villain the FF have ever fought.


I'll be back later to give you some more input.

Thanks for this

You're welcome.

Any discussion of the origin of the Fantastic Four needs to be put into context. Fantastic Four #1 was published in late 1961. The Cold War was going strong, and the Space Race was heating up. At that time, nobody had ever spent more than a few minutes in space. A man hadn't even gone into orbit around the Earth yet. The people of the world wondered what was out there, and how outer space would affect man once we began to seriously venture beyond the security of the Earth. It was a subject screaming for a comic book, and the FF delivered an answer. Astronauts were already larger than life heroes to children and adults alike, so turning them into superheroes wasn't such a drastic reach.

I would recommend that you check out the Wikipedia entry on the Fantastic Four. It's well organized and thought out. It's not perfect. It's missing some key information and chases rabbits from time to time. Their article would however give you a general idea of what to strive for in quality and content.

That's all for now. I'll probably be back, unless I'm not.

If you're not working on this one OPti - suggest you move it back to Entry or to the Flea Market

I think I shall put it in the flea pit so somebody with more interest in the subject can have a go. Didn't realise this was still in a forum.