Finishing the list of the 100 (er, 25) Greatest Marvels of All Time, as elected by the readers and reprinted by Marvel itself.
2. Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. ’61)
The idea of four friends ‘n’ lovers who are turned into metahumans by no intent of their own, and who, though they take on heroic roles, are still possessed of personal foibles, who quarrel, who have feet of clay — well, it’s old hat now. When Lee and Kirby did it — whichever one of them did what in it — it was revolutionary. While the “bad guy” in this premiere issue is the fairly forgettable Mole Man, it’s still interesting to see how the Marvel Age really began. You can have your Spider-Man, I’ll take the FF. Speaking of which …
1. Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. ’62)
This was almost a foregone conclusion — the issue that introduced Spider-Man. Okay — another archetype was born here — the Angsty Teen with Super Powers. And it’s probably never been done better than in the early Lee/Ditko days, with a freshness that all the repetitions since have not recaptured. And the final lesson, that “with great power there must also come — great responsibility” has set the tone for comics ever since, despite the efforts at grim and gritty. Amazing, indeed. I’d quibble over the order of these two, but they probably deserve the top two spots between them.