Panel-by-Panel Breakdown: Chip Kidd and Charles Kochman Celebrate Sixty Years of the Fantastic Four with a Look at the Iconic First Issue

Chip Kidd is a graphic designer, writer, and editor-at-large at Pantheon. His books on comics include Only What’s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts, Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz, Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal, Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, and Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross, among others. In Fantastic Four No. 1: Panel by Panel (Abrams ComicArts), Kidd, Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, historian Mark Evanier, photographer Geoff Spear, and Charles Kochman – editorial director of Abrams ComicArts – deconstruct the iconic and influential first issue of the Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, 60 years after its publication in November 1961. That first issue introduced fans to a now-iconic team of superheroes – Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the Thing – ushering in the modern Marvel Age of comics. Kirby’s artistic contributions that revolutionized visual storytelling and how comics stories could be told continue to influence comic book art to this day. In reimagining this issue, Kidd used an original copy of the comic book. He presents the classic story in an exciting new way to engage both lifelong fans and the latest generation of Marvel enthusiasts.

Charles Kochman is the editorial director of Abrams ComicArts and the editor of the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, and he has edited several hundred books for all age groups. Before joining Abrams in 2005, Kochman spent 12 years as an editor at DC Comics and MAD magazine. While there, he launched the MAD Books imprint and edited the company’s first New York Times bestseller, The Death and Life of Superman. He is a member of the National Cartoonists Society and the Society of Illustrators. In Fantastic Four No. 1: Panel by Panel (Abrams ComicArts), Kochman, designer Chip Kidd, Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, historian Mark Evanier, and photographer Geoff Spear deconstruct the iconic and influential first issue of the Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, 60 years after its publication in November 1961.