Fantastic Four #1 - First Appearance of Ben Grimm, Printings and Contents

Identification plate

Series: Fantastic Four (Marvel, 1961 series)
Issue: #1
Publication date: November 1961
Key date: November 1961
On-sale date: August 8, 1961
Indicia publisher: Canam Publishers Sales Corp.
Price: $0.10
Pages: 36
Rating: Approved by the Comics Code Authority

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

From the editorial file The start of the Marvel Universe. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, November 1961, first appearance of the Fantastic Four and the Mole Man. Everything Marvel publishes traces its continuity back to this issue, which makes it the cornerstone Silver Age Marvel key.

First appearance (cover) of Ben Grimm - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance (cover) of The Thing - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance (cover) of Reed Richards - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance (cover) of Johnny Storm - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance of Human Torch - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance (cover) of Mister Fantastic - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance (cover) of Susan Storm Richards - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance (cover) of Invisible Girl - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance of Harvey Elder - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Mole Man - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance (cover) of Giganto - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story. An independent public reference records the same first appearance.

First appearance of Tricephalous - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character. An independent public reference records the same first appearance.

First appearance of Ugu - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character. An independent public reference records the same first appearance.

Origin story on record for: Ben Grimm, Mole Man.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	-	cover	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: George Klein; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Artie Simek, Sol Brodsky	Giganto First, Ben Grimm First, Human Torch First, Invisible Girl First, Mister Fantastic First, Reed Richards First, Susan Storm Richards First, Johnny Storm First, The Thing First
2	The Fantastic Four!	comic story	13	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: George Klein, Sol Brodsky; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Artie Simek	Ben Grimm First, Human Torch First, Invisible Girl First, Mister Fantastic First, Reed Richards First, Susan Storm Richards First, Johnny Storm First, The Thing First
5	The Fantastic Four Meet the Mole Man!	comic story	6	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: George Klein, Sol Brodsky; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Artie Simek	Harvey Elder First, Giganto First, Ben Grimm First, Human Torch First, Invisible Girl First, Mister Fantastic First, Mole Man First, Reed Richards First, Johnny Storm First, Susan Storm Richards First, The Thing First, Tricephalous First
9	The Moleman's Secret!	comic story	6	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: George Klein, Sol Brodsky; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Artie Simek	Harvey Elder First, Giganto First, Ben Grimm First, Human Torch First, Invisible Girl First, Mister Fantastic First, Mole Man First, Reed Richards First, Johnny Storm First, Susan Storm Richards First, The Thing First, Ugu First

Plus 10 pages of advertisements and other matter across 12 sequences, as published.

Printings and variants

Edition	How to tell
British	price 9d [0-0-9 GBP]

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Fantastic Four Annual #1	1963	On eBay ›
Fantastic Four Annual #7	1969	On eBay ›
Origins of Marvel Comics #[nn] ISBN 0-671-21863-8	1974	On eBay ›
Marvel Masterworks #2 ISBN 0-87135-307-5	1987	On eBay ›
Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four #81445 ISBN 0-671-81445-1	1977	On eBay ›
The Fantastic Four: The Secret Story of Marvel's Cosmic Quartet #[nn] ISBN 0-8249-8014-X	1981	On eBay ›
Essential Fantastic Four #1 ISBN 0-7851-0666-9	1998	On eBay ›
The Marvel Saga the Official History of the Marvel Universe #1	1985	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Check spine ticks and cover gloss in the photos; silver-age Marvels chip at the edges easily.
Look for tanning at the page edges and transfer stains on the inside covers.
Confirm the cover price against the plate; higher prices can mean a later or foreign printing.

Series context

1 of 416#2 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Wikidata, Q63761219 (Susan Storm Richards), first-appearance property (CC0)
Wikidata, Q115424755 (Giganto), first-appearance property (CC0)
Wikidata, Q17035845 (Tricephalous), first-appearance property (CC0)
Wikidata, Q115424814 (Ugu), first-appearance property (CC0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com