The Fantastic Four bask in the cosmic rays of 1974

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FROM THE VAULT

I adored the huge, vivid Marvel Treasury Editions from the 1970s. There was something about the size of the pages -- they were bigger than most tabloid newspapers -- that just made the books feel truly special, especially to a youngster who could barely hold the books upright.

I have close to a complete collection of these amazing comics and I’ll be scanning and posting some of the best ones in the weeks to come. The majestically composed image above is from the back cover of ‘Marvel Treasury Edition No. 2: The Fabulous Fantastic Four’ from December 1974 and, yes, it was both fantastic and fabulous. The hefty, 100-page collection reprinted the entire Galactus\Silver Surfer trilogy (that would be ‘Fantastic Four’ No. 48-50 but you knew that) as well as two early 1960s issues.

You can see the great front cover by John Romita below...

Ah, memories. Just thought we’d start the week off with a heroic bit of old-school Marvel...

-- Geoff Boucher

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ARTWORK: Marvel Comics. PHOTO: Chris Hemsworth of ‘Thor’ (Getty Images)