Chromatically Challenged

or Colour Me Wrong!

Jul 31, 2023

"This Man...This (Purple) Monster!"

Lurking amongst my childhood comics I found an intriguing item; The Fantastic Four - A Full Colour Comic Album. The only problem being, that the 'full' colours are completely and utterly wrong! The rather naive cover also mentions that this is an 'Authorised edition'. Really? I can't imagine Marvel ever agreeing to a purple Thing, a blue Human Torch or a Blue Surfer for that matter. Having said that, I obviously kept it for a reason and it certainly wasn't the cover.

There is actually something quite fascinating about seeing such classic Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott artwork with a totally nuts colour scheme. I'm going to post a few excerpts from this and I'm sure you'll agree.

Not sure about that ‘logo’, it looks a bit wonky… actually it all looks a bit wonky.

I’m really intrigued now, to know how this page was supposed to look. It’s an awesome page, even with an unfamiliar colour scheme.

I give you, ‘He who wields the Power Cosmic’, the one and only Silver?!? Surfer!

Another one with a totally bonkers colour scheme. A green Black Panther and a Human Torch who is obviously propelled by natural gas!

Reed's Wrong Dimension

Oops!

The Pink Pants of Mister Fantastic

You’d think one book’s worth of chromatic aberrations would be enough, but no… I present another obscure British book discovery. The Fantastic Four™ Television Picture Story Book, and a garish over-saturated interpretation of:

The Fantastic Four #56, November, 1966. "Klaw, the Murderous Master of Sound!" Script: Stan Lee. Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Joe Sinnott. Letters: Artie Simek.

As a respite from all that vivid colour, I’ll finish with some monochromatic daftness. This is a PMT of a comics panel that I kept from my time at Marvel UK all those years ago. I have no idea what it’s from, but it always makes me laugh for some obscure reason. Ideas, anyone?