The countdown to the “ULTIMATE STARTS” 12/31 launch of ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR continues and the first booster rockets fire on December 3rd with the release of the ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR Poster, a full color, 24″x36″ version of artist BRYAN HITCH’s NEW cover to issue #1.
Readers who recall the initial version of the cover/poster published in MARVEL PREVIEWS #2 and with the December 2003 solicitation materials may notice there have been some changes. When the image was first illustrated for solicitation, Hitch was just referencing notes from Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and conversations with series co-writer Mark Millar. The artist didn’t get to see the first pencil work by series artist ADAM KUBERT and Brian Bendis & Millar’s scripts for the first full story arc until after the image was completed. Bryan Hitch picks up the story from there”
“I did that first cover before I felt I had a comfortable handle on the characters beyond their basic looks,” explained Hitch. “And given what I’d seen of the work on the book so far, I felt I could have done better. Whereas I like the design of the shot, I felt I had missed the intelligent playfulness of Sue we had worked hard to get into the design in the first place, so I was adamant that I had another pass at her. A few coloring tweaks, and it’s now a piece I’m happy with that lives up to the quality of the rest of the teams work in the book.”
The ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR POSTER [OCT031544] goes on sale December 3rd with a Suggested Retail Price of $5.95. Retailers are reminded its Final Order Cut-off [FOC] date is Thursday, 11/13.
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #1 [OCT031543] goes on sale 12/31 with an FOC date of 12/11. Readers, ask your local comic book retailer to reserve your copies!
