Fantask #1
Fantask #1 marks the moment Marvel Comics arrived in France as a sustained, ongoing publication — the first issue of the first French-language periodical devoted entirely to Marvel superheroes, introducing the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer to a new national readership. Its launch in February 1969 set in motion a decades-long French Marvel publishing tradition that ran through Strange (1970–1996), Nova, Titans, and beyond. The series was also historically notable for being shut down after just seven issues by France's youth-publications censorship commission, which condemned its 'terrifying science fiction,' 'traumatizing monster battles,' and 'violently colored artwork' — a banning that paradoxically cemented its cultural significance and spurred Lug to relaunch Marvel content almost immediately under the title Strange. The back cover of this debut issue carried a house advertisement for Wampus #1, Lug's own original superhero creation launching that same month, signaling that the publisher intended Fantask as the anchor of a broader French genre-comics ecosystem.
"Les Fantastiques" kicks off with the team on a mission to track down the runaway Torch, who flees from the Thing and stumbles upon an amnesiac Prince of the Seas. When the Torch casts the prince into the ocean, memories return—and with them, a vengeful fury that sends the giant Giganto to lay waste to New York. With the Thing inside the monster and a bomb in hand, the team faces their greatest challenge yet. Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby, with inks by Sol Brodsky, colors by Stan Goldberg, and letters by Paul Lachenal, this 1969 adventure features a striking cover by Rémy Bordelet.
In "Le défi de l'Homme-Miracle," the newly risen super-villain turns on his former ally, the Chose, before unleashing chaos by animating the Martian Monster statue with a film. As the Torche burns the construct and the Invisible infiltrates the stolen atomic tank, she’s captured—setting the stage for a clash of wills and a cost that will change everything.
In "Le Prince des Mers," the Torche flees from the Chose and stumbles upon an amnesiac Prince des Mers, whose forgotten past awakens when thrown into the sea. As the Prince seeks revenge on the surface world, he unleashes Giganto to destroy New York—only for the Chose to infiltrate the beast with a bomb and end its rampage. With the threat contained, the Torche sends both the Prince and Giganto back beneath the waves, where the Prince warns ominously, "je reviendrai."
ComicBooks.com Value
Find on ebay
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The direct catalyst for Fantask was a 1968 trip to New York by Claude Vistel, daughter of Editions Lug co-founder Auguste Vistel, who returned convinced that Marvel's line deserved a French home and persuaded co-founder Marcel Navarro to acquire the licenses. Lug's editorial team — with Claude Vistel serving as directrice de publication alongside Auguste Vistel and Marcel Navarro — prepared the adaptation work through the in-house Atelier Lug, whose credited members (Rémy Bordelet, Yves Mondet, Jean-Yves Mitton, and Claudy Bordet) handled retouching, lettering, and coloring, resizing the original American pages into the compact 15×21 cm 'petit format' standard. The choice to open with Fantastic Four origin material alongside the brand-new Silver Surfer solo series was influenced by a 1967 Planète anthology book, 'Chefs-d'œuvre de la bande dessinée,' which had briefly excerpted both properties and whose cultural legitimacy gave Lug confidence that French readers were ready for Marvel's style.
Trivia · 8 facts
- On-sale date: February 5, 1969; published by Editions Lug (Lyon, France); 100 pages; petit format (15×21 cm); monthly frequency.
- First issue of the first ongoing French-language periodical devoted entirely to Marvel Comics, presenting the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer to French readers for the first time in serialized form.
- Reprints four stories: Fantastic Four #1 (Nov 1961, Lee/Kirby) — origin of the FF; Fantastic Four #3 (Mar 1962, Lee/Kirby) — 'The Menace of the Miracle Man' (L'Homme-Miracle); Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962, Lee/Kirby) — first Silver Age appearance of Namor (Le Prince des Mers); and Silver Surfer #1 (Aug 1968, Lee/Buscema) — origin of Norrin Radd/Le Surfer d'Argent.
- Introduces Shalla Bal to French readers, per the Silver Surfer #1 reprint (indexed by GCD as her introduction in this issue).
- The cover is adapted from the cover of Fantastic Four #75 (June 1968, Marvel); the inside front cover is adapted from FF #59 and an interior page of Amazing Spider-Man #62.
- Adaptation work (retouching, lettering, coloring) credited to the Atelier Lug: Rémy Bordelet, Yves Mondet, Jean-Yves Mitton, and Claudy Bordet; editorial direction by Claude Vistel, Auguste Vistel, and Marcel Navarro.
- The back cover carries a house advertisement for Wampus #1 (Editions Lug, March 1969), an original French superhero series created by Marcel Navarro, scripted by Franco Frescura, and drawn by Luciano Bernasconi — Wampus does not appear as a story character within Fantask #1 itself.
- The series was banned after seven issues (February–August 1969) by France's Commission de surveillance et de contrôle des publications destinées à l'enfance et à l'adolescence (CSCPJ), which cited terrifying science fiction and traumatizing monster imagery; Lug subsequently relaunched French Marvel content in 1970 under the title Strange, which ran until 1996.
Cast · 24 characters
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Fantastic Four #1 (1961), Fantastic Four #3 (1962), Fantastic Four #4 (1962), Fantastic Four #5 (1962), The Silver Surfer #1 (1968), Fantask #2 (1969), Wampus #1 (1969)
Reprinted in Strange #93 (1977)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.