Fantastic Four #56
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #56 is a connective-tissue issue of the peak Lee–Kirby era, weaving together the Klaw, Inhumans, Black Panther, and Silver Surfer subplots that had been building across several months of the title. Reed's use of Vibranium sent by T'Challa to defeat Klaw is an early demonstration that Black Panther was being woven into the fabric of the broader Marvel world as a recurring ally rather than a one-off guest star. The closing pages — a cloaked figure in a European castle watching the Silver Surfer — serve as the direct setup for the celebrated Doctor Doom/Silver Surfer arc in issues #57–60, one of Kirby's most visually inventive sequences of the era. Perhaps most quietly remarkable, the issue's letters column contains one of the earliest documented appearances of the phrase 'Marvel Universe' in print, used by a reader and affirmed by Lee in his reply.
In "Klaw the Murderous Master of Sound!", the villainous Ulysses Klaw returns with a vengeance, unleashing his sonic powers to attack the Baxter Building. With Jack Kirby's dynamic art and Stan Lee's sharp storytelling, the issue delivers a tense, high-stakes confrontation as the Fantastic Four face a foe whose sound-based abilities threaten to shake them apart. Cover by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was produced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby under Marvel's collaborative 'Marvel Method,' with Kirby plotting and laying out pages and Lee scripting from the finished pencils; Joe Sinnott provided inks and Artie Simek handled lettering. Published with a cover date of November 1966, it arrived on newsstands in July 1966, deep in what is widely regarded as the most creatively explosive stretch of the Lee–Kirby run. The credits at this period reflected an evolving tension over authorship: the book uses the joint 'Produced by' phrasing rather than separating 'writer' and 'artist,' a compromise that acknowledged Kirby's substantial storytelling contribution while Lee retained the scripting credit.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published November 1966 (on-sale July 7, 1966); story titled 'Klaw the Murderous Master of Sound!'; cover price 12 cents.
- Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Joe Sinnott, lettered by Artie Simek — the core creative team of the peak FF era.
- Features Klaw's first full appearance as a being of living sound, a transformation that occurred at the end of FF #53 when Ulysses Klaw dove into his own solid-sound machine.
- Black Panther (T'Challa) makes a cameo by remote contact — Reed radios Wakanda and T'Challa dispatches a missile carrying Vibranium bands, which Reed uses to defeat Klaw — an early example of Black Panther functioning as an off-panel supporting player in the Marvel world.
- The Human Torch (Johnny Storm) and Wyatt Wingfoot appear in a parallel subplot, traveling dimensions with Lockjaw in an attempt to reach the Inhumans trapped behind the barrier around their Hidden Land; the Inhumans royal family (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Lockjaw, Maximus) are represented.
- The issue closes with several panels of a shadowed Doctor Doom covertly observing the Silver Surfer, directly teasing the story arc in FF #57–60 in which Doom steals the Power Cosmic.
- The letters column of this issue contains one of the earliest documented uses of the phrase 'Marvel Universe' in Marvel's own publications — coined by letter writer Tim Fox and endorsed by Stan Lee in his response.
- Collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Nos. 51–60 & Annual No. 4; Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2 (collecting FF #31–60); and Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 4: The Mystery of the Black Panther.
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Reprints
Reprinted in HIP Comics #1922 (1967), Hit Comics #22 (1967), The Fantastic Four Television Picture Story Book #[nn] (1969), I Fantastici Quattro #52 (1973), Marvel's Greatest Comics #43 (1973), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #4 (1974), The Mighty World of Marvel #119 (1975), The Mighty World of Marvel #120 (1975), Fantastic Four Pocket Book #7 (1980), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #[6] (2000), Essential Fantastic Four #3 (2000), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #6 (2004), Fantastic Four : L'intégrale #1966 (2007), Fantastic Four Omnibus #2 (2007), Fantastic Four Adventures #1 (2010), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #6 (2011), Marvel Gold. Los 4 Fantásticos #1 [3] (2011), Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans #[nn] (2013), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #5 (2016), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #107 (2017), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #4 (2019), Black Panther: The Early Years Omnibus #1 (2022), Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Black Panther #1 (2022), Marvel Origins #59 (2025) + 5 more
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