Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 10 HC

February 8, 2006

GORMUU: So, it’s here! FF Vol. 10! The whole Lee/Kirby legacy reprinted in Masterworks, much thanks to your efforts! What’s next for Cory Sedlmeier…are you going to Disney World?

CORY: I’ve got a car rusting in Ohio and an itch for a road trip. To heck with the Mouse, I’m going hiking in Canada!

GORMUU: In our interview for the release of FF Vol. 9, you said you planned to make FF Vol. 10 a book to remember, with lots of bonus materials and goodies. How is that part of the book’s production going?

CORY: The pieces are starting to fall into place. I don’t want to speak too early since assignments are still being confirmed and materials tied down. Check back in a month and maybe I’ll be willing to tip my hand.

GORMUU: Who do you have lined up to write the introduction?

CORY: Who else? Stan The Man! He just turned it in today, actually!

GORMUU: We’ve seen FF volumes on a relative fast-track compared to the scheduling of other character lines. What accounts for the speed at which we’ve seen the FF come down the line? Is it sales success, enthusiasm to complete the Lee/Kirby run, or you’re just tired of Lockjaw slobbering all over you when you’re putting these books together?

CORY: With the FF movie out last year we just couldn’t turn down the opportunity to roll out two volumes. Beyond that Fantastic Four is just the obvious big gun in the Masterworks holster. You don’t rebuild support for something like the Masterworks with Nick Fury and Sub-Mariner when you’ve got Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four at your disposal.

GORMUU: Should Masterworks fans expect a bit of a slowdown now that the milestone Vol. 10 will be out come May?

CORY: Quite possibly. With the addition of so many new characters into the Masterworks library, we have to make room in the schedule for the Ant-Man’s, Captain Marvel’s and Fury’s somehow. The flipside of diversifying is that it also puts a premium on patience as some characters are forced into a slower rotation. 

GORMUU: What are some of your favorite stories from the first 10 volumes of FF Masterworks?

CORY: #66/67 with the Beehive and “Him” is a personal favorite—dig that Adam Warlock. The Galactus Trilogy goes without saying, but I guess I just said it. The tension in Annual #6 is great. I always had a soft spot for issue #8. Anytime Stan and Jack referred to real world events you can sign me up. Kruschev banging his shoe on a podium? The Apollo 11 moon mission? Pure gold. A lot issues I have odd affinities for, like #19 where I had to go through the entire issue flopping the O and A in “pharaoh” so it was correctly spelled incorrectly again. Although it took until the Omnibus, I was glad to finally get the missing man back on the issue #1 cover.

GORMUU: With the completion of this major milestone in Masterworks history, what do you feel qualifies as the next big milestone that Masterworks can achieve?

CORY: The Atlas Era hero revival sounds like fun to me! I’ve got a few more monsters to get out of my system first, though.