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Flame On with Hot Toys’ Human Torch from Fantastic Four: First Steps

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Set in a 1960s-inspired alternate Earth, the blockbuster hit The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel Studios’ First Family in epic style. The Fantastic Four unites to defend their world from cosmic threats like Galactus and Silver Surfer, while discovering the true power of family. Johnny Storm, AKA Human Torch, is the fiery soul of the team. With a blend of bravado, humor, and charm, Joseph Quinn’s take on the Human Torch shows a young man discovering both his powers and his place among the family.

The Human Torch 1/6 Scale Collectible Figure by Hot Toys features a detailed likeness of Joseph Quinn in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, including sculpted blonde hair and an innovative rolling eyeball design that allows fans to alter the position of the figure’s gaze.

This highly poseable figure has over 30 points of articulation and wears a meticulously tailored blue and white uniform in an elasticated fabric with a ribbed texture. A selection of 8 interchangeable gloved hands in a variety of gestures and 2 flame effect hands to recreate his pyrogenesis ability are also included.

Accessories include a specially designed figure base and a stunning 12.59 inch (32 cm) tall orange and red gradient translucent flying flame effect, interchangeable with the figure’s lower body to recreate moments when Johnny uses his flame powers to fly.

The Special Edition is only available in select markets for a limited time and includes a The Fantastic Four: First Steps metal collectible card with display case.

Heat up your collection with the Human Torch 1/6 Scale Collectible Figure. Available to pre-order now!

This site contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from these sites. Making purchases through these links helps support the site.

Fantastic Flops: Fantastic Four (1994) Season 1 is an Exercise in 90s Cheesiness

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In a continuation of the “Fantastic Flops” series, I’m going back and re-evaluating the 1994 and 2006 Fantastic Four cartoon as well as the 1998 Silver Surfer seriesand various crossovers and seeing if they’re a “Flop”, “Bop”, or “In-Between”.

The 1990s are seen as somewhat of a golden age for superhero cartoons with such classics as Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series as well as Superman: The Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. One show that doesn’t seem to get as much love of these is the 1994 syndicated Fantastic Four cartoon that aired with episodes of Iron Man as part of The Marvel Action Hour. In fact, contemporary Fantastic Four comic book writer Tom DeFalco made fun of it in Fantastic Four #396 where replacement team member Scott Lang roasts the show while ribbing The Thing.

Fantastic Four‘s animation is nothing to write home about with the exception of some cool monster designs for Namor and Mole Man’s denizens as well as a very Jack Kirby-accurate Blastaar. Mr. Fantastic’s powers definitely will always look better in this medium. On the writing and story side, showrunner Ron Friedman and his cohorts Elwin Ransom (So cool that they have the same name as the protagonist of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy) and Don Segall’s scripts fluctuate from poignant adaptations of the source material to chaotically humorous (See “The Mole Man”, especially Johnny Storm’s rap because voice actor Brian Austin Green wanted to have a hip hop career.) or intelligence insulting (Both Skrulls episode.) This is a show that jokes about Prince Charles dating Roseanne Barr and features guest spots from Dick Clark and Gary Owens in the two part pilot, but also the solution to defeating various villains comes up in unrelated conversations between Mr. Fantastic and other members of the team. It also loves a running gag and catch phrase, which makes sense for the team that brought you “Flame on” and “It’s clobberin’ time”, but I swear if I have to hear the Thing say “One for the money, two for the show”, I might cancel my Disney Plus subscription. (I do enjoy the Thing’s obsession with Wayne Newton, and how he fights with Johnny Storm when he tries to burn them up.)

The mediocre “Mask of Doom” three-parter is the Fantastic Four show in a nutshell. It begins with the Thing poorly following a TV yoga workout and follows with 2 episodes of he, Mr. Fantastic, and the Human Torch dodging various Dr. Doom death traps while he mansplains his origin story to the Invisible Woman. The third part is an anachronism-filled time travel caper set in 4th century BCE Greece that has big Bill and Ted energy, especially when the Human Torch romances a Greek oracle. The extended theme song, credits, and “previously on” recaps really eat into the runtime of the episode, and important plot points like Victor Von Doom’s relationship with Reed Richards as a college student is quickly glossed over so the team can run around in creepy passageways. Dr. Doom’s origin story should have been the A-plot, and the action hijinks should have been the B-plot, but Friedman and Ransom flip that dynamic. One thing I will say about the Fantastic Four cartoon is that your never more than a few minutes away from the Thing punching something and generally crashing out.

I briefly mentioned the two Skrulls episodes as being the low points of Fantastic Four, and they are along with “Behold the Negative Zone”, which shows that Annihilus and Blastaar are more interesting in their own world than on Earth. Despite having a vast invasion fleet and a warrior with all the powers of the Fantastic Four plus hypnosis, the Skrull never come across as a threat. Friedman, Ransom, and Segall would rather do a cheap imitation of basically Mars Attacks (Which hadn’t come out at the time of the cartoon.) than dig into Marvel’s rich cosmic tapestry. The most memorable moments from this episode are finding out that the Thing didn’t vote for Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election, and that he has bars. Seriously, he spends the entire “Super Skrull” episode trying to film a rap rock video for MTV, one of his many attempts throughout the season to capitalize on his fame as a member of the Fantastic Four to make money.

The high point of Fantastic Four other than the utter silliness of “Mole Man”, which also features Reed Richards and Human Torch/his spoiled girlfriend Melinda and Sue Storm and the Thing working as pairs, is the “The Silver Surfer and Coming of Galactus” two-parter. The scene where Alicia Master senses the Surfer’s humanity and kindness and compares it to Ben Grimms is played beautifully by Pauline Lomas and Robin Sachs. Also, Alan Oppenheimer and Shakespearean actor Tony Jay bring a real direness and grandeur to the episode as Uatu the Watcher and the Devourer himself with the Fantastic Four facing their greatest threat yet. And while this is going on, they’re facing eviction from their landlady Ms. Forbes in a take-it-or-leave-it performance from Joan Lee, who did a much better job as Madame Web in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Dealing with every day struggles while facing the end of existence and finding the good in antagonists is Marvel at its finest, and these plus the YouTube clip of Johnny Storm rapping are the episodes of this series you should watch.

The framing narrative of the two-part pilot of Fantastic Four set at a Dick Clark telethon reminded me a lot of how Fantastic Four: First Steps told the team’s origin. Even though the film was set in the 1960s and the show was set in the 1990s, it hops right to the adventures with the Fantastic Four being a known entity with recurring foes, a relationship with the US government (And a nagging landlady), and as public figures. The 2025 film handles these elements in a much more interesting way, but it’s also a PG-13 blockbuster film and not hamstrung by the need to sell toys to cereal eating children and maybe a stoner or two. I really wanted to give a “Mid” score to Fantastic Four Season One, but am choosing to get a “Flop” instead because there is definitely potential for improvement as evidenced by a season finale that balances pathos (Silver Surfer must doing something heroic without his abilities.) and humor (A few meta jabs at their Action Hour compatriot Iron Man). If anything, the theme song is an ear worm!

Overall Verdict: Flop

Flame On with Hot Toys’ Deadpool & Wolverine Human Torch figure

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Inspired by Marvel‘s Deadpool & Wolverine, Hot Toys is bringing one of the most fun and astounding cameos of the film out of the Void and onto your shelf with the Human Torch 1/6 Scale Collectible Figure.

Chris Evans, who is known for his portrayal of the pivotal MCU character Captain America, surprised audiences by reprising his Fantastic Four role of the Human Torch in a searing cameo. Pruned by the TVA, the Human Torch has been hiding in the Void, where he meets Deadpool and Wolverine.

The Human Torch 1/6 Scale Collectible Figure features a hand-painted headsculpt with a detailed likeness of Chris Evans as Johnny Storm / Human Torch. Collectors can pose the figure with nuanced expressions thanks to Hot Toys’ innovative rolling eyeball design. Johnny wears a meticulously tailored blue Fantastic Four uniform, a distressed cloak with an embedded wire hem, detachable arm wraps, a utility belt, and combat pants.

This highly poseable figure allows for dynamic display options with over 30 points of articulation and a specially designed diorama base. The Human Torch comes with 8 flame effects including tongues of flame, a flame attack, and a fire-whirling accessory that allows the flame to wrap around the figure.

Flame on! The Human Torch 1/6 Scale Collectible Figure is available for pre-order now.

This site contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from these sites. Making purchases through these links helps support the site.

Diamond Select Toys in stores this week: Indiana Jones, Wolverine and the Human Torch!

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It’s almost Wednesday, which means it’s time for a new shipment to comic shops from Diamond Select Toys and Gentle Giant LTD! This week, the first ever Indiana Jones Gallery Diorama hits stores, as do two new Marvel busts in two different scales!

Indiana Jones Gallery Raiders of the Lost Ark Escape DLX PVC Diorama

A Gentle Giant LTD release! Run for your life, Indiana! In this all-new Gallery Diorama, Doctor Jones sprints past launching arrows, idol in hand, racing against time as the tunnel caves in behind him. Standing approximately 10 inches tall, this sculpture is made of high-quality PVC and comes packaged in a full-color window box.

SRP: $80.00

Marvel Comic Brown Wolverine 1/7 Scale Mini-Bust

A Diamond Select Toys release! Snikt! The berserker X-Man known as Wolverine is the newest 1/7 scale mini-bust in the Marvel Comics line! Wearing his classic brown costume and with his claws bared, this resin mini-bust of Logan stands approximately 5.5 inches tall atop an adamantium claw base, and features real metal claws! Limited to only 3000 pieces, it comes packaged in a full color box with a numbered certificate of authenticity. Designed by Nelson Asencio, sculpted by Juan Pitluk!

Mini-bust
SRP: $90.00

Marvel Comic Human Torch 1/6 Scale Mini-Bust

A Gentle Giant LTD release! Flame on! The Human Torch winds up a flaming fireball in this new 1/6 scale mini-bust from Gentle Giant LTD! Measuring approximately 7 inches tall, this detailed bust of the hot-headed Fantastic Four member is cast in translucent resin, allowing the light to shine through. Limited to only 2000 pieces, it comes packaged with a numbered certificate of authenticity in a full-color box. Designed by Chris Sears, sculpted by Anissa Tchoub!

Mini-Bust
SRP: $130.00

Diamond Select Toys in Store This Week: The Fantastic Four, Ahsoka Tano and More!

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Diamond Select Toys has lots coming to stores this week! The Human Torch and the Thing team up to defeat Doctor Doom, Ahsoka Tano faces off with Asajj Ventress, and Iron Man and Rogue do whatever a couple of awesome busts do! Busts, action figures, statues… there’s a little bit of everything in this week’s offerings. It’s the best of all worlds!

Legends in 3D Marvel Comic Doctor Doom 1/2 Scale Bust 

A Diamond Select Toys release! Behold the magnificent visage of Doom! Victor Von Doom, ruler of Latveria, is a Legend among his people, and now he’s a Legend in 3D! This 10-inch bust depicts the monarch in scale, atop a castle pedestal decorated with Doom’s monogram, and features detailed sculpting and paint applications. Limited to only 3,000 pieces, it comes packaged in a full-color box with a numbered certificate of authenticity. Designed by Joe Allard, sculpted by Rocco Tartamella. (Item #DEC202073, SRP: $175.00)

Legends in 3D Star Wars Ahsoka Tano Half-Scale Bust

A Gentle Giant Ltd. release! She’s one of the most popular characters in Star Wars fandom, and now Ahsoka Tano is a Legend in 3D! This approximately 10-inch bust captures the Jedi Knight in scale, atop a sculpted, lightsaber-inspired pedestal. Limited to only 1,000 pieces, she features detailed sculpting and paint applications, and comes packaged in a numbered, full-color box with a certificate of authenticity. (JAN211969, SRP: $175.00)

Marvel Animated Style Thing Statue 

A Gentle Giant Ltd. release! It’s clobberin’ time! The rocky curmudgeon of the Fantastic Four is now a super-adorable animated-style statue! Based on the variant cover artwork of Skottie Young, this action-packed piece shows Thing running into the fray, and stands approximately 4 inches tall. Limited to only 3,000 pieces, it features detailed sculpting and paint applications, and comes packed in a full-color box with a numbered certificate of authenticity. Sculpted by Paul Harding! (Item # DEC202079, SRP: $49.99)

Marvel Animated X-Men Rogue Mini-Bust

A Diamond Select Toys release! Mutant pride, shugah! Southern belle Rogue enters the fray as the newest bust based on X-Men: The Animated Series! Capturing the cartoon’s costume and colors, this approximately 6-inch tall, 1/7 scale bust sits on a grey pedestal and is in scale to the rest of the X-Men. Includes a numbered certificate of authenticity in a full-color box. Limited to 3,000 pieces. Designed by Barry Bradfield, sculpted by Paul Harding! (Item #NOV201956, SRP: $59.99)

Marvel Comic Iron Man 1/7 Scale Mini-Bust

A Diamond Select Toys release! Iron Man flexes his technological might in this all-new bust based on Marvel Comics! Charging up a repulsor blast while extending various segments of his armor, this 1/7 scale bust stands approximately 6 inches tall atop a similarly armored pedestal base. Featuring detailed sculpting and paint applications, this resin bust is limited to 3,000 pieces, and comes packaged in a full-color box with a numbered certificate of authenticity. Designed by Nelson Asencio, sculpted by Juan Pitluk. (Item # DEC202077, SRP: $69.99)

Marvel Select Human Torch Action Figure

A Diamond Select Toys release! Flame on! The Fantastic Four’s hot-headed member gets his first-ever Marvel Select action figure with this all-new release! Standing approximately 7 inches tall and featuring 16 points of articulation, this figure is cast in translucent material, and comes with interchangeable flame effects, a flight stand and a Golden Age Torch head! It comes packaged in display-ready Select packaging, with side-panel artwork for shelf reference. Designed by Eamon O’Donoghue, sculpted by Chris Dahlberg! (Item #NOV201958, SRP: $29.99)

Star Wars Clone Wars Asajj Ventress 1/6 Scale Mini-Bust 

A Gentle Giant Ltd. release! Asajj Ventress makes her long-awaited entrance to the 1/6 Scale Star Wars bust line from Gentle Giant Ltd.! The Sith wields her twin red lightsabers and includes a removable cloak, making her a necessary addition to any Star Wars bust collection. She stands approximately 6 inches tall, 8 inches with lightsabers. Limited to only 1,500 pieces, it comes packaged in a full-color box with a numbered certificate of authenticity. (Item #DEC202068, SRP: $120.00)

Review: Fantastic Four Grand Design #1 is Sometimes Overwhelming, Sometimes Fun

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Fantastic Four Grand Design #1

Tom Scioli is a cartoonist whose works owes almost everything to legendary creator, Jack Kirby, and he gets to pay homage to one of his and Stan Lee’s finest creations in Fantastic Four Grand Design #1. The Fantastic Four don’t even show up as a team (Time travel be damned) until page 14 of the book. Scioli spends the first portion of this extended length comic trying to create a grand cosmic narrative for the Marvel Universe featuring the Krees, Skrulls, Deviants, Eternals, Inhumans, and cities of Attilan, Lemuria, and Atlantis with a side of secret societies and Uatu the Watcher as a POV character in a similar manner to Ed Piskor’s X-Men Grand Design. This prelude is just a foretaste of the overwhelming as a narrative, yet satisfying on a style and individual panel level that this comic is.

Scioli definitely has some storytelling chops and cleverness up his sleeve. He doesn’t start with Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm stealing a rocket to “beat the Reds into space”, but by paralleling the Fantastic Four with the four Celestials that helped accelerate evolution on Earth with a nifty pink, green, yellow, and red color palette. Uatu the Watcher saving Taa (Later Galactus) from the destruction of his planet as his body dissolves and changes form is clearly inspired by the Thing changing from human to monster and is a beautiful meditation on divine intervention. In the early going, the comic also has a nice structure with one page, almost Sunday comic strips introducing major cast members like the Fantastic Four as well as supporting cast members like the Inhumans, Namor, Dr. Doom, and even Black Panther.

However, after these character introductions, the FF’s origin, and some strong storytelling showing how Fantastic Four went from a monster to a superhero comic (It’s all about the branding.), Fantastic Four Grand Design #1 becomes an episodic, 20+ panels on a page mess. Tom Scioli has the cram 46 issues of comics into 21 pages, and he includes each and every villain battle and plot development before ending the first issue on the great, logical cliffhanger of right before the Galactus Trilogy. (The little appearances of Silver Surfer are majestic so far, and I can’t wait to see Scioli’s take on Kirby krackle and the way he moves through the cosmos.)

Tom Scioli does nail the dysfunctional family dynamic, and his Invisible Girl and Namor have some searing chemistry, but the lack of transitions once he hits the “Fantastic Four go on adventures” part is overwhelming. For example, Daredevil shows up in the middle of a battle, and he is neither introduced or commented on as he just disappears once the brawl is over. Scioli pummels readers with plot summaries from the past, but with a fun art style and better one-liners than Stan Lee. His Thing is sassy as hell when he’s not being used as a plot device. In general, Scioli’s characterization is up and down as he joins the long list of creators to fail at making the Inhumans likable with the exception of Crystal’s West Side Story type relationship with Johnny Storm plus Lockjaw being his adorable self.

Tom Scioli shows his clear reverence for Marvel’s Silver Age comics, especially the work of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in Fantastic Four Grand Design #1 with his powerful figure work, far out colors, and soap opera on speed plotting. He uses the beginning of the comic to try to place the Fantastic Four in an, er, grander cosmic narrative, but it all falls apart by the end. With its 20+ panel pages coupled with high attention to detail on each panel, Fantastic Four Grand Design is more hyper-caffeinated history level than an enjoyable comic, and honestly, would have worked better as a page a day webcomic in the vein of Scioli’s previous creator-owned work than a traditional floppy.

Story: Tom Scioli Art: Tom Scioli
Story: 6.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Fantastic Four #1

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After a three year absence, the book that kicked off the Marvel Universe is back sort of in Fantastic Four #1. Dan Slott, Sara Pichelli, Elisabetta D’Amico, and Marte Gracia’s first issue doesn’t have Marvel’s First Family fighting Mole Man or the Trapster just yet and creates a slow build to the reunion. However, there is plenty of sweetness, comedy, and a little of bit of familial strife along the way as Slott and Pichelli play in-universe with reader expectations about the team reuniting and the oil and water dynamic of the Human Torch and the ever loving blue eyed Thing. They do have a quite funny flashback to a “forgotten” adventure of the Fantastic Four that asks as a proof of concept that shows that Slott call pull off all the voices of the bickering, yet loving sitcom family with superpowers. In addition to this, Slott, Simone Bianchi, and Marco Russo craft a Dr. Doom backup story that is a little more traditionalist than his recent appearances in Invincible Iron Man and Marvel Two-in-One,  and there’s also a super fun and quite metafictional one page backup drawn by Skottie Young and colored by Jeremy Treece.

For her work on Fantastic Four #1, Sara Pichelli brings a looser, almost more playful art style that still shows emotions and body language in a fluid way with the help of inker Elisabetta D’Amico and colorist Marte Gracia. Even though he’s made of rocks, Pichelli’s take on The Thing is lively and utterly human. Beneath his ungainly movements, he’s a loving man, and the scene where he proposes to his long time girlfriend Alicia Masters is sentimental without being sappy. Dan Slott writes The Thing as maybe giving up on seeing Reed, Sue, Valeria, and Franklin ever again, but he still has a family in Alicia and Johnny. However, The Thing and the Human Torch aren’t always loving BFFs, and Gracia shows the subtle difference in the Torch’s flame when he’s going off in action and when he flies off the handle after Ben asks him to be his best man. This scene shows that there’s still tension in Ben and Johnny’s relationship in an organic, not drama for the sake of drama way and even builds off the way that Chip Zdarsky has written them in Marvel Two-in-One where Ben knows that Sue and Reed are lost forever while giving Johnny a false sense of hope that they’re somewhere in the multiverse.

Johnny still believes the Fantastic Four will reunite and immediately flames on to where their sign shoots off in the sky with a flare gun like in the original Fantastic Four #1. Of course, it’s just a prank, but it’s foreshadowing to a grander, earned moment all overlaid in a beautiful blue by Marte Gracia like hope in the midst of despair. And hope and family are major themes throughout Dan Slott and Sara Pichelli’s story in Fantastic Four #1. Even if Ben and Johnny don’t interact with Ben and Sue, they share plenty of moments with the “extended” Fantastic Four family, including Wyatt Wingfoot, Jennifer Walters, and the aforementioned Alicia Masters. Johnny and Wyatt take in a Mets game, and Slott engages in what is either queer subtext or queer baiting using the stadium kiss cam while Jen pops up later to flirt with Wyatt and also legally represent the Yancy Street kids who set off the false Fantastic Four flare. Slott modernizes the relationship between the Thing and what was formerly known as the Yancy Street gang making him kind of a community leader instead of the participant in an endless Itchy and Scratchy situation.

Other than the poetic ending, the best moment of Fantastic Four #1 is the flashback sequence where the Fantastic Four and supporting cast find their way back to New York City through the power of Johnny singing the Wayne Newton standard, “Danke Schoen”. It’s funny, cheesy, heartwarming, and adventurous all at once like the best Fantastic Four stories. This is thanks to some little details emphasized by Pichelli like the way Reed cranes his neck when explain the quantum science or whatever of this karaoke journey home situation and then immediately retracts when he doesn’t want to out and out say that Sue isn’t the greatest singer. There’s also time for some transcendent beauty in the midst of screwball comedy: a Marte Gracia colored cosmic flame in the deep blue night sky that even Alicia, who is blind, can see. This little adventure shows the Fantastic Four are about science as well as deep human wonder through the vessel of a family ensemble.

Slott, Simone Bianchi, and Marco Russo’s Dr. Doom backup story creates a different kind of wonder, and the baroque severeness of Bianchi’s art easily contrasts with the cosmic smoothness, yet expressive cartooning of Sara Pichelli and Elisabetta D’Amico. It’s a back to basics Doom story as one of his former subjects pays a visit to the half-abandoned Doomstadt (There’s lots of Doombots per usual.) and asks him to liberate Latveria from one of the many stop gap authoritarian regimes that have been in place since he left them to play hero/Iron Man. And the way Slott writes Doom and Bianchi draws him is the complete opposite of the “Infamous Iron Man” as his face is no longer pretty, and he’s ready to rule with an iron grip and an iron mask. Like the main story of Fantastic Four #1, the Doom backup is about hope and symbols, but it’s a dark and twisted mirror to Marvel’s First Family.

Fantastic Four #1 is nothing short of a triumphant return for Marvel’s first superhero team. Dan Slott hits a nice balance between tearing heart strings, broad humor, and the wonders of the universe in his script while also crafting an aura of mystery and terror in the Dr. Doom backup story with Simone Bianchi and Marco Russo. In the visual department, Sara Pichelli shows why she is one of Marvel’s best and versatile artists hitting all the smaller, yet very important character beats as well as the big spreads and “Flame on!” moments.

Whether you’ve been reading the title since 1961 or this is your first FF adventure, Fantastic Four #1 is definitely worth your $5.99.

Story: Dan Slott Pencils: Sara Pichelli Inks: Sara Pichelli with Elisabetta D’Amico
Colors: Marte Gracia Backup Art: Simone Bianchi, Skottie Young
Backup Colors: Simone Bianchi and Marco Russo, Jeremy Treece Letters: Joe Caramagna
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.5 Overall: 9.3 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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