Fantask #4
Fantask #4 (5 May 1969) delivered a historic triple premiere for French comic readers: it was the first issue to bring Spider-Man — here called L'Araignée — to a French-language audience, reprinting the opening chapter of Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Stan Lee/Steve Ditko, 1963). The same issue also carried the French debut of the emotionally resonant 'And Who Shall Mourn for Him?' story from Silver Surfer #5, introducing Al Harper — an African-American scientist and one of comics' early Black supporting heroes — whose self-sacrifice to neutralise the Stranger's Null-Life Bomb remains one of the most morally serious tales of the Silver Age. Rounding out a dense 96-page package were French translations of Fantastic Four #9 and #10, the latter notable for Doctor Doom's body-swap with Mr. Fantastic and for featuring Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as actual characters within the story. Together these three threads made Fantask #4 the single richest issue of the short-lived series in terms of narrative landmarks arriving on French soil for the first time.
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Editions Lug, a Lyon-based publisher best known for digest-format adventure comics, entered the Marvel licensing market after editor Claude Vistel (daughter of co-founder Auguste Vistel) returned from a New York trip in 1968 and negotiated rights through Transworld Features; she personally translated the earliest episodes. The series launched in February 1969 carrying Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer, and by the fourth issue in May 1969 the table of contents was expanded to include Spider-Man, fulfilling the broader Marvel line-up Vistel had acquired. Lug's adaptation workshop — credited in issue #1 as including Rémy Bordelet, Yves Mondet, Jean-Yves Mitton, and Claudy Bordet — handled lettering, colouring adjustments, and French localisation of character names (Reed Richards became 'Red Richards'; Sue Storm became 'Jane Storm'). The entire run was cut short after only seven issues when the French youth-publications censorship commission condemned the magazine for its 'terrifying science fiction' and vivid colours, but Lug regrouped the following year with Strange and Marvel, carrying the same characters forward for decades.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published 5 May 1969 by Editions Lug (Lyon, France) as issue #4 of a seven-issue run; 96 pages, 'petit format' digest size.
- First French-language appearance of Spider-Man (L'Araignée / Peter Parker): reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Lee/Ditko, 1963), in which Spider-Man rescues John Jameson from a malfunctioning space capsule and J. Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, and the Daily Bugle cast all appear in French for the first time.
- French debut of the Silver Surfer #5 story '…And Who Shall Mourn for Him?' (Lee/John Buscema/Sal Buscema, 1969), introducing Al Harper — a Black scientist who sacrifices his life to disarm the Stranger's Null-Life Bomb; the story was split across Fantask #4 (first 19.5 pages) and Fantask #5 (remainder).
- Al Harper (here 'Al Harper') later became the basis for the 2023 Marvel character Ghost Light (Silver Surfer: Ghost Light by John Jennings), making Fantask #4 the French-language source material for that character's debut story.
- Reprints Fantastic Four #9 (Lee/Kirby, December 1962): the FF face bankruptcy while Namor the Sub-Mariner schemes against them; features Alicia Masters.
- Reprints Fantastic Four #10 (Lee/Kirby, January 1963): Doctor Doom switches bodies with Mr. Fantastic using Ovoid technology; notably, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby appear as characters within the story itself.
- Editions Lug licensed the Marvel properties via Transworld Features; editorial translator Claude Vistel handled the first French adaptations, and the Lug workshop localised character names — Reed Richards as 'Red Richards', Sue Storm as 'Jane Storm', Doctor Doom as 'Docteur Fatalis'.
- Issues #4–7 were later collected in Lug's second bound reprint album (Recueil No. 2, dated June 1970), giving the stories a second French circulation after the original run was censored.
Cast · 31 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Le Docteur Fatalis revient de son voyage forcé dans l'espace et rend visite à Jack Kirby et Stan Lee afin de leur faire tendre un piège aux Fantastiques. Il raconte comment il a réussi à revenir sur Terre avec l’aide des Ovoïdes, puis il échange son corps avec Mister Fantastic en utilisant la technologie ovoïde. Fatalis convainc le reste de l'équipe qu’il est Mister Fantastic et dévoile son nouveau rayon rétrécissant, mais red s’échappe du château de Fatalis. Fatalis et Red récupèrent leurs corps. Fatalis, placé sous son propre rayon rétrécisseur, rétrécit à une taille subatomique.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).