Fantask #7
Fantask #7 (August 1969) holds a unique place in European comics history as the final issue of the very first publication to bring Marvel superhero comics to French readers — making every issue of the run, and this last one especially, a closing chapter on a pivotal cultural experiment. The issue delivered the French debut of two major Marvel villains — Doctor Octopus (reprinted from Amazing Spider-Man #3) and the Super-Skrull (from Fantastic Four #18) — giving French audiences their first encounter with characters who would go on to anchor decades of Marvel storytelling. That Fantask was shut down after only seven issues by a government censorship commission, which condemned its "terrifying science-fiction" and "traumatizing monster battles," only amplified its influence: the controversy forced Éditions Lug to immediately regroup and relaunch Marvel titles under stricter self-censorship, directly shaping how an entire generation of French readers would access the Marvel Universe through successor titles Strange and Marvel. As the final number of a run that proved there was an audience for American superhero comics in France, Fantask #7 is the direct ancestor of a publishing tradition that lasted another three decades.
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Éditions Lug, a Lyon-based publisher founded in 1950 by Marcel Navarro and Auguste Vistel, entered the Marvel business after Claude Vistel — Auguste's daughter and a staff editor — returned from a 1968 trip to New York and negotiated reprint rights through Transworld Features, the agency Stan Lee and Martin Goodman used to license Marvel content internationally. Claude Vistel personally translated the earliest episodes, and Fantask #1 launched in February 1969 with an initial print run of 35,000 copies, anchored by Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer stories. From the outset Lug's choices were shaped by what had already been excerpted in the French prestige anthology "Les Chefs-d'œuvre de la bande dessinée," meaning Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Spider-Man formed the editorial spine of all seven issues. The Commission de surveillance et de contrôle des publications destinées à l'enfance et à l'adolescence issued its condemnation — citing violent colors as much as violent content — and Lug, under sustained pressure, chose to cease publication with issue #7, running a farewell editorial and a Fantastic Four pin-up; when Lug relaunched Marvel characters the following year in Strange and Marvel, it practiced deliberate self-censorship, retouching art and removing panels to forestall any repeat ban.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Fantask #7 (August 1969, Éditions Lug) is the seventh and final issue of the first series to publish Marvel Comics in France, running from February to August 1969.
- The issue reprints Fantastic Four #17 (August 1963, Lee/Kirby/Dick Ayers), titled in French "Vaincus par le Dr. Fatalis" — a Doctor Doom story featuring the full FF cast and Ant-Man (Hank Pym).
- It reprints Fantastic Four #18 (September 1963, Lee/Kirby/Dick Ayers), "Un Skrull est parmi nous" — the first French-language appearance of the Super-Skrull (Kl'rt), who mimics all four Fantastic Four powers.
- It reprints Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963, Stan Lee/Steve Ditko), marking the first French-language appearance of Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius), one of Spider-Man's most enduring adversaries.
- It reprints the second half of Silver Surfer #6 (June 1969, Stan Lee/John Buscema/Sal Buscema), "Worlds Without End!" — continuing a story split across Fantask #6 and #7, featuring Norrin Radd's time-travel adventure.
- The entire Fantask series was shut down by France's youth-publications censorship commission, which condemned its "terrifying science-fiction," "traumatizing monster combat," and "violently colored artwork" as harmful to children.
- Issue #7 is notable as the closing bookend of a run that introduced French audiences to Spider-Man (from Fantask #4), Namor (Sub-Mariner), the Silver Surfer, and the Fantastic Four roster for the very first time.
- After Fantask's cancellation, Lug relaunched Marvel content in 1970 via Strange and Marvel (a separate title), initially in black-and-white or limited-color formats and with art retouching to pre-empt further censorship — a direct consequence of the Fantask controversy.
Cast · 27 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Quand une expérience tourne mal, Otto Octavius obtient le contrôle de ses bras mécaniques et décide d'attaquer une centrale nucléaire, mais l'Araigne l'arrête.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).