Lost Kirby F4 comic released. Noone knew.

You may remember us reporting about an announcement at the 2006 SDCC. Basically, issue 102 of the Fantastic Four had a script re-write which forced Jack Kirby to shelve his already completed art for the book and redraw all the page. This shelved art recently surfaced and Marvel was going to have Stan Lee write a story and dialogue to go with the art and release it to the public. After that announcement, we never really heard anything more about it.

It turns out that the comic appears to have already been released, but not in the way we all expected. Here is the posting from the Blogs@Newsarama:

The story we first heard about a year ago, the lost FF #102 has finally been published. But not as Marvel announced but rather as a digital comic on a DVD as a Best Buy exclusive that comes with a Silver Surfer figurine for $14.99. I picked mine up last night but have not yet watched/read it… Here’s the info on the DVD.

“FANTASTIC 4 — THE LOST JACK KIRBY STORY (digital comic)
The Story Behind The Lost Story:
In 1970, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby talked ove the plot that was going to become FANTASTIC FOUR #102. Jack drew the pencils, but when Stan got them, he didn’t feel that they matched what he had discussed with Jack, so he put them aside. Parts of that story later appeared as flashback scenes in FANTASTIC FOUR issue #108, but the rest remained unpublished, and the pages have neve been put together to appear as a single, complete story in their own right — until now! With the help of Jack Kirby’s estate, Marvel has reassembled most of that story. Stan Lee has rescripted it, and Joe Sinnott has inked the pages that weren’t inked before. Ron Frenz has filled in on pencils for any gaps in the existing material, and worked in Jack’s classic style. Chris Sotomayor colored the story in classic comics style. Now for the first time, experience this Golden Age Fantastic Four story that has never been publiehsed — on your TV using your DVD player!”

I’m pretty disappointed that Marvel chose this as the format for its release. It seems like a bit of a slap in the face to have to pay $14.99 for the digital book. I’m still holding out hope that it will be released in hard copy format at my local comic shop.