Fantastic Four Epic Collection: Heroes Reborn

Marvel’s First Family — reimagined by some of the industry’s hottest talents!

In 1996, superstar creators of the day teamed up to reinvent and reinvigorate Marvel mainstays Captain America, Iron Man, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Seemingly killed off in the mainstream Marvel Universe, these classic heroes were reborn with bold new looks on a brave new world, their origins re-envisioned with a raw vitality and contemporary sensibility! The newly transformed Fantastic Four faces menaces from the Earth, the sea...and the nation of Latveria! But even the Mole Man, Namor and Doctor Doom himself pale before the threat of Galactus and his Heralds! Featuring the Heroes Reborn versions of the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. and more!

COLLECTING: Fantastic Four (1996) #1-12, Avengers (1996) #12, Iron Man (1996) #12, Captain America (1996) #12, material from Incredible Hulk (1968) #450

Written by Brandon Choi, Jim Lee, Scott Lobdell, Walter Simonson, Jeph Loeb & Peter David
Penciled by Jim Lee, Brett Booth, Ron Lim, Mike Deodato Jr. & More

Scott Lobdell wrote both Uncanny X-Men and X-Men during the 1990s. He also launched Generation X and Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, and penned Alpha Flight and Fantastic Four. Elsewhere, he wrote Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Fabian Nicieza, Wildstorm’s Gen13, Top Cow’s Darkness, and IDW’s Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression and Galaxy Quest. Lobdell scripted Stan Lee’s animated film Mosaic and has performed as a stand-up comedian.

Peter David is one of the industry’s most prolific and versatile writers whose record-breaking stint on Incredible Hulk remains a fan-favorite to this day. His similarly long-running — and critically acclaimed — association with X-Factor began in the early 1990s and continued in 2005 and 2014. His other Marvel work includes Captain Marvel, two lengthy stints on Spider-Man 2099, Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider and the smash-hit Symbiote Spider-Man limited series and its sequels with artist Greg Land. David is also a novelist and screenwriter. Among his credits are some forty Star Trek tie-ins; original novels such as Sir Apropos of Nothing, Howling Mad and Knight Life; movies Trancers 4 and Trancers 5; and episodes of Babylon 5 and Crusade. He also co-created the TV show Space Cases with actor-writer Bill Mumy.

Jeph Loeb is an Emmy Award-nominated and Eisner Award-winning writer/producer. In television, his many credits include Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Heroes, Lost and Smallville; and in film, Teen Wolf and Commando. He has written nearly every major comics icon, including the Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Batman and Superman. From 2010 to 2019, he was Marvel's executive vice president, head of television, in which role he executive produced multiple series for Netflix, beginning with Daredevil in 2015.

After achieving industry acclaim for DC’s award-winning “Manhunter” feature in Detective Comics, Walter Simonson moved to Marvel where he introduced multiple characters and concepts from both myth and outer space during his revered run scripting and penciling Thor. He collaborated with his wife, Louise, on both X-Factor and Wildstorm’s World of Warcraft, later returning to Marvel to illustrate Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers.

Jim Lee is perhaps today’s hottest comic-book artist. Since the late ’80s, his work for Marvel, DC and Image — the company he helped found — has set trends that survive to this day. After honing his skills with memorable runs on Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, Lee rose to prominence on Uncanny X-Men. Lee then revamped the mutant team’s look and helped launch the second X-Men series, whose first issue remains one of the best-selling comic books of all time. In 1992, he and other artists formed Image Comics. Lee’s group of titles, published under the Wildstorm Productions imprint, included the mega-popular WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch and Gen13. Under Wildstorm’s sub-imprint Homage Comics, he published Kurt Busiek’s Astro City and Strangers in Paradise, both of which became major fan favorites. Lee returned to Marvel in 1996, relaunching Fantastic Four as part of the “Heroes Reborn” event. Subsequently selling Wildstorm to DC Comics, Lee went on to pencil Batman, Superman and WildC.A.T.s. Later, as DC Comics’ co-publisher, he helped revamp and reconceptualize the company’s entire lineup.

Brett Booth is the veteran comic-book artist of such titles as Backlash, Thundercats: Dogs of War, The Burning Man, Magician: Apprentice and Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. He has a distinctive style that has caught the eye of many comic-book fans; as a huge fan of Laurell K. Hamilton’s novels, he was thrilled to work on the Anita Blake comic-book adaptation.

After establishing himself on Eternity’s Ex-Mutants and First’s Badger, Ron Lim went cosmic with a six-year penciling run on Silver Surfer, followed by a collaboration with Jim Starlin on the Warlock/Thanos Infinity multi-miniseries saga. With writer Tom DeFalco, he helped create the look and characters of the MC2 universe, while he explored a different Marvel future during a 35-issue run on X-Men 2099. Lim’s other Marvel credits include Captain America, Spider-Man Unlimited and Venom: Lethal Protector.

Artist Mike Deodato Jr. was already a renowned illustrator in his native Brazil when he got his big break in American comics in 1994, illustrating DC’s Wonder Woman. For Marvel, he drew such series as Avengers, Elektra, Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk. After refining his inimitable style on the creator-owned Jade Warriors, he returned to Marvel for a second turn on Incredible Hulk, with writer Bruce Jones, and a stint on J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man. Deodato has forged an association with the Avengers on various titles — including collaborations with Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker and Jonathan Hickman — and demonstrated his superstar status on the event book Original Sin. Deodato joined writer Jeff Lemire in exploring one of Marvel's greatest villains in Thanos.