Jack Kirby's Final Fantastic Four Issue Hits Stands

Jack Kirby, 1970s · Wikimedia Commons

Fantastic Four #102 (cover-dated September 1970), pitting the team against Namor and Magneto, marked the last issue Jack Kirby illustrated during his original run on the title he co-created with Stan Lee. After a decade that produced the Galactus Trilogy, the Inhumans, and the Black Panther, "The King" was headed for rival DC Comics, where he would launch his Fourth World saga. Marvel later used unpublished Kirby pages to patch together issue #108, but #102 is the one historians point to as his true send-off from Marvel's First Family.

The Flash #200: "Count 200 — and Die!"

The Flash cosplay · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

DC marked a milestone issue with The Flash #200, written by Robert Kanigher with art by Irv Novick and Murphy Anderson. It was one of several DC and Marvel books hitting newsstands the same week — a reminder that round-number anniversary issues have been a comics tradition for well over half a century.

Silver Surfer #18 Closes Out the Original Series

Silver Surfer cosplay · Terry Robinson, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The same week, Marvel's original Silver Surfer series came to an end with issue #18 — a title Stan Lee had envisioned as his most personal, philosophical superhero book. Low sales cut the Surfer's solo adventures short after only 18 issues (plus one giant-size annual), though the character would go on to headline multiple revivals in the decades that followed. DC's tryout anthology Showcase also wrapped its own run around this same period with issue #93, closing out the title that had launched the Silver Age of Comics back in 1956.

Denis Kitchen Founds Krupp Comic Works

Denis Kitchen · Photo: Luigi Novi, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Cartoonist Denis Kitchen launched Krupp Comic Works in Princeton, Wisconsin in 1970 — the publishing operation that would soon become Kitchen Sink Press, one of the most influential underground and alternative comics publishers of the following three decades, home to work by Will Eisner, R. Crumb, Harvey Pekar, and Denis Kitchen's own Mondo Snarfo and Bijou Funnies contributors.

Character Debut: Yoko Tsuno (Spirou, 1970)

See Spotlight above for full details · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Already covered above — Yoko Tsuno's first appearance is the clearest verified "first appearance" story tied to this date, and it's a genuine landmark for European adventure comics.

TV Premiere: Fantastic Four (1994 Animated Series)

Fantastic Four cosplay · Carter McKendry, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Twenty-four years to the week after Kirby's final issue of the original comic, Marvel's Fantastic Four hit the small screen: the syndicated animated series premiered on September 24, 1994, running for two seasons and giving a new generation their first look at Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing outside the comic-shop rack.