Fantastic Four DVD coverI may have been wrong about the prospects for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, as Box Office Mojo is reporting #2 has nearly hit the $100 million mark, and only after 10 days too...

So I'm making plans to see FF 2 sometime over the next week, along with Ms. CEO. And, if you've been on the fence as I have about seeing FF 2, here's a great reason to consider it: Consider buying the two-disk Fantastic Four Extended Edition that comes with a Hollywood Movie Money check for $8.50, enough for a free pass at movie theatres in most American cities.

If you've already laid out the cash for the previous single-disk version of Fantastic Four, you're probably wondering why I'd recommend the "double-dip," even with a "free ticket" for a movie of which I'm still pretty lukewarm.

Better than even an extended version of Fantastic Four (20 extra minutes that bring the new running time to about two hours) are a pair of documentaries running about an hour apiece. One details the storied history of the World's Greatest Comic Magazine with countless interviews with the folks who've worked on it over the past 46 years from Stan Lee, Joe Sinnott, John Romita and Rich Buckler to Walt Simonson, George Perez, Barry Windsor-Smith and Mark Waid.

Which leads to the second documentary, entitled Jack Kirby: Storyteller, a biography of The King as told by the many people whose lives and careers he touched. Perhaps, the most wonderful treat of all for me was watching Stan give Jack more than his due for helping to create/save the Marvel Universe back in the day, something I'd rarely seen. (That said, you may surprised about one modern cartoonist who didn't participate in either interview, whose success was built in part on the legacy Jack built at Marvel. Or may not...)

I consider myself of those lucky ones who met Jack and his wonderful wife Roz at a Dallas comic book convention 21 years ago. Considering his stature as the Kingpin of the Marvel Universe, Jack and Roz were nicer, kinder and more giving to me than I ever expected them to be. Fact is, those brief and wonderful conversations I had at that long ago Dallas show with Jack (and Jonny Quest creator Doug Wildey) set the bar very high for future relationships with comics professionals I've had since then.

After watching these brilliant documentaries, you'll learn why so many people have loved the Fantastic Four and Jack Kirby for so very long, and why the DVD is a bargain, even without the "free" movie money.

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