Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
Lettering: Art Simek
So, the conceit behind this panel is that the Mad Thinker is orchestrating the break-up of the Fantastic Four by playing on their own desires. So, Johnny goes and joins the circus where he can show-off to his heart's content, Sue becomes a model, and Ben is offered the chance to put one over on the Yancy Street Gang. Here, we see the moment where a big company decides to hire Reed away, based on the CEO happening to pick up a copy of Fantastic Four that was left in the board room by a janitor. It's one way to do some headhunting, I suppose...
What irks me about this is the way The Thinker claims credit for this, simply because he knew it was going to happen. He does nothing to influence the event by, say giving the janitor a copy of the comic, or distracting him so that he leaves it in the right place. If The Thinker hadn't come up with this plan, the CEO would still have decided to try and hire Reed, and Reed would still have accepted his offer.
It's not quite as crazy as knowing that a monkey would set fire to a shack containing important documents, or endlessly proclaiming what will happen in 11 seconds time, but it's still pretty crazy.
Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #15 on our thirteenth episode: The Thinker's Fantastical Predictions!
[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_13.mp3]