Fantastic Four #5: Flame On 5

Fantastic Four #5, page 13, panel 2

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inks: Joe Sinnott

Uncredited Letters: Art Simek

Today's Flame On is set in piratical times, as the three male members of the team have stepped through Doctor Doom's time platform to claim Blackbeard's treasure (which, let's face it, is a pretty inauspicious start for one of the Marvel universe's heaviest hitters). Having been forcibly recruited to the crew of a pirate ship, the team cut loose to fight for their freedom. Here, Johnny activates his flame powers to melt a pirate's sword, much to his surprise.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #4 in our third episode: Super Villain Cavalcade

Fantastic Four #2: The Humanity Of Benjamin J. Grimm 1

Fantastic Four #2, page 19, panels 5-7

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

One of the greatest tragedies of the Fantastic Four is the lost humanity of Ben Grimm, trapped forever in a monstrous form, unable to connect with humanity on the level that he used to. Forced to wear a large mac and fedora to hide his looks (or at least until he came to accept who he was and decided to wear a fetching pair of trunks), The Thing would quickly move beyond his anger issues and become the true heart of the team.

Not that it would stop Stan and Jack from teasing him regularly with the promise of returning to his human form. In this first instance, a repeated exposure to the cosmic rays affects only Ben, causing him to lose his powers and disfigurement. This only lasts for a couple of pages before he loses his human exterior again, but this unexpected transformation launches one of the longest-running subplots in the book, that of Reed working to somehow regain the humanity of his best friend.

Fantastic Four #2, page 21, panels 4-6

I really enjoy Kirby's layouts of the transitions, and the way they mirror each other. In both triptychs, the eyes are the key element and focus of the panels. In the first, they change from the unnaturally round eyes of The Thing to the more natural shape of Ben Grimm's. In the second, they eyes vanish as Ben becomes The Thing again, highlighting the loss of his physical humanity.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: It's A Marvel Comic 1

Fantastic Four #2, page 18, panel 1

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

One of my favourite conceits about the Marvel universe is the way that Marvel Comics themselves exist in their own universe. The general setup is that Marvel heroes license their images and adventures to Marvel Comics, who then publish comics based on these, which are usually almost completely identical to the ones we read. There have been some wonderful stories involving this across the years, a particular favourite of mine being The Thing #7 from 1984, where Ben heads over to the Marvel bullpen to protest the poor nature of one of his issues.

So, every now and again, we're going to see Marvel Comics in The Fantastic Four, and we'll take a look at them as they appear.

Here, Reed brings along some comics with him when he visits the Skrull spaceship, and manages to pass them off as surveillance intelligence and, incredibly, averts an alien invasion! The art of Kirby and Ditko has arguably never been so important!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: Fear Of The Thing 3

Fantastic Four #2, page 18, panel 2

Fantastic Four #2, page 18, panel 3

Fantastic Four #2, page 18, panel 4

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

It's a multi-panel spectacular today as Ben has one of his most spectacular meltdowns to date. Here, the team assault the Skrulls' hideout to rescue Johnny, and Ben sees Red. Not helped by Reed's insistence on calling his long-time friend "Thing", he threatens to smash a heavy dresser over the heads of the Skrulls. What makes this really stand out is the way Reed takes this into his stride and threatens to turn The Thing loose on the Skrulls unless they tell him everything. This dangerous and manipulative side to Reed is seldom seen.

As we get to see the entire team in these three panels, I just wanted to drop a quick note about the costumes. When The Fantastic Four was conceived, Stan wanted to move away from the conventions of the genre, including having the team in costumes. These first two issues feature the team in civilian clothes throughout, and seeing Reed in a suit and Ben in a pair of slacks does look a little strange. This unusual appearance coupled with the darker behaviours seen in these early issues gives us a Fantastic Four that is both familiar and different, resulting in a less-familiar reading experience across these first few issues.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: Flame On .1

Fantastic Four #2, page 14, panel 5

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

This is kind of a cheat, but it is worth pointing out the first time that the words 'flame' and 'on' are used consecutively in The Fantastic Four. Here, the Skrull impersonating Johnny Storm has managed to negate Johnny's flame by flying head-on into him whilst both were flaming. What's nice to see is that despite being in mortal danger, Johnny was actually thinking, 'hmm, those words sound good when said together. I must try them out at some point."

Anyway, even though these are the first time that these classic words are used, the fact that a damn dirty Skrull says them means that they only get a .1 tally. It'll be a little while more before we see Johnny use them as his traditional battle cry.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: Property Damage 5

Fantastic Four #2, page 12, panel 6

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

I think this is most extreme example of Property Damage that we've seen to date: The Human Torch destroys a missile launching platform at an army base.

Now, this is all part of Johnny's half-baked plan to draw out the Skrull imposters by pretending to be one of them, allowing him to infiltrate them. Of course, his plan requires that the Skrull impersonating him has gone off on his own for a while, or else he's just the Human Torch acting badly.

But not too badly... note that Johnny destroys an unfinished launching platform. That's still going to be at great cost to tax payer. Your tax dollars, funding silly plans to draw out shape-shifting alien invaders.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: Reed's Stretchy Body 1

Fantastic Four #2, page 10, panel 3

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

One of the great joys of having a member of your cast who can change his body shape must be getting to let your imagination run wild with the artistic possibilities of such a character. The first time I came across this type of power coupled with a writer and artist capable of running with these possibilities came when I read Grant Morrison and Howard Porter's JLA, back in the late 1990s. They had an absolute ball with Plastic Man, and for a large part of the 2000s, successive writers and artists kept Plastic Man as an amusing and inventive character within the League.

But we're not here to talk about the Justice League. We're here, under this category, to take a look at how Stan and Jack handled the possibilities of such a character. We start here, with Mr Fantastic contained in another seemingly escape-proof cell by the US Army. On the previous page we'd seen him use his fingers to probe ever inch of his cell looking for a gap, and here we find him squeezing through a minuscule gap adjacent to a rivet. This leads to this marvellous visual of a plaid-clad Reed sprouting his head from a metal wall.

Oh, and notice that this is before the unstable molecule costumes that would make their début in the next issue. That's an impressive plaid shirt!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: It's... ASBESTOS!!! 1

Fantastic Four #2, page 8, panel 6

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

One of my absolute favourite misconceptions of the Silver Age of Marvel Comics is the way that asbestos is thrown around as a catch-all substance to retard flames. Yes, asbestos has fire retardant properties - it's how it was used so extensively before the health risks became apparent - but on almost any occasion that you see asbestos used in the comics you should remember that it is a fibrous substance that is responsible for a pretty nasty and fatal lung condition.

So, when the army throw Johnny into an asbestos-lined cell to contain him, you should be able to visualise all those tiny little fibres heading down Johnny's throat and latching onto his lungs.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: Fear Of The Thing 2.1

Fantastic Four #2, page 6, panel 3

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

Just a quick postscript to yesterday's post, with this great reaction from the rest of the team. It's not often we have three of the team members conspiring against the fourth, but we absolutely get it here. The two-tone colouring and sotto voce whispering add to an air of conspiracy which, thankfully, wouldn't become a staple of the series.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #2: Fear Of The Thing 2

Fantastic Four #2, page 5, panel 4

Uncredited Writer: Stan Lee

Uncredited Penciler: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: George Klein

Uncredited Colours: Stan Goldberg

Uncredited Letterer: John Duffy

Our first excerpt from Fantastic Four #2 sees Ben not really helping himself in the 'Not-A-Rampaging-Monster' stakes. He has been riled by a series of imposters - actually shape-changing Skrulls with artificially-induced powers - who have been causing chaos around the country and besmirching the name of the team.

Whilst this is going on, the Four have taken a holiday in a remote cabin where no-one can find them. Unless the army need to... There's a very uncomfortable panel featuring Johnny polishing the barrel of a shotgun. But we're not here to look at teenagers with firearms. We're here to look at an angry Ben hurling a mounted bear head through the side of a cabin to prove that he is not a mindless rampaging creature...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #2 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

Fantastic Four #1: ATOMIC POWER 1

Fantastic Four #1, page 7, panel 8

Fantastic Four #1, page 8, panel 1

Fantastic Four #1, page 8, panel 2

Writer: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Uncredited inking by George Klein and Christopher Rule

Uncredited colouring by Stan Goldberg

Uncredited lettering by Art Simek

Stan Lee has a very casual relationship with the possibilities and dangers of nuclear power. For him, nuclear power represents unlimited possibilities, the future within our grasp. Dangers such as radiation and meltdown have mostly been overcome in his mind, and the addition of atomic power to any device, no matter how impractical, instantly makes it stronger, faster and better.

So, of course, it's great fun to sit here, decades after Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and take a look at a more innocent time.

Here, we see that the US Air Force are quite happy to launch nuclear missiles at Manhatten island. Not because there's an alien invasion spearheaded by an Asgardian god that is determined to subjugate the Earth to the rule of Thanos, the mad Titan. Oh no. Here, it's because there's a bloke flying around on fire.

Can we say "massive over-reaction"?

Instead, Reed hurls the missile out to sea where it explodes 'harmlessly'. Because all nuclear explosions are harmless and completely lack any form of fallout. Just ask the producers of 24...

Fantastic Four #1: Fear Of The Thing 1

Fantastic Four #1, page 5, panel 2

Writer: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Uncredited inking by George Klein and Christopher Rule

Uncredited colouring by Stan Goldberg

Uncredited lettering by Art Simek

For a blog named after The Human Torch, we sure are taking our time to get onto him... other than the cover of this issue, we have yet to see him in the narrative so far!

Finally, Ben's rampage is over, and we move onto another trope of the early comics: Ben's monstrous form and the ways in which people react in terror to him. Not for nothing have we named this "Fear Of The Thing". Here, Kirby renders Ben in shadow, obscuring his eyes and humanity. Ben's temperament, coupled with his appearance, justifies the terror shown by the two men in the panel.

At this stage in the book, the claim that Ben is a Martian could have been taken seriously by the reader. The origin of the team has yet to be shown, and we've had no evidence to disprove this claim.

Eagle-eared listeners will notice that this instance of "Fear Of The Thing" hasn't been counted by us on the show. When we recorded episode one way back in November 2011, we hadn't yet decided on this category, so I now get to go back and retroactively add it in. Retcons!

Find our coverage of Fantastic Four #1 on our very first episode: Introductions, Origins and Fantastic Four #1

Fantastic Four #1: Property Damage 4

Fantastic Four #1, page 5, panel 1

Writer: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Uncredited inking by George Klein and Christopher Rule

Uncredited colouring by Stan Goldberg

Uncredited lettering by Art Simek

The rampage is still on, as in the very next panel, without even fully climbing out of the hole, Ben smashes up a sturdy - and therefore expensive - automobile. We get a small glimpse into the early character of Ben Grimm, as instead of apologising for the damage, he yells at the driver for not seeing him in time. Yes, Ben, because we all drive down the road hesitantly in case a super-strong superhuman should suddenly burst out from the street...

Find our coverage of Fantastic Four #1 on our very first episode: Introductions, Origins and Fantastic Four #1

Fantastic Four #1: Property Damage 3

Fantastic Four #1, page 4, panel 7

Writer: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Uncredited inking by George Klein and Christopher Rule

Uncredited colouring by Stan Goldberg

Uncredited lettering by Art Simek

Ben's rampage isn't yet over, as following a brief stroll through the sewers, he decides that the urgency of the flare overrides any concerns regarding public safety.

Find our coverage of Fantastic Four #1 on our very first episode: Introductions, Origins and Fantastic Four #1

Fantastic Four #1: Property Damage 2

Fantastic Four #1, page 4, panel 4

Writer: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Uncredited inking by George Klein and Christopher Rule

Uncredited colouring by Stan Goldberg

Uncredited lettering by Art Simek

Just a few panels later, Ben Grimm shows himself to be on a reluctant rampage. His appearance is still new and shocking to the people of New York. A cop called Pete, his shouted warning unheeded by Ben, fire off a warning shot. To escape, Ben rips a manhole out of the ground so that he can have an easy escape route. In an early example of over-writing, the very next panel has a speech bubble explaining the actions from this panel.

Find our coverage of Fantastic Four #1 on our very first episode: Introductions, Origins and Fantastic Four #1

Fantastic Four #1: Property Damage 1

Fantastic Four #1, page 4, panel 1

Writer: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Uncredited inking by George Klein and Christopher Rule

Uncredited colouring by Stan Goldberg

Uncredited lettering by Art Simek

We start our journey right back on the fourth page of Fantastic Four #1, with a panel showing Ben Grimm causing the first of many damages to civil and private property in New York.

This panel comes from the opening sequence of the book, showing the team individually assembling at the request of Mr Fantastic. This set of scenes was designed to show off the team's powers, having them take part in every day activities before spying the Fantastic flare in the sky and responding with urgency and haste. Sue abandons tea with a friend, runs out into the street and hails a taxi, all whilst invisible. Johnny abandons his repair work on an expensive auto, melting the roof as he flies away. And Ben, as seen above, bursts out of a mens clothing store.

Just one question, though: If the door is too narrow for Ben to exit through, then how did he get into the store in the first place?

Episodes eight and twenty of The Fantasticast presented a round up of every trope and catchphrase that we have been tracking. Eagle-eared listeners may note that there was no mention of property damage on this list. Simply, we weren't tracking it when we started the show, and I didn't have the time to invest in rereading the issues to list every instance. But now this blog is up and running, I'm taking the opportunity to backtrack and add these to the list.

Find our coverage of Fantastic Four #1 on our very first episode: Introductions, Origins, and Fantastic Four #1