Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 43

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

This is it, the final panel from Fantastic Four #18. We've featured 13 panels from this comic, with big focus on Reed's Stretchy Body. So, it's appropriate that the final excerpt should be this unusual moment of elasticity.

Because the story is coming to a close, the Super Skrull is more susceptible to the attacks of the Fantastic Four, meaning that all Reed needs to do here is encase him from all sides. Forgetting that he can fly, the Skrull falls for it. What really draws the eye is the way that Reed creates the barrier. you might expect giant stretchy hands to emanate from Reed's relatively-normal arms, but no. Reed eschews traditional bipedal anatomy for a far strange form, with gigantic bingo wings linking up with his entire torso and lower body.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 42

 

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

I think it's clear where the inspiration for this image comes from: Glaucomys sabrinus, the North American flying squirrel. Although the dialogue mentions Reed's body being a parachute, I much prefer him using his body to create a glider effect, as seen.

It's not an image or usage we've seen in the 50 issues since, sadly.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 42

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Yesterday I talked about the sheer fun of Kirby's artwork in this issue, and this panel really proves it. Able to let Reed cut loose with his powers, we get this wonderful visual of Reed's fist, moulded into a giant comedy mallet.

Harley Quinn would be proud!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 41

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Yet more great examples of Jack Kirby's visual imagination when he gets the chance to cut loose with Reed's stretchy powers. The idea that the Super Skrull is pushing Reed to the absolute limits is conveyed brilliants across these four panels. First, in the sheers size of Reed's body in the third panel - he's got to be about 6 stories tall at this point. The motion lines around him really help convey the pressure and stress his body is dealing with.

But it's the delightful chaos of the final panel that nails all of the above. A cross between a snapped elastic band and a rapidly deflating balloon, Reed has rarely looked so outclassed and helpless.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 40

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

The fight is on, and Johnny's not doing well. The Super Skrull manages to daze the Human Torch, causing him to flame off and plummet from the sky. Thankfully, Reed's on hand to catch him, spreading his body between skyscrapers and letting his elasticity break Johnny's fall.

It's a really lovely panel. For me, the fun comes from Johnny's out-stretched limbs poking through Reed's body as he gets caught.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 39

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Today's panel is an old classic.The team are still struggling to escape the manic crowd, so Reed decides to take a bit of short cut, using his legs are springs to bounce over the heads of the crowd. There's not a huge amount to say about this panel. It's great fun, very energetic, and the shocked expressions and body language on the civilians really adds to the panel.

And just how high is the ceiling in this department store?

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 38

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Away from the dastardly plotting on the Skrull planet, the Fantastic Four are going shopping. But because this is decades before the media-savvy 2000s, they completely fail to do anything to conceal their presence in the store. So, it's no surprise that a riot breaks out when the shoppers discover bona fide celebrities in their midst.

Thankfully, being super-heroes, they can easily escape, with Reed using his body to create a sort of retractable escape pole. Except that's not what it is at all, but it's fairly hard to describe. What I do like is that it's Reed retracting his body, dragging Johnny and Sue out from the mob. Even if I'm clearly struggling to analogise it!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four Annual #1: Reed's Stretchy Body 37

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Steve Ditko

Lettering: Ray Holloway

A bit more Spidey/Reed action, with inks by Steve Ditko. Here, Reed takes his penchant for spanking Sue and uses it in a less acceptable manner.

I don't have a huge amount to say about these panels, other than the fact that some rogue Pym Particles appear to have snagged Spider-Man in the second panel - he's teeny!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #1 on our sixteenth episode: The Best Of Annuals, The Worst Of Annuals.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_16.mp3]

Fantastic Four Annual #1: Reed's Stretchy Body 36

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Steve Ditko

Lettering: Ray Holloway

One of the more unique elements of the Fantastic Four Annual #1 was six pages devoted to retelling and expanding on the brief sequence in Amazing Spider-Man #1 where Spider-Man tries to join the Fantastic Four, only to end up in a fight with them. The opening caption claims that 'countless letters' have asked for this to happen, although it would not be inconceivable to suggest that Stan and/or Jack felt that there was more to be gained from the meet-up than had seen print.

Rather nicely, we get a rare collaboration between Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, as the Spider-Man artist lends his inks to the pencils. Ditko had provided inks for Fantastic Four #13, and this would be his final contribution to the title, if not the characters.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #1 on our sixteenth episode: The Best Of Annuals, The Worst Of Annuals.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_16.mp3]

Fantastic Four Annual #1: Reed's Stretchy Body 35

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

I'm a sucker for inventive uses for Reed's stretching powers. As I've said before, the fact that he stretches, rather than having a completely malleable body, prevents some of the crazier excesses of, say, Plastic Man. But when a writer or artist really gets to work with his elastic capabilities, there can be a lot of fun even during a pitched battle.

I particularly like when he gets blindsided by an imaginative opponent who uses his powers against him and the team, as Namor does here. Reed getting involved in a pitched battle is a rare occurrence - he's more likely to be directing the fight of doing something behind the scenes whilst his brother-in-law and best friend get down on with the punching - so seeing him physically involved in the fight in such a visual manner is just great.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #1 on our sixteenth episode: The Best Of Annuals, The Worst Of Annuals.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_16.mp3]

Fantastic Four Annual #1: Reed's Stretchy Body 34

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

It's a two-fer today. I didn't include any panels of Reed bouncing around the room as a giant ball, as we've seen that before. But he's never done that move in front of someone as powerful and as resourceful as Namor, so he's never had this done to him before...

I love this gag, as Namor stretches Reed into a punching bag and wails on him. It doesn't come at the expense of the narrative reality of the fight, and visually it's superb. One could wonder where Namor had experienced a boxing gym to gain inspiration for this move, but that would be unnecessarily nitpicky...

Don't forget to let us know your feel-good Fantastic Four reading experiences!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #1 on our sixteenth episode: The Best Of Annuals, The Worst Of Annuals.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_16.mp3]

Fantastic Four Annual #1: Reed's Stretchy Body 33

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

I guess this was a little inevitable considering exactly what Namor did to Reed in the previous panel. Despite the predictability, I don't think Reed's Jack-in-the-Box-esque springing has ever been done so well.

This is turning into a fun, dynamic fight between these two, and it seems clear that Kirby is enjoying drawing the heck out of this.

Don't forget to let us know your feel-good Fantastic Four reading experiences!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #1 on our sixteenth episode: The Best Of Annuals, The Worst Of Annuals.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_16.mp3]

Fantastic Four Annual #1: Reed's Stretchy Body 32

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

The forces of Atlantis have been repelled thanks to the kind of handy one-stop science that Russell T. Davies would happily use time and time again. Now it's time for things to get personal.

Considering their mutual animosity towards each other, and their admiration for Sue, it's a little surprising that the number of one-on-one fights between Reed Richards and Namor the Sub-Mariner are quite small. Reed has never truly been a two-fisted man of action. He's often involved in fights, but his particular brand of attack normally involves exploiting  his stretchy body to disable and incapacitate, rather than getting directly involved.

Here, Namor decides to cut loose, and Reed isn't backing off. This small panel heralds a full-page of Reed and Namor going at it, and we'll have a few choice panels from this fight over the next few days.

Don't forget to let us know your feel-good Fantastic Four reading experiences!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #1 on our sixteenth episode: The Best Of Annuals, The Worst Of Annuals.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_16.mp3]

Fantastic Four #17: Reed's Stretchy Body 31

Story: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

This is such a lovely panel, even if pretty much nothing about it makes sense.

On board Doom's flying airbase, the Four split up and are faced with deadly traps. Reed is trapped in a room that is filling with quick-setting cement, and survives only by threading himself through the air pockets until he is able to squeeze his way out from under the door.

We'll ignore the aerodynamic possibilities of any flying vehicle having a cement-filled compartment, naturally, and focus on the air pockets. As we all know, cement is well-know for being riddled with air pockets - it's this very lack of structural integrity that make is such a good construction material. Why does Reed need to stretch through them? There's plenty of air in the part of the room not filled with cement, and surely if the cement hardens, he'll have a harder time extracting his over-stretched body from it...

Don't forget to let us know your favourite under-rated Fantastic Four stories!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #17 on our fifteenth episode: Whence Came The Man of Asbestos

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Fantastic Four #16: Reed's Stretchy Body 28-30

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

It's a bit of a different panel today. For a short time in 1963, Marvel devoted a page of their books to pin-up pages like this. (They'd repeat this in a year or so, with post pages). So, for your enjoyment, I present the pin-up page from Fantastic Four #16, with three different examples of Reed being all stretchy.

The parachute, I'm fine with. The bulletproof stretchy bullet catching thing hasn't been seen in a while, and I like it. But the wheel? What the hell is making up the spokes? His toes? His fingers? Did he suddenly perforate his stomach?

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #16 on our fourteenth episode: The Return of Doctor Doom

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_14.mp3]

Fantastic Four #16: Reed's Stretchy Body 27

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

We joke on the show about Reed's paranoia, concerned every few minutes with how his latest creation and/or best friend might just turn against humanity. But today's awesome piece of hyperbolic paranoia comes from Princess Pearla, the heir to the throne of a microscopic kingdom that has been taken over by Doctor Doom.

Pearla knows that the Lizard Men of Tok have been summoned to take over her land, and she explains how the evil lizards will utilise the Fantastic Four to aid their invasion. I guess that the Lizard Men of Tok are ferocious warriors, feared throughout the Microverse, yet they have never mastered the art of chopping down a tree to bridge a narrow ravine.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #16 on our fourteenth episode: The Return of Doctor Doom

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_14.mp3]

Fantastic Four #15: Reed's Stretchy Body 26

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Now, this is more like it. We're leapfrogging through to story somewhat, but suffice to say, the Four have abandoned their plans for solo stardom and success and have reunited, only to find that the Thinker has taken over the Baxter Building and turned it into a deathtrap. Climbing  to the top of an elevator shaft, the team find themselves subjected to a gas attack.

Lacking even a simple battery-operated fan to disperse the gas, Sue, Ben and Reed Macguyver their way out using only their bodies. Hey, it's better than Jack and Gwen doing something similar on an aeroplane in the second episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day!

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]

Fantastic Four #15: Reed's Stretchy Body 25

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

So, the Fantastic Four have split up. And whilst The Think takes advantage of a meteor strike to break into the Baxter Building, Reed is busy doing a spot of mechanical engineering... from the inside-out! (Yes, I know the caption tells us that it's an electronics lab, but that really looks like an engine). It's a throwaway gag visual, but it nicely sells us on the idea that Reed's time with his powers has moved his behaviour away from the conventional, socially acceptable norm. It doesn't bother him at all, or course, but it does reinforce the idea that Reed has moved beyond the idea of holding down a 'normal' job.

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]

Fantastic Four #14: Reed's Stretchy Body 24

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

You may be the monarch of nation with the military might to wipe humanity off the map. You may be one of the Allied Force's greatest allies in World War 2. You may be the first mutant. But you do not get between a stretchy-bodied scientist and his girl.

It's great to see Reed cut loose in this issue. He lets his emotions out when Sue is in danger, overriding Ben and Johnny and driving the team forward to effect her rescue. And in this panel, he cuts loose with his body, abandoning anything approaching a standard bipedal form to become terrible being designed only to entrap his enemy.

I strongly doubt this was an influence, but I can see this echoed in the current issues of Ultimate Comics Ultimates (or whatever the series is called) where Reed is the main nemesis.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #14 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_12.mp3]

Fantastic Four #14: Reed's Stretchy Body 23

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Today's door-scrapingly flat panel comes from a series of moments where Reed imagines his wonderful stretching powers and how they mean nothing of Sue is going to be off thinking about Namor all the time.

What I like about this panel is the thing double-edge around Reed's face, suggesting that his body is the same thickness all over, presumably about a centimetre or so. It then gets a little weird when you realise that Reed is drawn out of scale with the single door that he is sliding under. Not drastically out of scale, say he's about the width of a hobbit standing in a normal human door. Has he been on the Pym Particles?

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #14 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_12.mp3]