Fantastic Four #11: Property Damage 11

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Today's lop-sided extract show what a crushing bore Ben can be whilst showing off. Actually, he's not a bore at all, but I couldn't think of another pun related to the images. Maybe something about being under pressure? Nah...

On their way home from their failed comics-buying expedition, the team come across a bunch of kids play-acting at being the Fantastic Four. Always eager to engage with their fans, the team stop and show off for a bit.

Whilst Reed gently stretches out, Sue turns invisible, and Johnny delivers a couple of low-intensity fireballs, coupled with a comics code-pleasing warning about the dangers of playing with fire, Ben decides to wreck some city property, squeezing the poor lamp-post and, presumably, rendering it completely inoperable.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #11 on our ninth episode: Episode 9 - Patriotic Pedestrians Proceeding from Planet Poppup Prefer Poorly Produced Podcasts!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_9.mp3]

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Fantastic Four #11: It's A Marvel Comic 9

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Let's celebrate moving on to another issue of Fantastic Four with a glorious full-page Kirby panel!

It was traditional for Stan Lee to proclaim that he was doing things for the first time in his magazines. After all, we've already seen the Fantastic Four face such real world issues as financial destitution, a problem that would hardly have bugged Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent.

The 'first' that we see in the image today is so remarkable as an event that I wonder if it's ever been done again. The Fantastic Four go to the newsstand to pick up the latest issue of their own title, only to find the place is crammed with fans. Unwilling to wait in line, they head off home again.

Surely the Marvel Universe version of Martin Goodman would have placed them on a comp list?

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #11 on our ninth episode: Episode 9 - Patriotic Pedestrians Proceeding from Planet Poppup Prefer Poorly Produced Podcasts!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_9.mp3]

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Strange Tales #104: Flame On 18

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Larry Lieber

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

It's a good old fashioned battle cry today!

Thanks to the unfortunate timing of his flame running out and some nifty paste - the supreme weapon - skills from Paste Pot Pete, Johnny has found himself bound to a missile, unable to use his flaming powers to escape for fear that he would detonate the warhead. It's an effective - albeit slightly goofy - piece of peril for him to be caught in.

After directing a minute fireball to delicately burn away the paste, Johnny here cries out as he ignites, flying away from the missile, and just avoiding being caught in the ensuing explosion in the next panel.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #104 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

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Strange Tales #104: Flamin' 'Eck 12

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Larry Lieber

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

More craziness with ire today as we bid farewell to the flame duplicate and reveal Paste Pot Pete's true skill.

Johnny's caught up with Paste Pot Pete's truck after he's arrived at an army base and used paste - the supreme weapon - to hijack a missile. Once it's been launched. As the panel show, Johnny dissolves his duplicate, turning it into flaming spears that he hurls at Pete's truck's wheels.

A complete waste of time, frankly, as Paste Pot Pete's driving skills with a laden, top-heavy truck would put the Stig to shame, He effortlessly turns on a sixpence (dime for you lovely Americans) and avoids every single spear. With skills like that, surely he could have made a decent living as a stunt driver rather than devoting his life to trying to convince the world that paste is the supreme weapon.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #104 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

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Strange Tales #104: Flamin' 'Eck 11

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Larry Lieber

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Today, we prove that Stan and Jack are better than Montgomery Scott as the laws o' physics are changed before your very eyes!

Remember yesterday how I said that Johnny's flame duplicate was more than a mere distraction? Today we find out how.

Compelled by some unknown force, the duplicate gives chase to Paste-Pot Pete, following him wherever he goes. Burning without fuel, tracking without any form of sentience to guide him, this duplicate really can do it all. Oh, and he also leaves a heat trail behind him that Johnny is able to follow.

I guess it's lucky that it wasn't very windy that day, allowing the heated air molecules to hang more or less in the space they occupied as the flame duplicate passed them, allowing for Johnny's leisurely pursuit of his double. Because, as we all know from watching cop shows on TV where they use infra red cameras to track heat signatures, everything that generates heat leaves large heat trails behind them as they move.

On the podcast, we're over twenty issues ahead of the blog, and I am so very glad to say that this category, Flamin' 'Eck gets rarer and rarer as the books progress into the mid-1960s.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #104 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

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Strange Tales #104: Flame On 17

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Larry Lieber

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Yes, it's been a little while. My attempts at keeping this daily are as fruitful as my attempts to keep the 20 Minute Longbox as a regular podcast...

It's back to the bread-and-butter of the blog today. After distracting the unsuspecting public Glendale with a highly-suspect flame duplicate, Johnny is finally free to cry FLAME ON and self-ignite. Why he couldn't just run around the corner whilst everyone was gawping at Paste-Pot Pete isn't really made clear, but as we'll see over the next couple of pages, the flame duplicate isn't just a distraction.

But that's for tomorrow.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #104 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

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Strange Tales #104: Flamin' 'Eck 10

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Larry Lieber

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

More flaming craziness, as we get the return of flame duplicates.As luck would have it, Johnny's in the bank when Paste-Pot Pete makes his first appearance as a villain. Of course, thanks to his secret identity, he can't just flame on and apprehend the crook. So, instead, he uses his finger to create a thin stream of flame that he sends forth into a flame duplicate, which hounds Paste-Pot Pete.

It's no more nuts than any use of flame duplicates beyond a not-very-convincing mirage effect, although you really do have to wonder how the duplicate manages to follow Pete as well as it does. Unless Pete did nothing but run in a straight line. Which, considering his intelligence levels in these early stories, isn't completely inconceivable.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #104 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

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Fantastic Four #10: Flamin' 'Eck 9

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Today's triptych of panels sees one of the most ridiculous uses of Johnny's powers seen to date. And that's saying something! Confused by the bodyswap, Johnny, Ben and Sue need to find a way to prove which Reed is the real one. What Johnny decides to do is to use the abilities of heat to create a mirage of a stick of dynamite. And nothing else.

Sadly, this trick fools both Doom and Reed, proving conclusively that the superior intellect is... Johnny.

Even sadder is the fact that without a category to put it into, Doom's delusions of alternate evolution, where dinosaurs didn't outgrow their brains and evolved into spacesuit-wearing astrosaurs, sadly go unrecorded by this blog.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #10 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

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Fantastic Four #10: Flamin' 'Eck 8

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

More imaginary heat-based hi-jinks today!Still in Johnny's imagination, which is more than a couple of leaps away from reality, we see that Johnny's understanding of how his powers work is still a little lacking. Yes, he may be able to fashion a cage out of flame to restrain Doom, but he'd never be able to sustain it for an extended period of time.

Silly bugger.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #10 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

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The Official Fantasticast Competition Post

As announced on episode 35 of The Fantasticast, we are running a competition with two great prizes: Digital copies of every Marvel NOW issue of Fantastic Four by Matt Fraction, Mark Bagley and Mark Farmer, and of every Marvel NOW issue of FF by Matt Fraction, Mike Allred and Laura Allred. All you have to do to be in with a chance to win is to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. It's a simple as that. Once we reach 150 Facebook like and 300 Twitter followers, we'll draw two names from a largely-metaphorical hat, and give away the comics.

Now, there's no official closing date for this competition. The faster we get our likes, the faster we'll give away the comics. On the flip side, we take no responsibility if this competition drags on so long that the codes expire... If the competition closes between the release of Fantastic Four and FF, then I'll ensure that the FF winner isn't penalised by the closing date and include that month's code. However, the prizes are not guaranteed to be equal, as the Age of Ultron issues, any annuals, and any production delays/double-shipping may alter the number of issues published up to the end of the competition.

The prizes will take the form of the digital codes that came free with my copies. I'll peel the stickers off and e-mail the codes to the winners. The stickers are still there, I promise! I was going to give them to Andy, but he can buy his own comics and I think you guys would like them more! They are redeemed through the Marvel website, and can be read in a browser or through the Marvel apps for Android and iOS.

Please share this page to spread awareness of the competition and of the show.

Good luck!

Fantastic Four #10: Flamin' 'Eck 7

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers 

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

I'm pushing it today by including this panel. Details after the jump.

So, yes, I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, I'm not sure I should be including imaginary instances of tropes. Here, Johnny imagines how he might use his powers to restrain the not-so-good Doctor Doom. On the other hand, he clearly believes that he can carve a moat around an island and fill it with everlasting flame to keep Doom confined to his (presumably asbestos) tent.

Whilst Johnny's stupidity isn't a subject of this blog (we'd be here forever if it was), his lack of sense when it comes to his powers arguably is, hence this panel's inclusion.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #10 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

And check back with us tomorrow for the launch of our first ever competition!

Fantastic Four #10: Reed's Stretchy Body 17

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Recent guest-host Professor Alan should be happy with today's post. Whilst the body may be Reed's the mind controlling it is Victor von Doom's!

Having finally moved past all the shenanigans at the start of the issue, the main focus of the story comes into play. Using technology from the planet of the Ovoids, Doctor Doom switches bodies with his arch-rival, Reed Richards. Much like when Emma Frost took over Iceman's body and ended up using his powers better than he ever did, Doom has an impressive control over the elastic powers of Mr Fantastic.

This panel sees Reed, confused by the transfer of his mind into Doctor Doom's body, hopelessly outmatched by his nemesis. Note the subtle evil grin Kirby puts onto Reed's face, showing how Doom's personality changes the face we are so used to seeing.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #10 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

And check back with us at the weekend for the launch of our first ever competition!

Fantastic Four #10: It's A Marvel Comic 8

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Today's post is very handy. Handy, Because it just features hands. And could be useful. Handy. Get it? HANDY!

There have been plenty of panels over the past couple of pages that could have warranted inclusion in the blog, and Stan and Jack become reluctant participants in the nefarious plots of Doctor Doom. However, it's this final panel that tickles me the most.

Doctor Dom vanishes with the unconscious body of Reed Richards, leaving our two crafty creators to look on in astonishment. Note that Stan Lee uses a very unusual way of addressing his artistic cohort - Jackson. It's not one that would stick...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #10 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

And check back with us at the weekend for the launch of our first ever competition!

Fantastic Four #10: It's A Marvel Comic 7

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Today's long-overdue post features a lovely pair of splash panels from the pen and pencils of Kirby and Ayers!

Giving a little more insight into how Marvel comics in the Marvel universe function, we see that Reed collaborates with Lee and Kirby on the plots for their comics, presumably giving them ideas from their less-public adventures and possibly altering details to protect any secrets the team may have. Of course I wouldn't know what they are - they're secrets!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #10 on our eighth episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

And check back with us at the weekend for the launch of our first ever competition!

Fantastic Four #10: It's A Marvel Comic 6

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Today's post is an entire page. It had to happen at some point, I just figured it would be a heck of a lot further down the line.

After several hints, including a copy of The Incredible Hulk appearing in an earlier story, we get our first true confirmation that Marvel comics, publishers of many magazines including the Fantastic Four, exist in the very fictional universe that they have created. Doctor Doom himself bursts into the offices of Stan and Jack, interrupting the plotting of their story to put into motion his plan for revenge.

There are a couple of ways to look at this scene. The first is that Jack had already completed several pages of a completely different story, possibly featuring the Puppet Master (hence the focus on Alicia and her statues on the previous page) before the original plot was junked to bring back Doctor Doom.

The second is that Stan and Jack deliberately created several generic pages of runaround action to give credence to the idea that Doctor Doom genuinely interrupted their work.

I'll let you decide which one to go with.

In an interesting move, neither Stan nor Jack's face is ever seen inside the book. Knowing what we now know about Stan's public persona, the thought of him being happy with his face being constantly hidden rather amuses me.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #9 on our seventh episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

Fantastic Four #10: Reed's Stretchy Body 16

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

This is the sixth panel I've posted from this issue of Fantastic Four #10, and we're nowhere near establishing any kind of plot. But when we're knocking tropes off left right and centre, does it really matter?More importantly, when Kirby's having this much fun this early on with Reed's body, does the lack of any sign of the plot in the first three pages really matter? I love the curves of Reed's elongated form, and the way that Kirby subtly suggests that Reed is dragging himself out from the crowd using his arms for momentum. There's great humour in this panel.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #9 on our seventh episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

Fantastic Four #10: Flame On 16

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Tonight sees us finishing with page 2 of Fantastic Four #10, having posted all-but-one panel over the past few days.

Tucked away in the very bottom corner is the first Flame On of the issue as Johnny heads off to respond to Ben's emergency flare. It's very blink-and-you'll-miss-it, although the font gets a bit bigger for the exclamation itself.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #9 on our seventh episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

Fantastic Four #10: Flamin' 'Eck 6

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Boy, page 2 of this issue is a real gold mine for this blog. It's reference-a-riffic!

I hinted at this a couple of posts ago - Johnny's ability to melt things without generating heat. Now, whilst there are things which do melt easily with only minor changes in heat in the immediate surrounding area - check out an ice-cube any time you like - there is no way I am being sold on Johnny melting his way through the lock on the door without generating enough heat to do something nasty to the atomic pile powering that lock.

This clearly smacks of Stan skimming through a science article, possibly on a theoretical topic, and deciding to drop it into the story both as a way of showing how up to date with science that Marvel was, and of attempting to give Marvel comics credibility.

Not a fan.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #9 on our seventh episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

Fantastic Four #10: Reed's Stretchy Body 15

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

Today's stretchiness is wonderfully iconic and over-the-top in only a minor way.

Having locked himself and the team in the lab, Reed resorts to stretching himself to the very limit, forcing his arm through the lock and around the Baxter Building  to find the window which he can open. I love the scale of his stretching here, with a staircase in view showing that his arm is spreading over at least two floors.

This kind of feat is a great visual representation of Reed's powers, so it's not surprising that it was adapted for the first Fantastic Four film, as the first time we really see Reed in control of his powers. Shame about the pitifully fake CGI that made his arm look slightly less realistic than Stretch Armstrong's, with some incredibly creepy artificial arm hairs...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #9 on our seventh episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]

Fantastic Four #10: ATOMIC POWER! 6

Script: Stan Lee

Pencilling: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Uncredited Lettering: Art Simek

A minor instance of misuse of nuclear technology, so we'll have a small post.

Whilst I think most of us would be nervous of having naked flames within a dozen yards of a building containing any nuclear device, surely Reed would know better than to produce a machine that is overly sensitive to heat in a laboratory where he regularly requires Johnny to engage his fiery form...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #9 on our seventh episode: Don! Don! Don! Don-Don-Don! Don-Don-Don!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_8.mp3]