Fantastic Four #15: Yancy Street Pranks 3

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

This prank is one of my all-time favourite jokes played on Ben Grimm by the Yancy Street Gang. I liked it so much that when Skottie Young was announced as a guest at the Thought Bubble Convention 2012, I seriously considered spending rather a large amount of money on a sketch from him, re-interpreting this.

Unfortunately, he had to pull out of the convention. Which turned out to be not unfortunate at all, as I persuaded artist and Fantasticast guest-host David Wynne to give it a shot. And he did so rather wonderfully!

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: Flame On 35

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Thankfully, the antics of The Painter are well and truly behind us. I can't stand villains with ridiculously over-complicated schemes and powers whose assumed name is a brief description of what they do. So, let's move on to Fantastic Four #15, featuring - The Thinker! Oh, bugger...

I'll get onto why I dislike The Thinker in a future post, as today we're dealing with an early panel from the book. It's only the second time that the book has opened with a series of scenes depicting the members of the team off living their lives, only to be summoned to the Baxter Building by a flare. It's a great little device that easily sets up the characters before bringing them together.

Here, Johnny's out on one of the last pre-Dorrie dates with a poor, quickly-abandoned young lady named Peg. I think his Flame On is as much about igniting his fire as it is about showing off to her. Enjoy it whilst it lasts, Johnny - Dorrie will not be a fan of your showing off!

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]

Strange Tales #108: It's... ASBESTOS!!! 12

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Terry Szenics

In amongst all this talk of magical paint that allows the user's imagination to come to life when used, it's been pretty much overlooked that this is not the Painter's greatest asset. And no, I'm not talking about his moustache.

Wilhelm van Vile's greatest asset is his ability to paint complete scenarios in a matter of seconds. At no point in the story is it mentioned that he can paint a picture then will it to life at a later point. So, we have to assume that the animated mascots came to life, at which point he started painting an asbestos cell along with members of the Fantastic Four. As this springs up within a page, he must have been daubing away like the devil to get it done in time.

No wonder his attention to details is a little shaky!

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #108 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

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

Strange Tales #108: Flame On 34

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Terry Szenics

We seem to come across them on almost every page of the comics we're currently covering on the show, but earlier in the run of the show, these widescreen panels by Jack Kirby were a real rarity. It's great to see him stretch what he can portray in the space of a panel, and this shot of carnival mascots coming to life is really rather fun to look at.

Unfortunately, this is also the point where both the plotter and the scripter forget everything established about The Painter so far in the book. It is spelled out pretty darn clearly that The Painter paints something, and it appears. Here, The Painter uses his powers to somehow animate an already-existing object. Is he painting fast enough to literally animate them? It's a very inconsistent approach to the villain.

Anyway, the point of this post is to catalogue yet another Flame On from Johnny, and here, letterer Terry Szenics treats it almost as an afterthought, extruding the out of the speech balloon and into the sky. Again, it's different, but not quite right.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #108 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

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

Strange Tales #108: Flamin' 'Eck 21

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Terry Szenics

It's flashback time at the Fantastic Flame On. The villain of the piece - The Painter, aka Wilhelm Van Vile - is relating his multi-part origin to the gang of crooks that he's taken up with. Unluckily for him, his origin involves trying to pass off his dodgy counterfeit banknotes on a teenage boy in a bookstore, taking him hostage when his forgeries fail. Why unluckily? Because that young man was none other than The Human Torch.

So, at the flashback-crooks' hideout, Johnny reveals himself and restrains the criminals in a hoop of fire. Once again, Johnny decides that his fire is substantial and self-renewing enough to provide an extended period of incarceration. And, once again, those caught in his fiery prison believe this as well.

Fools.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #108 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

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

Strange Tales #108: Flamin' 'Eck 20

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Terry Szenics

Oh dear. Four posts from three pages of material. I suspect Strange Tales #108 is going to divert our attention for a while...`

Is it me or is there something ridiculously archaic about robbing a masked society ball, stuffing the loot into oversized bags that really need to have the word 'swag' written on them? It reminds me somewhat of the Dennis Moore sketches in Monty Python's Flying Circus. (Skip to 5:50 for the exact scene, but the entire sketch is a blast)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkhx0eqK5w

Anyway, Johnny deals with these crooks in the only logical way - using his flame as giant scissors to gut the necks of the sacks. Not burn them. Cut them. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to suppress a rant about the physical properties of fire...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #108 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

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

Strange Tales #108: Flame On 33

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Terry Szenics

A page later and we're seeing almost the same thing as we did yesterday. The Human Torch flies into action in a great piece of posing by Jack and Dick, threatening to burst out of the page and right at the reader. We get the same, spikily-rendered 'Flame On' catchphrase as well.

I suggested yesterday that the unusual style of lettering didn't fit with the house style at Marvel, and I think you can really see this with the little kid in the panel. I can't really think of any lettering like it in Marvel at this time. The uneven line, the exclamation marks near-bursting with energy. It's all actually rather appropriate for a fast-paced, throwaway tale full of action, but it does read uncomfortably when compared to the contemporary efforts of Art Simek and Sam Rosen.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #108 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

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

Strange Tales #108: Flame On 32

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Terry Szenics

It's business as usual in the town of Glenville. Or is it Glendale? Two months-or-so after we finished covering Strange Tales, I really can't remember. And I really can't be bothered to look it up either. Anyway, a truckload of precious furs has been stolen, which begs the question - what building or establishment in Glenville/dale sold or manufactured enough furs of a previous variety that they could fill a van full? Yes, I know it's a shorthand trope to draw Johnny into action as quickly as possible, but still...

Anyway, new letterer Terry Szenics - the first credited female in Marvel super-hero comics - gives us something a little different with her rendition of Johnny's catchphrase. Note the spiky arms on the 'F' and 'E', contained in a rare spiky speech bubble. Such things were not in vogue at Marvel, and went against the house style, which may explain why she never joined the ranks of Silver Age Marvel letterers (well, both of them at least...)

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #108 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

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

Strange Tales #108: It's... ASBESTOS!!! 11

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Terry Szenics

It's a lovely big splash page today, showcasing the terrible Painter's terrible facial hair, second only to the Wizard!

And it's not only crap face-fuzz that the Painter has stolen from the Wizard - he's also stolen his asbestos-lined cell. I thought it had been made pretty clear already that such tactics don't really work - both the US Army and the Wizard have found their inescapable fireproof cells to be anything but.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #108 on our twelfth episode: HYPNOFISH!!!

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

The Fantasticast - Now Weekly!

As you'll have heard on our latest episode, we have now moved to a weekly release schedule.

With the conclusion of Strange Tales, we found ourselves with a bit of a dilemma. We wanted to keep covering four issues a month, but we were worried that two full-length issues, with context, letters pages, British number ones, and all the other things that we like to throw into the show, would make for too long an episode. But we didn't want to drop the number of issues we planned to cover.

So, we've decided to change the format of the show. From Episode Forty-Eight onwards, we'll be covering one Fantastic Four issue every episode, but dropping a new episode every week. With this release schedule in mind, we should be wrapping up the first sequence of stories featuring the Black Panther by the end of year.

So, our plans for the near-future look like this - Inhuman, Galactus, Black Panther.

We can't wait!

Fantastic Four #14: BollocksFish Special

I've run out of tropes to pull out of this issue, but I couldn't leave without paying tribute to what we affectionately termed 'BollocksFish' on episode 12 of the show. Namely, the unlikely marine creatures that Namor has on hand to help him carry out the Puppet Master's plan. I present to you...

The Hypnofish

The Bubble-Fish

The Undersea 'Porcupine'

The Conveniently-Placed Giant Clam

The Flame-Eater

The Engulfing Fungus

The Gas-Spewing Coral Thing

Crikey, what a load of bollocks!

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

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 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: Flame On 31

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Now, this is a more interesting Flame On.

Captured by Namor (who, I should point out, is being manipulated  by The Puppet Master), the male members of the team are confronted with the Sub-Mariner's death trap for Sue - she's encased in an air bubble in a tank, being menaced by a large octopus. To free her, the team will have to fight Namor.

As it's his sister in peril, Johnny is the first one up. The image we have is an interesting one that I like to describe as being a couple of frames early. His body is on fire, but the flames haven't reached their full density and the unstable molecules in his suit haven't finished reacting to the combustion around him, meaning that his costume is partially visible beneath the fire.

The panel also shows us that his flame starts low and moves up - his head has yet to ignite, allowing Kirby and Ayers to communicate his anger, rage and feeling for his sister.

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: Flame On 30

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

It's time for another instance of Johnny bursting into flames that really should be cross-posted under 'Flamin' 'Eck'.

The Four (plus Alicia) are heading into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, hunting for Namor. Unfortunately, Namor is the one hunting them, sending a giant needle-firing anenome and a whirlpool to challenge them. Therefore, Johnny decides that he's actually immune to the flame-dousing effects of water - as long as he burns white hot - and can actually do something about this underwater.

This is a trick that Stan's tried a couple of times to pull off, where Johnny burns so hot that the water evaporates around him. Unfortunately, he also goes to extreme lengths to make domestic amounts of water a threat to the Human Torch, culminating in a moment where a few drops of dew extinguish his flame. It's very hard to marry these two moments. But then again, it's very easy to ignore Strange Tales...

Assuming this actually works, what happens to all the salt in the waters? Surely Johnny should be covered in it!

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: Property Damage 13

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Today's post comes in form of  moral lesson regarding the charging of special rates for unusual vehicles in parking lots.

Let's say that you had decided to drop your current job and open a parking lot somewhere close to downtown New York. One day, one of the city's most famous super-heroes, the one with the shocking, mutated, rocky appearance, comes to park his car in your lot. You take one look at his unusual vehicle, a module from the Fantasticar, and decide that if he comes from an organisation rich enough to produce such a wacky automobile, he must be capable of paying a premium. So, you charge him double.

What you don't know is that he's on his way to see his sweetheart to tell he that he's about to become the first surface-dweller to set foot in the undersea kingdoms, looking to rescue a team-member from the clutches of a super-powered being, the one who recently attempted to flood New York single-handedly. So, when he decides to stack the other cars in your lot into a giant tower to teach you a lesson, maybe you should think about your pricing policies and revise them to be more even-handed.

After all, you wouldn't want him to come back...

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]

Fantastic Four #14: Blatant Sexism 2

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

After a short break, it's time to check in with the Fantastic Four, who themselves are having a short break. Having fulfilled President Kennedy's ambition to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade during his own lifetime, having fought the Red Ghost and his stupid super apes, discovered The Watcher, and been mobbed at the airport, it's only natural that the team want to take a rest.

Except for Sue, who manages to live up to a gender stereotype by deciding that now is the time to do a spot of housecleaning. What merits this inclusion on the list of sexist moments is Reed's wonderfully patronising response.

Ah, Reed, you pompous ass.

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

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

Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby

On this day in 1917, one of the most influential comic book artists of all time was born. The list of his creations and co-creations is longer than that of almost any other creator in comics, and almost any of them on their own would mark him out as one of the key creators in comic book history.

He was one of the few Golden, Silver and Bronze age comic creators, and one of the few to successfully navigate from Timely to National Publications, back to Marvel, then to DC, then back to Marvel once more. The small and big screens are littered with adaptations - both faithful and not-so-faithful - of his creations, characters and plots.

His name is Jack Kirby, and he is second only to Stan Lee in his influence on a small publishing company dipping its toes in the waters of super-hero comics for the first time in nearly a decade when in 1961 it produced - with Stan writing and Jack drawing - Fantastic Four #1.

Jack left us in 1994, years before I even began recognise the name, let alone comprehend the influence and legacy of his work. In more recent years, parts of his family have been in legal struggles with Marvel Comics, Disney and other companies using the characters and concepts Jack created or co-created. Whilst I don't take a side in this debate, I do recognise that Jack Kirby and his struggles later in life and those of his family following his death have highlighted the need for creator rights in the comics industry.

Which is why today I'll be donating to the HERO Initiative on behalf of Kirby4Heroes. The Kirby4Heroes was set up by Jack's granddaughter Jillian in 2012, aiming to recognise both the anniversary of Jack's birth and the fact that many creators sometimes need a helping hand when times are bad.

I hope that you too are able to spare a small amount to this campaign.

Fantastic Four #14: Reed's Stretchy Body 22

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Today's panel sees the Fantastic Four arrive back from the Moon to immense public interest and acclaim. Disembarking their ship at a nearby airport, the team are mobbed by fans and the media in scenes reminiscent of The Beatles arriving in the US for the first time.

This wonderful panel occurs when two Mr Fantastic fan clubs go a bit crazy over him, stretching him out against his will, rendering him more than a little helpless in the face of such in-your-face attention.

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

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

Strange Tales #107: Flamin' 'Eck 19

Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Larry Lieber

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

Given that there are people with serious nut allergies who have less severe reactions than Johnny does to water in later issues of Strange Tales, it does seem rather unlikely that even with his nova blast going, he would be able to dive into the sea for several minuets without his flame going out.

But that's not what today's panel is really about. It's been two issues since Dick Ayers has assumed both pencilling and inking duties for this book, and yesterday's panel and today's really highlight the differences between his art and that of Jack Kirby. The biggest criticism that can be levelled at Ayers is the lack of detail in his art. Other than in the light patterns on Namor's hair, pretty much everything in this panel is rendered with one thickness of line, a pretty heavy one. Johnny and his flame are depicted in outline only, and the previous panel only used a few sparse triangles to suggest his all-over body flame. When compared to Jack Kirby being inked by Steve Ditko in Fantastic Four  this very month, there really is no competition - Jack wins out by a country mile.

That's not to say that I don't like Dick Ayers - in the context of the Sgt Fury comic, on which he would again replace Jack Kirby, his artwork strikes a deft balances between miltaristic realism and great cartoon influences on the characters, each face saying as much about the personality of the Howlers as Stan's hilarious dialogue. However, there he was normally inked by someone else, suggesting that he had the time to put the detail into his pencils. Here, assuming double-duty, his artwork falls short of what Kirby had established for the Fantastic Four and Strange Tales.