LQOTM Reminder: Your Favourite Fantastic Four Issue

It's been nearly two months since we launched our most recent Listener Question of The Month, and we've had some great responses so far. We've let this one run a little long as our recording schedule has meant that we've not had time on our most recent episodes to cover any feedback. So, we're going to keep this one open for a couple more weeks. Keep your suggestions coming in, and we'll round up all the responses we've had to this question at the beginning of May.

And, just to remind you, here are the 'rules' for your submission:

The Fantastic Four, as a comic, has plenty of different identifiers. It's the first Marvel superhero comic as we know them today. It's a book about explorers. It's a book out discovery. It's a book about crazy, way-out-there concepts. It's a book about family. And I'm sure there are many more interpretations.

What we're looking for is your favourite issue that sums up the Fantastic Four as you see them. And I mean issue, not story arc. It could be because there's a moment or scene that encapsulates your view of the team. It could be that the entire issue sees the writer and artist completely on your wavelength with your view of the Fantastic Four.

Send your nominations to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave in the comments below.

Fantastic Four #19: Reed's Stretchy Body 45

Fantastic Four #19, page 7, panel 3 Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Now, this is what Ben Hur should have looked like.

Ignoring the fact that there is nothing keeping Reed's torso in a fixed position rather than just rotating with his limbs, this is a great panel. Kirby put a lot of fun and energy into the action scenes the last time the Fantastic Four travelled back in time, and now, perhaps spurred by box office success of Cleopatra, the battle sizzle.

There's a word for this kind of enjoyable fun that doesn't demand to be taken too seriously: romp. This issue is a total romp, and I hope the tropes will allow for plenty of panels to be shared from this story.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #19 on our eighteenth episode: Pharoahs And Plants, Spiders And Soldiers

[audio FF_Episode_18.mp3]

Fantastic Four #19: Reed's Stretchy Body 44

Fantastic Four #19, page 2, panel 3 Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Time travel, radioactive herbs, and the first twists in one of Marvel's most convoluted knots of continuity are the features of this issue of The Fantastic Four. So we're starting with Reed committing an egregious and blatant invasion of privacy.

Oh, sure, he can claim to know the inhabitant of the apartment he's stretching towards, but what if he catches a glimpse of anyone in the apartments above? And would he be able to defend himself in court by pointing out that the blind occupant wouldn't have known that he was there?

Or would he just point out that he saved New York from an Atlantean invasion and expect to get let off?

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #19 on our eighteenth episode: Pharoahs And Plants, Spiders And Soldiers

[audio FF_Episode_18.mp3]

Strange Tales #112: Nova Time 5

Strange Tales #112, page 10, panel 2 Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

So, how exactly did Johnny draw the explosion and radiation to himself, and then survive these extreme conditions?

Well, it was all due to heat. The heat drew the other heat, the kinetic force, and the radiation of the explosion directly upwards to him in the atmosphere. When he was as far away as he could get, he went to a nova intensity, presumably burning away all the nasty harmful stuff that would give him multiple cancers.

Yeah, it's all about a little bit bollocks, isn't it...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

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

Strange Tales #112: ATOMIC POWER! 7

Strange Tales #112, page 10, panel 1 Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

It's been over a year since we last looked at an example of Stan's hilarious misunderstandings of how nuclear power works, and I think you'll agree, today's panel was worth the wait.

Having failed to decide if the Eel or the device he was carrying was the true threat, Stan and Jerry decide to ramp up the tension by revealing that the explosion is due to occur right next to a Veterans' Hospital. Ignoring the fact that the scale of the explosion and resulting fallout would not only obliterate the hospital but pretty much all of the town and surrounding countryside, the story decides that only a noble sacrifice from Johnny can negate the blast.

So, Johnny flies upwards, and wills both the force of the explosion as well as the radiation up into the atmosphere with him. Imagine that. No, really, imagine it. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, each of these catastrophic nuclear events could have been prevented by a teenager with a lot of willpower.

Even more hilarious is the ridiculous expository speech bubbles which, thanks to the high perspective showing the curvature of the Earth, suggests that the people speaking are either in space, or they're shouting really loudly so that the reader can hear them.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

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

Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 33

Strange Tales #112, page 8, panel 1 Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

I wonder if Johnny has ever stopped to think about his powers, as well as the basic properties of fire and heat. He clearly seems to think that his giant flaming dome will project heat rays downwards, forcing the helicopter to land, betraying the fact that he has no idea that heat rises.

I don't blame Johnny, I blame the high school teachers in Glendale. They're the ones who have clearly failed to instil basic physics into Johnny. Education in the 1950s was clearly lacking.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

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

 

Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 32

Strange Tales #112, page 6, panel 7 Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Equipped with a device to pick up the Eel's body vibrations and thus locate him before he turns Marvel's faux-Riverdale into a smoking pit in the ground, Johnny emits a tracer fireball. That is, a fireball that will follow these vibrations and home in on him.

Er... right... How much is the Eel vibrating, exactly? Most people could put their hands on a wall and never feel the vibrations that they give off. So how exactly is a non-sensory ball of fire supposed to pick up the vibrations of an individual who could be over a mile away? Who knows?

Jerry sure doesn't...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

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

Strange Tales #112: Flame On 47

Strange Tales #112, page 6, panel 2 Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Across several pages that didn't involve any of our tropes, a plot has developed. A broadcaster has been whipping up anti-Johnny hatred, whilst the Eel accidentally steals a miniature atomic bomb and irradiates himself. Hiding out in town, he is relatively unaware that he or the bomb (it's not quite clear which) could explode at any moment and destroy everything.

Being a moral conundrum in the early 1960s, Johnny's decision as to whether he should continue as the Torch in the face of public opposition is an easy one to make. Extra-easy, considering that if he doesn't the entire town is going to blow up. So, he flames on, and turns off his television set. Which presumably had an asbestos coating.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

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

 

Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 31

Strange tales #112, page 2, panel 5

Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

"There!" cries Johnny. "A blazing version of Niagara Falls!" But the crowd give him nothing but dirty stares, presumably because the idea of flames falling out of the sky towards them overrides any appreciation they may have had towards his artistic abilities.

And yes, either Jerry Siegel or Sam Rosen have a particular problem spelling the name of the most famous US/Canadian waterfall attraction...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

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

 

Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 30

Strange Tales #112, page 2, panels 3-4 Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Let's deal with the elephant in the room first. The script for this issue and the next  of Strange Tales was written, from notes by Stan, by Jerry Siegel (credited as Joe Carter). An unfortunate figure at this time, Siegel was routinely abused by Mort Weisinger at DC, his work help up for ridicule in the offices. As suggested by Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Stan gave Jerry these assignments almost out of pity for the creator who kick-started superhero comics. We rather liked this issue, we weren't such a fan of the next.

Things start off with Johnny irritating everyone in Glendale by constantly showing off, exhibiting ADHD tendencies long before such a condition would become well-known. These panels get included for the idea that concentric rings of fire would burn away in the air for any time at all, remaining perfectly stationary.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 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 43

Fantastic Four#18, page 20, panel 1 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: Nova Time 4

Fantastic Four #18, page 16, panel 1 Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

I can't even remember if this panel fits my own arbitrary rules as to whether or not a bright blast of light is the same thing as 'going nova'. However, it's been nearly six months since I put something into this category, and as this issue of the book is proving to be such a rich mine of material, I've decided that it doesn't matter so much!

Having only recently covered Fantastic Four Annual #4 for the podcast, I'm struck by how this move, seemingly an obvious one from the Human Torch, was missing from the Torch vs Torch battle presented there. It would have been a great trick for Johnny to pull to confuse the android Human Torch, but I guess it's one both Stan and Jack had forgotten about by then.

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

Fantastic Four #18, page 15, panel 7  

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: Property Damage 20

Fantastic Four #18, page 15, panel 5 Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

We've seen plenty of instances of The Thing causing lots of damage to public property, from sidewalks and streetlamps to motor vehicles and holiday homes. This, however, is the first time that we've seen him cause damage to the New York skyline.

Hurled from atop the Baxter Building by a ram-headed Super Skrull, the only thing stopping The Thing from being hurled into the Hudson river is  the spire of the Chrysler Building. I hope Reed put his knowledge and abilities to good use to help repair the spire as quickly as possible following the fight...

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]

 

LQOTM: Your Favourite Fantastic Four Issue (With Rules)

And… we're back! Following yesterday's episode where we finally dug through our mailbag and read our answers to the last Listener Question Of The Month, we've got another one for you! And, continuing a slightly irritating trend, there's not short, snappy version of the question. Ah well...

The Fantastic Four, as a comic, has plenty of different identifiers. It's the first Marvel superhero comic as we know them today. It's a book about explorers. It's a book out discovery. It's a book about crazy, way-out-there concepts. It's a book about family. And I'm sure there are many more interpretations.

What we're looking for is your favourite issue that sums up the Fantastic Four as you see them. And I mean issue, not story arc. It could be because there's a moment or scene that encapsulates your view of the team. It could be that the entire issue sees the writer and artist completely on your wavelength with your view of the Fantastic Four.

Send your nominations to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave in the comments below.

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 42

Fantastic Four #18, page 13, panel 3 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

Fantastic Four #18, page 12, panels 6-8Fantastic Four #18, page 13, panel 1

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: Property Damage 19

Fantastic Four #18, page 12, panel 1 Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

A nice, simple panel today. Ben needs to escape from the crowds in the department store who seem obsessed with ripping off bits of his clothing, and join his team outside to take down the Super Skrull. So, with a tap of his fist, he flattens an escalator and speeds off down it.

As a regular user of the London Underground system, I am reminded at numerous stations of just how long it takes to replace an escalator. I'm sure this department store will be thrilled at the prospect of multiple months of building work to repair the damage done by Ben...

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

Fantastic Four #18, page 11, panel 4 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: Flame On 46.5

Fantastic Four #18, page 10, panel 4 Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

After ten pages, Stan and Jack serve up what we've been waiting for - the Fantastic Four vs the Super Skrull. We start off with a Torch vs Skrull fight. Unlike in Fantastic Four Annual #4, which features two Human Torches, very little effort is made to distinguish the two combatants. Other than some work on the head of the Super Skrull's flame form, there is no point of differentiation for the reader. It's mildly unsatisfying, although considering that the Super Skrull is a shapeshift, perhaps unsurprising as well.

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]