Fantastic Four #23: Flamin' 'Eck 36

Written by: Stan Lee

Illustrated by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: S. Rosen

The fight between Johnny and Ben over who would make a better leader of the Fantastic Four continues, with Johnny pulling this particularly unusual move. He generates a gigantic cold-flame fly swatter.

Now, I could go on about the physical properties of flame, that attempting to move fire itself that quickly through the air is most likely going to dissipate the flames, but what's more interesting is the description Stan gives the fly swatter: Cold flame. Did he feel that having Johnny directly attacking Ben with super-hot fire was a step too far, and inserted a quick description to keep things on the 'friendly tussle' side?

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #23 on our twenty-third episode: (Asbestos) Grease Is The Word

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_23.mp3]

Fantastic Four #23: Flame On 56

Written by: Stan Lee

Illustrated by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: S. Rosen

Following the raptor shenanigans, the team decide to hold elections for a new leader. Well, Ben, Johnny and Sue decide to, because Reed is far too busy with science to get involved. Because these are hot-headed superheroes, and not electoral officials, the rules of the election do not preclude voting for yourself, resulting in a three-way tie that put Florida in 2000 to shame.

Things descend from there into a typical Ben and Johnny fight, with this rather lovely panel of Johnny deciding to escalate the conflict. One of the best things about George Roussos' brief tenure as inker was the expressions he brought to the faces of the team, more exaggerated and cartoony than, say, Sinnot, but capturing an energy that really helped the pacing of these scenes.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #23 on our twenty-third episode: (Asbestos) Grease Is The Word

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_23.mp3]

Fantastic Four #23: Sue's Force Fields Of Awesome 5

Written by: Stan Lee

Illustrated by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: S. Rosen

How could I resist posting a panel featuring a confused baby raptor encased in an invisible force field projected by a girl in a party frock? Especially when it's got Johnny in the background complaining about being splashed with a plant pot and having his flames put out!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #23 on our twenty-third episode: (Asbestos) Grease Is The Word

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_23.mp3]

Fantastic Four #23: Flame On 55

Written by: Stan Lee

Illustrated by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: S. Rosen

Another day, another issue of the Fantastic Four. I get to present the first page of Fantastic Four #23, one of my favourite opening splash pages from the series.

For no reason at all, and certainly for no reason connected to the plot, Reed has unleashed a miniature raptor in the Baxter Building, and chaos reigns as the team try to contain it. It's so completely crazy and full of energy that it's impossible not to love.

And, of course, Johnny get to yell his catchphrase and ignite, because there's no way that a time-displaced dinosaur won't be panicked by fire.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #23 on our twenty-third episode: (Asbestos) Grease Is The Word

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_23.mp3]

Amazing Spider-Man #8: Flamin' 'Eck 36

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: Steve Ditko

Lettered by: S. Rosen

Our final excerpt from Amazing Spider-Man #8 continues the tedious and pointless fight between the Torch and Spider-Man. This is before the completely arbitrary moment where the rest of the team show up and decide to fight Spider-Man just because.

Apparently, this giant fire-ball is some kind of net. Even though it looks like some kind of flame-anemone.

I'm very glad this issue is over...

Check out our coverage of Amazing Spider-Man #8 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

A Request For Help...

Hi folks, It's Steve from The Fantasticast here, as always. In lieu of a panel chosen from an old Fantastic Four or Strange Tales comic today, I'm taking a few moments to ask you, our readers and listeners, to help us out.

Don't worry - I don't want money!

Andy and I put a lot of time and effort into the show to make sure it comes out every week. As well as the 3 hours (or so) recording time we spend every couple of weeks, there's the time spent reading the comics and writing our synopses. I then sit down and write the notes of history and the Marvel Universe for each episode, as well as summarising the Bullpen Bulletins and letters pages, a task which can sometimes take a lot longer than you might think. Following the recording, I then spend 4-5 hours per episode (8-10 hours per record) editing the show into shape, tidying up our stammerings and editing out more libellous content than you could imagine.

It's a big job, and it's a pleasure to do. Your e-mails and other feedback tells us that you enjoy what we do, which makes us want to do it even more.

So, where do you come in?

Again, don't worry - I don't want money!

What I'd love for you to do is to spend a couple of minutes talking about the show. You could tweet about the show (with a link), you could share one of our posts on Facebook, you could tell your friends at your local comic shop. And more than anything else, we'd love for you to go to iTunes, and leave a rating and a review.

With 80 episodes covering over 2/3 of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby collaboration on The Fantastic Four, we'd love to become known to more fans of the team and fans of comics. We'd love for you guys to lend us a hand in growing the show. Please do take a moment to help spread the news about our show and how much you enjoy it.

Thank you!

Amazing Spider-Man #8: Flamin' 'Eck 35

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: Steve Ditko

Lettered by: S. Rosen

The completely spurious battle continues, with Jack and Steve using visual imagination to create interesting-looking things for the two heroes do, and Stan doing his best to keep up (and over-writing a little).

It's the flaming buzzsaws, a slightly more reasonable use of Johnny's powers. These are, for all intents and purposes, fireballs with a different shape. No homing abilities, no fancy flame colours, and no intelligence. It almost - but not quite - gets a pass from me. Just how does he prevent the flames from losing the definition on the teeth of the blades?

Check out our coverage of Amazing Spider-Man #8 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Amazing Spider-Man #8: Flame On 54

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: Steve Ditko

Lettered by: S. Rosen

The seldom-used team of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko reunite for this 6-page backup strip in Amazing Spider-Man #8. It's an unusual strip, where Spider-Man acts like a massive dick for no reason other than to mess with Johnny Storm. Marvel seemed pretty keen to push the idea that their two teenage super-heroes were not-so-friendly rivals, but never really came up with a reason why they would be so antagonistic towards each other.

So, we have Spider-Man gatecrashing a party hosted by Johnny, before goading him into a four-page wacky fight scene where he manages to piss off pretty much everyone at the party to prove how he's so much better than the Human Torch. Yeah, right...

Anyway, we get an unusual Flame On, where it seems that Johnny is unbuttoning his shirt whilst igniting. I guess his party shirt wasn't made from unstable molecules...

Check out our coverage of Amazing Spider-Man #8 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Strange Tales #116: Property Damage 24

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Dick Ayers

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: R. Holloway

The fight moves outside, presumably because they've managed to destroy everything Alicia owns and indoor fighting seems a lot less fun when you can't wantonly destroy the property of your loved ones. Still, they manage to knock a great big hole in the ceiling on their way out.

For most people, having your boyfriend brawling like this with his close friend, doing this much damage, would be a definite deal breaker. Certainly for insurance reasons, even if you did believe the story about your evil mind-controlling stepfather being ultimately responsible. But I guess Alicia has more character than this.

Or, indeed, less...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #116 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Strange Tales #116: Property Damage 23

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Dick Ayers

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: R. Holloway

It's back to Strange Tales today, and we find ourselves in the interesting position of having the previous Fantastic Four inker (Dick Ayers) providing pencils, whilst the current inker (George Roussos) provides the inks. It's an interesting mix. I think the Human Torch comes out pretty well, but The Thing seems very off for this point in the 1960s, a strange mix of the rocky exterior with the more organic face from the very early Fantastic Four issues.

The plot (such as it is) involves the Puppet Master compelling Johnny to go and hit on Alicia, and Ben walking in on this. The two heroes fight, causing some fairly major damage to the apartment of a blind woman, whilst she presumably spends most of the time hoping she won't accidentally get hit by something.

As much as Ben loves Alicia, and as short-tempered as he is, surely even he would stop before ripping the door right out of Alicia's wall...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #116 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Fantastic Four #22: Nova Time 6

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: Sam Rosen

Johnny going nova should be a big moment. It should be the peak of a battle scene, a moment where, if this were a movie made in the wake of The Matrix, the camera would be whirling around him capturing that explosion of energy and heat in glorious bullet time. It certainly should not be panel 6 on a 9 panel page, with so much inking it threatens to drown out the colours.

If this panel were drawn ten issues later, Chic Stone's fine-line inking would have enhanced the panel by allowing the colours and action to shine through more. But as it is, the small panel size, wide perspective, and heavier inking of George Roussos drowns the image.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #22 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Fantastic Four #22: Reed's Stretchy Body 56

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: Sam Rosen

The Mole Man is clearly one of those villains who has no confidence in his own schemes and who over-prepares for any eventuality. Despite having no way of predicting that the Fantastic Four would purchase the island above his secret lair, he has individual death traps prepared just in case they should discover him, fall into a group trap, and escape that trap. Contingency plans are all very well, but contingencies for the contingency suggests that you should probably prepare the original contingency a bit more.

Reed decides to put his powers to good use to escape his gas-filled death trap. It's nice to see him using his powers to test the structural integrity of the trap, although his line of reasoning - flexing his muscles - seems to be at odds with the fact that his entire body can change size and shape.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #22 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Fantastic Four #22: Sue's Force Fields of Awesome 4

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: Sam Rosen

Wouldn't you have guessed it? The island bought by the Fantastic Four has the Mole Man's base right underneath it! I wonder if 'concealing a super-villain's hideout' is a good enough reason to take your estate agent to court...

Anyway, the Mole Man has concocted a scheme whereby he can steal cities from the Earth's surface, and only has one switch with which to trigger this. Because Sue has only just manifested her force fields, she is able to take him completely by surprise, preventing him from activating the switch. Which means that we get the rather funny sight of the Mole Man, infuriated by his inability to set his plans in motion, trying to whack the switch with his cane.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #22 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Fantastic Four #22: Flame On 53/Reed's Stretchy Body 55

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: Sam Rosen

It's another two-fer today! Having been hounded out of town by interfering busybodies (ranging from the police wishing to check zoning permits to canasta clubs sticking their noses into other people's business), the team decide to buy a random rocky island in the Atlantic  and go for a holiday. Because nothing says relaxation like sitting on rocks miles away from civilisation for a week...

Johnny gets to cry his catchphrase as both he and Reed attempt to find a landing spot on the island for their U-car. Note how Johnny's speech bubble is coloured yellow. This is not really an attempt to add more impact to his catchphrase. A short-lived fad in Marvel comics at this time was to randomly colour speech balloons. And I mean 'random' - there was no rhyme or reason to them. It was rather distracting, which is why they stopped pretty quickly...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #22 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Fantastic Four #22: Sue's Force Fields of Awesome 2-3

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: Sam Rosen

A good rule of thumb with any superhero movie, especially one that features the origins of superpowers, is that the sequence featuring the hero discovering how to use his or her powers is normally a highlight. Remember Iron Man taking his first flight and icing up, or Spider-Man (the real one, not the current one) going for this first web-sling? And one of the best bits of Man of Steel was Superman's first delightful flight, a rare moment of peace and joy in that film.

This scene is played a little more for laughs, but the joy of Sue realising that she can do something new is palpable, and it's shared by the rest of the team, especially Reed. Both the 'squashy bubble' and the stronger shield are great and different visuals, and it's clear from the start that this issue has higher ambitions than just another run-of-the-mill fight issue.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #22 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

Fantastic Four #22: Sue's Force Fields Of Awesome 1

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Roussos

Lettered by: Sam Rosen

The early issues of the Fantastic Four are not kind on Sue. She seems to be permanently petrified of pretty much everything, and inexplicably seems to think that doing normal everyday tasks whilst invisible makes her more efficient, despite the chaos and terror she leaves in her wake. There are occasional moments of greatness - going toe-to-toe with Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four #17 is a major example - but after 21 issues, it had become clear to both the readers and the creators that having a character who can turn invisible means that she just can't stand up to the far more visual and physical powers of the rest of the team.

The masterstroke was giving Sue her own secondary set of powers - force field manipulation. These fields would allow her to take a beating from the biggest heavyweights of the Marvel universe, as well as being a physical extension of the maternal role she would come to play on the team, often being used to protect her family from har

Here, we see their very first manifestation. Reed has been experimenting on his girlfriend with radiation - how else would a scientist show his affection - which permanently alters her powers. Ah, that pesky Marvel universe radiation (which would only seem to positively affect people in the early 1960s)...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #22 on our twenty-second episode: Going Underground.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_22.mp3]

LQOTM: Your Favourite Non-Fantastic Four Fantastic Four Stories

It's time for another Listener Question Of The Month! We're still looking at your favourite stories, having asked for your favourite under-rated stories and your favourite issue that showcases the team.

This month, we want to know your favourite non-Fantastic Four Fantastic Four stories.

To clarify, we want to know your favourite stories from books featuring the Fantastic Four that aren't the core Fantastic Four title. Pretty much everything is fair game for this one. The main spin-offs (Strange Tales, Marvel Two-In-One, The Thing, Fantastic Force and FF), mini-series, guest-appearances, alternate continuities (Fantastic Five, Ultimate Fantastic Four, etc) and more.7

There's no limit to the number of stories you can submit, although for the sake of reading the e-mails when we review the feedback, try to keep your thoughts reasonably succinct - as we've proved over 80-odd episodes, reading out loud isn't as simple for us as it should be!

Send your feedback into fantastic4podcast@gmail.com or leave it in the comments below.

Strange Tales #115: Flame On 52

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn  by: Dick Ayers

Lettered by: Art Simek

No, your eyes do not deceive you. That is Spider-Man crying out the catchphrase of the Human Torch as he plummets from the top of the Empire State Building.

Instead, it's the story that's deceiving you, as underneath Spider-Man's costume in Johnny Storm, having decided to switch clothes with his rival to confuse their mutual enemy, The Sandman.*

It's unusual to see such a long, thin panel, and it's a great piece of layout by Dick Ayers to convey the height of the fall. Ayers isn't someone I typically associate with panel experimentation, so it's great to see him play a little bit here.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales'#115 on our twenty-first episode: Powered By Hateful Hate From A Hate Raygun, with special guest host David Wynne.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_21.mp3]

Fantastic Four #21: Reed's Stretchy Body 54

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Bell

Lettered by: Art Simek

Our final extract from Fantastic Four #21 shows how one might use a preternaturally flexible body to locate a non-visible team-mate in an exciting visual manner.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #21 on our twenty-first episode: Powered By Hateful Hate From A Hate Raygun, with special guest host David Wynne.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_21.mp3]

Fantastic Four #21: Reed's Stretchy Body 53

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Bell

Lettered by: Art Simek

This is one of my favourite panels of the Fantastic Four ever.

Really.

I just love the idea of Reed kneeling down next to this piece of Kirby tech, his fingers probing through the ground looking for the power cables. I also love imagining that, just out of shot, his fingers start dividing into thinner tendrils, like roots. It doesn't happen - regardless of what he does with his body, he always maintains the basic structure of the human body - but it's lovely to imagine!

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #21 on our twenty-first episode: Powered By Hateful Hate From A Hate Raygun, with special guest host David Wynne.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_21.mp3]