Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
It turns out I got the job. And I started the job. Which has meant no posting for a little while. But now I know what my work schedule will be like, I'm hoping to use the wonders of scheduling posts to keep the blog on track.Regular readers and listeners to the show will know by now that one of my least favourite aspects of early Fantastic Four comics is the way that Johnny's flame appears to be fairly nebulous in its properties. Sometimes it manages to burn things without being hot. Sometimes it burns through asbestos. Most common of all, however, is the way that the flame adopts unusual physical properties and an everlasting burning capacity despite the lack of fuel.
Today's panel is a perfect example of this. Johnny constructs a flame cage to keep the dictator of the Dimension, Zemu, imprisoned. The flame cage burns through numerous panels, without Johnny doing anything to maintain it or there being a fuel base. The flame has a physical property that prevents Zemu from running through it with minimal injury. And the flame burns cool enough to not cause burn damage to Zemu, who is mere inches away from the flames.
It's all a little bit too unbelievable for me...
Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #103 on our seventh episode: S(&)M Studios
[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_7.mp3]