Fantastic Four #30: Reed's Stretchy Body 80

Fantastic Four #30, page 7, panel 1

Fantasticast Four #30: Reed's Stretchy Body 80

Written by: Stan Lee (A rather nice writer)

Illustrated by: Jack Kirby (A quite noteworthy artist)

Inked by: Chic Stone (A somewhat nifty inker)

Lettered by: Art Simek (An occasionally neat letterer)

It's hard to work out just how Ben was able to knot Reed around the pillar so effectively. I can't quite imagine that Reed would have been this pliant, or that he couldn't undo the knotting all by himself. Still, it makes for a nice, fun, energetic image.

Or, it would, if it wasn't for the strange depiction of Reed. We're still in the era when Jack Kirby would happily use 6-9 panel pages, resulting in his art feeling more cramped than we are used to seeing it today. But there's an almost complete lack of definition on Reed's face, presumably as a result of trying to fit the entire Fantastic Four in a 1/6th page panel. It's unfortunate, but it really throws off the entire image.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #30 on our thirty-third episode: Bad Horse, Bad Horse, with special guest host David Walker