Fantastic Four #31: Flame On 74

Fantastic Four #31, page 9, panel 3

Fantastic Four #31: Flame On 74

Written by: Stan Lee, The Man With The Talented Typewriter!

Illustrated by: Jack Kirby, The Man With The Power-Packed Pencil!

Inked by: Chic Stone, The Man With The Panoramic Paint-Brush!

Lettered by: S. Rosen - The Man With The Leaky Lettering Pen!

I love misaligned colouring in old comics. It's a reminder of the fragility of the production process and when coupled with some unearthly imagery, it truly invokes the pop art feel that Marvel Pop Art Productions could never quite achieve when they really tried to. It's a shame these errors get corrected in the Marvel Masterworks series and beyond.

These giant metallic tentacles are defence mechanisms used by the Mole Man to prevent people from following the missing city blocks. Of course, they're nothing to the Fantastic Four, and Johnny's flame more than handles them. Maybe Mole Man should have used a more durable metal than aluminium...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #31 on our thirty-fifth episode: House of the Fallen Storm