Amazing Spider-Man #17: Flame On 76

Amazing Spider-Man #17, page 16, panel 3

Amazing Spider-Man #17: Flame On 76

Ruggedly Written by: Stan Lee

Robustly Drawn by: Steve Ditko

Recently Lettered by: S. Rosen

It's time to take a quick dive into the world of Amazing Spider-Man. The Green Goblin gate-crashes a meeting of Flash Thompson's Spider-Man fan club (Forest Hills chapter). Despite the gullible teenagers thinking that it's all part of a stunt (and Liz Allen getting just a little too close to the truth as to Spider-Man's identity), there's one teen who sees the truth of the situation.

Johnny Storm.

Considering the antagonistic relationship at this time between the two teen heroes, Johnny doesn't hesitate to jump in and have some fun with the Green Goblin, giving us our first Steve Ditko-drawn Flame On. Considering the size of the panel, Ditko crams a lot in here, and just about avoids it feeling cramped and crowded.

Check out our coverage of Amazing Spider-Man #17 on our thirty-fifth episode: House of the Fallen Storm

Strange Tales #125: It's Clobberin' Time 6

Strange Tales #125, page 11, panel 5

Strange Tales #125: It's Clobberin' Time 6

Written by Word-Slingin' Stan Lee

Drawn by Picture-Sketchin' Dick Ayers

Inked by Ink-Splatterin' Paul Reinman

Lettered by Pen-Pushin' S. Rosen

It's poorly-drawn, stiffly-posed, heavily-inked, just about avoids showing terrible blisters on Namor's back, and is missing one of the three required words for this category, but this panel is definitely one that was published in a comic and which I have chosen for inclusion on this blog.

I won't patronise you by trying to think of something write about this incredibly boring image.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #125 on our thirty-fifth episode: House of the Fallen Storm

Strange Tales #125: Flamin' Eck 54

Strange Tales #125, page 11, panel 4

Strange Tales #125: Flamin' 'Eck 54

Written by Word-Slingin' Stan Lee

Drawn by Picture-Sketchin' Dick Ayers

Inked by Ink-Splatterin' Paul Reinman

Lettered by Pen-Pushin' S. Rosen

I feel that the repeated dunking and denying Johnny of his powers through wetness (both literal and metaphorical) shows the problem with having Namor as the antagonist in a flame-powered character's solo strip. If Strange Tales hadn't evolved into having The Thing as a permanent guest star, it's hard to imagine how the Human Torch could have achieved anything in this story. Unfortunately, Marvel hadn't yet progressed to the point where they could willingly lampshade Johnny's uselessness, so even with Ben Grimm around to carry the action, everything's still played depressingly straight.

I need to talk about Johnny's power usage, however, as it's one of the most brutal and disturbing examples of what the Human Torch could (but almost always chooses not to) do. Johnny uses his heat to directly burn Namor's shoulders, shrugging off as 'king-size sunburn' what is actually a nasty contact burn. I'm rather glad this is an aberration, rather than the start of something regular.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #125 on our thirty-fifth episode: House of the Fallen Storm

Strange Tales #125: Flamin' 'Eck 53

Strange Tales #125, page 8, panel 4

Strange Tales #125: Flamin' 'Eck 53

Written by Word-Slingin' Stan Lee

Drawn by Picture-Sketchin' Dick Ayers

Inked by Ink-Splatterin' Paul Reinman

Lettered by Pen-Pushin' S. Rosen

So, Johnny's flame powers are so weak that he cannot dry his uniform without assistance from the sun. At the same time, his flame is so strong that it can cause intense temperature change through dozens of feet of sea water, disintegrating the sea kelp that the Thing had been trapped within, and forcing Namor to retreat? 

I hate to say that this book has all the hallmarks of a rushed, space-filler, but it's clearly that nobody was paying a huge amount of attention to it before or after it hit the stands...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #125 on our thirty-fifth episode: House of the Fallen Storm

Strange Tales #125: Flame On 75

Strange Tales #7, page 7, panel 7

Strange Tales #125: Flame On 75

Written by Word-Slingin' Stan Lee

Drawn by Picture-Sketchin' Dick Ayers

Inked by Ink-Splatterin' Paul Reinman

Lettered by Pen-Pushin' S. Rosen

Ah, this issue of Strange Tales is so redundant, even for Strange Tales. Johnny and Ben notice the Sub-Mariner heading towards New York, so they go and pick a fight with him for 12 pages before he vanishes. Reed then turns up and berates them for derailing peace talks with Namor.

It's an issue that struggles to have many interesting moments, and those that do happen tend to come about because of their complete stupidity. Yes, Johnny has a good 'Flame On' moment, but it comes straight after him standing around in the sun waiting for his uniform to get dry before after he received a dunking. Standing around in the sun. Yeah...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #125 on our thirty-fifth episode: House of the Fallen Storm

Strange Tales #125: Property Damage 39/It's... ASBESTOS!!! 31

Strange Tales #125, page 1

Strange Tales #125: Property Damage 39

Written by Word-Slingin' Stan Lee

Drawn by Picture-Sketchin' Dick Ayers

Inked by Ink-Splatterin' Paul Reinman

Lettered by Pen-Pushin' S. Rosen

Oh, hey, it's an issue of Strange Tales. It's been... some time... (one post in the best part of two years).

Oh, hey, it's Dick Ayers and Paul Reinman on artwork. And boy, does it show that they're not Jack Kirby and Chic Stone. The Thing looks crude, Johnny looks incredibly stiff. Ayers, at this stage a workhorse for Marvel, would go on to far better things on the Sgt Fury title, whilst Reinman was nearing the end of his tenure with Marvel.

Oh, hey, it's an issue starting with The Thing and the Human Torch smashing stuff up for no real reason to provide a vaguely-interesting image to start the story with.

Oh, hey, it's an asbestos rug. At least something interesting here.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #125 on our thirty-fifth episode: House of the Fallen Storm

Fantastic Four #31: It's Clobberin' Time 5

Fantastic Four #31, page 18, panel 3

Fantastic Four #31: It's Clobberin' Time 5

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!

Let's list the things that make this panel great.

Moloids wearing tight underwear and little booties? Check. Moloids being hurled all over the place? Check. Glorious catchphrase with special colouring for the letters and the speech balloon? Check. Insane amounts of colour bleed, making it look like Ben has literally punched the colours out of the inks? Check. Reed holding Sue whilst she simpers about being rescued?

Well, not everything in this panel is great.

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

Fantastic Four #31: Sue's Force Fields of Awesome 19

Fantastic Four #31, page 18, panel 2

I'm less interested in Sue in the this panel (helpless, pinned against the wall, no sign of independence or ability to do anything other than wait for a man to rescue her) than I am in the moloids. Because I love moloids. I love their swarm-like mentality, their ability to use number to achieve their goal. I also live their curiosity - there are two in the panel above with their faces pressed against Sue's force-fields in curious wonder.

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

Fantastic Four #31: Sue's Force Fields of Awesome 18

Fantastic Four #31, page 17, panel 3

Fantastic Four #31: Sue's Force Fields of Awesome 18

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 wish that any live-action incarnation of the Invisible Girl realised the potential of Sue's force-fields as seen here. Kate Mara got closest, when we clearly saw her training her fields in ways that weren't purely defensive, but I'd give anything to see Sue in close-quarters combat, wielding her force-fields like a third arm. It's not the easiest thing to realise, but come the inevitable next live-action Fantastic Four film, it's something I'll be very eager to see. 

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

Fantastic Four #31: Nova Time 9

Fantastic Four #31, page 16, panel 2

Fantastic Four #31: Nova Time 9

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!

The impression I got from the Fantastic Four's first journey to the Mole Man's kingdom in this issue was that it was a very long way down. So, as much as I appreciate Johnny's confidence in his nova blast to create a tunnel down to the subterranean realm in a matter of seconds, I can't help recall that this is the same Human Torch who was put out of action by a heavy dew.

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

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 89

Fantastic Four #31, page 14, panels 1-2

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 89

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!

Holy colour-bleed, Batman! I guess there were production problems with this issue, as almost every page has colour-bleed of a degree, but this is particularly bad. At least Kirby's mostly working with 5 or 6 panel pages, which means that we're not squeezing the images in and reducing the legibility of them. But still, this is an issue that does affect the readability of the comic.

In terms of the story, all that time spent descending to the Mole Man's kingdom has been rendered rather useless, as the Mole Man has sent the team back to the surface. Because this is early Marvel, and Stan's very invested in the idea of a shared universe, The Avengers have noticed that two separate city blocks have vanished, leaving huge holes in the ground, and have turned up to investigate. Because this is any-period Marvel, the two teams fight for a bit. I never thought I'd see Thor defeated in such a manner, but it turns out that he's very vulnerable to having his arms pinned to his sides.

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

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 88

Fantastic Four #31, page 12, panels 3-4

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 88

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!

Ah, the simple task of climbing from atop a building to the street level. You'd have thought that, being gifted with the power to stretch as well as an incredible intellect, Reed would choose a simple method of traversing the distance to conserve energy, and simply stretch his body until it reached the ground.

No.

Instead, Reed decides to wrap his legs around the base of a nearby lamppost, then whilst propping his torso against the parapet of the building, grab the top of the lamppost with his hands, then retract his body whilst twisting around the lamppost.

Well done, I guess...

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

Fantastic Four #31: Property Damage 38

Fantastic Four #31, page 11, panels 1-4

Fantastic Four #31: Property Damage 38

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 normally try not to show more than a couple of panels at once, but I couldn't resist this sequence in which Ben Grimm saves the Pogo Plane from crashing into a building by... er... completely destroying the Pogo Plane. The hilarity of Ben kicking his leg through the hull so that he takes the impact, as if that would stop the plummeting plane from destroying the building below, is wonderful. And as for Ben's aversion to doors... well, there's no excuse for ripping the plane to pieces just to get outside.

Also, lots of great colour bleed here. I love it!

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

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 87

Fantastic Four #31, page 10, panel 3

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 87

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!

Another of the Mole Man's defences is a series of spores that turn, on contact, into cactus-esque floating balls that suck oxygen from the air. Before this, however, they were missiles fired at the Human Torch. So, that's missile > spore > floaty oxygen-sucking cactus ball. Which is quite a life cycle!

The lack of oxygen causes Johnny's flame to extinguish (a rare accurate cause of de-flaming in these early comics), and Reed has to stretch out to grab hold of his team-mate. Quite how he manages to get his arms outside of the Fantasticar without either him or Ben passing out from oxygen starvation isn't really dealt with.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #31 on our thirty-fifth episode:

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

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 86

Fantastic Four #31, page 4, panel 2

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 86

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!

Well, I ask you - if you were blessed with the ability to stretch your body to inhuman lengths, how would you choose to investigate the disappearance of an entire city block which left nothing but a deep, foreboding hole in the ground?

The next panel shows that the hole is deeper than the limits of Reed's stretching (previously established to be around a dozen or so city blocks), but I have to wonder if Reed might be able to cover more ground if he tried stretching anything other than his torso. That neck must be able to grant him a little more distance...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #31 on our thirty-fifth episode:

Fantastic Four #31: Property Damage 37

Fantastic Four #31, page 2, panel 4

Fantastic Four #31: Property Damage 37

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!

Well, if you're going to have an earthquake powerful enough to hurl The Thing around, you've got to expect that there's some damage. Following a very specific trail of destruction, Johnny finds a winded Ben sitting in a damaged shower cubicle.

Kirby understands what he needs to show and what he doesn't in order to sell the gag. I have no doubt that he would have drawn a great splash page of Ben, reclining against the cracked tiles, as water cascades from the shower head and pipes onto his head. We don't need to see that - it's far funnier to see his feet protruding from the cubicle.

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

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 85

Fantastic Four #31, page 1

Fantastic Four #31: Reed's Stretchy Body 85

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!

Fantastic Four #31 opens as we see, with strange tremors causing chaos at the top of the Baxter Building. And what tremors - hurling Ben's chair into the air several feet, and propelling a table lamp at speed across the room. One hopes that at some point following this issue, Reed commission a full structural survey of the Baxter Building!

What I love about this stretchy moment is the complete redundancy of it. Reed has stretched his neck forward and around to the right just to avoid the lamp... that was nowhere near his head in the first place! Never has the phrase 'wind your neck in' been more appropriate...

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

Fantastic Four Annual #2: Blatant Sexism 5

Fantastic Four Annual #2, page 23, panel 4

Fantastic Four Annual #2: Blatant Sexism 2

A Stan Lee Story Spectacular

A Jack Kirby Illustrative Idyll

A Chic Stone Delineation Delight

A Sam Rosen Lettering Landmark

We just had to squeeze in one more piece of terrible sexism before we finished with this issue. Reed's completed his serum and it's time to finish this story with a face-off between these two long-time rivals. What follows is a pretty tense standoff between Reed and Doom, reflecting on their shared history and conflict. So, why do we have to start with a terrible, off-hand sexist comment?

This could have been fixed so easily, and the narrative intent is there. Reed's drawing Doom's attention back to himself, and could easily have done so by by asking, 'Why battle Sue Doom?' Unfortunately, Stan's sexist tendencies came to the fore, and this undermines the whole thing.

It's an uncomfortable moment to end our coverage of this annual on, and proof that even one of the strongest issues of the Fantastic Four can be undercut by the dated attitudes of the age in which it was published.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #2 on our thirty-fourth episode: The Doomcast, with special guest host Alan Middleton

Fantastic Four Annual #2: Sue's Force Fields of Awesome 17

Fantastic Four Annual #2, page 23, panel 1

Fantastic Four Annual #2: Sue's Force Fields of Awesome 17

A Stan Lee Story Spectacular

A Jack Kirby Illustrative Idyll

A Chic Stone Delineation Delight

A Sam Rosen Lettering Landmark

After a few months away as a result of being very busy and disorganised, we're back. Our Patreon briefly dipped below the blogging goal, and then back up again, so the tireless and thankless task of chronicling the tropes of the Fantastic Four continue.

We're getting very close to the end of Fantastic Four Annual #2. At this point in the story, Doom has been lured to the Baxter Building, and all Reed needs is a few more minutes to complete his serum that will allow him to win the day. With Johnny still recovering from his ordeal and Ben pinned to the ground by Doom's miniature paralysis gun, it's up to Sue to buy Doom the time he needs.

First, she throws him off guard by turning him invisible. Then, she deploys her force-fields in one of the most innovative ways we've seen to date. She creates little invisible pellets underneath Doom's feet to throw him off-balance. It's intelligent, creative, and effective, as Doom goes crashing into a nearby computer bank. It's great stuff from Sue.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four Annual #2 on our thirty-fourth episode: The Doomcast, with special guest host Alan Middleton