Fantastic Four #1, page 5, panel 2
Writer: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Uncredited inking by George Klein and Christopher Rule
Uncredited colouring by Stan Goldberg
Uncredited lettering by Art Simek
For a blog named after The Human Torch, we sure are taking our time to get onto him... other than the cover of this issue, we have yet to see him in the narrative so far!
Finally, Ben's rampage is over, and we move onto another trope of the early comics: Ben's monstrous form and the ways in which people react in terror to him. Not for nothing have we named this "Fear Of The Thing". Here, Kirby renders Ben in shadow, obscuring his eyes and humanity. Ben's temperament, coupled with his appearance, justifies the terror shown by the two men in the panel.
At this stage in the book, the claim that Ben is a Martian could have been taken seriously by the reader. The origin of the team has yet to be shown, and we've had no evidence to disprove this claim.
Eagle-eared listeners will notice that this instance of "Fear Of The Thing" hasn't been counted by us on the show. When we recorded episode one way back in November 2011, we hadn't yet decided on this category, so I now get to go back and retroactively add it in. Retcons!
Find our coverage of Fantastic Four #1 on our very first episode: Introductions, Origins and Fantastic Four #1