Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
Lettering: Art Simek
Another new issue of Fantastic Four, another fiery Flame On from Johnny Storm. We've reached the first two part story in the Fantastic Four, a moment of real change not only for the title but for Marvel comics. So many of the classic stories of the 1960s are multi-part epics. The Sleepers, The Eternity Saga, Spider-Man No More, The Master Planner, The Galactus Trilogy. The history of Marvel comics would have been very different if Stan and his collaborators hadn't wanted to push stories beyond the 22 pages of a single issue.
Appropriately enough, the first multi-part story for the Fantastic Four features the team being menaced by Doctor Doom, who starts his campaign of terror by randomly shrinking members of the team. OK, it's a very different form of terror from any that he might have used in the future. But when an issue opens with Johnny almost falling into an engine fan and getting chopped to pieces, it's certainly a high-stakes start to the adventure.
Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #16 on our fourteenth episode: The Return of Doctor Doom
[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_14.mp3]