fantastic four #27: reed's stretchy body 68
Presented by the most talked-about team in comics: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, author and illustrator extraordinary
Inked by: George Roussos
Lettered by: S. Rosen
I've written before that one of the key elements of Reed's stretching powers that distinguishes him from Plastic Man is that he retains his human form. He can stretch and distort his body, but he can't produce an extra limb, or make a hole appear in his torso (obviously, I'm not counting Ultimate Reed Richards). This allows Reed to retain his humanity, and keep as a character that we can identify with.
I think Kirby ended up feeling this way, as the rareness of moments like this would show. I don't feel that I would like Reed as much if he responded to every threat by doing things like making sharp lances of his skin, and I'm fairly sure that this is the last time we would see Reed do something this drastic with his body under Kirby's pencil.
Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #27 on our thirtieth episode: Horny Namor