Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 33

Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

I wonder if Johnny has ever stopped to think about his powers, as well as the basic properties of fire and heat. He clearly seems to think that his giant flaming dome will project heat rays downwards, forcing the helicopter to land, betraying the fact that he has no idea that heat rises.

I don't blame Johnny, I blame the high school teachers in Glendale. They're the ones who have clearly failed to instil basic physics into Johnny. Education in the 1950s was clearly lacking.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 32

Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Equipped with a device to pick up the Eel's body vibrations and thus locate him before he turns Marvel's faux-Riverdale into a smoking pit in the ground, Johnny emits a tracer fireball. That is, a fireball that will follow these vibrations and home in on him.

Er... right... How much is the Eel vibrating, exactly? Most people could put their hands on a wall and never feel the vibrations that they give off. So how exactly is a non-sensory ball of fire supposed to pick up the vibrations of an individual who could be over a mile away? Who knows?

Jerry sure doesn't...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Strange Tales #112: Flame On 47

Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Across several pages that didn't involve any of our tropes, a plot has developed. A broadcaster has been whipping up anti-Johnny hatred, whilst the Eel accidentally steals a miniature atomic bomb and irradiates himself. Hiding out in town, he is relatively unaware that he or the bomb (it's not quite clear which) could explode at any moment and destroy everything.

Being a moral conundrum in the early 1960s, Johnny's decision as to whether he should continue as the Torch in the face of public opposition is an easy one to make. Extra-easy, considering that if he doesn't the entire town is going to blow up. So, he flames on, and turns off his television set. Which presumably had an asbestos coating.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 31

Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

"There!" cries Johnny. "A blazing version of Niagara Falls!" But the crowd give him nothing but dirty stares, presumably because the idea of flames falling out of the sky towards them overrides any appreciation they may have had towards his artistic abilities.

And yes, either Jerry Siegel or Sam Rosen have a particular problem spelling the name of the most famous US/Canadian waterfall attraction...

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Strange Tales #112: Flamin' 'Eck 30

Story plot: Stan Lee

Script: Jerry Siegel

Art: Dick Ayers

Lettering: S. Rosen

Let's deal with the elephant in the room first. The script for this issue and the next  of Strange Tales was written, from notes by Stan, by Jerry Siegel (credited as Joe Carter). An unfortunate figure at this time, Siegel was routinely abused by Mort Weisinger at DC, his work help up for ridicule in the offices. As suggested by Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Stan gave Jerry these assignments almost out of pity for the creator who kick-started superhero comics. We rather liked this issue, we weren't such a fan of the next.

Things start off with Johnny irritating everyone in Glendale by constantly showing off, exhibiting ADHD tendencies long before such a condition would become well-known. These panels get included for the idea that concentric rings of fire would burn away in the air for any time at all, remaining perfectly stationary.

Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #112 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]

Fantastic Four #18: Reed's Stretchy Body 43

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering: Art Simek

This is it, the final panel from Fantastic Four #18. We've featured 13 panels from this comic, with big focus on Reed's Stretchy Body. So, it's appropriate that the final excerpt should be this unusual moment of elasticity.

Because the story is coming to a close, the Super Skrull is more susceptible to the attacks of the Fantastic Four, meaning that all Reed needs to do here is encase him from all sides. Forgetting that he can fly, the Skrull falls for it. What really draws the eye is the way that Reed creates the barrier. you might expect giant stretchy hands to emanate from Reed's relatively-normal arms, but no. Reed eschews traditional bipedal anatomy for a far strange form, with gigantic bingo wings linking up with his entire torso and lower body.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #18 on our seventeenth episode: No Funny Title Springs To Mind

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/Episode_17.mp3]