Saturday, May 20, 2017

When Two Torches Go To War!

What does the art team do when they have to draw two Human Torches fighting each other?

In Fantastic Four Annual #4 (1966), the Mad Thinker finds the remains of the original, android Human Torch, and forces him to fight the Fantastic Four.

Now, this presents a bit of a challenge to an art team, because you've got two characters who are nearly identical when they are in their "Flame On!" states--you can't see their facial features or costumes. They're just covered in flames!!

So, if you're not careful, you end up with panels that look like this one--spectacular, but you can't tell which character is which (hint--look at the legs!!).

But for the most part, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott and colorist Stan Goldberg pull it off. The make Jim Hammond (the original android Torch) a little more orange than Johnny Storm...

Whereas Johnny has the traditional lines covering his flaming body, the flames on Hammond's body looks a little more natural and organic (ironic, as he is the android):







And then Hammond died again...but don't fret. He was soon resurrected as The Vision. Except it turned out he wasn't. But then it turned out that he was. But then it was revealed that he both was the Vision and was not the Vision. And then...Comics, man.

By the way, it has now been over two years since Marvel has published the Fantastic Four. TWO. YEARS. Grumble...

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