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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133326
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 8:01am | IP Logged | 1
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Working on the commission piece I posted this morning, I found myself thinking -- as I often do, when drawing the FF -- about how long it took Jack Kirby to really get a handle on Reed Richards' powers. Many artists, over the years, have mistakenly played Reed's stretching powers as if he is Plastic Man, able to transform himself into various objects. Kirby did, at first, too.In issue 2, he gave us this… 
…tho Stan's dialog suggests he might have already been thinking this was not the way to go with Mister Fantastic. In issue 18, Reed went solo against the Super Skrull, in a battle that included this moment… 
As a kid, I wondered what being hit by that "hammer" would feel like. A NERF toy, maybe? And in the next issue, time traveling to ancient Egypt, Reed did this very Plastic Man kind of move… 
Kirby hardly ever had Reed stretch his neck, after this. The image just doesn't seem to work -- and yet, many artist who followed seemed to go there FIRST! When I was drawing the FF's adventures, I concentrated on how Kirby handled Reed's powers later in his tenure -- the many very clever ways he found to employ "just" stretching. Have to add, tho, that even tho it's not really "right", this is one of my all-time favorite Reed Richards "moments". It's just so darn cute!! 
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Brandon Scott Berthelot
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 560
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 8:13am | IP Logged | 2
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Alan Davis drew Reed stretching his eye through a grate to
spy on the Super Apes. And in the Onslaught Returns mini
Liefeld drew Reed forming Wolverine style claws.
Edited by Brandon Scott Berthelot on 13 April 2013 at 8:14am
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Aaron Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 10461
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 8:21am | IP Logged | 3
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After seeing the FF/ Phoenix commission, I walked away from the computer for a while and found myself thinking about Reed's powers and wondering (and I probably don't want to know the answer to this) how today's writers handle his abilities. I haven't read an issue of the Fantastic Four in years, but Reed's stretching seems like the sort of thing those who insist on superheroes being "serious" would consider silly and try to make the butt of jokes. I hope that's not the case though.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133326
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 8:22am | IP Logged | 4
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Alan Davis drew Reed stretching his eye through a grate to spy on the Super Apes.•• Reed's powers are actually the exact opposite of how the muscles of the human body work. All the complex motions of which we are capable are accomplished thru muscles PULLING (contracting). There is no muscle that actually PUSHES. When I have drawn Reed's powers at work, I have tried to keep this in mind. Altho he is defying the basic function of the body, I tried to avoid having him turn his ears into giant listening devices, or make his teeth big so he could chomp thru ropes. A minor point, but there you are. Which is a long way of saying. . . Alan's bit just kinda makes me feel queasy!! ++++++++ And in the Onslaught Returns mini Liefeld drew Reed forming Wolverine style claws. •• More NERF toys!
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Rob Ocelot
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 December 2008
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 9:24am | IP Logged | 5
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In a similar vein the Sandman's powers and abilities have been fairly inconsistent over the years. Artists have shown him forming what looks like solid igneous rock out of his hands when really the hardest thing he could possibly be is sandstone which isn't all that hard in the first place.
A few writers lately have cottoned onto the concept of a 'mother grain' -- that there's one single particle that contains the Sandman's entire consciousness and it somehow telekinetically co-opts the sand grains (and only sand) around it. Do readers really need it thought through like that for them? Whatever happened to just 'cool sand villain'?
Back to the weird things that Reed has been shown doing. In Earth-X (or one of the sequels) Reed figures out that he can become smarter by increasing the surface area of his brain. Yes, he stretched his brain.
I think a good writer/artist will know when to adhere to basic physics, biology and chemistry and when to bend the rules a bit for sake of the story. Even though a casual reader might not know or care about how opposing muscles work that doesn't mean the artist should be equally as ignorant!
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Aaron Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 9:33am | IP Logged | 6
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A few writers lately have cottoned onto the concept of a 'mother grain' -- that there's one single particle that contains the Sandman's entire consciousness and it somehow telekinetically co-opts the sand grains (and only sand) around it.
In Earth-X (or one of the sequels) Reed figures out that he can become smarter by increasing the surface area of his brain. Yes, he stretched his brain.
***
Those are two of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 10:42am | IP Logged | 7
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In Earth-X (or one of the sequels) Reed figures out that he can become smarter by increasing the surface area of his brain. Yes, he stretched his brain. •• That's a pretty typical example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. Our brains are crinkled as they are so that more surface can fit inside our skulls without our heads becoming too big. If Reed "stretched his brain", while there would APPEAR to be more surface, there would still be the same number of cells, neurons, synapses, etc. Kind of like blowing up a balloon -- the balloon fils more volume, but the actual MATERIAL in the balloon has not increased at all.
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James Johnson
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 11:06am | IP Logged | 8
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Back to the weird things that Reed has been shown doing. In Earth-X (or one of the sequels) Reed figures out that he can become smarter by increasing the surface area of his brain.
Yes, he stretched his brain
================
WTF?!?!?!?!?!??!!?
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Brandon Scott Berthelot
Byrne Robotics Member
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Location: United States
Posts: 560
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | 9
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In Earth X Reed did not stretch his brain to become
smarter, but to become telepathic so he could use Cerebro.
A minor point, and could still be ridiculous, but in the
interest of accuracy.
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Rick Shepherd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 June 2012
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 4:46pm | IP Logged | 10
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Brandon Scott Berthelot: In Earth X Reed did not stretch his brain to become
smarter, but to become telepathic so he could use Cerebro.
A minor point, and could still be ridiculous, but in the
interest of accuracy.
----------------------------------------
See, that makes even LESS sense!!
Stretching one's brain to make it telepathic is about as much a non sequitur as pouring milk on wood to make it bulletproof...
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Bill Mimbu
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | 11
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In Earth X Reed did not stretch his brain to become
smarter, but to become telepathic so he could use Cerebro.
***
I take it "the specialist rule" has pretty much been thrown out with the current state of comic books...
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Carmen Bernardo
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Joined: 08 August 2006
Location: United States
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| Posted: 13 April 2013 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | 12
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In Earth-X (or one of the sequels) Reed figures out that he can become smarter by increasing the surface area of his brain. ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------- As the Internet meme says: "What is this? I don't even..." I'm so glad that I just left most of the recent stuff since the 1990s up on the shelves.
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