| Posted: 03 March 2025 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | 6
|
post reply
|
|
I've often wondered if that's how Kirby originally drew it, or if he originally drew the panel with Reed's head accordianed and squished like the rest of his body, and Stan requested a change.
There was clearly a period when they were trying to figure out what felt "right" with how Reed uses his powers. In FF #9, when they're making a movie for Namor and the cyclops flattens Reed under a rock, the original art has him looking normal as he emerges from underneath. The published panel, in which he slides out like a flattened ribbon, is a paste-down. When they fight Attuma's forces in #33, Reed scouts ahead by stretching his neck ten or twenty feet around a rock. In the published version, a paste-down changes that to a torso stretch.
So I've always wondered what Kirby and Lee were thinking about. Was the center of those discussions "how Reed's powers work," "how Reed chooses to use his powers," or simply "in each instance, what's the best choice, graphically"?
(My personal headcanon has always been "Yes, Reed's powers allow him to camouflage himself as a fire hydrant or inflate himself into a balloon if he chooses to. But he's desperate to somehow be a rubber man with a scrap of dignity." I'd like to know how Sue talked him into turning himself into a piece of abstract art for that LIFE Magazine cover photo...)
|
