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Changes to Fantastic Four issue 3
Patrick Ford
23 May 2017
A page from FANTASTIC FOUR #3. Penciled text on this page is by Stan Lee. Lee went through a stage at this time where he wrote the dialogue and captions on the artwork. This didn't last too long. Possibly because Lee's printing is difficult to read and may have caused problems for the letter?
You can see there are a lot of erasures on this page and that the awkward Human Torch figures are by Sol Brodsky. Kirby was still drawing the Torch as a man made out of flames at this time. I would guess Martin Goodman requested the Torch be modeled after the Golden Age Burgos version and so Brodsky made the changes.
Patrick Ford: You can see Kirby's "man of flame" Torch figure just above Reed's word balloon.
Patrick Ford:
Norris Burroughs: The torch pretty much looks like this through issue four, and then Kirby seems to start doing it this way as well in issue five. I think Kirby's torch is on the cover of 4 as well.
Patrick Ford: The Torch in issue #1 is barely recognizable as a human form in quite a few panels. I don't think I have ever seen issue #2 in its original form. I have a reprint in MARVEL TALES from the early '60s.
Patrick Ford:
Mark Ricard: So he was doing the lettering?
Patrick Ford: Lee wasn't doing the inked lettering. He was writing the captions and dialogue on the page in pencil. I believe it was a lot more common for him to give the letterer a typed dialogue script.
Mark Ricard: Patrick Ford,okay got it.
Norris Burroughs: Issue two still had the all=flame torch. Three started the Brodsky redos.
Patrick Ford: So in issue #2 is the Torch any more human looking at all?
Dave Rawlins: No, exactly the same as in issue 1.
Norris Burroughs: Is that FF 3 page on Heritage?
Patrick Ford: No. It's at some auction house. Steve Sherman linked to the auction on his page yesterday.
Patrick Ford: http://www.comicconnect.com/auctions.php
Norris Burroughs: Thanks Pat.
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