Many of you have let me know that some of my image pairings & arrangements pop up in other venues such as Facebook Swipe groups (esp. the great COMICS SWIPES Facebook group). Well, I'm flattered the posts are popular and that people enjoy PANELOCITY's swipes and "inspired bys", regardless of where they are presented. After all, the Internet is meant for sharing, right?

Monday, March 30, 2015

Fantastic Four #116 (Pt 5) The Silver Surfer Sneaks In

I immediately recognized a few shots of #116's Stranger and the Overmind as quite obviously based the Silver Surfer and Quasimodo from the Surfer's solo tale in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967). This type of wholesale character substitution was unusual for John Buscema during his FF stint. His use of Kirby was pretty straightforward; he'd typically refer to a Kirby Reed as a model for his own Reed, a Kirby Sue for Sue, etc.

FF #116 was among the Marvel comics on sale in August 1971 that had an increased page count from 32 to 48 pages (along with a price increase from 15 cents to 25 cents). I'm guessing that #116's additional pages induced Buscema to rely on Kirby reference more than he normally would have, as he now had to produce 34 pages of art--instead of the usual 19 or 20!  
Fantastic Four #116 (1971) John Buscema
Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) Jack Kirby

Fantastic Four #116 (1971) Buscema
Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) Jack Kirby
And then I saw these panels: 
FF 116 (1971) Buscema             FF Annual 5 (1967) Kirby

The pages in question:
Page 31, Fantastic Four #116 (1971) Buscema
Also, the last panel here was likely inspired by Annual #5's page 5 splash below

Pages 4 and 5, Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) Kirby
Pages 6 and 7, Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) Kirby


Fun Fact! Marvel's books reverted to their previous page count the very next month, only now with a 20 cent cover price--all part of Martin Goodman's master plan. 

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