Enemies or Frenemies?

Hello readers! Today, I visited the Jack Kirby exhibit at CSUN, and I would like to share a photo with you that Jack Kirby drew of the Fantastic Four. Although this is not a picture of Wonder Woman, the theme of this blog can be shown in this image. First let me give you some insight as to what is going on in the photo and analyze the photo using Molly Bang's "Picture This" before I relate it to the blog theme.  As you can see the Fantastic Four are all on the bottom of the page, which probably indicates that in this specific comic, they are not the main focus.  But who is in the middle of the page or the "center or attention" (63)? It is the Sub-Mariner and some sort of enemy ice monster. Most of you are probably wondering "who is the submariner?", well he is one of the Fantastic Four's greatest enemies. Now you are probably wondering "why is an enemy fighting with the Fantastic Four?", well, we will get to that a little bit later.  For now, let's take a look at the visual aspects of this photo.  We already established that the Sub-Mariner is in the center of the photo, but what else is there? Well one thing that pops out to me is the background - look at how dark and grey it is.  Molly Bang states that she "adds a really dark color to show the scary elements" (13) which shows us why the background is a grayish/brown color - Kirby wanted to make the scene frightening. Also, take a look at the blue ice monster, what is the first thing you notice? I definitely notice his horns or sharp things coming out of is head. Molly Bang says that "we feel more scared looking at pointed shapes," (70) which explains why Kirby drew them pointed - to get the point across that the ice monster is the enemy in this photo, not the Mariner.

As promised, I will discuss why I chose this picture for the blog. Just by looking at this picture, you can point out who are the "good guys" and the "bad guys." Because of their placement in the picture,  you can see that the "good guys" are the Fantastic Four and the Sub-Mariner and the "bad guy" is the ice monster.  When I saw this drawing, I thought it was somewhat ironic because usually the Sub-Mariner is in the place of the monster, fighting against the Fantastic Four.  By looking at this picture and analyzing what is taking place, I realized that this ice monster is probably trying to take over or hurt something that both the Fantastic Four and the Sub-Mariner care about, such as earth. This picture shows a relationship between the Sub-Mariner and the Fantastic Four. Most people think that they are "enemies" or that they "hate each other," but not in this case. This photo shows a relationship or a type of bond between the five of them.  They are all placed on the opposite side of the ice monster, trying to defeat him TOGETHER.  Just this single image shows that when worst comes to worst, superheroes and enemies really do need each other and will do whatever they can to make things right when it comes to the things they love. Without the Sub-Mariner, I doubt that the Fantastic Four would be able to defeat the ice monster successfully, or even at all. I am 100% sure that the Sub-Mariner would not be able to defeat the ice monster alone. This image shows that the heroes and villains relationship is not always about fighting and hurting each other.