By Ryan Penagos
FANTASTIC FOUR: ISLA DE LA MUERTE sees Marvel's First Family heading to Puerto Rico to tackle both the Mole Man
and the chupacabra, courtesy of Tom Beland (True Story, Swear to God) and artist Juan Doe (X-MEN: THE 198 covers)! Check out a bevy of Doe's behind-the-scenes sketches and designs, and see what the creative duo has to say about the the FF's youngest member, the hot-headed Human Torch!
"Sighhh... Johnny's young," muses Beland. "That pretty much sums him up. Johnny is a hot-head, he's impatient and he's got an insane ego. He's also the only one who thanks GOD for that cosmic ray storm. He still gets a thrill out of yelling 'FLAME ON' and he still smiles whenever he takes flight. There's GOT to be some guilt about being so thankful for something that brought so much grief to his friend, Ben.
"And it's so much fun watching Ben and Johnny stick it to each other. I always get a smile from those gags."
"Johnny is pure ego," says Doe of the FF's junior member. "But it's still on the good side. He's the man and he knows it, but we all know that's his defense mechanism
for connecting with his family. It's like when you hit girls in the schoolyard with paper balls because you like them. He's also the one that keeps the team loose at times. His confidence is a result of many successful endeavors as a super hero. Worlds in danger? 'Piece of cake,' that's his attitude about it.
"He was the other character that just came out naturally... I love his attitude, the bravado. His look was very simple, I used oval shapes for eyes, a very simple, retro, Dick Tracy feel and with that I was able to generate a variety of facial expressions. I approached him like the archetype, cool, superhero character but with definite flair."
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 "Human Torch sketch by Juan Doe")
 "Human Torch sketch by Juan Doe")
 "Human Torch sketch by Juan Doe")
 "Human Torch inked sketch by Juan Doe")
