Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of comic book history that interests me.

In 1962's Fantastic Four #9 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Dick Ayers), the Fantastic Four suffer financial ruin, but find themselves given an opportunity to salvage their financial situation - all they have to do is fly out to Hollywood and do a Fantastic Four movie!

They arrive at a new Hollywood movie studio, where Kirby and Ayers get to do some cameos of then-famous movie and TV actors...

But the Fantastic Four are shocked to learn that the head of the studio is none other than Namor, the Sub-Mariner!

The whole thing is a trap, of course, but he's still paying them and they need the money, so the filming begins and the team is put into real danger, but they escape it all and win the day. And the movie is released and it is a huge hit!

Well, in this week's The Line it is Drawn, the theme was caricatures of celebrities playing superheroes in movies. Nick Perks is the artist for this one, whose website you can find here decided to do a bit where he came up with a cast for a Fantastic Four movie as if they actually did a REAL Fantastic Four movie at the same time as the fictional one in Fantastic Four!

Here is who Nick came up with...

For Reed, Michael Rennie (from "The Day the Earth Stood Still") and who had just appeared in one of the guest episodes of Perry Mason where Raymond Burr had to miss four episodes in a row and notable actors replaced him for those four episodes (with Bette Davis kicking things off). Rennie was in his 50s by 1962...

And I argued with Nick that he should go with someone younger (I suggested Anthony Perkins, but he was probably TOO young, as he was just turning 30 in 1962). Nick thinks that Reed could be depicted older and he also notes that he thinks it is possible/likely that Kirby literally DID use Rennie as his inspiration for Reed's original look.

For Sue, Nick went with America's Sweetheart, Doris Day (this photo is from a few years earlier, but it was too adorable to not use)...

For Johnny Storm, Nick went with Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, from 77 Sunset Strip (the inspiration for Snapper Carr in the Justice League)...

and finally, for the Thing, Nick went with Academy Award-winning actor Ernest Borgnine (Borgnine was best known for his Oscar-winning role as the title character in Marty, but in 1962, he began starring his own TV series, McHale's Navy)...

So, who would YOUR dream 1962 cast be for a Fantastic Four movie?

If anyone has any interesting comic book related story that you'd like to see me feature in a future Knowledge Waits (or if they have some cool info like Damian that they'd like to share), feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!