Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #17 pg 18

Poor Ben. Where he thought he’d found a friend (and maybe more), he actually found someone who was just trying to use him.

As it turns out, Crusher’s earlier dialogue about bringing back a piece of the Thing is very literal, as here we learn that Jennifer inherited a failing manufacturing company and wanted a piece of Ben’s unbreakable hide to revolutionize the industry and save the company from bankruptcy.

After staging the mugging in hopes of breaking off a piece of Ben, she hired the Absorbing Man when she realized it would require something more. While we learn all this through dialogue, Wells and Kano do a great job of building the emotion by juxtaposing Ben’s disbelief and sadness with her increased agitation (and pulling in the “camera” to boot).

It all leads to the kicker dialogue that ends the page.

“Oh, come on! You didn’t actually think I liked you! What do I look like, some kind of freak? You think I’m into monsters?”

Ouch.