FANTASTIC FOUR 87 (1969)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
We’ve reached the last Doctor Doom story in the Lee&Kirby run. Will they stick to landing?
We are promised “the most off-beat ending of the year”, after all.
We begin with the Fantastic Four (plus Crystal) still prisoners of Latveria.
Castle Doom is so detailed and realistic that I wonder if Kirby was taking some direct inspiration from a specific real castle.
The still unnamed artist kidnapped employed by Doom to paint his portrait is at odds with the Nazi scientist Hauptmann.
We were told he was a Nazi, but he’s now at his Naziest.
Too bad Hauptmann doesn’t throw that “non-Aryan” bulls#it around Doom, it would’ve been fun to see him be punished for it.
At least we get an AWESOME splash page.
Doom plans to allow the Fantastic Four to reach his castle, where he’s going to give them a feast and then kill them with a piano, thanks to “hyper-sound”.
Ladies first, apparently.
Mr. Fantastic manages to unlock the gate, but it’s up to the Thing to tear it down.
With his super-breath. (WTF!?!?)
Meanwhile, inside the castle, the Invisible Girl and Crystal are proving themselves to be anything but damsels in distress.
Remember when last issue Reed sent Crystal away to “inspire hope for womenfolk”?
She can create earthquakes.
They do manage to escape the robots, fortunately.
And what is this surprise view?
That is a classic and quite famous Dr. Doom moment, although I just can’t imagine him saying “Come in, my pretties”.
You see that page come up a lot with comparisons to Darth Vader due to a scene in “The Empire Strikes Back”. Honestly I don’t really see it.
Reed isn’t worried that Doom might want to harm the girls since they’re not the ones Doom is after.
Not really sure why, mostly because I’m distracted by the weird way he’s adjusting his leg.
But Doom is indeed just being polite to Crystal and Susan, even asking the latter how she’s going to name her newborn son.
This reflects the fact that Susan gave birth in Fantastic Four Annual #6, in 1968. We would not learn that the son was named Franklin until Fantastic Four #94, in 1970.
The guys have reached Doom’s museum, which Reed assumes is full of stolen art.
That’s where they run into Hauptmann, who has discovered that the artist is a SHIELD agent.
It’s basically inconsequential to the whole story; I had honestly completely forgotten about the SHIELD subplot.
Hauptmann uses his flamethrower against Mr. Fantastic, whose costume is presumably flameproof.
This angers Doom. And not because he’s the only one allowed to kill Reed.
No, he’s angry because to him art is more important than human lives, and so kills Hauptmann to preserve his art collection.
How is Reed able to tell that the sound is “enveloping” Hauptmann? Is the sound somehow concentrated only on him and the others can’t hear it?
Hauptmann dies from this, but Doom can still use his weapon against the Fantastic Four.
Except apparently Hauptmann ruined his mood or something.
So much for last issue’s “I would destroy half the planet to kill the Fantastic Four”, uh?
And that’s the end.
So… yeah. The last Lee&Kirby Doctor Doom story literally ends with a “this was kind of pointless, see you next time”.
Fantastic Four significance: 0/10
They are barely supporting characters in their own series this time.
Doom significance: 5/10
Hauptmann himself is rather unimportant, but his brother will also work for Doom and have a bit of an impact. Also this story firmly establishes Doom’s love for the arts and it’s the first of the many, many, MANY times Doom will just let the heroes leave his castle once he loses interest.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
The villain threatening to kill the heroes with an over-the-top piano recital is pretty out there on the Marvel scale.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
This is a mixed bag. The finale is a classic and encapsulated Doom’s unpredictiveness. It’s probably meant to give Doom a little more complexity, even if most of the time he’s shown to be a walking stereotype. The Fantastic Four contribute very little; it’s nice to see Susan and Crystal show that they can take care of themselves, but it’s just the bare bones of a story. Even the art, despite being fantastic, just doesn’t rise to the same level of the other three parts.
It was a Doombot all along
This Doom is slightly more in character than the one of the previous two issues, but I’d rather consider THOSE to be Doombot appereances.
Take over the world
No explicit reference to this. Doom even points out that he already has everything he could possibly want (except some dead FF).
Destroy the FF!
It was the plan until Hauptmann “interfered” (at least according to Doom, there was nothing stopping him to play the piano again!)
Crazy tech
The piano that can kill you with Hyper-Sound. Too bad it seems to work only once.
What a lousy ending! A great build-up with the previous three issues, only to be undone by a weak finish. This further cements Stan Lee as one of the worst writers – in plotting and writing dialogue – in all of comics. An “off-beat” ending? Hardly! More like lazy and retarded!
This issue and the one before it I bought as a kid from the comic book stand at the local grocery store. By this time I was a fan of the FF and all things Kirby. Needless to say, they hold a special place in my heart.
At the age of 10 though, I found this issue disappointing and confusing. This Doom seemed more complex and mysterious (like the adults I lived and interacted with in the real world).
What’s up with that?
As I got older, I learned to appreciate it and understand how the issue’s title delineates what the story is about. It’s a complex character study, hopefully plotted by both Lee and Kirby.
Sure Doom is a megalomaniac, but he has standards. He understands that some things are above his vendetta with the FF. I think he also realized that employing ex-Nazis is not a good HR move.
Also, when I saw the dinner scene in ‘The Empire. Strikes Back’ I immediately flashed to the aforementioned page in my mind. So, whether this was planned by Lucas or was a Jungian synchronicity, it worked for me and further pulled me into that universe.