FANTASTIC FOUR 57 (1966)
by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
This is a special one. Not only it’s the beginning of the “Doom steals the powers of Silver Surfer” saga, but it’s also the first story with Doctor Doom that I ever read!
The cover is… a mixed bag. Kirby’s Doom is perfect, not only by how menacing he looks but because it’s one of the first times Kirby draws that… whatever it is on Doom’s mouth.
But the rest of the cover is pretty bad, just a bunch of cutout drawings of the FF, Silver Surfer and supporting character Wyatt Wingfoot.
The first page if FAR better. Despite the GIGANTIC title teasing us with Doom, the first villain is actually the Sandman. And the way Kirby draws him is indescribable.
Just look at him! You can almost believe you can see each and every grain of sand!
The Sandman manages to escape (the scene is set in a prison), thanks to the help of fellow supervillain Wizard preventing the Invisible Girl from stopping him.
I’m a little disappointed by her… by this time she’s usually FAR more useful than this, but all of a sudden she’s the damsel in distress?
Meanwhile, Silver Surfer (who in this period is stuck on Earth following his betrayal of Galactus) receives an invitation to Latveria.
Silver Surfer accepts the invitation and visits Doom at his castle.
At this point we know nothing about Silver Surfer (including his origin), and he’s shown to be extremely alien, not even understanding the concept of a head of state.
As alien as he might be, he’s more than happy to show off.
Doom is VERY impressed by the Surfer’s powers, and he’s able to exploit his naivete to get himself a weapon.
The weapon Surfer creates looks quite harmless…
…but it packs QUITE a punch!
As you might imagine Doom would really, REALLY like to keep his new toy, but Silver Surfer has a better idea.
On one hand, the Surfer might be exaggerating a little bit about the “it could destroy the universe” thing. On the other hand, he’s figured out that mankind is insane, so he might be on to something.
While this is going on, the Sandman attacks the Baxter Building and the Invisible Girl continues to disappoint.
She does something useful once the Sandman seems to have the upper hand against her husband.
Though I do question… would Reed actually be hurt by the Sandman? He’s about to crush him between his giant hands which he can turn to solid rock, sure, but… CAN you hurt Reed by squeezing him?
But Reed has an equally hard time to hurt Sandman, so he changes his strategy to “let’s just shoot him”…
…but in a nice twist, the Sandman is actually smart enough to find a way to counteract.
I’m a little disappointed to see what is supposed to be electricity represented by the famed Kirby Dots ™, since it’s exactly the same style used for Silver Surfer’s phenomenal power. It makes Surfer look a little too pedestrian if EVERYTHING has that effect.
And speaking of disappointed: the Sandman manages to sneak into Reed’s storage unit… and he gets away with it because the lock takes 5 minutes to open.
The world’s smartest man, ladies and gentlemen. At least this time the lock wasn’t nuclear-powered, but the Sandman manages to escape with a bunch of stolen tech.
But all of this was just an appetizer because Jack Kirby now starts to really, REALLY show off.
Just look at that page! It’s a mess that makes no sense, where you can’t understand what anything is, but you can’t look away and it’s AWESOME beyond words.
Zooming in, we can see that Surfer is getting a liiiitle suspicious.
But Doom reassures him that the giant robot that shoots energy beams from its eyes is strictly for peaceful applications.
I don’t think we ever see that design again in future Doom stories.
Silver Surfer seems to buy Doom’s act, although things start to get a little ridiculous.
Doom proves himself to be such a wonderful monarch that he doesn’t even execute an underling for the audacity of bumping into him!
Yeah, Doom’s performance is definitely getting over the top. Though Surfer’s comment might indicate that he’s actually seeing through Doom’s antics and he simply doesn’t care.
Even if Surfer is onto him, Doom manages to distract him by showing him “an actual temporal photo of the universe”… whatever THAT means.
The story does give the impression that the Silver Surfer, in addition to being one of the most powerful beings in the universe, is also kind of an idiot.
And apparently deaf, since he doesn’t hear people talking about his demise despite the fact they are standing right behind him.
And so, in what is easily one of the most iconic splash pages of this comic… possibly even of the entire Lee&Kirby run… Doctor Doom steals the power of the Silver Surfer!
We are also shown another aspect of Latveria… the citizens who are utterly terrified of Doom.
Considering what we’ll eventually learn about Doom’ relationship with Mephisto, that comment about the suspect of him making a pact with Satan is interesting.
Doom doesn’t waste ANY time going mad with power, and he takes it out on Latveria… for some reason.
Meanwhile, both Susan and Reed have a bad feeling about what’s about to happen.
Reed’s heart is in the right place, but he comes off a little too condescending towards her.
And that’s the end of the story! We’ll have to wait the next issue to find out if Doctor Doom will be able to defeat the Fantastic Four.
“Next: The FF Defeated”? Dude… spoiler!!!
Historical significance: 4/10
If we consider the significance to the Fantastic Four, not a lot happens. Sandman steals some tech that he’ll use again; there’s also a subplot about the Inhumans, but that went on for a loooot of issues.
Doom significance: 10/10
Stealing the power of Silver Surfer is THE major accomplishment of his career until we get to the 80s with him stealing the power of the Beyonder.
Doom stealing ultimate power is now a cliché thanks to this storyline.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Doom’s over the top acting with the Surfer is really hard to believe, unless Silver Surfer is really THAT naïve. “The guy rants constantly about having the power to destroy the world, but he says he’s the nicest person in the universe so it must be true!”
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
Despite the ridiculousness of the interaction with Silver Surfer, the comic really keeps a consistent tone. There’s a real sense of dread about what’s about to come. The fight with Sandman is also very dynamic and creative. Even 1960s Reed, despite occasional bursts of mysoginy, is way more tolerable than usual.
It was a Doombot all along
No Doombots, although we do see a few robots here and there. This one of the few instances where we are 100% sure this is the real Doom.
Take over the world
The reason given for stealing Surfer’s powers.
Destroy the FF!
Not explicitly. But since the FIRST thing he does next issue is messing with them, it’s definitely a priority so it still counts.
Crazy tech
The Power Cosmic Absorber ™. It has a distinct look and will be used multiple times with several variations. It might be Doom’s most often referenced technology after the Time Platform ™.
The doomy land of Doom
So far we have seen SOME dissent, but this is the first time we see the people of Latveria truly terrified of Doctor Doom.
Ultimate Supreme Power of Doom: 1
New category! This is the first of many, many, MANY times where Doom gains near omnipotence (as far as the story treats it, of course).