FANTASTIC FOUR 86 (1969)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Our saga continues, this time with the Invisible Girl officially returning to the team.
AWESOME cover by Kirby.
Last issue, Dr. Doom threatened to destroy one of the villages of his own country with the Indestructible Robots ™.
The village is informed in a rather goofy way. I’m disappointed this didn’t include a character riding a horse yelling “the robots are coming! The robots are coming!”.
Latverians naturally panic, and they plea to the Fantastic Four to help them since they know they are heroes and have defeated Doom in the past.
I hate this. How do they know that they have defeated Doom? They’ve never fought on Latveria, and I seriously doubt Doom allows international news to reach his country.
Doom has flown completely off the handle in this story.
I’ve never seen such an astounding difference in quality between the art, which is FANTASTIC, and the writing, which is HORRIBLE.
Stan Lee’s dialogues for Doom are the only thing trying to save this.
Despite the repeated insistence that the robots are so unstoppable that not even Doom knows how to stop them… he can totally stop them.
The Thing realizes he still has his super-strength (took him long enough!!!), but the robots don’t back down. So I supposed they’re called indestructible not because they can’t be damaged, but because even if you take them apart they can still fight.
The Human Torch is back in action too. So I guess either Doom’s hypnotic technology is kind of crap or its effects have expired. Or both.
Meanwhile Reed has found a stash of weapons that he gives the Latverians to arm them. Doom’s propaganda still kind of works, since now they don’t trust the Fantastic Four.
Reed, the Thing and the Human Torch join the fight. Crystal (who is arguably at least as powerful as the Human Torch) has been sent away to “look after the womenfolk”, to “give them hope”.
It’s probably an old-fashioned term, but yeesh, that “womenfolk” doesn’t do 1960s Reed any favor.
Meanwhile, Doom is quite pleased with how things are going.
Considering the subtlety of his portrayal in this story, I’m surprised we don’t cut to him fiddling while Latveria burns.
Thanks to Hauptmann, Doom is beginning to get second thoughts. He knows that he robots have a failsafe, and he’s afraid that Reed will eventually discover it.
Which is why he rigged THE ENTIRE VILLAGE to explode!!!
I already hate this, but we’re not over yet!
Yes Doom is so fixated on destroying the Fantastic Four that he would destroy not only his country, but even half the planet.
This is just… you had them at your mercy at the end of #84!!! You’ve had MULTIPLE chances to kill them!!! If all you want is kill them, JUST KILL THEM!!!!
Also this version of Doom utterly obliterates any difference from other big-time villains. What’s the difference from this version of Doom and, say, the Red Skul!?
*groan*
Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four are now the heroes of Latveria as they take their last stand.
Reed has found and modified one of Doom’s machines and he uses it to exploit the weakness of the robots… they can’t swim.
OH COME ON!!!!
They have limbs that can independently fly after you blow them up! You’re seriously telling me that they can DEFY GRAVITY but they can’t SWIM!?!?
Doom is so angry about this (NOT NEARLY ENOUGH AS I AM) that he “forgets” about his subjects, opening fire on the Fantastic Four.
Or not!
I told you that the Invisible Girl would show up. She saved the Fantastic Four and the Latverian with her invisible force field.
Like I said, she rejoins the team and they decide to take the fight directly to Doom.
Fantastic Four significance: 4/10
The Invisible Girl never really left the book, but her return still has some significance.
Doom significance: 0/10
While the storyline does have some importance, you can probably skip this one and not miss anything. Or rather you SHOULD miss this one, considering how horribly Doom is written.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Doom is firmly in the Silver Age, but he’s so out of character that I’m not really counting him. Other than that, nothing stands out that much.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
Oh boy. Easily the worst Doom story we’ve seen so far. The art is still Kirby at his best, but I just can’t ignore how cartoonishly evil Doom turned out to be. Adding the weakness of the robots, this is just unforgivable.
It was a Doombot all along
Either this is a Doombot or Doom suffered a stroke.
Take over the world
Like last issue, Doom is actually going BACKWARDS with this plan!
Destroy the FF!
Possibly the most over-the-top version.
Crazy tech
Not really anything new, but the Invincible Robots ™ have turned out to be waaay less cool than we thought.
I think you’re missing the point of the storyline as it pertains to Doom and his thoughts and emotions. As shown in the preceding issue, Doom is a tormented soul who wears his crown uneasily and fears that his scarred face make him less than a man.
He is full of bluster and hubris, but it is a facade to hide his feelings of inadequacy. I think he would rather be loved than feared by his people, but he has no idea how to achieve this. He does enjoy being a monarch with all its trappings.
He only partially believes his stated goal of destroying the FF. He’s conflicted about it as you point out. In this and other things, he is trying to work out what kind of ruler he will be. I think this is what the story is trying to convey about Doom the King.
The robots are a little overhyped. I agree with your criticism on those points.