Fantastic Four #144

FANTASTIC FOUR #144 (1974)
by Gerry Conway & Rich Buckler

Part 3 of the latest Doom/FF fight. Don’t believe the cover, though, this won’t be the final showdown.

Nice splash page, with the perspective on Reed and with Medusa going down the ladder while keeping the flashlight with her hair.

As it’s the standard in this period (even more than usual), the team is constantly bickering. To the point that Reed has to tell the Thing “I understand you’re upset, but maybe try to help instead of just yell and punch stuff?”.

That’s when they are ambushed by Doom’s latest creation: the Seeker.

I love the design of this thing, although its results aren’t that impressive.

Doom reacts by taking it out on some random henchman.

Not exactly his greatest moment, but he does recover a little when he reminds the Human Torch why he’s not the one in a cage.
No idea why Doom captured his friend Wyatt Wingfoot, to be honest.

We then cut to a building a few blocks away from the Baxter Building.

Why? Because the building is actually a disguise for Doom’s base, from which he shoots the Vibro-Bomb ™ int orbit. More on that later.

Meanwhile the Thing gets into a fight with Darkoth, who is like “Look I was on the cover of the first part and I let you escape, can I please get something to do around here already?”.

See what I mean about all the constant fighting? It’s quite exhausting to read, honestly.

Hey, uhm, guys, do you think you can spare five minutes saving the world or something?
Doom is kind of taking over the world right now!

But Reed has reprogrammed the Seeker android to free the Human Torch.

Some questionable use of powers: the Torch protecting himself with a heat shield (what?) and Doom absorbing his flames with a “concussion vacuum”.
Whatever THAT is; I’m not a doctor.

The Seeker attacks Doom, only it turns out this is actually Darkoth.
I THINK that the one who freed the Torch was the real one, but I’m not sure.

Doom gets away from Darkoth (who just kind of lets him go) to reach his command chair.
Is it just me or that thing doesn’t look comfortable at all?

Remember that building? It wasn’t just a base to shoot the rocket… THE ENTIRE BUILDING IS A ROCKET.

Except Darkoth has followed Doom into space. Not sure why he didn’t attack him while they were still on Earth.

And so both Doctor Doom and Darkoth die into a fiery explosion of Kirby dots.

Just kidding, of course. Both will be back.

And so we end with fact that it’s snowing, for some reason.

Well, actually we end with the Thing being sad because there is no cure for Alicia’s blindness.

The Thing is contractually obligated to be sad in at least 75% of Fantastic Four comics.

Fantastic Four significance: 0/10
Just like the previous part, easily skippable.

Doom significance: 0/10
Other than for the creation of Darkoth, it’s very easy to forget this storyline exists.

 Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Doctor Doom shoots an entire building into orbit to connect to his mind control satellite and he’s defeated by a cyborg demon. ‘Nuff Said.

Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
This was disappointing. Doom is as stereotypical as he can get, we don’t learn anything about Darkoth, the FF are constantly bickering, the ending is very bland… not their greatest outing.

It was a Doombot all along
In my headcanon this is a defective Doombot, but unfortunately I have no facts to support this.

Take over the world & Destroy the FF!
Once again Doom is after both things.

Crazy tech
The Seeker is a massive letdown despite its look, so I’m going with the skyscraper that takes off like a rocket.