We’re in the final stretch of the Silver Age for Dr. Doom. His big fight with the Fantastic Four will be in issue #200, with Doom appearing from #196 onwards.
To appreciate the finale we need to cover what happened to lead to those appearances… so hold tight, this is going to be a wild ride.
FANTASTIC FOUR #191 (1978)
Written by Len Wein
Art and cover by George Perez
Pretty awesome cover.
The Fantastic Four have had a pretty rough time in the 70s, to the point that they have decided to dissolve the entire team.
Reed Richards (who at this point has also lost his powers) is so determined to quit that he gives his entire lab equipment to S.H.I.E.L.D.
I can imagine that Tony Stark is like “what the hell, Reed!?”.
It’s a surprisingly emotional issue, which helps the idea that the FF might disband for real.
Now that she’s quit being a superhero, Susan has been offered a part in a movie. Which goes all the way back to her wish to be an actress at the very beginning of the series.
The Human Torch, OF ALL PEOPLE, has the best way to deal with reporters!
The main plot of the story is that a fifth rate supervillain, the Plunderer, wants to steal Reed’s technology…
…and the Fantastic Four are back!
Except that even after defeating Plunderer, the team still decides to disband.
A nice subversion. Everything you need to remember from this story is that the Fantastic Four disband and that Plunderer sucks.
FANTASTIC FOUR #192 (1978)
Written by Len Wein
Art and cover by George Perez
This begins a series of issues dedicated to show what each individual member does after the breakup, starting with the Human Torch.
The Human Torch (visiting his friend Wyatt Wingfoot) has three things in mind.
Showing off…
…hot women…
…and racing hot women.
He also ends up fighting fifth rate superhero Texas Twister for… reasons, I guess.
No, seriously, I have no idea why they end up fighting.
It’s actually a rather cool fight, thanks to Perez’s great storytelling, and it goes on for a while.
But it’s ultimately pointless.
Nothing wrong with the main story, but it’s really of no consequence.
The only important part is Reed Richards looking for a job.
And finding one thanks to Cynthian Associates.
20,000$ in 1978 would be almost 420,000$ in 2021.
PER WEEK!!!!
FANTASTIC FOUR #193 (1978)
Written by Len Wein, Keith Pollard and Bill Mantlo
Art and cover by Keith Pollard
Wow, that’s a lot of writers.
The Human Torch met a hot race driver. The Thing has to settle for a purple cyborg demon.
It’s the return of Darkoth from Fantastic Four #144, and he wants to stop the Thing who is taking a job for NASA as a pilot.
Later the Thing discovers that Darkoth used to be his former friend Desmond Pitt, turned into a cyborg demon by Doom in exchange for selling state secrets to Latveria.
That’s already pretty complicated, but Darkoth is also working for Diablo at the moment.
It turns out that Desmond Pitt wasn’t actually a traitor, and Diablo wants to steal the solar-powered Space Shuttle that the Thing is going to pilot because he wants to use it against Doom.
For a 9th century alchemist, Diablo has a pretty scientifically advanced plan.
Darkoth sabotages Diablo’s plan, but it means the shuttle will crash with the Thing inside.
Are we supposed to believe that THE THING can’t survive a shuttle crash!?
Apparently yes, because that’s our cliffhanger.
For the subplots, Invisible Girl has to endure the Impossible Man…
…and Reed doesn’t find it odd that he’s controlled by cameras 24/7.
FANTASTIC FOUR #194 (1978)
Written by Len Wein, Keith Pollard and Bill Mantlo
Art by Keith Pollard
Cover by Perez
Turns out that Diablo was the one who revived Darkoth (what, there was any doubt!?), but he’s also blackmailing him.
The military is out looking for the crashed shuttle. Taking with them the Thing’s girlfriend Alicia… WHO IS BLIND, so what the hell!?
Loooooots of Darkoth vs Thing this time.
Darkoth doesn’t tell him he’s his friend Desmond Pitt until PAGE SEVENTEEN.
They team up against Diablo, with Darkoth self-destructing to deal the final blow.
Both Diablo (of course) and Darkoth (surprisingly) will return after this, so this is all pretty pointless.
In the subplots, Susan continues to be annoyed by the Impossible Man…
…and meets someone familiar.
Who is this mysterious stranger? Just have a look at the next cover.
FANTASTIC FOUR #195 (1978)
Written by Marv Wolfman
Art by Keith Pollard
Cover by Perez
This is the beginning of the Marv Wolfman run, which will last until issue 215.
Yes, the mysterious man was actually Namor, who ends up being seriously friendzoned by Susan.
I’d be sad for him, but come on dude, she’s been married for years now and she has a kid. Just give up!!!
He’s tired of Atlantis, where his people keep treating him like a god.
Well what did you expect when you’re going around wielding this thing!?
Susan is also just fed up with the Impossible Man. And I understand her… he can be really funny, but he was completely pointless in the previous issues.
Now that she’s dealt with both, she can go back to working on her movie career and worrying about her cleavage.
She’s interrupted by a bunch of losers who want to kidnap Namor to force him back on the throne. (WTF!?)
The fight isn’t particularly interesting.
In the subplots, Reed STILL hasn’t figured out that he’s been working for a supervillain.
The world’s smartest man, ladies and gentlemen.
And that’s all for the setup, because the next issue will be part of the Doom retrospective.
Historical significance: 1/10
This leading to issue 200 and Darkoth being given an origin are really the only things of any significance.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Texas Twister in general and Diablo’s plan are really the only Silver Age parts. Even on the Marvel scale, that’s pretty low.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
This had potential! There are plenty of stories about the FF breaking up, following by individual issues. Unfortunately all of them have pretty unremarkable adventures. There’s nothing really wrong with them, but it’s all pretty pedestrian for this series.