FANTASTIC FOUR #246 (1982)
Writer, penciler & inker: John Byrne
What do you mean “too many Dooms”, cover? There’s never too much Doctor Doom!
After some Fantastic Four subplots that I’m not going to cover, we begin with Reed receiving a call from the Latverian embassy to schedule the return of Doom’s comatose body.
Then we move to Doom’s American castle, where first we see the Micronauts leaving after their dreadful story…
…and where Byrne tries to fix the mess that Bill Mantlo left at the end of that story.
As I’ve mentioned in the Micronauts review, Mantlo made the baffling decision to reveal that the miniature versions of the Puppet Master and Doom were mini-clones instead of robots… and Byrne quickly retcons that, making them robots like they were always supposed to be.
Unfortunately we still have to believe that the Puppet Master had some of his radioactive clay hidden in Liddleville, but hey, baby steps.
(we also have to believe that his clay can mind control robots, but that stuff never made any sense so I don’t really care)
Then SUDDEN DOOM!!!
Giant Doom crushes the Puppet Master robot, and then proceeds to rescue Tiny Doom “with surprising tenderness”.
Meanwhile ANOTHER Doom is waiting for the Fantastic Four in the Latverian embassy.
There are three rules for anyone working at the Latverian Embassy:
1) Do not imply Doom can fail
2) Do not imply Doom can fail
3) Do not mention squirrels
Chillingly, we’re even informed that the ambassador leaves behind a widow and an orphan.
This was all, of course, a trap for the Fantastic Four.
Doom is going to take on each member of the team separately, beginning with a Human Torch de-powered by some fire extinguishing foam.
Since this isn’t the 60s anymore, the foam isn’t asbestos. It also means that the Human Torch doesn’t randomly get super-strenght.
Mr. Fantastic is attacked by Byrne Machinery ™…
…but he recovers from it faster than Doom anticipated, so Doom zaps him with a ray that makes Reed lose control of his powers.
Well, relatively speaking.
His way to counteract the Invisible Girl’s power is rather obvious.
John Byrne is the one who will really make her the most powerful member of the team, but it’s still pretty early in his run so she’s not yet a powerhouse.
As always, the interaction between Doom and the Thing is the highlight of the fighting scenes.
One by one, each member of the Fantastic Four figures out that they’re dealing with a Doombot.
While all of this is going on, a bunch of OTHER Doombots prepares to restore the real one to his original body.
Byrne’s narration is on point here, from speculating whether the Doombots are praying to describing Doom waking up with a “soundless scream”. Good stuff!
But eventually, Doom’s gotta Doom.
And he’s not worried about the Fantastic Four because he’s zapped them with an Inhibitor Ray ™ that prevents them from attacking him!
Knowing Doom, I bet the only reason he doesn’t use this EVERY time is that it’d make for a boring fight.
Doom could easily kill the FF now… but in an explicit callback to Fantastic Four #116, he’s asking for their help to take back Latveria.
When Doom says that Latveria needs his help, he provides a demonstration and shows the FF that his country is in ruins.
I have A LOT to say about the next issue, which I consider one of the top three Doctor Doom stories ever told, so we’ll just have to end here.
Doom significance: 8/10
While the specifics of this issue are not all that important (other than setting up the major milestone of next issue), this is still the story that really codifies how the Doombot work. You may have noticed that Doom didn’t use the Doombots all that much up until now… that’s about to change.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
So… when exactly did Doom invent the Inhibitor Ray ™? Because unless it’s a very recent invention, the fact that he’s never used it gives a whole different meaning to his previous appearances.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
John Byrne is absolutely on fire in this issue. Every character gets a moment to shine, every action has a setup, a payoff AND an exclamation, and we get a glimpse of everyone’s thought processes. Plus the art is top notch.
It was a Doombot all along
Well he was A LOT of Doombots. The real Doom just has to be among them, however.
Destroy the FF! & Take over the world
Most of the comic tries to trick you into believing Doom is after the FF, but nope!
Crazy tech
The Inhibitor Ray ™, no contest. We’ve seen Doom use mind control technology plenty of times, but it’s crazy to think he just has a ray that literally makes it impossible for his enemies to hit him! No wonder he’s never going to use it after this storyline, that is one heck of a story breaking technology.