FANTASTIC FOUR #247 (1982)
Writer, penciler & inker: John Byrne
This is arguably one of the three most important Doctor Doom stories ever told, so it’s kind of weird it has such a generic cover.
Spoiler alert: no Giant Doom appears in this story.
The first page, where Doom shouts the title, would’ve worked a lot better.
After that iconic splash page we get a double page spread with an interminable Doom monologue, where he explains that Latveria has fallen in disgrace after it was taken over by Zorba after Fantastic Four #200.
The two-page spread is too large for a detailed scan, but I will point out one of my favorite details: the gorgeous statue.
It will be used again in a couple of stories; it looks like Byrne took inspiration from a real life statue but I can’t identify which one.
The Fantastic Four are shocked to see Latveria is basically in ruins but they’re not buying that it’s because Doom is no longer in charge. The discussion is interrupted by a kid bumping into Doom.
Before Doom can do anything, a woman begs him to spare her son… and when she discovers that this is the real Doctor Doom, she is overwhelmed with joy.
While the rest of the team is shocked to see a Latverian actually glad to see Doom (which might sound strange today, but look back at how Latveria was shown in the 70s), the Thing suspects this is a setup.
And I have to say that things DO look fishy! Doom takes the FF to Latveria and by sheer coincidence they immediately run into people who swear Doom is the best thing ever.
Note the great touch of the woman being scared of the Fantastic Four, with Doom reassuring her.
The woman recaps the events of Fantastic Four #200, as well as what happened once the heroes went back to America… crime returned to Latveria.
More on that later.
As we have already seen in Fantastic Four Annual #15 and Dazzler #3, the Latveria economy was in great trouble. Now we learn that this created so much unrest that Zorba went full Doctor Doom.
Speaking of the reprogrammed robots, one of them kills the woman, taking Doom and the FF by complete surprise.
Doom… does not take this well.
After we get a few pages of Doom and the FF fighting the robots, Doom takes out a gizmo that shuts them down.
And Mr. Fantastic is like, “Why didn’t you do this sooner!?”
“Doom’s reasons are his own. Do not question them.” could easily be the answer to any out-of-character moment. But this time it makes perfect sense… Doom was simply angry about failing to protect the woman and wanted to get it off his system.
We will never see the woman again, in fact she was never given a name!
Her son Kristoff disappears from this story entirely. You might be forgiven for thinking this was just a one-off moment to show Doom caring for this country… but to say that Kristoff is going to be a MAJOR plot point in the 80s would be a colossal understatement.
The FF then meet some Doom loyalists and they discuss the situation in the former headquarters of the Zorba rebellion, ironically enough.
Note the reference to “communist lands” that surround Latveria.
The exact location of Latveria is pretty volatile at this point, but at least we are past placing it “in the Bavarian alps” now.
All of this talk about Doom’s regime being better for Latveria is making the FF quite uneasy.
The fact that Zorba is now torturing people and raving like a madman doesn’t help his case.
In addition to Zorba going completely insane, there is SOME revisionism on Byrne’s part regarding how harsh Doom’s regime was. According to Zorba’s… I’m guessing the dude in a Nazi cosplay is the head of police… Doom rarely punished people.
Okay I’m all for showing Doom loving his country, but let’s not kid around: this is NOT a guy who uses violence only as a last resort!
I mean, last issue he murdered his own ambassador for suggesting his plan could fail!
Okay that was TECHNICALLY a Doombot, but don’t tell me it’s out of character for the guy who in Fantastic Four #200 THROWS A TORNADO at his own people.
Zorba now unleashes Doom’s ultimate weapon: the Killer Robots, a.k.a. the “Invincible Robots” of Fantastic Four #85.
It seems they lack the stupid weakness to water they had in Fantastic Four #86 because this is apparently a very tough battle.
Very interesting to see the Invisible Girl worried about Doom manipulating the team because he’s a natural leader.
Since this is far more of a Doctor Doom story than a Fantastic Four one, you might wonder why he needed them in the first place. Well, apparently there are SO many Killer Robots that the battle lasts two entire hours!!!
As for why on Earth didn’t Doctor Doom have any way to shut down these robots the same way he did with the other ones…
Sounds legit.
At some point Doom leaves the fight to rescue Boris, while the Chief of Cosplay Gestapo decides it’s way past time to ditch Zorba.
So it’s Doctor Doom versus a guy with a weapon he created!
How did you think this was going to end, Zorba!?
Doom dangling Zorba over the castle’s tower, to look over the devastation he brought to his own country, is just Top Doom Badass.
This is the last time we will ever see Zorba. Seriously, he doesn’t even get a single cameo, not even in any of the supplemental material of Doom’s origins.
The scenes with the FF fighting the robots were great, and we got to see plenty of Doom in this issue, but I still would’ve liked to see SOME of Doom’s assault on his own castle.
In any other circumstance, it would be easy to suspect Zorba is still alive, since we never see his body. But considering that Doom would have absolutely no reason whatsoever to let him survive (and the fact that Zorba wasn’t all that interesting of a character)… yeah, he’s as dead as he could be.
The Fantastic Four are in an interesting position here.
It’s easy to accept them interfering with Latveria’s internal politics when they stop Zorba from slaughtering the entire population with killer robots… but they are actively helping a new dictator to take over the country.
But, on the other hand, they are still affected by the Inhibitor Ray ™ that Doom used on them last issue, so they are literally incapable of fighting Doom right now.
This means that they can technically help a dictator while still getting away with having zero responsibility over it. Now that’s just good writing!
“Doom is never petty”. Who ever said Victor Von Doom doesn’t have a sense of humor?
Doom significance: 10/10
This is THE story that codifies the relationship Doom has with Latveria, plus we have the introduction of Kristoff.
Silver Age-ness:0/10
I seriously struggle finding any Silver Age trope here.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
One of the very best Doctor Doom stories ever told, without question. Masterfully written and beautifully drawn. Doom is complex, dramatic, charismatic and utterly badass through and through.
It does have one potential problem… it can be read as an apology for dictatorship. I think Byrne is walking a very thin line here: Doom’s dictatorship is explicitly depicted as better than Zorba’s, but it’s not like either is glorified.
Zorba is brutal against his subjects, tortures them and doesn’t hesitate to use lethal force… and we have seen Doom do the same plenty of times. Should we consider Doom a better person because in his head he’s doing it for a good cause? In the end, what caused Zorba’s regime to fall wasn’t how he treated the people, but the fact that he was bad at handling his country’s economy.
Should we excuse Doom’s behavior because he’s good at keeping Latveria prosper? It’s a slippery slope that makes the relationship between Doom and the superhero community interesting.
You could also read this as a metaphor and critique of American intervention in world affairs; after all the FF backed a revolution that devastated Latveria and then never bother to check the consequences… just because the new status quo in Latveria didn’t affect them personally.
If anything, this story is even more meaningful today than in 1982.
It was a Doombot all along
While it’s TECHNICALLY possible this was a Doombot… do we really need it to be?
Times Latveria has been conquered: 6
Going back to Doom. It’s not going to be the last time the country changes hands in the 80s.
Crazy tech
The Electro-Neumonic Scrambler ™ has a TERRIBLE name, but it’s very effective at shutting down a squad of robots.