FANTASTIC FOUR #361 (1992)
by Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan
It’s been a while, but we’re back to the time-honored tradition of Doctor Doom being a giant on the cover but NOT in the story.
The Fantastic Four in this period are DEEP in tons and tons of subplots, even more than usual, but fortunately this is a Thing solo story that is mostly disconnected from the recent shenanigans.
And it begins with the Thing being asked by an old friend to keep an eye on his troubled son.
The investigation brings the Thing into contact with the Yancy Street Gang… well ONE version of it anyway. And it’s rather blatantly inspired by Jack Kirby’s Newsboy Legion.
I used to find these guys pretty annoying. But having reviewed Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen and therefore his Newsboy Legion… yeah I’ll take these guys over the Newsboy Legion any day.
…yeah I’ll take these guys over the Newsboy Legion any day.
Once more, for old times’ sake.
Anyway, looking for his friend’s son, the Thing discovers Random Science Lair #74.
Complete with Disposable Robot Minions!
Once again: these guys are annoying, but none of them is called Flippa Dippa.
Now you might be shocked, considering that he’s on the cover and I’m reviewing this, but the man responsible for kidnapping drug addicts in Yancy Street is *gasp* Doctor Doom!
Naturally, even the Thing is shocked by the idea that Doom would have anything to do with drugs…
…but his plan is actually to GET RID OF ALL THE DRUGS.
If Doctor Doom is not a fan of the Yancy Street Gang, just imagine how he would’ve reacted to the Newsboy Legion!
Doctor Doom’s plan is to discover a way to cure drug addiction. And in typical Doctor Doom fashion, he’s going after it in the most morally questionable way possible.
But it turns out drug addiction is too complex to fix in a standalone story, so Doom just loses interest.
You’d think after all these years the Thing would know there’s NOTHING Doom can’t rationalize into being someone else’s fault.
And so Doom just leaves, refusing to deal the finishing blow because the Thing is not at his peak, having been recently injured.
Doom’s lair explodes (because of course it does), the Thing’s friend is reunited with his son…
…and the Yancy Street Gang is… being the Yancy Street Gang.
Doom significance: 1/10
Harmless fluff. Weirdly enough there is SOME future reference to this… in a crappy crossover with Doom 2099, where Doom’s future self will use this base as his own during a time travel story. Of all the random things to reference!!!
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
Despite the serious topic, the Yancy Street Gang automatically raises the Silver Age-ness.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
It’s a nice Thing solo story. Unlike most of the other Fantastic Four plots of the time which have a frankly ridiculous amount of angst, this one manages to stay relatively simple.
A lot is going to depend on your tolerance of the Yancy Street Gang, which tends to stick like a sore thumb in any serious moment. And this IS supposed to be a serious story!
Doom deciding to fix the drug problem is interesting, and you can probably read something into the fact that he starts right in Yancy Street… was he planning to solve the problems of the Thing’s birthplace just to rub it in his face? That WOULD be a Doctor Doom thing to do.
Still… in addition to the YSG not holding up that well… the story loses some points with me by raising the immensely interesting idea of Doctor Doom fixing a real world problem… and then just shrugging it off.
It was a Doombot all along
While there’s nothing over, I’m fairly sure this is a Doombot. I completely buy Doom having a plan to fix the drug problem, but kidnapping and experimenting on kids on his own? That’s what robots are for!
Crazy tech
Sadly Doom doesn’t use any weird gadget, and his robots are more disposable than usual. I can’t even give him points for finding a cure for drug addiction, since he just loses interest.