Fantastic Four #381 (1993)
by Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan
This is a watershed moment for Doctor Doom, as after this issue he will be completely absent until 1995. While the event itself is not particularly memorable, this is a very solid cover.
Last time the Thing attacked Latveria and was imprisoned, so we begin with the rest of the Fantastic Four launching a rescue mission together with Lyja and the teenage version from the future of Franklin Richards.
Not that the Thing and Doom really needed to be rescued in the first place…
…because Doom also has not fared particularly well against the alien energy vampire that he lured to Earth.
Speaking of the alien, he has a truly atrocious design. Unless Latverians are naturally afraid of yellow, I don’t see how this is “designed to strike terror”.
DeFalco seems to be very traditionalist when it comes to Latveria. This is basically how the country was depicted circa Fantastic Four #84; we’ve got a long way from that, and the Latverian situation was repeatedly shown to be more nuanced… but DeFalco rarely does “nuanced” in this series.
SHOCKINGLY, the Latverians don’t believe the foreigners (and declared enemies of the state) that showed up to ask them to evacuate the place!
The “jacket-over-the-superhero-costume” was overdone in the 90s, but I have to say I really don’t mind this look for Mister Fantastic.
The team gangs up on Ugly Yellow Alien, but apparently he’s even more powerful than he is ridiculous.
I have to admit that Doom summoning the Fantastic Four while granting an official dispensation from being sentenced to death is just comedy gold.
Doom’s Matter Transference Platform™ makes a return. Not only this piece of technology makes repeated appearances in future issues, but the DeFalco run makes it official that Doom makes extensive use of teleporting technology. To the surprise of no-one, I assume.
I don’t know what is more worrying, the fact that Doom is asking for help (without admitting it of course) or the fact that Reed is NOT distracted by being around advanced technology!
While DeFalco is old-fashioned when it comes to Latveria, the fact that they still have faith in Doom gave me some he could turn this around…
…he completely botches it by having Doom think that he would “gladly” exchange the lives of the Latverians to get power.
Okay, this was the last drop. DeFalco is not (usually) a bad writer, but HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND DOCTOR DOOM.
I mean, having Doom make sure he’ll absorb the alien’s energies and murder Reed? I have no problem with that, that’s classic Doctor Doom. But utterly dismissing the safety of Latveria? Get outta here!!!
The cover was already a spoiler, but come on, could DeFalco possibly more blatant about what’s going to happen? He might as well have had Reed declare he’s two days from retirement.
(also I’m pretty sure Reed and Susan never got a FIRST honeymoon)
AMAZINGLY, Gittelsohn… Doom’s scientist minion we’ve seen a bunch of time… manages to not getting murdered by his employer. That’s very rare in Latveria!!!
He still gets no respect from Doom, though.
The FF are getting their asses kicked by Ugly Yellow Alien, and Doctor Doom has to decide between escaping and helping his people.
This WOULD be a good moment, if only DeFalco hadn’t ruined Doom’s characterization by using those out-of-character thought bubbles earlier.
Doom even expresses admiration for the Thing (!!!) before using what’s left of the Watcher’s power he stole to fight Ugly Yellow Alien on his own.
If the Power Pack© gives him so much power, why didn’t he use it directly instead of going with the dumb plot of luring a new cosmic being?
What risk is Doom talking about!? He’s already absorbed cosmic powers SEVERAL TIMES!!!
This goes poorly for him.
But as we learned time and time again, particularly against the Beyonder… Doctor Doom is often at his best when he’s at his most vulnerable.
Not gonna lie, that was all kinds of badass.
But Doom is apparently on the verge of death, and in a moment that should raise all kinds of red flags he asks for help.
And that is how Doctor Doom BLOWS HIMSELF UP to kill Reed Richards!!!
That was a shocking moment, although I’m not sure it’s in character for Doom… more on that later.
The Fantastic Four immediately assume that both Doom and Reed are 100% seriously dead this time.
There’s plenty to criticize about the DeFalco run, I have to give to him: he WAS serious that he wasn’t going to reverse the events of this issue until he was kicked out of the series.
Doctor Doom (and Reed) WILL stay dead for the following two years!!!
Before I address how this is going to factor in the retrospective, a little housecleaning about the follow-up issue.
Fantastic Four #382 (1993)
by Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan
The issue has nothing to do with Doctor Doom, but I have to point out something that bothers me: pretty much for the remainder of the storyline, until Reed will be saved in 1995, Invisible Woman is still hopeful that her husband is still alive.
That’s not the part that bothers me. It’s the fact that, in a universe where there have already been all kinds of resurrections, the rest of the team is IMMEDIATELY 100% sure that Reed is dead!!!
Leaving aside the meta aspect of killing one of the team… who wouldn’t agree with Invisible Woman!?!?
Especially since WE JUST SAW that Doom has teleporting technology! But for some reason, she’s treated at being delusional at the mere possibility of Reed still being alive.
The Fantastic Four steal the computer holding information from Doom’s teleportation machine, but nothing will seriously come from that.
What is going to be important is that Nathanial Richards, Reed’s time-traveling a-hole father, takes control of Latveria.
So… what now? Before Doctor Doom makes his official return in 1995, we’re going to take a break of sorts. During this intermission we’ll look at a bunch of 90s cameos and, more importantly, at the various impostors and pretenders that showed up in Doom’s absence.
Doom significance: 8/10
As I said, Doom DOES stay dead for two years after this. Thanks to all the impostors it’s not like his absence will be felt all that much. Plus Doom 2099 was going strong at the time, so there was a somewhat popular theory that Doom was teleported into the future at the end of this story.
Which is technically correct, but it’ll be a far lamer future than 2099.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
On the Marvel scale, both Latveria and Doom are straight from their Silver Age versions… specifically, Doom is from his worst Silver Age period.
90-ness: what she says/10
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
It’s not all bad… some of the banter between heroes is a breath of fresh air after so much forced drama, and as I said Doom’s eventual victory against the alien is genuinely badass.
That being said… this is a TERRIBLE rendition of Doctor Doom!!! Not only it’s wildly out of character for him to dismiss the lives of the Latverians so casually… WOULD he commit suicide only to kill Reed Richards?
I could see him to it only if he was absolutely certain he was going to die… but that’s a moot point, since Doom would never accept something like that. And while he really, really, REALLY wants to kill Reed… sucker punching him like that without any kind of honor? AND deny the world the honor of being ruled by Doctor Doom? No, not in a million years.
Ultimately, as I said I really do think that DeFalco fundamentally does not understand Doctor Doom.
HOWEVER… if you fix Doom’s thought bubbles (or better yet remove them entirely) and have a genuinely interesting threat instead of Ugly Yellow Alien? The basic plot is fine.
It was a Doombot all along
Ugh. Considering the length of his absence, and how he’ll be depicted during his return, I’m quite confident that this IS the real Doctor Doom… which makes his thought balloons all the more painful to read.
Times Doom has saved the world: 7
Notably, he saved it from a menace that HE summoned to Earth!
Destroy the FF! : 51
A secondary objective when compared to stealing the alien’s energy, but still.
Times Latveria has been conquered: 9
Few people learn about it, but Nathaniel Richards IS the leader of Latveria for a while.
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 82
Adding Psi-Lord, the alternate future version of Franklin Richards. Since he will join (and lead) the team Fantastic Force, he’s definitely a superhero. And he DOES fight Doom’s robots here.
Crazy tech
I really like the Matter Transference Platform™. Although it’s weird to see that the teleportation platform is FAR bulkier than the time platform!!!