ASTONISHING TALES #1 (1970)
by Roy Thomas & Wally Wood
We’re now in the 70s, and Doctor Doom gets his own series!
Well, kind of. He has to share it with Ka-Zar, a.k.a. Marvel’s Tarzan equivalent.
You would expect Dr. Doom to take first billing and to be the one drawn by Jack Kirby, but no.
Look, I don’t have anything against Ka-Zar, but he’s not exactly one of “Marvel’s mightiest”.
We may not have Jack Kirby doing the art, but Wally Wood is great.
We begin on the Moon, where legally-not-Neil-Armstrong and legally-not-Buzz-Aldrin discover a mysterious object. Note that this was published in August 1970, a year after Apollo 11.
Yes Neil, “the first proof” of alien life. If you don’t count the Skrull, the Kree, Galactus, Silver Surfer, or any other of the dozens of aliens who have already very publicly visited Earth!
The strange object is brought to the White House weeks later: the object has baffled scientists, but they consider it harmless.
What is the object? Just a communications device from Dr. Doom.
Why? Just the most awesome power move in international politics.
THIS IS FANTASTIC. Doom teleported the sphere to the Moon and just waited.
This is brilliant on SO many levels! Can you imagine how scary something like this would be, ESPECIALLY during the Cold War!?
We then move to Latveria, which is still located “in the Bavarian alps”, and we also learn that it’s a nuclear nation.
In addition to trolling the international community, Doom is building some kind of high tech monster in his lab.
Meanwhile, we’re introduced to a character that will be central to Doom’s solo adventures: Prince Rudolfo, the rightful heir to the Latveria throne.
His plan involves a girl who has a strong resemblance to Valeria, Doom’s long-lost love interest, who apparently Doom has been searching for since we last met her.
However Doom IMMEDIATELY finds out that she’s a fake.
Nice moody panel of Doom pondering on the situation, watching over the castle under the moonlight. As much as I would’ve like to see Kirby draw Doom as well, Wally Wood is a much better match for this atmosphere.
You may think that this is a setback for Rudolfo, but it was actually part of his plan.
We also learn that, while he’s arguably a better person than Doom, he’s not exactly a nice guy.
Doom goes so far to show his face to the fake Valeria…
…but it’s actually just an illusion.
I have no clue why Doom did this. Was he acting out some kind of fantasy?
In any case, he goes the now fully charged super-robot: Doom is planning to give him his brain, to make it the ultimate weapon.
While he’s doing this, the fake Valeria received a signal from Rudolfo that break Doom’s hypnosis. Once she finds him, Doom is not wearing his mask as part of the procedure to copy his mind into the robot.
And she interrupts Doom’s experiment by throwing a chair, and that’s apparently all that it takes to disable everything!!!
That is SOME chair.
This is all according to Rudolfo’s plan, and he attacks the castle with the rebel forces.
Who knew that all the Fantastic Four needed to overthrow Doom was a chair?
Doom, buddy, I know you’re a control freak, but maybe centralizing your entire network to this extent wasn’t exactly your best move.
This also releases Doom’s latest creation: the cosmically powered Doomsman.
Even with the Doomsman’s distraction, the rebellion is doing great… until Doom shows up with an awesome one-liner.
Doom shows up several times at once, actually.
Turns out that Doom knew about Rudolfo’s trap, and pretended to fall for it to drive the rebellion into the open and destroy it.
Not only that: both Rudolfo an the fake Valeria are now under his hypnotic control.
This looks like a complete and total victory to Doom, except… he doubts this is really over.
Yes, in the midst of all of this, Doom lost track of an extremely powerful robot who has Doom’s own intellect.
If only Doom had a chair to throw at it.
Doom significance: 7/10
Rudolfo will be a recurring adversary, and his Latveria royal family will eventually do A LOT of damage on Doom’s regime.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Considering Doom knows he’s being played and has planned accordingly, the really Silver Age moment is that freakin’ chair.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
While this is a pretty compressed 10 page story, it flows quite nicely. There are several hidden complexities: Doom and Rudolfo constantly one-upping each other, Doom retreating into his lab because he feels shunned by society, Rudolfo risking the life of his men… all good stuff that could rally use some more space to breathe.
Wood’s art, while a more simplistic style than the standards of the time, gives a very fantasy vibe while also providing a couple of moody panels.
It was a Doombot all along
In addition to Doom’s overt use of a few Doombots, there’s not explicit indication whether we see the ream Doom. Interestingly, Doom giving his mind to the Doomsman can be seen as a precursor to how Doombots will eventually be used.
Take over the world
Doom’s main goal in building the Doomsman.
Destroy the FF!
The FF are not even mentioned!
Crazy tech
Doomsman will have its day, but I just have to give it to the Moon Sphere ™. While not terribly impressive by Doom’s standard, the balls needed to do this power move in 1970 are quite something.
The doomy land of Doom
Latveria is still identified in the Bavarian Alps. We also learn that it has nuclear weapons.