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Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re still in Latveria in issue #86, with more machinations of Dr. Doom.

Picking up where the last issue left off, the new and improved Doombots, the green ones, are marching toward the Latverian village where the FF are trapped. Our heroes can’t fight back because they’ve secretly been hypnotized into thinking their powers aren’t working. Got all that? The Latverians drop their happy-to-see-you act and ask the FF for help. Reed, ever the hero, decides that the FF will be the first line of defense, offering the Latverians at least a few seconds of relief as they attempt an escape. One of Doom’s monitors pops up and he addresses the people. This speech is good that I’m going to quote it in its entirety: “My robot army, which I created for your protection, is temporarily out of control! If you perish due to this regrettable accident, let it be known that your sovereign proclaims you heroes of the realm!” I love it.

When confronted by Reed, Doom further speechifies that he’s giving the FF the privilege of dying among his subjects. Then, once he’s alone, Doom admits that the green Doombots are indeed out of his control, but, as unstoppable as they seem, they have a weakness known only to him.

The green Doombots reach the village. Ben declares that even without his powers, he’s no pantywaist, and he fights back, discovering that he still has his powers after all. Even with his strength, though, the green Doombots are tough, and we get a bunch of panels of them fighting. Johnny fights back as well, his fire starting to return. The Latverians join the fight, having discovered a cache of weapons hidden by Doom (that was convenient). Reed believes that Doom wouldn’t have built the green Doombots without some sort of failsafe to stop them.

Inside Doom’s castle, Doom enjoys a fancy dinner while the battle rages outside. Doom’s toady Hauptmann, tells Doom not to overestimate the FF, but Doom won’t hear it. Back outside, Reed gets his powers back, correctly assuming that he’d been hypnotized. While escaping from the green Doombots, he discovers a hidden control unit inside one building. He uses it to switch all the robots off.

In true Bond villain fashion, Doom has a big model of the village, revealing that he’s placed huge explosives underneath it (the village, not the model, which Doom has to explain to Hauptmann). A second wave of Doombots is on the march, heading toward another part of the village. Reed flips a switch on another control device, which, instead of turning the robots off, activates a giant fan that blows them all out into the ocean. (Seriously? A giant fan?)

Doom sees this and he goes nuts. He throws a switch, activating the bombs. Hauptmann reminds Doom that his subjects are still out there, and Doom says “I forgot!” How could he forget his own subjects, after talking about them a few pages earlier? I suppose we’ll have to chalk it up to him being totally self-absorbed. Then, Doom sees that part of the village wasn’t destroyed, but miraculously saved. It’s Sue, who made it to Latveria courtesy of Nick Fury, just in time to save everyone. She says Alicia is watching the baby, but she makes no mention of the mysterious underground house subplot from the last issue. Now that the villagers have been saved and the FF (all five of them!) are reunited, Ben declares, “Let’s tackle Doom!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed discovers the Doombots’ weakness mostly by accident, but he figures it out pretty quickly. He shows his courage by taking a stand against the robots to save the villagers.

 Fade out: It’s kind of random that Sue would show up out of nowhere like this, but it’s nice to see her being the hero and saving the day.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is the one who overcomes the hypnotism, merely by jumping into the battle. His fight with the Doombots is some great Kirby action.

Flame on: Without his powers, Johnny climbs to a rooftop and acts as lookout. Even when powerless he finds a way to be the one in the sky.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Cyrstal barely appears in this issue, with an uncomfortable line of dialogue telling us she’s with the “women-folk.” Sigh…

Commercial break: So, this thing’s just a big kite, is it?

Trivia time: So just who is the Hauptmann guy? It’s Gustav Hauptmann, who formerly worked for the Nazis and for the Red Skull (WWII was still recent enough that stories could have characters like this). He’s the first of several members of the Hauptmann family who’ll show up here and there in Marvel history, usually causing trouble with mad science.

Fantastic or frightful? The fight against the Doombots is exciting, but the “control devices” are too simplistic a way to defeat them. (A giant fan?!?) What’s really great about this arc is the insight into Doom’s character. He’s completely full of himself and absolutely certain of his victory, and when things don’t go his way he loses his mind. It’s not his scientific wizardry or even his ambition that makes Dr. Doom dangerous, it’s his pride. We’ll see even more of this in the next issue.

Next: Organ harvesting.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #85 gives us more insight into Dr. Doom and his boastful ways.

When we last left our heroes, Dr. Doom had captured them. They’re in a peaceful, idyllic European village where everyone is happy. Sounds nice, but except they can’t ever leave, and this is Doom’s triumph over them. This issue begins with the FF still in the town square, surrounded by Doombots. Dr. Doom, communicating with our heroes via monitors he’s placed everywhere, gloats that the FF can’t leave, and that he’s removed their powers. Ben tries to clobber the Doombots, but without his strength he gets knocked back easily. Reed reminds Johnny (and the audience) that Nick Fury sent them to Latveria to find and destroy Dr. Doom’s secret army.

Inside his high-tech lair, Doom gloats some more, saying there are sedatives in the FF’s food, which will make them more susceptible to his “hypno-persuader” which has removed their powers. Doom is joined by his right-hand-man, Hauptmann, and says it’s time for a demonstration. He’s going to reveal his new army to the world. A couple of thugs are fighting the Doombots, to test the robots’ strength. The two guys make a run for it, hijacking one of Dr. Doom’s armored vehicles Doom lets them go, saying this is the perfect test for his new army. It’s a newer, nastier breed of Doombot, a green one, which tears apart the vehicle and seizes the fugitives without any trouble. Doom gloats again, saying he’s invincible, and that he’s going to use the new robots to destroy an entire village as their next test.

The FF have lunch at a sidewalk café, noticing that although the people look happy, there’s an underlying fear and paranoia to them. The sedative in the food knocks them out, and Doom’s henchmen hook them up to the hypno-persuader, which mentally blocks their powers as they sleep. Reed fights back and is almost able to resist, thanks to his love for Sue.

Speaking of Sue, we then check in with her. She and a real estate agent are checking out homes, nice suburban houses to raise a child. (Where is the baby? God only knows, because he’s not mentioned.) Sue meets some fans, and then the real estate agent takes her into the woods to show a house off the beaten path. It’s a futuristic metal contraption that’s actually the roof, with the rest of the house underground. The agent says the house was abandoned years ago and the locals are afraid to come here. (You’d think that’s the sort of thing not to tell a potential buyer.)

Back in Latveria, the FF wake up from their hypno-conditioning, which has also programmed them not to be violent, causing them to recoil in fear at the very thought of fighting. Doom gloats some more, as he’s getting his royal portrait painted. Get this – it’s a painting of him without his mask! He feels he can now go without it, and he further declares that his horribly scarred face will be the new standard for masculinity around the world. (We of course don’t see his face, as some things are best left to the imagination.)

The artist and Doom have an agreement, that Doom will give the artist his freedom if Doom likes the portrait. But Doom goes back on the deal, saying he has absolute power and can do what he will. To prove his point, he unleashes the green Doombots on the village, and have them destroy everything. Conveniently, this is the same village where the FF are staying. Then there’s an odd bit of business where the green Doombots go on a rampage. We’re told they’re not following anyone’s orders, not even Dr. Doom’s – but then a few panels later it says they are following Doom’s orders, even though he’s not in this scene. The issue ends with the FF powerless, helpless, and in the Doombots’ path.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Again, Reed’s brain is superhumanly awesome, able to put up a fight against the hypno machine.

Fade out: Sue looking for a new house seems odd. For one, it’s been established that the FF owns other houses and apartments, even if we rarely see them. Second, there’s no mention of who might be watching the baby. On the plus side, this does nicely foreshadow the “they move to the suburbs” plot from John Byrne’s ‘80s run on the book.

Fantastic fifth wheel: While the others are focused on getting out of this predicament, Crystal is the compassionate one, who shows concern for the Latverians, trapped just like the FF.

Clobberin’ time: After getting roughed up by the Doombots, Ben starts to be OK with his captivity. He says the Latverian food is better than a Yancy Street pizza joint. (Blasphemy!)

Flame on: Instead of convincing Johnny he’s lost his powers, the hypno device instead tells him he’s afraid of fire, which is an interesting little detail.

Commercial break: For all the comic-reading kids who dream of becoming accountants someday:

Trivia time: The painting of the unmasked Dr. Doom returned (or did it?) in a recent Superior Foes of Spider-Man story.

Fantastic or frightful? This story arc has often been compared to the 1960s TV show The Prisoner. Hey, if you’re going to steal, steal from the best. It seems like this issue is more set-up, but there’s a lot of cool character bits. I like how Doom is acting as if he’s already taken over the world before actually taking it over. I also like how our heroes aren’t panicking or over-reacting to their predicament, but instead just sitting down and figuring things out, like pros. More good stuff to come.

Next: Doombot roll call!

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. The Silver Age was coming to a close by this point, and comics were breaking out with smarter, more sophisticated storytelling. This is evident in the arc that begins in issue #84, which brings back Dr. Doom.

The FF are in a crazy-looking “gryo-ship” on their way back from visiting the Inhumans last issue. The ship is a gift from Black Bolt to help them get home. Somewhere over Europe, though, their flight is interrupted by a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter jets. Nick Fury and his mustachioed sidekick Dum-Dum Dugan order the FF to land.

Elsewhere, an old man is running through a bunch of underground catacombs saying he must escape. He reaches the outside, finds himself on a beach, and is overjoyed that he’s made it. But wait, someone with a gun is waiting for him. It’s Doctor Doom. He says he won’t stand for a single one of his subjects to leave his kingdom. Doom shoots the guy, but doesn’t kill him. He further speechifies about all he’s done for the people of Latveria – he’s given them food, shelter, and everything they could ever want, all in exchange for nothing but their total obedience.

Elsewhere, at a fortified base, Fury tells the FF that a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent has gone missing while investigating reports of a secret army in the area. He shows them a giant robot arm the agent recovered. Because this is a Marvel comic, the arm immediately comes to life and starts shooting up the place. Johnny destroys the arm, and Fury explains that only Dr. Doom has robotics tech this advanced. Reed agrees to help.

From there, the FF are in a car driving through “Communist-controlled central Europe,” where the cross the border into Latveria. The border guards surmise that the Americans will disappear in Latveria, never to be seen again. Inside the car, Reed says he knows they’ll likely be captured by Dr. Doom, but that’s the best way to learn what Doom is up to. Once inside Latveria, the car is torn apart by being on a magnetized highway (science!) and Doom’s robots attack. Reed says not to resist, but Johnny and Ben fight anyway, only to be knocked out by some gas. Doom arrives on the scene – hilariously wearing a gas mask over his regular mask – and says the FF will be his prisoners, forever.

Reed, Johnny and Ben wake up in what appears to be a luxurious hotel. Johnny wants to find Crystal, while Reed tries to deduce why Doom has put them there, instead of in his dungeons. Watching all this on a viewscreen, Doom speechifies that while the FF slept, he gave them hypnotic suggestions, so that now they have mental blocks preventing them from using their powers. Doom says there will be a festival to celebrate his victory over the FF, adding that there is a penalty for anyone who looks discontent.

Crystal contacts Johnny on a weird-looking phone. She says she’s all right, and that all the people are happy, while seemingly also afraid of something. Outside, there’s a huge festival, with all the Latverians celebrating the FF’s arrival. Johnny and Crystal are reunited, and our heroes are perplexed by this hospitality. Ben jokes that maybe Doom has found religion, but Reed theorizes that the Latverians are merely puppets on Doom’s strings. Reed says he’s going to make a run for it and cross the border, but he’s zapped by one of Doom’s devices right on the spot. (So, is the border right there?) Doom appears on a screen and tells Reed that no one leaves Latveria. “You will remain here,” he says, “and be eternally happy!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: S.H.I.E.L.D. comes to Reed when they have a Dr. Doom problem, establishing Reed as the authority on all things Latverian.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Crystal comments that part of the FF’s “basic rule” is that none of them can ever stand too close to each other, because that would make them easy targets. I’ll be pretty surprised if this “basic rule” ever gets a second mention.

Clobberin’ time: Ben’s struggling to remain standing when breathing in the knockout gas is a great moment for him. He goes down fighting.

Flame on: Proving himself to be a real “hot-head” (heh) Johnny is quick to jump into action without thinking in this issue, picking fights and destroying stuff when Reed cautions him not to. Doom’s robots stop him with an electro-pistol.

Commercial break: What, exactly, kind of martials arts are these?

Trivia time: Who’s this “Dum-Dum” guy? That’s Dum-Dum Dugan, Nick Fury’s sidekick and supporting character of pretty much any S.H.I.E.L.D. story. Not sure how his handlebar moustache and bowler hat are secret agent material, but he’s a tough guy so he can get away with it. Dum-Dum was played by Neal McDonough in the movie Captain America: The First Avenger.

Fantastic or frightful? Not much happens in this one, just setting up future issues. There’s a lot to say about what’s coming, so we’ll keep this one short. It’s an interesting look at Doom’s personality. As ruler, he believes he’s making his people happy, but only as long as he orders them to be happy. A fun issue, but the good stuff is yet to come.

Next: The true face of tyranny.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.