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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re at issue #251, in which writer-artist John Byrne kicks off one of the longest story arcs during his run on the book. I hope you like the Negative Zone, because we’re going to be there for a while.

We begin with Reed and Ben looking into a massive tube that extends for one mile inside the Baxter Building. Scratch that, only one meter exists inside the building, the rest of it exists inside the Negative Zone. This is Reed’s new Negative Zone portal, allowing easier access to and from the other universe. Reed says the FF cannot turn their backs on the limitless wonder and potential of the Negative Zone, while Ben argues that the N.Z. is the source of baddies such as Blastaar, Stygorr, and, most of all, Annihilus.

From there, we catch up on a lot of “daily life” stuff for our heroes. Remembering that Reed bought the Baxter Building after the recent fight with Galactus, he and Sue attend and tenants’ meeting. They field complaints about broken elevators, stuck windows, and more. (I thought the lower floors of the building were businesses, since this is Manhattan, but this would have us believe people are living there.) Ben doesn’t want anything to with that, so he takes the Fantasticar for a flight over New York. He helps some cops sort out city gridlock by picking up cars and carrying them around.

Johnny is also flying around New York, before joining his latest love interest Julie Angel. He attends an acting class with Julie and her roommate Sharon Shelleck. There’s a lot of soap opera stuff here, as Julie is also interested in her acting teacher Rolf Brandis and hunky classmate Grey Landers. Sharon, meanwhile, shows much hormonal interest in Johnny. Cutting back to Ben, he’s hanging out with Alicia. He again worries that she doesn’t love him because he’s a monster, and she assures him that she loves him because of his kind, beautiful soul. At the Baxter Building, Sue playfully sneaks up on Franklin while invisible, only to scare him. Sue considers how, now that Franklin no longer has his powers, the Baxter Building is no longer a good place to raise him.

Reed herds the tenants out of the meeting and returns to his lab. There, he tinkers with his new spacecraft, the Negative Zone Exploratory Module Mark I. The others join him next morning when it’s time for the big trip into the Negative Zone. Alicia is there to babysit Franklin and reopen the new portal when it’s time for the FF to return. Reed says the portal contains a time distortion, so that their trip will only be a few hours or even minutes for Alicia’s perspective. Franklin says goodbye to his parents and Alicia says goodbye to Ben. Johnny, all alone, had invited to Julie to be there, but there was no answer at her place that morning. The FF climb aboard the module, with much description about how it works. The ship launches, travels through the portal and into the psychedelic distortion area, and from there into… the Negative Zone!

Two hours later, Alicia, while alone with Franklin, gets the signal that the FF have returned. She returns to the lab, only to discover that Annihilus, not the FF, has come through the Negative Zone portal. He says the Fantastic Four are gone forever and now begins his reign.

Unstable molecule: Reed says he will have his lawyers deal with the tenants. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen these lawyers.

Fade out: Sue says that Franklin was always able to see her when she was invisible, up until recently.

Clobberin’ time: Ben reminds Reed (and the readers) that he has an equal 25 percent ownership of Fantastic Four Inc. He later wonders how the Avengers deal with their finances.

Flame on: Johnny flames off into his regular street clothes instead of his FF uniform, so those clothes are made of unstable molecules as well. Johnny hasn’t shown much interest in acting before this, so I think we can surmise that he’s there more for Julie than for any love of theater.

Four and a half: Franklin can be seen playing Star Fox on the Atari 2600.

Commercial break: Ooohh, yeah:

Trivia time: This is allegedly the first mainstream comic to call a character “gay” in reference to homosexuality, when Julie says actor Grey Landers is “probably gay.”

Fantastic or frightful? I imagine this issue divides people. It’s all character-based stuff with no superhero action. It’s also all set-up for the next eight issues or so. The biggest complaint is that they’re going on this big Negative Zone adventure for no reason other than because they can. Still, there’s a lot to enjoy here, and it does make you excited for what’s to come.

Next week: A new perspective.

****

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

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. This is the big 250th anniversary issue, so here come the X-Men (sort of). At the time, writer-artist John Byrne was most well-known for his work on Uncanny X-Men with writer Chris Claremont, so his drawing the characters again in Fantastic Four was a big deal.

To recap: Gladiator, the number one badass of the alien Shi’ar empire, attacked the FF believing they were Skrulls on the warpath against the Shi’ar. Seeming unstoppable, Gladiator wiped the floor with the FF, only to come face-to-face with four of the X-Men: Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. Instead of picking up where we left off, the comic begins with neither the X-Men nor the FF but with Spider-Man, swinging around New York like he does. He finds Reed stretched out of shape over some rooftops. Reed wakens and reconstitutes himself while recapping the previous issue. Spider-Man takes Reed back to the Baxter Building, recreating Spidey’s first appearance on the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 along the way:

We finally catch up with the X-Men, who threaten Gladiator in Gladiator’s language. Storm and Cyclops attack. Gladiator says he and the X-Men were allies the last time he saw them, and he can’t figure out why they’re after him. Elsewhere, Johnny wakes up in the city streets and finds Ben unconscious. Johnny revives Ben by generating heat without flame. We then cut back to Spider-Man and Reed arriving at the Baxter Building, where Sue explains that Gladiator’s powers against her felt more like a psychic attack than a physical one. Reed says he’s figured out what’s going on. He rushes off the lab while Spider-Man pals around with Franklin a little before heading back out into the city.

As if there weren’t already a ton of characters in this one, we next go to Steve Rogers and Bernie Rosenthal, his girlfriend. Steve sees a ruckus outside, so he ducks out of the lunch date and dons his Captain America uniform, complete with indestructible shield. We rejoin the fight, where Gladiator shows his strength to be greater than Colossus. Storm uses her lightning to “shape the solar winds and from them select radiations of specific wavelengths.” OK… This works, though, striking Gladiator with great pain.

Gladiator goes after Nightcrawler next, only for Spider-Man to swing in and save him at the last second. Nightcrawler, however, flips out and punches Spider-Man, knocking him out. Even more strange, Nightcrawler bares his fangs and goes in to bite Spidey! Captain America steps in, fighting both Nightcrawler and Colossus. Ben wakes up, and he Johnny next rejoin the battle, so now everybody is fighting everybody. Back in Reed’s lab, he and Sue discuss how Gladiator’s power must come from something other than raw strength, and Reed starts working on a device to combat him.

The X-Men’s behavior just keeps getting stranger, as Nightcrawler disappears and fellow X-Man Angel shows up seconds later. He also somehow has Storm’s lightning powers, and he and Storm zap Gladiator with more super-powerful lightning. Angel then fights Johnny, with more superhuman strength than he’s ever had. Cyclops hits Ben with an optic blast, and Ben realizes that the blast burned him. This is odd, because Cyke’s optic blasts are not heat rays. Then we get the big reveal. Cyclops gets impaled on a piece of sharp metal, and reverts back to his original form — he and the X-Men really shape-changing Skrulls!

Reed confronts Gladiator. Gladiator attacks, but this time none of his powers work against Reed. Reed just stands there as Gladiator punches and zaps him, with no effect. As Gladiator experiences a moment of hesitation, he’s knocked out by one of Sue’s force fields. Turns out “Reed” in this scene was really Captain America, made to look like Reed thanks to Reed’s high-tech thought-projector. Gladiator’s attacks were secretly hitting Cap’s shield. Turns out Gladiator’s powers are psychic-based, and giving him self-doubt was all it took to defeat him.

There are still Skrulls to deal with. Ben says that he can really cut loose with his strength knowing it’s a Skrull and not an X-Man, so he beats the crap out of Skrull-Colossus. Johnny deduces that Skrull-Storm and Skrull-Angel are flying by artificial means and therefore don’t have his maneuverability. He makes a 90-degree turn that they can’t, forcing them to crash into a building. Gladiator makes peace with the heroes, taking the unconscious Skrulls with him as he leaves the Earth. All that’s left is for Ben to look around the wreckage and quip, “Who’s gonna pay ta fix all this?”

As long as we’re talkin’ X-Men, we have to discuss Uncanny X-Men #167, which took place right after this issue. After the X-Men return from space, Empress Lilandra of the Shi’ar projects a hologram of herself into Reed and Sue’s bedroom in the middle of the night.  She says Reed should not have saved Galactus’ life back in issue #244. Lilandra says that if Galactus ever kills anyone again, she’ll hold Reed personally responsible. Although this scene doesn’t happen in a Fantastic Four comic, it sets up a huge plotline that’ll pay off later on. (It also began a very ugly behind-the-scenes feud at Marvel, but we’ll get to that in time.)

Unstable molecule: Reed’s thought projector device first appeared way back in issue #27, and again in issue #126. It also appeared in one of Johnny’s solo adventures, Strange Tales #126 (same issue number as the FF appearance? What are the odds?) where it was used to help defeat the Puppet Master.

Fade out: A letter writer in this issue says she was working on creating astrological charts for her favorite comic book characters. She insists that Sue is a Cancer with Libra rising, based on Sue’s dual priorities of motherhood and mastery of her super-powers. In response, the editor praises the letter-writer for her accuracy.

Clobberin’ time: The Thing says he’s been on the receiving end of Cyclops’ eye beams before, but I’ve yet to find a specific instance where that happened. If anyone knows, leave a comment etc.

Flame on: Johnny’s never-before-seen ability to generate heat without fire was a minor controversy among fans, wondering how that’s possible. It’s not a power he’ll use often, though Johnny has, historically, not been cold when visiting cold environments.

Four and a half: Franklin calls Spider-Man “Spidey-Man,” after having seen the Spider-Man segments on The Electric Company, which existed in the Marvel Universe just like they did in our world. (In the MU, Spidey gave PBS special permission to use his likeness.)

Commercial break: Strange but true, comic book companies used to play each other in softball during the early ‘80s. Here, Marvel celebrates its win over Warren Publishing by bouncing a ball off of Vampirella’s butt:

Trivia time: Bernie Rosenthal had just recently discovered Captain America’s secret identity, which is referenced in their lunch date in this issue. She was his girlfriend for quite some time, sharing in a number of his adventures. The name Bernie is short for Bernadette.

Fantastic or Frightful? This is an action-packed issue, full of fighting and craziness. Despite the double-size length, the story moves right along, thanks to having so many characters at once. Some might not like that these aren’t really the X-Men, or that it’s the X-Men without Wolverine (unthinkable!) but what really matters is that it’s a grand old slugfest in the classic Marvel style.

Next week: Zone troopers.

****

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

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Who likes ever-increasing stakes? Well, issue #249 has plenty.

We begin with a Star Wars/Trek sequence with a spaceship full of Skrulls blasting out of hyperspace. They’re destroyed by Gladiator, who is totally ticked off for some reason. This is the first time Gladiator has shown up in Fantastic Four, but he had recently been all over recent issues of Uncanny X-Men, where the X-Men were in outer space with the Shi’ar aliens. Gladiator is leader of the Shi’ar’s Imperial Guard, and (as we’re about to see) one of the toughest tough guys around.

Cut to Earth, where Ben and Johnny are enjoying a leisurely stroll through Central Park. They run into Julie Angel, dressed as a clown for a theater/history class project. She and Johnny flirt for a while, and there’s a little bit of action as Ben rescues a little girl on a runaway horse. They’re then called back to headquarters, where Reed has discovered the explosion of the Skrull ship. The explosion would have wiped out the entire solar system, he says, but was contained by a mysterious energy force. Further, an object from the explosion is speeding toward Earth at intense speed. Oh, and we get another one of the those cool cutaways of the FF’s newly-rebuilt headquarters:

The object is (of course) Gladiator, who enters the Earth’s atmosphere and (of course) lands in New York. Gladiator yells in an alien language, and we readers don’t get a translation. Ben confronts him, and the fight starts. They’re in the middle of NYC gridlock, so Gladiator is throwing around cars, and punches Ben through a bunch more cars. Stunned, Ben says he’s never been hit that hard. Gladiator then throws Ben at the Baxter Building, where Ben passes out. Gladiator then rips up part of the Baxter Building, threatening to topple the entire structure. Johnny attacks, and discovers that Gladiator can fly and is impervious to Johnny’s hottest fire.

Reed busts out his universal translator, and we get a partial explanation of what’s going on. Gladiator believes the FF are Skrulls in disguise, and that the Skrulls have launched an attack on the Shi’ar Empire. He uses his awesome strength to stretch Reed to his limit, and then nearly punches through one of Sue’s force fields, knocking her unconscious with psychic feedback. Little Franklin tries to stand up to Gladiator, but is lightly swatted aside.

Ben wakes up, and throws Gladiator out of the building and back out onto the street. Gladiator beats the crap out of Ben, picking up a school bus and smashing it over Ben’s head. Then Gladiator hears someone speaking in his language. This time we get the translation, with someone saying he hasn’t won yet. It’s… the X-Men! Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler swear that Gladiator might have defeated the FF, but not them.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed’s universal translator debuted back in issue #137.

Fade out: When Sue traps Gladiator inside one of her force fields, she says his strength matches that of the Hulk, whom she also once trapped in a force field.

Clobberin’ time: Ben ponders whether he’s gotten too used to being a monster after seeing Julie intimidated by him. After saving the little girl, her hot mom plants a kiss right on Ben’s lips. (Wha-hey!)

Flame on: If we couldn’t consider Julie Angel a love interest for Johnny before, we sure can now, as they’re really flirty with each other. During the fight, we see that Johnny can now focus his super-hot nova flame into a controlled, concentrated burst.

Four and a half: Franklin tries to his mutant powers against Gladiator. It doesn’t work, because of the mental blocks keeping the powers in place.

Commercial break: I always wanted to play Star Frontiers. Maybe there’s an online version…

Trivia time: Many people theorize that this is John Byrne’s attempt at doing a Superman story in an FF issue. Byrne later recreated this issue’s cover in the post-crisis Superman #8.

Fantastic or frightful? You can call it Fantastic Four vs. Superman fan fiction if you want, but I love this issue. Byrne does a great job of selling Gladiator as a truly unstoppable force, one who mows down our heroes without breaking a sweat. Add to that a killer cliffhanger, and you’ve got yourself an intense, action-packed comic.

Next week: X-Men mutant mayhem!

****

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. Writer-artist John Byrne serves up another Twilight Zone-style issue — one that must be seen to be believed.

We begin with Triton, the Inhumans’ requisite undersea/amphibian guy, exploring an underground river, somehow on the moon. He arrives in a cavern, finding a mysterious glowing crystal. He touches it, and it blasts him with a powerful white light. From there, we cut to the Fantastic Four arriving in the Blue Area of the moon, the home of the Inhumans. The Inhumans are having a big party, and the royal family welcomes the FF in person. We’re told that the Inhumans have been hard at work making the moon their home after moving there from the Himalayas.

The reason for the party, though, is that this is Naming Day, in which Crystal and Quicksilver announce the name of their baby daughter. As appropriate for the first child born on the moon, they’ve named her Luna. Johnny and Quicksilver have a heart-to-heart, where Johnny says he’s glad that Crystal is happy, and that there are no hard feelings.

The festivities are interrupted when a gravity disruption starts throwing everyone around the room. Get this: An unseen force has pulled the moon away from Earth’s orbit, and all the way out of the solar system. Then, an impossibly huge spaceship flies along and swallows the moon. Inside the craft, two mechanical arms hold the moon (the moon!) in place. Johnny does some exploring, and finds that the arms are slowly tearing off big pieces of the moon.

The FF and the Inhuman royal family use an Inhuman flying craft to leave the moon and explore the vast spaceship chamber beyond. Ben points out what looks like a door upon one wall, but Reed surmises that the entire ship must be automated because it would be impossible for a biological lifeform to grow big enough to occupy this space. Only he is proven wrong when the door opens and an alien the size of several moons walks casually into the room.

Sue guesses that the alien is five thousand miles tall, and the caption tells us that it travels three thousand miles with each step. The alien inspects the moon, destroying part of the Inhumans’ city as his fingertips brush over it. Reed cannot believe anything he’s seeing, saying that any living creature that size would collapse under its own weight. He further has difficulty figuring out how Johnny flew around the massive room so quickly.

The Inhumans launch a full-scale attack on the alien (they have their own military?) but he doesn’t even feel it. Using the space and distance to his advantage, Black Bolt actually speaks with his super-powerful voice, giving us a rare opportunity to hear him communicate in his own words. He says, “Hear me, my people! Heed the word of Black Bolt! Break off your attack. The alien has not deliberately harmed us, we must speak to him in words of reason.”

The alien somehow notices this, and hilariously starts spraying the room with bug spray. Johnny tries using his hot-as-a-sun nova flame on the alien, only for the alien to swat him like a bug. Reed continues to fret about all this, saying there’s no way he could have seen Johnny get hit from so far away. Ben tears away a piece of the wall to get the alien’s attention, only for the alien to throw it and Ben over his shoulder. The caption says, “It will take him most of a day” to fall the five thousand miles to the floor. It gets even worse. Sue inhales too much of the bug spray, and her body turns into water right in front of Reed.

With everyone dead, Reed lets out a big dramatic “No!” Only to find himself back in the Inhuman city, as if nothing had happened. Yes, it was all a dream. Our heroes compare notes and learn they’ve all had horrific nightmares where they saw one another die. Reed says they may never know what caused the hallucination. Back in the underwater cavern, Triton recovers from a similar nightmare, suspecting that the mysterious crystal was left behind by some ancient alien intelligence with a hatred for anything that lived. The caption fills in the rest, saying Reed’s love for his family is what saved everyone from the crystal’s evil.

Unstable molecule: It’s clever how Reed spends the whole issue nitpicking the scientific inaccuracy of what he’s seeing, before the readers can do the same thing.

Fade out: Sue says that in her nightmare, she saw Reed murdered by Dr. Doom.

Clobberin’ time: Ben gets my favorite line in the issue. When seeing little Luna, he says, “She is kind of cute for a rugrat.”

Flame on: He admits that he still misses Frankie Raye, who left him (and the Earth) to the new herald of Galactus.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Medusa’s status as an alternate member of the FF gets a brief mention. In her nightmare, she says, she saw Black Bolt die.

Commercial break: I always wanted one of these posters. Does anyone know if they were ever actually produced, or were these ads bogus?

Trivia time: Because so many Inhumans have flying powers, their fleets of aircraft are kept in museums — but still able to fly if needed.

Fantastic or frightful? I dislike “It was a dream” stories as much as anyone, but there’s still a lot to like about this issue. Byrne does an outstanding job of providing a sense of scale, so you truly believe that this alien and its ship can exist even though the size of it all is so mind-boggling. This is far-out space adventure at its most far-out.

Next week: Man and Mohawk-man.

****

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

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. A lot of fans argue that writer-artist John Byrne was at his best during Dr. Doom storylines, and issue #247 makes a good case for it.

To recap, Doom has done the unthinkable and asked the FF for help in restoring him to Latveria’s throne, after its current leader Zorba has turned the country into a downtrodden landscape. Also, he’s zapped our heroes with an inhibitor ray, which prevents them from attacking him. In a town square that has been reduced to rubble, Doom says this never would have happened if he was still in charge, but the FF argue that at least the people are free of a dictator.

Then a little kid named Kristoff runs into Doom, chased by his sexy gypsy mom. She’s actually glad to see him, and says the people have been praying for his return. Under Zobra’s new freedom, she says, crime rate has risen to the point where there is rampant violence and folks are afraid to leave their homes. Making matters worse, Zorba employed Doom’s Guardian Robots (the big purple robots, not the ones that look just like Doom) as his secret police. On cue, the Guardian Robots appear and kill the mom. Doom swears revenge.

There’s a few pages of everyone fighting the robots before Doom shuts them down with an “electro-neumonic scrambler.” When asked why he didn’t do this earlier, Doom says, “Doom’s reasons are his own, do not question them.” More local townsfolk welcome Doom, and everyone gathers at a local tavern, the site of the former resistance against Doom. Doom continues to argue that Latveria was better off under his rule.

At the palace, Zorba has gone mad with power, torturing an old man for information. Going even more nuts, Zorba declares that if the people of Latveria don’t appreciate the freedoms he’s given them, then he’ll give them “a final everlasting peace.” He presses a button, which unleashes Dr. Doom’s Killer Robots (these are the green robots, bigger and meaner than the purple ones). There’s a lot more fighting, with the FF taking out the robots in creative ways. During the fight, Doom sneaks off and meets with the old man, who is Boris, Doom’s former servant. Doom further adds that Boris was once his father’s best friend.

Doom sneaks into the castle through the dungeons and confronts Zorba. They fight their way up to the roof. Zorba says the throne is by divine right, and that as long as he lives Doom has no right to it. Doom answers, “precisely.” We abruptly cut to later, when the FF have reunited with Doom. Doom doesn’t answer whether he killed Zorba, but certainly hints at it. Doom grants the FF their freedom, saying it would be petty of him to destroy them now. He then adds, though, that the next time they meet, his goal with still be the ultimate destruction of the Fantastic Four.

Unstable molecule: Reed insists that the FF are only allowing themselves to fight alongside Doom to save the lives of innocent Latverians. He insists that he’s leaving Latveria in the hands of Doom only if Doom can restore safety to the populace, but Doom retorts that Reed’s in no position to negotiate.

Fade out: Sue uses her powers in numerous creative ways when fighting the robots, such as expanding force fields from inside them, and throwing them high up into the air.

Clobberin’ time: Sue comments that Ben loved to get into fights even before he became the Thing.

Flame on: At the tavern, Johnny has to be reminded to turn off his flame in the old, wooden building. I thought we’d established that he has better control over powers by now.

Commercial break: Muscle man!

Trivia time: Kristoff, the little boy rescued by Dr. Doom, will go on to become a major character in Fantastic Four mythology, involved in some of the series’ most unloved stories.

This issue never comes out and says Zorba is dead, leaving a door open for him to return. The Marvel Wiki, however, confirms that this issue was his last appearance (to date).

Fantastic or frightful? Despite the robot fights, the real battle in this issue is one of ideology. Dr. Doom is an evil dictator, sure, but he actually cares about his subjects? And life was better before he was dethroned? These questions, and this story overall, help make Dr. Doom a deeper, more complex character than ever before.

Next week: Way big.

****

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

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Dr. Doom is back — and then some — as writer-artist John Byrne delivers the goods in issue #246.

We begin as we so often do, in Reed’s lab. He’s pondering about finding a cure for Ben, reestablishing that Ben has a mental block causing all the cure attempts to fail. His fear of losing Alicia is what keeps him a monster. Reed then gets a call from the Latverian embassy. This is the day the FF are returning Dr. Doom’s body to his homeland. Remember that Doom has been in suspended animation since issue #236. But wait — that’s secretly Dr. Doom on the other end of phone!

Speaking of which, we cut to Liddleville, the miniature town full of tiny human puppet replicants created by the Puppet Master. Puppet Master and Dr. Doom both had their minds transferred to Liddleville duplicates, and have been enacting a power struggle over who will rule the place. The real Dr. Doom appears, retrieving the puppet Doom’s body and squashing the Puppet Master puppet. (Yes, it’s confusing)

In Manhattan, the FF arrive at the Latverian embassy in a brand-new Fantasticar designed by Tony Stark. In a hidden room, Doom and Latverian Ambassador Leopold watch them arrive. Leopold questions whether Doom’s plan will succeed for fail, and Doom immediately strangles the guy to death for doubting him. (Dang!) The FF take what they think is Doom’s body inside, where — you guessed it — they are separated and plunged into a series of death traps.

Johnny is covered with fireproof goo, Sue is hit by a “vertigo beam” causing extreme dizziness, Reed tries to stretch but gets tangled up in a “spinning grappler,” and Ben is jolted with electricity. Then, each member of the team appears to be confronted by Doom in person. It’s at this point that John Byrne does a lot of cool stuff with page and panel layouts to show four fights happening concurrently, without it ever being confusing.  Our heroes are each quick to deduce that they are fighting lookalike Doombots, and not the real deal.

Elsewhere, three more Doombots use high-tech gadgets to restore Doom’s mind from the puppet back into the suspended animation body, and the original Dr. Doom is back. The FF reunite inside the embassy, just in time for Doom to confront them. He reveals that while the FF fought his duplicates, they were exposed to an “inhibitor ray,” which prevents them from attacking Doom directly. Further, it turns out the embassy was some sort of spaceship-type craft in disguise, and they’ve all been traveling this whole time. Doom admits that he wants the FF’s help in retaking the throne of Latveria away from Zorba, it’s current ruler. The FF argues that Zorba is a good guy, but then Doom has Sue turn the ship’s bulkhead invisible, revealing the city outside the Latverian castle to be in ruins. “Look upon my native country, outlanters!” Doom says. “Look and tell me what you see!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Doom transforms Reed into a quasi-liquid state during the fight, but Reed merely uses this to short out the Doombot’s circuits.

Fade out: Sue escapes her Doombot by expanding a force field from inside its chest. The thing is, she does before knowing it’s a Doombot. Harsh, Sue.

Clobberin’ time: A whopping three pages are devoted to establishing how Ben can’t be human again because of his mental block. This will be further explored a few years later on in the Thing’s solo series following the first Secret Wars.

Flame on: Johnny’s solution to his death trap is simple. The fireproof goo sticks to his uniform, so he removes his glove and burns the Doombot with his bare hand.

Fantastic fifth wheel: When asking for their help, Doom reminds our heroes that he’s still an alternate member of the FF, having temporarily joined the team to fight the Overmind back in issue #116.

Commercial break: Are you man enough for MEGAFORCE?!?

Trivia time: In one panel, a tiny ship is seen departing Liddleville. This was the Micronauts, following their own adventure there in Micronauts #41. Remember that the Micronauts were normal-sized in their own universe, but tiny when on Earth, so having them visit Liddleville, where they normal-sized again, was only natural.

Fantastic or frightful? This is a fun issue, with multiple Dr. Dooms running around giving it a nice absurdist quality. It mostly exists to set up the next one, though, where all the good stuff is.

Next week: This land is my land, this land is NOT your land.

****

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