Doom's Day Has Come! (Let's Read Marvel's Doctor Doom)

[Roarian]

032: Incredible Hulk v1 #144 (October 1971)



Cover

That's what I'm talking about! This is what one expects from a Doom vs. Hulk confrontation! Crushing grips, powerful punches, scorching finger lasers, and a... tasteful array of candles to light the entire tableau? I don't even care, it's a great cover! Now let's hope it reflects the contents within...

Now that it's in my face like this, by the way, I have to acknowledge the price of this book. As a relatively modern person - only partially caught up in things that happened a solid forty to fifty years ago, evidenced by this thread - I'm not sure if I can even remember the last time fifteen cents was enough to buy literally anything, much less a solid twenty pages of entertainment. Granted, I assume income was drastically lower at the time, but at least cents were useful for an actual thing! (These were my two cents on the topic of fifteen cents!)

Story Overview

The Monster and the Madman!

We start this issue with… the invincible Iron Man?! Yes, we get a glimpse of the shelled Avenger, though it's unfortunately just a bit of archive footage of his brawl with Hulk in Incredible Hulk v1 #131, not an actual appearance. In the next shot we see General Ross stating to a room filled with the rest of the Hulk's supporting cast that this is some of the latest military footage on record before artillery supposedly blasted the green menace into atoms. Not sure why he's showing it, but I guess he was feeling nostalgic?

Betty Ross, unsurprisingly, holds out hope that Bruce isn't really dead, and Ross acknowledges that Betty loved the man within the monster and is entitled to mourn in her own way - she'll come around eventually. Green-haired creep Doc Samson isn't too happy about her dithering, though, and tries to convince her to move on - surely for entirely selfless motives. Betty just says that her heart is convinced Bruce is alive, and in trouble. Amusingly, the narrator of the issue contends that the question of Bruce's survival is a moot point - he's been brainwashed by Doctor Doom anyway!

During the recap of last issue's events, we actually get a third version of that panel the artist swiped last week - really getting some mileage out of this one, huh?



Doom's brainwashing appears to have taken well, as we see Doctor Banner working with Latverian scientists on a new incarnation of the infamous Gamma Bomb that spawned the Hulk in the first place. Banner is quite the slave driver, pushing the others to complete work ahead of schedule, so that Latveria may be safe from the enemies that threaten it on every border. Indeed, when one of the men says they could slow down some, he threatens to out the man for treason - and when Doom approaches from off-screen he enthusiastically hails the Master like an obedient little pseudo-Nazi.

Doom enters the laboratory, but surprisingly he is not alone. With him is a returning character from Marvel Super-Heroes #20 - it's Doom's childhood girlfriend Valeria! We last saw her reject Doom, her final words to him a declaration of her intent: she would never see Victor again!



Yeah, about that… It turns out her dear Victor did not agree with that statement and kidnapped her. He wants another go at convincing her of his virtues, and he's not afraid to use force to do it! Valeria dismisses the loud hails from Doom's servants as mere theatre to appease their overlord, and wonders aloud whether they'd still be so magnanimous if all the weapons and murder drones were taken away. Doom gets angry, announcing that he's done all this for her, can't she acknowledge that much? Valeria inquires if that's the reason he's keeping her prisoner, and Doom turns the phrase around, telling her that she's the one keeping Doom a prisoner - of his love for her. Well, damn - Totalitarian and smooth!

Doom follows it up by rejecting the label of prisoner - she's his guest. Naturally. Valeria inquires whether or not this label of 'guest' applies to all of Doom's servants, and gestures to Bruce, who is dutifully working away in the foreground. Doom is disappointed she doesn't recognize the famous Bruce Banner, and notes that he may be an expatriate, but he's also one of the most loyal Latverians around. He demands his brainwashed servant agree with this description, and Bruce explains that he came here to perfect the ultimate defense that will protect Latveria: the Gamma Bomb! Valeria is horrified at this, recalling that it's been described as a weapon that could destroy the world - and that it turned its creator into a monstrous Hulk!

"You should not have said that hated name," Doom says dryly.

The mere mention of Bruce's alter ego stirs suppressed memories, and the internal conflict unleashes the green behemoth. Bruce briefly tries to prevent the transformation, but then he's too far gone - and Hulk doesn't mind the change, for he is Strongest There Is! (Bonus points for the magical color-changing pants that consistently switch between blue and purple whenever there's a transformation.) Hulk doesn't recognize the place he's woken up in - but he knows he doesn't like it, and what he doesn't like, he destroys! It's high time for some mindless destruction!



Doom tries to talk Hulk down by describing himself as a friend, which shows and honestly commendable level of restraint on his part - presumably induced by Valeria's presence. The green monster rejects the very concept of having friends or allies. Doom switches to his backup strategy - tranquilizer rays! He blasts the beast in the face, and within seconds the Hulk transforms back into the gangly form of Bruce Banner. That was awfully effective, Doom! Maybe you should keep this tech around! Valeria is revolted at the way Doom toys with the man, and asks to be taken back to her room - she's had enough of her deranged admirer for the moment.

Some hours later, we see Doctor Doom ordering around some stupid-looking minions with pink superman undies and red caps. (These guards are the latest incarnation of what were once menacing killer robots. I should give this issue 0.1 bonus points for replacing the ridiculous Mickey Mouse helmets with marginally less ridiculous pink-and-red helmets - but honestly it's not much of an improvement. Oh Doombots, where art thou?



Doom has decided it's time to strike out at Latveria's neighbours, even though tests on the Gamma Bomb are not yet complete. His plan, it turns out, involves harnessing the explosives to Banner's back, and then shocking the man into transformation so that the Hulk can carry out the second half of the plan, already programmed into the creature's brain.

Doom swiftly returns to Valeria's side, musing to himself that his performance from here on must be flawless - he intends to deceive her into changing her opinion of him. He must appear entirely innocent, he decides, or she will see his ruse for what it is! He enters her rooms and announces that he has grave news: Latveria's neighbours have approached the border, and intend to make war! It's a creative reversal of the truth, shall we say? Valeria begs Doom not to strike the first blow, and Doom immediately agrees to this demand - he's no savage!

Elsewhere in the castle, Doom's scientists and some of his redcaps psych each other up over the success of this mission, and then unleash the Hulk. The green behemoth smashes through a wall, compelled by his brainwashing to seek out specific enemies of the state. He jumps across the buildings of Doomstadt with the Gamma Bomb strapped to his back, narrating to himself that he's not sure who the enemies are - but he's going to destroy them!



A redcap storms into Valeria's chambers with dreadful news - the Hulk has escaped and stolen the Gamma Bomb! Doom dramatically demands to know who's responsible for this travesty, while Valeria butts in to ask what can be done about the bomb, the most immediate threat. Doom says that he's got only one choice - he must detonate the device while it's still over uninhabited terrain, for fear that it would destroy a densely populated place! Soon, a titanic explosion gleams on the horizon, and Doom gloats to himself: he's sent the bomb to blow up a neighbouring country, but convinced Latveria that it was detonated in no man's land where nobody got hurt!



Another redcap arrives to deliver more news - there's been a mistake! The Gamma Bomb exploded too soon, while it was still in uninhabited lands, and nobody got hurt! The trick has become the reality. This is when Valeria speaks up: it turns out she's known about Doom's entire plot for hours, and while she was impressed by Victor's melodramatic theatrics, she wasn't convinced by them. Shortly after learning about the Gamma Bomb, Valeria tricked one of the redcaps into letting her inspect the brainwashing machinery. She shut it down long enough that Bruce Banner could regain some of his faculties - and the man promptly reprogrammed himself so that Hulk would carry the Gamma Bomb far into the wilderness where it would harm nobody...

Doom is baffled by Valeria's betrayal, demanding to know why she would go against the man who loves her, who would give her the world. It's because he would give her the world, she says - she's never wanted all that. She just wanted her Victor. Doom complains that she speaks in riddles, clearly a stranger to the ways of romance, and then decides that he's spent his last sleepless night longing for her - from now on Doom will seek to please only himself! (Um, phrasing!?) He commands her to be locked up in the dungeons, and some redcaps arrive to drag her away.

It's right about here that the Hulk does a Kool-Aid Man to the nearest wall.



He is immediately faced by a half a dozen redcaps armed with stun rifles - who he proceeds to flatten with precisely zero effort. Hulk's not here for them, though - he's there to deal with Doom! He's frozen in his tracks by Doom's force-field projector, one that Doom proclaims nothing in the universe can shatter, but this turns out to be a slight overstatement. Oops. The remaining redcaps get understandably nervous as the battle develops - if they stick around they'll get killed by the Hulk - but if they run, they'll get killed by Doom!

Doom actually seems to recognize their predicament and tells them all to stay back - he's faced deadlier foes than this and emerged victorious! He lures the Hulk outside through the giant hole in the wall and fights him above the streets of the capital city, mocking him all the while. Blasting beams of fire at Hulk, Doom does a pretty good job setting his own country ablaze, and he also ricochets his enemy into buildings with force blasts, which smashes yet more of his own property. It's a pretty epic fight scene, even if it only covers a few panels!

Before the fight can be decided, however, the Hulk crashes into a steeple - and the entire building comes down, threatening to squash poor Valeria who is looking on in horror from far below. Doom forgets the fight the instant she's in danger, immediately coming to her aid - he projects an umbrella of force to deflect the rubble, lamenting to himself that he's caught some form of insanity. One moment she betrays him, the next he risks his life for hers! The insanity, the captions tell us, is love. Gag me with a spoon.



Hulk arrives to break up the sappy nonsense, smashing right through the force umbrella on his way down. He tells Doom off for turning his back, and acknowledges that the monarch may have more tricks, but Hulk has bigger fists! He grabs the tyrant in a deadly bearhug and squeezes. Doom tried to use him, Hulk says, and then chose to mock him - but now they'll see who has the last laugh. Valeria tries to intercede, attempting to save Doom even after all he's done - but she's powerless. Hulk has Doom dead to rights, and he demands surrender. Give up! Doom rejects the very notion - he may die, but he may never surrender!



Hulk finally decides that Doom can believe what he likes - he has been beaten by him fair and square. He releases Doom from the deadly hug, and the man crumples to the ground in defeat. Still, Doom declares that he only needs a moment of respite to start again - but Hulk just tells Doom to go. Valeria rushes in to tend to her childhood friend, even as Doom keeps declaring that the fight's not over, he just needs a minute…!

Hulk looks on with a weird expression on his face as Valeria fusses over Doom, acknowledging that she reminds him of Betty Ross - and that this entire moment reminds him of a man Hulk hurt. We see a single snapshot of Doc Samson in a previous issue. Hulk can't remember much of what happened then - just that he felt sad.



Doom has finally staggered to his feet, and demands a continuation of the fight - no one walks away from a fight with Doctor Doom! (Except Thor, just a few issues ago.) Hulk dismisses the fight entirely, taking off towards the horizon while Doom's desperate cries of 'Come back!' echo after him...



Rating & Comments



Remember last time, when I commented on the paucity of Bruce Banner (or, indeed, the Hulk) in a comic ostensibly about the character? This time it's actually worse for Bruce, since the only line he gets is in a brainwashed state! At least Hulk gets a few panels to himself, which is nice after his conspicuous absence in #143! Another worry of mine - that this would be another derivative copy of the recent Thor two-parter - did not come to pass. Aside from an echo at the very end, the stories are quite distinct. Thank goodness.

This issue is much more about Doctor Doom than it is about anything related to the Hulk, and that's made extra obvious by the inclusion of Valeria, Doom's childhood crush. Far from influencing Doom to better his ways, however, her presence in this comic seems to draw out worse aspects of his personality - his first instinct is to trick her into loving him! Doom does appear to have some actual feelings for her, as he immediately comes to her aid when she is threatened, but it's also clear that his is a selfish type of love.

Valeria is rather more confused. On the one hand she's been kidnapped by Doom and is openly resentful of her status as 'guest' of Latveria - she undermines Doom's plans in this very issue, actively working with his enemies and subverting his underlings. Even so, she can't seem to stop herself from defending her dear Victor, claiming that he didn't mean any of the things he said, as well as throwing herself into harm's way when he gets hurt. She can't decide on the nature of their relationship any more than Doom can, which is peculiar given her rather final declaration at the close of her first issue. Make up your mind, would you?

Throughout this issue the interactions between Doom and Valeria are the definition of melodrama. Aside from a few amusing lines, however, it doesn't end up going anywhere - Valeria isn't going to stick around after this issue. So... what was the point of her presence? It's not like their relationship actually changed, no matter their hyperbolic statements towards each other. All that Valeria represents here has been established before, and better, in her debut issue. It was written by the same author - perhaps he should have left things where they were.

The saving grace of this comic, then, is the concluding half, discounting those few panels of Valeria weeping. Doom and Hulk get caught up in an epic aerial brawl that sets half a town on fire, and to top it off we get to see our tyrant conclusively defeated. There's no question about it - the Hulk's brute strength overpowers Doom, and he's dealt a blow as severe as that time the Thing crushed his arms to pulp. The entire finale, especially Doom's increasingly desperate cries for Hulk to acknowledge him, is just a great bit of storytelling. It displays the sheer egocentrism of Doom well, since he'd rather die than surrender or acknowledge his defeat at the hands of a brute!

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



Have to give this one to the panels featuring Doom and Hulk battling over Doomstadt -



- but I also quite like the shot of him blasting Hulk with his tranquilizer lasers. Decisions, decisions!

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

"Never! Doctor Doom - may die - but he - may never surrender! ...Fool! A moment's respite is all I need, and then - ...No! It is not ended while you still live! I can never be all right - never rest - till the battle is decided! Don't turn your back on me, you green grotesquerie! No one walks away from a battle with Victor von Doom! The fighting must go on! Come back! COME BACK!"

Doom's Bad Hair Day


Doom's guards are as silly as ever - if slightly less so than they were just recently. In this case, however, one of them quite spontaneously loses all the color in his costume from one panel to the next - quite the feat! (Can he keep the color scheme forever? He looks less ridiculous this way.)

Doom-Tech of the Week

Arguably the Tranquilizer Rays are new, but similar technology was already used in the form of gas in recent issues - and visually the two might just be the same thing drawn by different artists. The text draws a distinction, I suppose, so I should too. I guess technically Doom briefly got his hands on a Gamma Bomb too, by proxy.

 

[Nyrath]

I shall remain hopeful that the nadir of Doom's guards has been passed at this point. But I'm uncertain if that was the Mickey Mouse ears or the inexplicably human and cowardly robots from the later bits of one of the earlier multiparters.

 

[Roarian]

I shall remain hopeful that the nadir of Doom's guards has been passed at this point. But I'm uncertain if that was the Mickey Mouse ears or the inexplicably human and cowardly robots from the later bits of one of the earlier multiparters.

Click to shrink...

We can only hope - the Doombots take a while to manifest in their recognizable form, and in the interim every author just seems to design their own silly henchmen to fill the gap...

 

[Roarian]

033: Astonishing Tales v1 #6 (June 1971)



Cover

We find ourselves back within the pages of Astonishing Tales, to behold its final two-parter! Or, well, technically they're both half-sized stories, so perhaps it's really better described as a single story smeared out over two issues…? No matter, we're going to ignore the crazy events happening on the left side of this cover and focus on the much less exciting part. There, a shiny-masked Doom glowers down at the prowling silhouette of… T'Challa! Yeah, I'm not sure why the comic doesn't want to name the Black Panther here - it's not like his identity is a mystery!

This cover is bland and uninteresting (on Doom's side, at least) and thus there's little else to add here. It's another entry in the category of 'giant Doom looms over the heroes', and it's been a while since there was one of those, I suppose. Yay?

Story Overview

The Tentacles of the Tyrant!

We're jumping right into the weird and uncomfortable this time. Doctor Doom is looking on with folded arms as a scantily clad black man in shackles writhes in front of him, screaming for the pain to stop as electricity flows through his body. Um, yikes? Pretty sure we hadn't checked off this box yet, but here we go - Doom is apparently fine with casual use of torture! He even had a 'Doomrack' built specifically for that purpose. That's… pretty dark.



After the prisoner breaks down and tells Doom what he wants to know - the only place that the wonder-mineral Vibranium can be located is in the African kingdom of Wakanda - Doom decides to let the poor sod go. Doom's torturer disagrees - he observes that with his usefulness spent, it would be 'amusing' to murder the man. Damn, that's pretty psychopathic! Even Doom is stunned by the suggestion, smacking his minion into the wall face-first while proclaiming that he is no savage! Which is a bit rich after having a man tortured not five minute earlier, but I suppose it's a good thing Doom has some morals to speak of.

By the way, Doom's guards have undergone yet another redesign since last issue, and this time they're sporting full orange bodysuits with weird purple earpieces and gloves. It's not as silly as the redcaps or the Mickey Mouse ears, but it's hardly flattering.

Doom stalks off, his mind already on the nation of Wakanda - he knows very little about it, so he decides it's high time to snoop. He opens up a secret compartment in the wall that seems filled with ordinary chunks of rock - which he casually manipulates with beams from his hand, turning the raw materials into a lifelike robot replica of a hawk. Honestly, the creation process of this drone is the most techno-magical thing I've seen Doom do since the origin of his character, so it's pretty neat to see! He sends his remote control bird off towards Africa, already reveling in his future 'onslaught' against mankind.



But wait - there's trouble already! Doom spots a poacher lurking in the royal woods through the eyes of his new bird, and flies over to have a look. The hunter's none too subtle, narrating out loud to himself that while hawks are endangered, he's no lily-livered conservationist - it'd look great on his mantelpiece! To him, every living thing is fair game! Unfortunately, the narrator dryly comments, he's not alone in that particular sentiment. Doom murders the hell out of that poacher with a sudden volley of deadly sky lasers, leaving a smoking crater in his wake. (That was for Cecil the Lion!)



Three hours later, the narrator announces, Doom's hawk reaches the nation of Wakanda in central Africa. That's… a crazy impressive rate of travel for something that evidently flies by simple wing power, but I guess Doom builds birds better. The hawk's electronic instruments record all the necessary information on Wakanda's Vibranium reserves - and then it promptly blows up. Seems its job was over, and 'what Doom does not need, he destroys!' Doom is a hoarder's worst nightmare. (And it's interesting that this sentiment is identical to the one espoused by his murderous henchman - right down to the wording. Is the writer trying to teach us something about Doom's hypocrisy? Surely not.)

There's an interesting bit of collage art in here, dominated by images of Doom and his bird. What we learn about Wakanda is very scant: it's in Africa, and it has black people in it. Riveting stuff. I will try not to read anything into the image of a man picking fruit in a wicker basket to represent the continent's most advanced nation - it's probably fine.

Doom smacks aside one of his minions as he makes his way to his latest pride and joy - a nuclear-powered digging machine that his minions have been working on for the past year. It's a concept taken straight from Jules Verne - anyone remember 'the Core'? - and I kind of love that Doom is the kind of character who can whip this up without surprising a single reader. The tyrant also reveals his motivations for getting Vibranium here - and they're pretty underwhelming. He basically just wants to make rockets that can handle vibrations better. That's it? That's not so much super-villainy as just… whatever Elon Musk is. (That guy is vaguely super-villainish, come to think of it. Billionaire CEOs seem to be like that.)



With a noise of 'Beerower!' the digging machine starts, and it send shock waves throughout Doomstadt as it sets off, scaring the hell out of the townsfolk. The excavator drills downward at speed, all the while refilling the hole behind it as it goes, leaving no sign of its passage on the surface.

Within hours the vessel has crossed the Mediterranean and is approaching Wakanda - which means it's time for another collage splash page! And, well, I can no longer avoid this topic. We come to the inevitable recognition that this comic was written in the seventies. The images depicting Wakanda include a rickety wooden hut, an ostrich, a woman carrying a jug on her head, a boy with a wooden shield chucking a spear at a straw target, and a mostly naked dude with shaggy shins. And that's it. Nothing science-fictiony around - hell, there's nothing even modern. The most advanced nation in Africa has seemingly regressed into a stereotype of tribal culture from the pulpiest of novels about the deep dark heart of the wild.



It doesn't seem like an accidental exclusion, either - Wakanda is explicitly described as a 'wild and primitive land' a few panels later, contrasted against American 'civilization.' Pretty brazen, I have to say.



The story continues despite the troubling implications, and Doom arrives in the area - and promptly causes an earthquake. We see Wakandans (I'm sorry, 'Wakandas'...) fleeing from the disaster, but one of them braves the collapsing huts to try and reach a radio - so that he can call the only man who might save the nation from these tremors. That man is T'Challa, the Black Panther! Over in America, we see T'Challa respond to the distress call by declaring that 'the African brothers are in danger!' and promptly taking off from Avengers Mansion in a crazy sprint.



He flies to Wakanda in record time, observing an exploding volcano out the window as he lands and commenting that the 'Golden Volcano' has been dormant for ages, but is now suddenly erupting. Seems that Doom's arrival caused a little more than some mild tremors! The Wakandans have gone fully superstitious in the face of all this mayhem, and are already convinced this is the wrath of their capricious gods. The end is nigh!



T'Challa decides that he needs to take a closer look at the problem, and who better to descend into an active volcano than a man with the powers of a jungle cat? Uh, is that really the logic you're going with, T'Challa? Apparently the answer to that is 'yes'.



We switch back to Doom, far below the ground, only to find that all this ruckus isn't even on purpose! The neutron regulator of Doom's vessel has malfunctioned, and the tyrant has wandered off into the subterranean tunnels by himself. He's trying to find a secluded place away from his chatty minions so he can repair the regulator. He puts down his gun - he apparently uses those now - so he can free up a hand to adjust the device, and Black Panther promptly appears from the shadows and holds Doom at gunpoint with that very weapon.

"This is the finish, Doom - your finish!" T'Challa declares - but he's cut off by the credits.

To be continued!

Rating & Comments




Let's not talk about the elephant in the room for two seconds, alright? The Jules Verne stuff is amusing, and the entire episode with that poacher is too. What passes for Doom's morality gets examined a bit, as we see him seamlessly switching between unwillingness to murder someone he just tortured information out of, and a willingness to murder someone who's being a dick to animals. Some of the art is pretty interesting, and I really want that mechanical hawk. Ordinarily I'd give this story three stars and a compliment for the elements I liked.

But then there's that pesky pachyderm. Wakanda. This issue is… can I use the word problematic here? The depiction of Wakanda in comics has consistently been to mix traditional African cultural tropes combined with high technology and modern comforts - it's been that way from the nation's first appearance in Fantastic Four #53, which came out a full five years before this issue. There's no reason to mess this up. If you strip all the advanced stuff from Wakanda you're basically missing half the picture - and you end up looking like insensitive racist knob-heads. Calling the place a 'wild and primitive land' and depicting the inhabitants as stereotypical tribal folk fearful of the wrath of the volcano gods? Yeah, at that point you've gone beyond thoughtlessness.

Beyond that, there's honestly not enough meat in this issue to give a meaningful analysis - the story feels even shorter than it already is with its reduced page count. Next issue is supposed to close off the mini-arc started by this one, and maybe it'll give Wakanda some credit - but I doubt it. I just hope it doesn't double down and start depicting people wearing freaking bones in their noses.

On an unrelated side-note, why the hell was the title of this issue 'The Tentacles of the Tyrant', exactly? That has nothing to do with - No. No. It can't be. Is it a freaking Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea reference...?! Sonofa-

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



This first collage page is interesting in the way it mixes a bunch of panels and subjects together into a single image - it's a lot more visually appealing than the regular fare seen in most of the rest of the issue, though I doubt I'd have kept the background white like that if I were to redraw it.

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

Doom: "Release the Prisoner!"
Guard: "Release? But Master, now that we've no further need of our captive, why not destroy him? It will be amusing -"
Doom: "Silence! You witless fool! Do you think me a savage? Release the prisoner at once, or you will take his place!"

Also Doom: "I have no further need of my winged informer - and what Doom does not need, he destroys!"

Doom's Bad Hair Day



I'd nominate the entire nation of Wakanda in this issue, but I suppose they have a convenient stand-in. T'Challa, the Black Panther, inexplicably lacks eyes in this issue - in literally every panel his costume appears his features are just an expressionless black nothing!

Doom-Tech of the Week

The Mechanical Hawk Drone gets top billing as a cool, techno-magical device that Doom whips up in a couple minutes and can apparently travel at supersonic speeds. Close on its heels is the Nuclear Excavator that Doom uses to tunnel from Eastern Europe to central Africa in a lazy afternoon. Good stuff!

 

[krinsbez]

Yeah, I'm not sure why the comic doesn't want to name the Black Panther here - it's not like his identity is a mystery!

Click to shrink...

Could be due to being written during that period where they were a bit leery of using the name due to the existence of the political organization?

Certainly, it's better than when they briefly tried to re-name him Black Leopard.

 

[Roarian]

033: Astonishing Tales v1 #7 (August 1971)



Cover

I suppose last week's comic was a sign of things to come, as far as covers go. Much like then, we get a smallish shot of Doom looming over the Black Panther (I'm sorry, 'the man called T'Challa'.) This time the Panther's engulfed in unspecified cosmic energies - but that doesn't really change much. This is a sub-par (one third of a) cover, honestly!

It's been pointed out to me that the insistence to call Black Panther by his actual name on the cover may be related to uneasiness on Marvel's part with the political party that shared his moniker. That's certainly a plausible explanation, since the Black Panther's ill-fated attempt to rebrand as Black Leopard happened just a few month after this issue came out. Yes, once upon a time Marvel elected to avoid diving into political and social themes - kind of unexpected if you're mostly familiar with contemporary Marvel movies and comics!

Story Overview

And If I Be Called Traitor!

Hold up, what the hell happened here? The first shot of this comic is essentially a redrawn version of the final scene in the last one - but with much more evocative language, much better art, and actual good shot composition. The comic went from looking like generic 1960's stuff to something more interesting mid-story?



Writer Larry Lieber and artist George Tuska had been doing a perfunctory job in these last few issues, but in this one they've suddenly been dropped in favor of a new team - Gerry Conway, creator of the Punisher and killer of Gwen Stacy, and Gene Colan, co-creator of Falcon, Captain Marvel and Blade, who was already in the middle of his legendary Daredevil run when this comic was drawn. That first shot of Doom dramatically slinging his cloak in front of his face like he's a vampire is probably no coincidence either, as Colan also drew Tomb of Dracula! This creative team will only be around for two issues, but let's enjoy their stay while it lasts.

Doom attempts to talk T'Challa down from using the gun he acquired last week, calling upon his honor and pointing out that the Black Panther would never kill an unarmed man. T'Challa falls for it, declaring he needs no weapons but his own hands to defeat Doom - but the moment he turns away the barrel of the gun Doom attacks with beams from his hands. The tyrant was never unarmed, naturally, and blasts the Panther unconscious.

It turns out that the drilling machine isn't quite as broken as last issue would suggest, and Doom commands several henchmen to take away the Panther while they drill on towards Wakanda's precious Vibranium hoard - they're only an hour away. Meanwhile, Doom muses to himself that his taunts to T'Challa held the ring of truth - the African king really did have a streak of honor in him, and would make a poor servant. This is followed, naturally, by Doom commending how this 'ignorant savage' manages to have pride, even if he's merely the king of 'poor, vicious primitives'. Yikes.



Doom quickly departs from his patronizing racism with some good old egocentrism, declaring himself the last of the true monarchs and the only one set to rule the world - decidedly safer territory.

Returning to repairing the regulator that broke last time around, Doom is once more interrupted by some of his servants - it seems they've hit the Vibranium, but there's a problem. We get a brief snippet of their conversation as Doom approaches; the two henchmen are convinced Doom's crazy and is going to kill them, and one - 'Ramon' - is worried that their Master might be reading their treasonous lips from across the room. Doom doesn't comment beyond investigating the latest breakdown in the drive mechanism of his subterrene, an overheated coil that needs to be replaced. Naturally, Doom elects to do this personally.



Inside the vehicle, Doom greets a trussed up Black Panther, shackled by his wrists to a pipe on the wall. He points out that he's granting T'Challa a lot more respect than most due to their shared nobility - but he warns that while he's inclined to support a fellow despot, he's not greatly inclined. T'Challa is annoyed that Doom is attempting to frame them as equals when the only king in this country is him. He also warns that the Black Panther is not defeated until he is dead. 'Such a defeat can be arranged,' Doom comments blithely.



After he leaves the room T'Challa muses to himself that the tyrant must be a genius or a fool - Vibranium is highly unstable in its natural form, and the slightest shock might dissolve its molecular structure violently. This means he has the key to halting Doom's plans, if only he can get free! Wrestling with his shackles, he quickly manages to get some leverage using his enhanced agility and strength, and then breaks the pipe that's holding him captive.

Above ground, we see the devastation of the tunneling machine continues - buildings crumble, people nearly get buried by falling debris, and captions wax philosophical about the uselessness of assigning tyranny in the face of disaster. (Wakanda remains a nondescript third world village in this issue, but at least it doesn't draw too much attention to that, aside from some of Doom's dubious descriptions.)



The cause of all this mess? I quote directly from the comic: 'Take the core of a molten sun, pack it between the fingers of a gargantuan fist, and then shove that fist through sand and rock, through earth and stone, down into the very heart of the world! Do that, and you may imagine one thousandth of the power which Doom's excavator consumes as it bores through the veins and muscles of a planet's skin, down, down to the vibrant soul of the earth…! To Vibranium!'

Doom incites his machine's crew to push onward, even as henchman Ramon gets worried about the violent vibrations. He even attempt to stop his Master physically, but Doom smacks him aside with a simple gesture and declares him guilty of cowardice, then stunblasts him off-camera.



T'Challa hears the confrontation from outside the room, and realizes that Doom is firing on his own men. He resolves in that moment to be just as ruthless himself to get out of this situation - it's the only language Doom understands. Before he can do that, though, T'Challa is accosted by another one of Doom's henchmen. He uses the chain he was bound with as an impromptu weapon, and disables the guard that corned him.



He then leaves the tunneler entirely to make his way to the Vibranium mound that lies ahead. He yells out a dire warning - one bolt of energy with one of Doom's weapons, and the mineral will ignite - and take the entire country of Wakanda with it! Like the one that he holds in his hands…

Doom is remarkably calm about T'Challa's escape and threats, wondering whether this mound of metal really means so much to him that he'd risk destroying his own people. Perhaps Doom remembers those issues where he installed giant explosives and earthquake machines under the feet of his own people? The Black Panther reframes the issue entirely - he knows that this won't end with some ore. Slavery would be Doom's next step, and that's something Wakanda - and Africa in general - has a bad history with. He won't budge on this, ever.



Recognizing T'Challa's steely resolve, Doom finally decides that dead men and destroyed countries are of no use to him. He'll go home and plan for another day. As he turns his digging machine around, T'Challa muses that he's not sure what he really would have done - whether or not he'd have fired to spare his people slavery, even at the cost of their lives. Well, at least he won the day, right?

Back in Latveria, Doom muses to himself that he could have disarmed T'Challa in any number of ways, but he saw no point in enslaving someone whose honor and pride would never make him a good servant. Instead, he decides, T'Challa may one day make for a good ally, a role more fitting for a rightful king like himself!



Rating & Comments



This week's outing is a lot more competent and interesting than the last one, decidedly more action-packed, and also contains several nice lines. The difference in writing is pretty stark, switching from a really by-the-numbers style to a decidedly more lyrical one, and I've found that most of Doom's best issues contain somewhat ridiculous purple dialogue - it fits the character. The story is still pretty generic, but it's at least done well.

There's an interesting little interplay between Doom and T'Challa here, with the former recognizing some sort of nobility in his fellow royal, even if the initial realization is peppered with rather troubling language. From that point onward, it seems Doom has already re-categorized the Panther as a potential ally rather than just an enemy - an equal in a sense, though doubtlessly 'lesser among equals'. Hell, he even gives up the Vibranium mound in favor of a potential positive relationship in the future, which is quite a dramatic shift from his usual tactics! (He seems similarly motivated when dealing with Namor the Sub-Mariner - it's ironic that someone who stole his royalty gives it so much credence.)

The art in this issue is substantially better than in the rest of this particular series, and contains some pretty neat imagery - though Doom comes off looking rather bloated and toad-like in a couple shots, his mask cartoonishly wide. I suppose we'll have to see if things are different in the final exam of Conway and Colan - next time in Astonishing Tales #8!

By the way, the title of this issue is a bit mysterious once more, but could perhaps apply to T'Challa's choice at the end. What's stranger, though, is the promise of a story called 'Doomsword' in the next issue. That's definitely not what we get. Was this a mistake, or did the cancellation of Doom's solo title lead them to prioritize next issue's story? If the latter is the case, we should thank whoever made that decision - because next time we'll be diving into another classic.

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



I really like the shot of Doom looming over Latveria in what looks to be a rainstorm - it's clearly another shot inspired by Colan's work on Dracula, like the opening with him covering his face with his cape. Colan's getting some mileage out of that background of his!

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

"Yet who can compare with Doom - last of the true monarchs? Whose power matches mine, whose kingdom as subservient? None has the strength or the glory - of Victor von Doom! And so it should be, for mine is the destiny to rule… To rule, and conquer, to struggle till the very world is mine!"

Doom's Bad Hair Day



Doom looks really odd in a couple panels this week, with his head squashed until the proportions are off, and one of his eyes sometimes becomes black for no explained reason. I suppose it's an attempt to depict shadows, but why then is only his actual eye affected? (The cover version of Doom isn't too amazing either, but the art is too small to really say much.)

 

[krinsbez]

Yes, once upon a time Marvel elected to avoid diving into political and social themes - kind of unexpected if you're mostly familiar with contemporary Marvel movies and comics!

Click to shrink...

I think it's less avoiding political and social themes (Iron Man, for example was all about the Cold War early on), and more avoiding controversy. OTOH, they also decided to ignore CCA rules about showing drug use.

(He seems similarly motivated when dealing with Namor the Sub-Mariner - it's ironic that someone who stole his royalty gives it so much credence.)

Click to shrink...

I don't think that's unusual; I imagine it's got a similar cause to the the well-described phenomenon of the noveau riche being more prone to ostentatious displays of wealth than old money.

 

[Roarian]

035: Astonishing Tales v1 #8 (October 1971)



Cover

Doom's time in this book is drawing to a close, and it seems the cover artists were ahead of the curve. This time they've given up altogether and relegated Doom to a little text bar on the bottom, his presence reduced to a backup feature (and, indeed, the third story in this particular printing.) That's supremely lame for Doom's final foray, especially since his story in this issue is almost certainly the most significant of the bunch, but I'll take what I can get. Negative bonus points for somehow getting the name of the story wrong on the cover, too! (Although I suppose both titles could be true...)

Story Overview

...Though Some Call It Magic!

If one is familiar with Doom's comics thus far - and if you've been following along with me, you are - then the opening of this story should serve as a sign of what is to come. We see a pensive Doom looking out over the battlements of his rain-swept castle, lamenting that he always hears 'her' cry on the wind, that he is forced to bear this most bitter of crosses.



From behind him footsteps approach, and a bent figure with a lantern emerges from the shadows - it's Boris, one of Doom's oldest and most respected servants. The atmosphere is strange this evening, and fear fills the corridors and chambers of the castle. Boris notes that preparations are complete for whatever plan Doom has devised, but the tyrant requests silence - he needs to think. They pass from hall to abandoned hall, descending down damp stairwells, all without a sound. Boris observes that Doom looks supremely cold and reserved, but it's all an act - the truth is that Doom's heart aches with love for someone long dead.



Boris hesitates before a large oaken door, then throws open the dungeon when Doom impresses urgency on the man - they must keep their 'appointments'. Boris reflects that he's known Doom since he was a child, but he rarely hears the man's voice tremble as it does now - with tension, or perhaps with fear. How many times has he tried and failed at this, he wonders, and how many times more before his soul is forfeit?

Forfeit like the soul of his gypsy witch mother, a woman doomed to hell (or Hades) itself!



Doom can almost feel his mother's eyes begging him for help, and he's intent on providing it. He sends Boris out of the room for his own safety, lest the forces evoked might escape from there in the case of his death, and Boris quickly obeys. Outside, Boris says he hopes Doom will be successful this time around, so that he can be released from this cyclical torment.

Outside the castle, the rain lashes against stones and people alike, and several Latverians look up towards their liege's home. One declares that Doom tampers with things beyond the ken of men, and he will meet the fate of his mother. Another woman wonders what that means.



She gets an explanation of what is happening, and thus so do we: Doom's mother was a witch, one who died without confessing her sins, and was thus damned to hell. Each year, on midsummer night's eve, Doom uses his mother's spells for some inscrutable purpose - summoning up demons and worse - and in the darkness of the dungeons he battles them until the early hours of the dawn. It's a thoroughly mad fight, they decide.

Doom stands before a cauldron of water that fumes with heat, and in the clouds of steam that escape are the faces of people, creatures, demons. Doom calls on Beelzebub, Satan, whatever its name might be - to come to him. Voices from beyond warn him of his folly - there is still a chance to save his soul, they say, to forget this madness. Doom dismisses them, deciding that he's doing what must be done. He does it because he is Doom.



A new voice joins the din. 'Once more you call us, Victor von Doom, and once more you shall fail.' Doom declares that as long as he's allowed the battle, he will fight it - that's the way of Doom. The demon readily agrees - it's certainly the way of doom. It throws a handful of illusory fire, and his target quickly ducks out of the way - but that was just a test, as the demon commends Doom's quick reactions and bravery. Defiant to the end, he says. Doom responds that if that end is just as illusory as his fire, then he has little to fear.



It's time to skip the games, however, and Doom focuses on their bargain. 'You still dream, then?' the demon wonders. 'You still seek to someday redeem your dead mother's lost soul? 'Tis only a dream, von Doom, one whose climax may only be bitter.' Doom tells the demon to skip his lectures and leave Doom's motivations for himself. The bargain, it seems, is combat with a creature of the demon's making, in a place of the demon's choice.

'The place I choose is here, and the time I choose is now -' the demon announces immediately. 'And the creature shall be called… Kagrok the Killer!' One wonders how a newly created creature can accurately be called a killer when they've never killed before... He forms an ominous Krog-like golem out of dead stone, wraps it in linen wrappings like a mummy, and sends it at Doom. The monster is quite fast for its bulk, flickering into melee range and hitting Doom before the man can even react, its motions blurred by their speed. It honestly manages to look pretty menacing for a rock monster!



Doom does not take long to form a response, lashing out with a lighting-fast punch that he's been training all year, just for this moment. Metal-armored fists meeting solid stone, but the rock repels his blows. Doom retreats, grabbing a large chain off the ground as he goes. He tries to lure the golem closer, but the demon realizes there's some trap involved and warns his creature from approaching, telling it to wait for Doom to approach instead.

Doom doesn't really mind, deciding he might as well fulfill expectations and lashing out with the length of chain, smashing Kagrok to the ground in a flurry of blows. Doom's attacks do little more than delay it, however, and only one of the two can get tired. Realizing he will not best his foe physically, Doom decides to bend the rules of the bargain - the demon agreed that both participants of the battle would fight with their 'own strength', but Doom contends his mind is his greatest strength, and it's that mind which had the foresight to equip a forcefield on his person. He activates it, briefly stymying his foe.

Then Kagrok punches through the forcefield in a single blow.



The demon commends Doom for his ingenuity in circumventing the rules, but also notes his naivety in believing a forcefield might halt one of Satan's sons. Still, the demon observes that Doom managed to bring the battle to a standstill for a time, which is enough for their bargain to be fulfilled for the year. The demon narrates on even after he and Kagrok fade from view: The soul of Doom's mother will remain with him - and someday, so will her son's. Until then, their yearly fights will continue, since the petty plans of man amuse him. He wants to see Doom's next strategy, and the next, and the next, until he finally falls in combat and his soul is doomed…



The air finally clears, and it's as if the entire encounter never happened. Doom picks himself up from the floor and opens the door to find Boris anxiously waiting on the other side. In this moment of anguish Doom actually embraces the old man, explaining desperately that he tried to save his mother again, and that he failed her! He then remembers himself and pushes Boris away, pompously declaring that Doom needs no one, wants no one. He only wants to be alone.



His mind still on what happened, Doom finds himself staring at his mother's epitaph. 'Cynthia von Doom, Mother of Victor' it reads - this is where we first learn her name. 'I tried, but perhaps not hard enough,' Doom tells the plaque. 'I am sorry, mother. Perhaps next year. Perhaps next year, when I'm stronger. Perhaps next year, when I'm fresh.'



With that, we bid farewell to the Astonishing Tales - and what a swan song it is!

Rating & Comments



Well, damn. After three arcs of dubious quality, involving silly rebels, fishbowl aliens, incompetent Nazis, and a helping of patronizing racism, it's the very last issue of Astonishing Tales that finally shows us a good reason to chronicle Doctor Doom's solo career. This is a worthy follow-up to the other greats of Doom's early years, particularly the Origin in Fantastic Four Annual v1 #2, and in many ways it is an extension of that story, since we never did learn much about Doom's mother. Boris serves as the obvious connective tissue here, one character who only seems to show up when Doom gets nostalgic. Indeed, the two stories share a very similar framing device, and both end with Doom at his parents' graves.

Doom gets his first unambiguously positive motivation here since the inception of his character, and it's a pretty defining moment going forward. Here he's not trying to conquer the world because he deserves to rule, he isn't intent on proving Reed Richards wrong, he isn't ruining the plans of less competent villains - he's simply trying to save a lost soul. He risks himself, body and soul, to fight a literal demon in an attempt to rescue the mother he barely knew from an eternity of torment. Awesome. It adds a dimension to a character that is generally concerned mostly with himself, gives him an understandable motivation to desire power, and it's a great plot-hook for someone else to pick up in the future. (They will. We'll get there, and it'll be glorious!)

I have to give the artist, Gene Colan, props for some great artwork which depicts the ghostly faces and demonic apparitions, alongside several fantastic panels featuring Doom in evocative poses around bubbling cauldrons. Even the regular faces of Boris, random Latverians, and Doom's own close-ups are convincing and well-defined, and there's some excellent use of shadows and fire. This is one of the best-looking issues I've covered so far, and it's going to be an issue picking my favorite panel this time, I can tell. (The writer, Gerry Conway, deserves fewer accolades - somehow he managed to work the fact that Doom is a tall person into various text bubbles six times within ten pages. Comics are a visual medium, why did you do this!?)

The ending of this story promises 'Deathmasque' in the next issue, but we never did end up seeing that. Perhaps a cancelled Doom solo story ended up on the cutting room floor somewhere? A similarly titled story shows up down the line, but it's made by different people.

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



Well, I had to pick something. I was tempted to go with that opening shot of Doom on the battlements, or any of several pictures featuring the ghoulish faces of the damned flowing through the scene, or the first appearance of Kagrok, but I ended up choosing Doom's foray into demon summoning. These two panels have some great poses, and the backgrounds are amazing!

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

"I do… what needs to be done! I do this because I am Doom!"

"The terms were to fight - with but our own strength. Yet what greater strength does a man have than the strength of his far-seeing mind? Strength that made me a force-field and told me to wear it, for just such a need as this!"

Doom's Bad Hair Day



The art in this issue was great, and thus I'm hard-pressed to find a panel that was honestly bad enough to be categorized here. Nevertheless, I'll nominate this action panel for being the most confusing when I first looked at it - the position of Doom's arms and how things connect are hard to make out due to the strange positions of the shadows on his armor and the odd way he's holding his limbs. It's a nitpick, but it's something!

Comic Trivia

Doom fights Satan for his mother's soul in this issue, and Kagrok is pretty specifically called out as one of the sons of Satan, so one might believe that the villain of this issue is… Satan. Never mind that, however! Continuity marches on, and retcons happen.

In an effort to avoid the ire of the Comics Code Authority, the de facto censors of comics for several decades, various off-brand versions of troubling characters were produced since various things like zombies, werewolves, and vampires were officially banned in CCA-approved comics. One of these copycats is an off-brand Satan, named Mephisto, modeled after the demon Mephistopheles in Faust. Mephisto would be retconned as the explanation for many early appearances of the devil, including the one in this issue, though the character had already existed independently for some years in the pages of Silver Surfer.

So, now Mephisto lives in a place that's similar to hell, and keeps the company of demons, and torments various deceased people whose souls he's captured, and he makes faustian deals with mortals - but he's not the actual literal devil from Christianity. You can find him tending a nightclub if DC is to be believed. Who knew!

 

[SCO]

On the Mephisto case, the censorship might have actually done a accidental favor to marvel because Satan (but not Lucifer ofc) characters tend to be more boring than Mephistopheles.

Of course, this is assuming good writing and that it doesn't try to attack a well loved character for dubious reasons, like a ill fated Spiderman arc shows.

 

[Alane1]

Mephisto.. apparently interested in superhero marriages and the souls of Truckers when not trying to butter up Thanos and failing worse than when Thanos when he ran into Darksied in Justice League vs Avengers.

 

[Roarian]

Minor Appearances (1962-1972)

This chronology primarily follows Doctor Doom's major appearances, which is basically defined as those stories in which Doom is the primary protagonist, antagonist, or at the very least a major aspect of the plot. That definition serves well enough in the early years - pretty much every time Doom shows up, he's also making himself the center of attention. With the increased reliance on crossover events and multi-book ongoing story-lines over the years, though, this method is bound to run into trouble eventually. Until we get to the point that I'm forced to amend my methods for good, it should be noted that the issue has cropped up already - in quite minor form. Here I'll cover the appearances of note that Doctor Doom had outside his dedicated comics.

Flashbacks

The first type of minor appearance is a simple one - flashback panels. Usually these are miniature recreations of panels from previous issues, often in low quality and uncolored, meant to rehash continuity that's relevant to the ongoing story. Rarely they are more elaborate and contain several redrawn panels - but never any new content. They get more common with the years, since there's more to reference.

Spoiler: Issues

Fantastic Four v1 #11
Silver Surfer v1 #1
Silver Surfer v1 #7

Previews

The second type of minor appearance is the preview - that is, a panel on the last page of an issue which contains a surprise appearance by Doom, and is only there to entice the reader to pick up the next Doom-filled issue. These can range from a simple drawing of his mask, a shadowed figure, to even a full-page spread of him physically showing up within the context of the story. They're basically ads.

Spoiler: Issues

Avengers v1 #24
Fantastic Four v1 #56
Daredevil v1 #36

Cameos

The third is what I would call a regular cameo - an appearance in a picture, on a photograph, on a screen, as a wax replica, a hologram, a figurine, a depiction of a memory, etc. These are commonplace, and sometimes nothing more than a drawing of Doom's disembodied mask and cowl. Very rarely is there any sort of dialogue involved - they're simply 'reminders' of what this particular character looks like.

Spoiler: Issues

Strange Tales v1 #6
Fantastic Four v1 #14
Fantastic Four v1 #18
Fantastic Four v1 #19
Fantastic Four v1 #27
Fantastic Four v1 #29
Avengers v1 #11
Daredevil v1 #6
Fantastic Four v1 Annual #5
Iron Man v1 #33
Fantastic Four v1 #124
Fantastic Four v1 #128

Notable

Now, with all the boring stuff out of the way… let's get to the interesting entries! What's left are the issues with appearances of some interest - brief scenes with dialogue, weird corner-cases, and other unique stuff. The fun ones, in other words!

Strange Tales v1 #122

We start with a cover joke! This one is easily explicable - the story within this issue is actually a quasi-sequel to a Doctor Doom story. In Fantastic Four #23, Doom empowered several random nobodies with superpowers; this is the issue where they pop back up to be nuisances. The cover artist seemingly saw a good excuse and went for it.




Fantastic Four v1 #43

A three-panel interstitial shows up in this issue, basically interrupting the ongoing story to advertise a future Annual issue. There's some nice continuity here, as we see Doom rest his injured hands from his fight with the Thing three issues earlier - and swearing revenge, naturally.




Fantastic Four v1 Annual #3

You'd think that being the primary villain of a story would mean this shows up with a full write-up, and not a mention in a minor appearances list… but Doom has no actual role beyond these four panels, in which he's throwing a tantrum. The entire event is basically a gauntlet of villains getting beaten up - but Doom is not one of them, and the conclusion of the story involves a weird time-hacking thing in which Reed prevents the plan from ever happening with the Watcher's technology, also wiping everyone's memory of the entire event - including Doctor Doom's. It's kinda nuts, honestly!




Strange Tales v1 #167

Don't ask me to summarize the storyline that's going on within these pages - I got lost pretty quickly. Suffice to say it involves Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. facing off against a wide variety of enemies over several issues, without realizing most of their enemies are robots. At the end of it all, however, we come to a revealing double-page spread, which is honestly pretty great.



The Prime Mover is a new character - an android of Doom's design, seemingly created as a strategic mastermind to challenge his own intellect. Unfortunately, Doom doesn't care for losing and quickly gets bored of the game he's playing after that. The Prime Mover makes another appearance in Giant-Size Defenders #3 - where it launches itself into space to find new games to play, challenges the Grandmaster to a match, and promptly reveals its origins as Doom's creation by short-circuiting when it loses. It was not designed to lose!


Captain America v1 #132

This issue has a short scene in which MODOK, the creepy floating head, contacts Doctor Doom for some of his robot expertise. He basically dares Doom to build a robot which can defy detection by Captain America, and Doom decides he'll overdeliver. He creates a replica Bucky Barnes which doesn't just have his voice, appearance, and abilities, but also his personality! The crux of the issue is that Doom made the robot too good for MODOK's purposes - the Bucky personality imprint rejects orders to attack his old friend Cap, and promptly self-destructs!




Fantastic Four v1 #100

This issue doesn't contain Doctor Doom at all - instead we see a robot version that gets crushed by a falling log. After Reed figures out that it's a replica, he reason that there's only one man who could have been responsible for a duplicate Doctor Doom robot -- the Puppet Master! Who has the power to control human beings through clay voodoo dolls. Uh, Reed? I think you're confused. They seemingly mixed up the Puppet Master with the Thinker, both of which show up in this issue. It's kind of weird that nobody yet recognizes the concept of a Doombot...




Fantastic Four v1 #126

This one straddles the line with a regular cameo, but it's too elaborate to really count, and Doom gets several panels to stand around in. This Doom is a holographic imitation created by Reed Richards. Reed is, for vague scientific reasons, watching a lifelike recreation of his archenemy murdering his wife while he lurks in the darkest corner of the room. Oookay.




Incredible Hulk v1 #155

In this issue, we see the fate of one of Doom's subjects - a former Nazi that found employment with a new tyrant, and was partly responsible for inventing the shrink-ray we saw in some of the first issues Doom appeared in. This is not the first time Doom disposed of a Nazi either - between Hauptmann and the Red Skull, he's making a habit of it.

 

[Nyrath]

Strange Tales v1 #167

Click to shrink...

It's kinda telling that by this point this doesn't feel the least like an ass-pull. Doom's got the grand-scale villainy cred and the robotics cred to pull off creating, what dozens?, of simulacra convincing enough for one of the premier super-intel groups in the world to be fooled. And the resources and infrastructure to do so as a kind of recreational hobby rather than a 'serious' plot.

 

[Roarian]

It's kinda telling that by this point this doesn't feel the least like an ass-pull. Doom's got the grand-scale villainy cred and the robotics cred to pull off creating, what dozens?, of simulacra convincing enough for one of the premier super-intel groups in the world to be fooled. And the resources and infrastructure to do so as a kind of recreational hobby rather than a 'serious' plot.

Click to shrink...

You know, when I see issues like that I wonder at those silly-looking guards that Doom has in all these stories. They started out as menacing guard robots and became mildly buffoonish people in dumb costumes pretty quickly. What if they're still robots, and Doom just got that good at imitating humans? We have at least one confirmed case of him recreating a dead person so well that they remembered their organic life, with Buckybot!

I suppose these are the seeds from which a legion of Doombots will spawn...

 

[krinsbez]

You know, when I see issues like that I wonder at those silly-looking guards that Doom has in all these stories. They started out as menacing guard robots and became mildly buffoonish people in dumb costumes pretty quickly. What if they're still robots, and Doom just got that good at imitating humans? We have at least one confirmed case of him recreating a dead person so well that they remembered their organic life, after all, with Buckybot!

I suppose these are the seeds from which a legion of Doombots will spawn...

Click to shrink...

This has been my headcanon for awhile, actually.

 

[Nyrath]

You know, when I see issues like that I wonder at those silly-looking guards that Doom has in all these stories. They started out as menacing guard robots and became mildly buffoonish people in dumb costumes pretty quickly. What if they're still robots, and Doom just got that good at imitating humans? We have at least one confirmed case of him recreating a dead person so well that they remembered their organic life, after all, with Buckybot!

I suppose these are the seeds from which a legion of Doombots will spawn...

Click to shrink...

Clearly his view of most humans as buffonish cowards has tainted his otherwise excellent work. His apparently habitual overachievement with robotic simulacra and a lack of subjects that combined bravery, dutifulness, good looks, skill, loyalty (to Doom), stoicism and good dress sense seems to have resulted in him settling on generic tough-looking men that are loyal and dutiful with some skill. As shown with the doubters during the Wakanda debacle he might be supplementing them with human "experts".

This has been my headcanon for awhile, actually.

Click to shrink...

Since Victor von Doom managed to create a at least somewhat convincing robotic duplicate of himself on a comparative shoestring budget before ever formally attending college or University I'd imagine the initial issues where just getting the infrastructure set up. A king shouldn't need to handcraft every member of his army after all.​

 

[Roarian]

036: Fantastic Four v1 #116 (November 1971)



Cover

Drama! Action! Excitement! Doctor Doom replacing Reed Richards! A dubious blue border around the entire cover which makes it look like a reprint of an old issue despite being brand new at the time! Doctor Doom with a gigantic lobster claw of a hand because the artist tried to draw perspective and just ended up making it look weird! Thrills! Armageddon!

It's been more than two actual years since Doctor Doom showed up in the comic that spawned him - and he's had a fair amount of development since then, including an entire solo series. It's fitting, then, that we return with an over-sized issue! It's even separated into two halves - unfortunately only one of the two has Doctor Doom in it...

The reason for this random lengthy issue is a little dodgy. Taking advantage of the Fantastic Four's ten year anniversary, Marvel announced it was going to take this flagship comic from 36 to 52 pages in length, and raising the price to go along with that change. Makes sense... But this scheme lasted for only one issue, after which the comic went back to the usual amount of pages… but kept the price hike. It was all a dirty marketing trick!

Story Overview

The Alien, the Ally, and Armageddon!

Part 1

We pick up with a tale already in progress, as this is a finale issue for an ongoing storyline. During the last few issues the Fantastic Four have been dealing with the 'Over-Mind'. This gestalt being originates from the planet Eyugh, a world where natural death was cured but eternal war was implemented to keep the population down, and gladiatorial bloodsports were a daily occurence. Charming.

At some point the Eyughian 'Eternals' became aware of a nearby planet, Gigantus - yes, it was a giant planet, it's silly - and they sought to invade it. Unfortunately the enormous population of the planet dwarfed that of Eyugh, and the peace-loving Gigantians quickly grew adept at warfare, threatening to turn the war in their favor. The Eyughians decided to cut their losses and nuked the entire planet from orbit (it's the only way to be sure.) A huge armada of Gigantians escaped their world's end, however, and nuked Eyugh in retaliation. MAD!



Realizing they now faced extinction, the Eyughians implemented one of their most dire contingency plans - the Final Project, something that had always seemed useless, until right then. The surviving population marched into synthesizing chambers and their brain power was fused to that of their leader, Grom, who thus became the Over-Mind - a being who could avenge his people by crushing the universe. As I said, charming.

These events become relevant to our comic when, after thousands of years of inactivity floating around in space, the Over-Mind flees to the nearest habitable planet - Earth. After some weird issues in which the alien uses his unfathomable mental might to mind-control the mayor of New York into arresting the Fantastic Four for vague reasons, we arrive at issue #115 - in which Uatu the Watcher warns Reed Richards of the threat that he Over-Mind poses, and Reed responds by immediately getting himself mind-controlled. Fantastic, mister!

The three remaining members of the Fantastic Four are distraught at their leader's mind-controlled treachery, with Ben in particular choosing to rock-punch some walls down just to make himself feel better. Sue worries that anything which could entrap a mind as smart as Reed's could control anyone! Ben complains that the Watcher spent most of last issue yakking on about the history of Eyugh - only Rod Serling cares for that sort of thing - and it's of no practical value in finding where the Over-Mind is hiding.

Suddenly an alarm goes off, and Johnny realizes that a nuclear doohickey of Reed's was accidentally activated during the fighting, and it's leaking radioactive particles into the room because it was left on too long. Safe working place environment, everyone! Johnny realizes that while the dose isn't enough to be dangerous - it is enough to be traceable, and Reed was exposed to it like they all were! No ordinary geiger counter could track this stuff, of course - but nothing in Reed's lab is ordinary. Sue finds a suitable canary-yellow geiger counter, hands it over, and then decides to … stay behind? Yes, apparently Sue has chosen not to try and save her husband from mind-control, but to stare at computer screens and play reserve for the boys instead. How progressive of her! She's not even staying behind to care for her son, either - he's off with the nanny.

Johnny and Ben run into their first issue right outside the door. Apparently the Fantastic Four have a landlord, and he's trying to get them arrested for one reason or another. Johnny gets angry at this minor problem, telling the man that there's more important threats to deal with than his, and the landlord responds by calling the Four a crew of freaks. This… was a bad idea on the landlord's part. Johnny goes mildly ballistic, exploding the floor and setting the entire area on fire before chasing off a bunch of Anti-Fantastic Four picketers and even several cops trying to keep the peace. Yea, that's gonna improve your image!



The landlord, clearly terrified at the volatile superhero, is left hanging on a street lamp in the end as Johnny and Ben make their getaway. Gloating to themselves about their mayhem, the two move on to chase the radioactive trail of their leader, finally tracing it down a manhole. Johnny is suspicious of the clear trail, thinking it's all going a bit too easily - Ben wonders how he can say that when they're forced to wade into the actual sewers. Johnny figures this is all part of a plan - but he's not clear on whether it's Reed's plan, or the Over-Mind's…

Next, we see Reed Richards writhing around on the ground, his elongated limbs twisted in every direction. The Over-Mind stands over him, all burly bearded bloke with a wacky spiked helmet that makes it look like he's wearing Spider-Man's emblem as a hat. He's having a bit of fun tormenting Reed, but recognizes that the man's capture went a bit too easily - it has to be part of some greater plan. (Johnny and the conglomerate of a billion minds are sharing a wavelength here, which is a worrisome observation...)



The Over-Mind breaks through Reed's math-themed occlumency as he tries to figure out what the underlying plan is, but he's stymied when Reed focuses all his thoughts on his wife and child instead - he's putting up a respectable amount of mental resistance. The Over-Mind figures breaking through these more formidable defenses is possible, but it'd leave Reed a mindless shell afterwards. Ah well, gotta make that omelet.

Before he can root around in Reed's brain, however, the Over-Mind gets blasted aside by Johnny, who has just appeared from a nearby sewer outlet with Ben on his heels. The Over-Mind is unimpressed by the new arrivals, snuffing out Johnny's flame with a thought and taking a punch from Ben without even flinching. Sue watches from afar and finally decides to do something when her colleagues can't seem to get a hit in, taking a flying jet-cycle over there. While Johnny and Ben keep the Over-Mind busy by throwing their bodies at him, Sue flies in closer and uses her force-fields to successfully trap the alien.



He is briefly stopped by the invisible barriers, but Johnny and Ben are barely mid-gloat when he's had enough, breaking out of the restraint effortlessly. While the boys get beaten up some more, Sue hurries over to an unconscious Reed, but the Over-Mind refuses to let his minion escape - and he declares that he'll stop holding back now. With a blast of mind-control he orders Reed to kill his wife.

Sue rushes off on her jet-cycle while Reed uses his powers to try and catch her, at least until he stretches beyond what his body can handle. Under Over-Mind's control his reflexes are dulled, it seems, and this allows Sue to escape. She retreats from the battlefield, intent on finding help in taking down this alien menace - and I think I see how Doom figures into all this nonsense! As she flies away, Sue notices that ordinary citizens are fighting in the streets: it seems the mind-control of the Over-Mind is spreading, inciting the same permanent state of war that was institutionalized on his home-world.

Going for the obvious allies first, Sue makes her way to Avengers Mansion, slipping in through a roof entrance and setting off all sorts of alarms. A man with a gun appears from the shadows to face her, and it's swiftly revealed to be Jarvis - human Jarvis, the butler for which the AI was named. It seems the Avengers have been called away on a mission (and what a mission it is!) Egads! This is most inconvenient, and also gives me dreadful flashbacks to One More Day!

Part 2 - Now Falls the Final Hour!

Sue laments the utter lack of super-powered people around to help her, as they are each caught up in their own plots (as documented in their respective comics, which Stan Lee points out helpfully.) As she lands near a bridge to bewail her lack of options, a mysterious vision appears in the air - it's Agatha Harkness, her son Franklin's nanny, and also a ten-thousand year old witch who lived in Atlantis and was almost burned at the stake in Salem. (Of course she is!) Agatha comments that Sue is overlooking someone out of prejudice, and that person is…

Doctor Doom! Finally! We're over halfway through the issue, so it's about time he showed his gob! Sue tells herself that she can't go to the Fantastic Four's greatest enemy for help - but if there is one person who is near Reed's equal, it's certainly Doom! Getting over her doubts, she decides to give it a try and flies over to the Latverian embassy, where Doom always seems to hang out when he's not putting down insurrections.

The guards outside the door aren't keen on letting one of their monarch's worst foes walk in the door, of course, so Sue blasts inside through a window with her trusty jet-cycle. Only to find Doctor Doom already waiting for her, smoking with a cigarette holder (read: vaping) while sitting on a throne that he's set up for this moment. Awesome. Sue is taken aback that Doom expected her presence, but Doom dismisses her skepticism. 'Could I be uninformed, and still be Doctor Doom?' he inquires, smoking like he's Gandalf. He turns on a television behind him and reveals current surveillance footage of the Over-Mind. It seems he's been keeping an eye on the conflict as it happens...



Sue asks whether Doom realizes the stakes here - if the Over-Mind wins he'll surely go on to conquer the rest of the world, including Doom's part! Doom just responds that he sees only the destruction of his enemies, and his regret is that he isn't the one dealing it out. Sue's response reveals the degree of character development Doom has gone through in recent years: 'The Doctor Doom I remember might be ruthless and cold - but he had honor and nobility too. Instead I encounter posturing and pettiness - or perhaps a man just a little afraid.'

This is a very selective reading of Doom's character, since he's had plenty of appearances where he happily put aside any semblance of honor in favor of posturing and pettiness, but it's not entirely untrue either, as Doom's more virtuous characteristics have been increasing in number. For the moment, it matters that this argument works. Her appeal to his nobler self, an aspect of him so often ignored by Fantastic Four comics, bridges some of the gap between the 'totally crazy tyrant' version of the character in this book, and the more nuanced tortured soul with a brain of his solo outings. Ironically, Doom is rarely himself in the comic that spawned him...

'Many demons rule Victor von Doom,' Doom responds to Sue's accusation, 'but not those of pettiness or fear! Very well, I am with you.' That choice of words there is… interesting, in light of the Doom story that immediately preceded this one.



Sue grabs her jet-cycle and figures they'll race over to Ben and Johnny right then, but Doom diverts course - he's headed for Reed's laboratory first to pick up some things. If strength alone mattered, Ben and Johnny wouldn't be getting beaten up so much in the first place!

We switch to the battlefield now, and it turns out Ben and Johnny have been beaten already, leaving the Over-Mind to walk off with mind-slave Reed, crowds of civilians cowering before them. Well - that went swimmingly. Ben and Johnny soon wake up from unconsciousness to the rudest possible alarm clock - Doctor Doom shouting at them to 'Rise!'



Furious at his taunting, the boys struggle to their feet, only for Doom to dryly point out that at least their anger at his presence was useful for something. Sue arrives to fill the others in - for the moment, Doom is on their side. They set off, and we get a nice Fantastic Four shot with Doom taking Reed's place as leader - the cover's promise has been fulfilled!



Elsewhere, the comic informs us, other eyes turn towards the Over-Mind. The alien brags to himself that his powers are reaching their zenith, and soon the entire planet will feel his mastery! That's about when the building next to him collapses, cutting him off from the crowd he was chasing. It's Ben's work, and he attacks the Over-Mind, only to be rebuffed with telekinesis. Johnny follows up with his usual fire blasts, and the Over-Mind demands to know why they would try the same failed tactics again. At that moment Doom walks in through the flames, ready for the confrontation. 'Turn your mind from the torch,' he says. 'Doom approaches!'



'Is that a name, or do you pretend to pronounce my fate?' the Over-Mind asks incredulously. Yes! Someone finally asks Doom whether the puns are on purpose! When the alien dismisses the matter entirely, Doom whines that the Over-Mind judges too quickly. The Over-Mind snaps back with 'I do not judge, I destroy!' He blasts Doom with his psychic might - only to come face to face with a Psionic Refractor which reflects his attack back at him! It's a device that Doom whipped up in the last couple hours using one of Reed's inventions as a base. Nice going!



Ben and Johnny have a quick conversation on whether or not Doom ought to claim credit for an invention that was at least partially Reed's, but Doom just tells them to quit bantering and start attacking. Over-Mind sends another blast their way, and this time Doom actually steps in to prevent it from hitting Ben, who is flummoxed at getting saved by his archenemy. Doom claims it was just to divert the psychic blast, of course, and the reflected hit does put their foe down for the count. Doom's psionic doohickey works like a charm!

Slowly the Over-Mind rises again, explaining that he thought Reed was the only being on Earth who could organize a force against him - but now he sees that Reed drew so much attention to himself that he hid people such as Doom from his sight. Realizing the real threat in the encounter, Over-Mind ignores Ben and Johnny entirely and focuses his entire mental might on Doom, blasting the tyrant with his full power - enough that it weakens Doom even through the protection of his armor. Doom decides he can use the Psionic Refractor again, but he needs an edge to guarantee his own safety - and that edge is Sue Richards, whose force field can lessen the intensity of the mental attacks he faces.

Except that's not what happens. Sue gets grabbed by someone off-screen - it's Reed Richards, and he's still intent on following his murderous orders! He rants to himself that he'll do it right this time, encircling his wife with his limbs and forcing her to use her force field to protect herself, which leaves Doom high and dry.



Without the protection of Sue's force field the Refractor is quickly destroyed, and now there's nothing between Doom and the Over-Mind's mental attacks except his cape, his armor, and his furious, desperate courage. (The comic's words, not mine!)

'While Doom stands, he fights!' the monarch declares, throwing himself into combat once more. He doesn't contemplate fleeing for even an instant, even as he's weakened by the relentless storm of mental attacks. He maintains his composure until he finally collapses to the ground, unconscious.



Triumphant, the Over-Mind cries his victory into the heavens, declaring that he will crush the universe. After which, quite promptly, a comet descends from said heavens and crashes down in front of him, transforming into the shape of a man with seriously mean eyebrows and silly facial hair. He is the Stranger, a cosmic being, and he claims he's been summoned by the Over-Mind himself.

Meanwhile, Reed and Sue are still fighting, but Sue's strength finally runs out. Reed quickly wraps his limbs around her rather than around her force field, intent on murdering her as the Over-Mind commands, all while Sue begs for him to free himself. There must be some place within him that remembers her, she argues, that remembers their son Franklin? Reed fights a mental battle with himself, switching between murderous and reasonable, before finally snapping out of the alien's control - and promptly fainting.

The Over-Mind is annoyed at the arrival of this mysterious Stranger, and tells the man that he's summoned nobody. The then blasts the man in the face with a psychic shockwave, but it fails to do anything!



He's shocked, as a billion souls fail to find any purchase. The Stranger calmly observes that while the Over-Mind might be the sum of the Eternals of Eyugh, that world was once defeated by Gigantus, the very planet they sought to conquer. And just as the Over-Mind is what remains of Eyugh, the Stranger is what remains of Gigantus! Its billion billion souls make up his mind! The creation of the Over-Mind was noticed too late to stop it, he explains, but the Gigantians had a contingency plan of their own, so there would always be someone around to take care of business.

With this, the Stranger bathes the Over-Mind in golden light, shrinking him down and down until he vanishes from existence entirely. His eons-old oath fulfilled, the Stranger blasts off into space again, leaving his enemy stranded in a desolate microverse encapsulated within a mote of dust - a place that he can conquer as he wishes, because there's nothing of value there. (That's a very Doctor Doom solution, actually.) The last we see of the Over-Mind is him screaming into the void…

The Fantastic Four slowly recover from their defeat, asking each other what the hell just happened. Sue says that it's all over, and that Reed seems to be recovering quickly, but she's not sure about poor Doctor Doom. He 'needs neither your pity, nor any thanks you may proffer,' and is angry at being an unwilling player in some cosmic drama. He leaves, but warns the Four that their next meeting will once more be as enemies.



Johnny is pissed at how all this ended, demanding to know why they all risked their lives to face the Over-Mind, if the Stranger could have swooped in at any time to Deus Ex Machina the entire problem with a wave of his hand. Doom might've called it a drama, but Johnny just sees it as some sick game, with all of them as pawns. Reed figures he'll get over it, but Ben points out that Johnny wasn't wrong.

In a flash of light Uatu the Watcher pops up out of nowhere - still the ripped version, rather than the bobblehead. He's come to assure the Four (and the readers) that this storyline was not a complete waste of time and paper. It turns out that by stressing the Over-Mind's abilities like they did, pushing him to reveal more of his might, they allowed the Stranger to detect his foe long before he might've; otherwise the Over-Mind might have already conquered a few planets before they came to blows, and he could have amassed enough power to defeat even his nemesis. They lost the fight, in other words, but won the war. He closes off by stating that if there is a seed of grandeur in mankind, it is in selfless bravery like theirs...



Rating & Comments



This is a pretty great issue, partially marred by only a single issue of significance - that asspull ending. You can't get around it, this is pretty much the definition of a Deus Ex Machina, even if they try and patch it up at the end by having the Watcher pop in. The Stranger is not a new character to Marvel - he's shown up as a mysterious force in other stories - so giving him some actual backstory here is pretty interesting, even if they retconned most of it later. Still, a space-god randomly appearing for five minutes to resolve the plot is never a good story development.

The real people of interest here are not the psychic gestalt beings, though, but the true main characters of this story - Sue Richards and Doctor Doom. Ben and Johnny are basically there to be meatheads, throwing themselves at the enemy until it does something, and Reed is a secondary antagonist for the duration - but Sue and Doom actually have something to showcase here as the heroes of the piece.

Firstly, Sue might place herself in reserve at the start of the story, but she quickly dives into fixing the problem when things aren't going their way. She tries direct use of force first, and when that doesn't work she goes to retrieve more powerful allies - the Avengers. Failing that, she gets over her own misgivings and asks one of her greatest enemies for help to save the people she loves - it's a pretty desperate step to take. In the end, it works out for her, and she is even the one to snap Reed out of his mind-controlled stupor, fulfilling the goal she set out to complete in the opening of this comic with her own two hands. Excellent!

On the other side of things, we have Doom. It's a remarkable development, but Doctor Doom shows himself at his most heroic to date by a pretty safe margin. He didn't need much of a push from Sue to throw himself into conflict alongside her, and he immediately shows himself a strategic genius by implementing a plan that works against the Over-Mind, when all other plans have constantly failed. Indeed, between building a counter to Over-Mind's powers and planning for the downsides of his strategy ahead of time, Doom actually seemed to have a fair shot at winning there, and far outshines his rival Reed's meager efforts in the previous issue!

The best is saved for last, however, as when events turn against him, Doom just keeps on going - displaying the exact sort of selfless courage that the Watcher praises in the denouement. He could have run from the fight at any time, and an earlier version of Doom probably would have. Now, though? Of all the people facing the Over-Mind, the Watcher's description of humanity's grandeur fits him best. Which is kind of wild, if you think about it. Doctor Doom, bona fide superhero!

Is this a sign of Doom's future as a character, perhaps? We'll see...

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



My favorite is this panel in which the Kirby Krackle-suffused Over-Mind breaks out of Sue's force fields and uses his huge meaty hands to grab Johnny by his entire head. It's a nice splash page that really makes the alien look properly menacing, despite that ridiculous headgear.

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

"Though I reel from your mind-blasts, I still stand. And while Doom stands - he fights! With every weapon of my armor, with every ounce of my will, I fight - I fight… I…"

Doom's Bad Hair Day



I'll give this one to the opening shot of the Stranger after he teleports into the scene - for some reason his entire chin is white like he's got a normal beard, when his actual facial hair is a lot dumber and a lot more Klingon.

Comic Trivia

If you're curious about that mission the Avengers were on while all this was happening, leaving the Mansion manned by a skeleton crew of just Jarvis - they were actually in the middle of the Kree-Skrull War, ironically fighting the Fantastic Four! Well, not the real ones obviously; no, they were fighting cows shape-shifted into the form of Fantastic Four members. What? Yes, you heard me!

The cow thing is... interesting. The entire situation is too ridiculous to be believed, and it started all the way back in Fantastic Four v1 #2 when the Skrulls were first introduced. At the end of that story, Reed Richards hypnotized several defeated members of the shapeshifting Skrull race to believe they were cows, then literally put them out to pasture. He saw it as a less terrible alternative than killing them - which is not strictly false.

But it gets… sillier from there. See, Reed was a complete idiot, and didn't keep tabs on these genuinely alien cows - they were just kind of allowed to wander among the normal cattle, unaware of their own nature. Thus we end up with Skrull-Cow hybrids, whole towns of people poisoned by accidentally drinking mind-affecting Skrull milk, and even a handful of people mutated into superheroes by eating alien hamburgers!

What the hell, comics? (And what the hell, Reed!?)

Doom-Tech of the Week

The Psionic Refractor is the obvious pick this time. It's basically a piece of Reed's technology that Doom quickly refurbished to work against the Over-Mind, but I notice Reed refrained from bringing it to face a known psionic threat - clearly Doom must've fixed whatever was keeping it from getting deployed!

 

[Roarian]

037: Sub-Mariner v1 #47 (March 1972)



Cover

Ah, Namor, it's been a while since we last saw you! How have you been? Still doing the Bruce Banner thing and hiding from random mobs and cops? You are? Again, you say? How'd that happen?

I quite like this cover: it's action-packed and interesting, plus the look on Doom's face is priceless, and suggests getting dragged off a building was a bit of a shocker to him. I'm not sure why Namor is performing Rock Lee's Primary Lotus on him, but I presume he has a good reason to want to pummel Doom, beyond him just being who he is. Doom probably insulted those silly little wings on his feet or something. They are pretty ridiculous.

The title of this story is quite similar to the 'Deathmasque' story that was promised in the finale of Astonishing Tales #8, but I doubt there's any connection - this is the beginning of a dedicated three-parter that seems too caught up in Namor's storyline to have a place in a book that focuses on Doom, and it would have spanned six issues there, which seems excessive. Still, Conway & Colan are both present for this story… It can't be a total coincidence, can it?

Story Overview

Doomsmasque!

It's time to get comfortable, because we're squatting in the pages of Sub-Mariner for a full-sized three-parter of Doom! This is the third time Victor von Doom and Namor have met, starting with their original ill-fated foray at alliance in Fantastic Four v1 #6, followed by their less than friendly reunion in Sub-Mariner v1 #20. Two and a half years later, both their characters have undergone some ch-ch-changes: Doom has developed something of a personality beyond his megalomaniacal tyranny, while Namor… well. Namor has seen some shit.

To wit, Namor returned to Atlantis and reforged his connection with the place after a lengthy absence, finally asking his long-time friend and supporting cast member Dorma to marry him and be his Queen. She gladly accepted, but their happiness was short-lived, as the villainous mermaid Llyra kidnapped her in a bid to take her place as the new ruler of Atlantis. In the ensuing conflict Dorma suffocated in the open air, leaving Namor utterly heartbroken. With such an important part of his family ripped from his life, Namor once more left Atlantis to seek out his long-lost father, Leonard MacKenzie, in order to find what solace he could in family - and then Llyra promptly murdered him. Last issue. Oof.

It's no great surprise, maybe, to discover that Namor has mentally retreated from reality, finding refuge in retrograde amnesia. (He's been known to fall victim to that since his origins as a character in modern-day comics.) It's not surprising - but still incredibly lame. In the opening panels of this story we see Namor huddling at the back of a train car, tortured by images of his dead father whose face he doesn't recognize. He muses that if he had a name to curse, it would be easier - but he doesn't even know his own name right now.



A few vagrants that share his train car notice that Namor is pretty fancily dressed for a homeless nobody, and decide to hustle some 'scratch' out of him. They represent the 'Freighters Association', or so they claim, and when Namor doesn't cough up some money they turn to violence. Which goes about as well as you'd expect: Namor punches the thugs through the side of the train car, and one recognizes him as 'Namor the Sub-' before he vanishes from sight. Namor reflects that he might not know who he is, exactly, but he knows he has power - and power buys obedience.

The train screeches to a halt in Chicago, and Namor decides he'll adopt the name the thug called him, since it feels right. Which is useful, since a rotund police officer rushes up to him and immediately starts complaining about people taking advantage of the railroads, before declaring that he's taking Namor in. The Atlantean is unimpressed by this threat, and to show this he picks up the entire rail car with his bare hands and throwing it at the poor man.



Before Namor can complete this murder, however, the car disappears in a blast of dissolving light and hyper-sonic frequencies. Wait, that's not part of Namor's power-set!? The freight yard guard - not a cop, apparently - figures he has some kind of guardian angel looking out for him, and goes to shoot Namor, only for the light and sound to return and dissolve his gun right form his hands. From the shadows a figure watches all this, musing to himself that he actually is playing guardian angel here, but not for the fat security guard. He's keeping an eye out for Namor, because he wants the man in his debt!

We turn away from the action for a moment to visit Diane Arliss and Walter Newell (a.k.a. Stingray) in Boston, supporting characters of Namor's who were involved in last issue's events. It seems they've been taking care of Leonard MacKenzie's funeral and other such things after Namor disappeared, and Diane laments that Namor couldn't be more like Walter: dependable, not distant and cold. Well, I see where that relationship is going! And I'm right about that, but we won't find out for ages, since this would be the last appearance of either character for a literal decade's worth of real time! Wait, what?



Leaving Boston behind, we next visit Washington, where another supporting character, Senator Winters, reads the newspaper and worries about his political career. It seems the security guard reported his run-in with the amnesiac Namor, and the violent altercation does the Atlantean's reputation no favors. This plotline, unfortunately, was never resolved, as this is the last time Winters ever shows up in a comic! Boy, this book is really hitting that poor reset button hard!



Back in Chicago, we see a young girl wandering alone at night through a poorly lit street. She's Cindy Jones, the captions tell us, and she's suddenly faced with a confused and bleeding Namor, who collapses in front of her. Forgetting her fear, Cindy helps Namor to his feet and drags him off so she can tend to his wounds. Nearby, a cloaked man watches on in satisfaction - he might've had something to do with Namor's wounds there. Cindy helps Namor into her high-rise apartment, handing him an herbal blend of her own creation, and she briefly comments on her former wish to be a writer, though it didn't work out. She's about to go change when there's a sudden knock at the door.



Namor stands up first, warning Cindy that he's got a feeling this guest is here for him. Opening the door, memories suddenly fight up from inside him, and he blurts out a 'Neptune's Trident!' at the sight. In front of him stands Doctor Doom himself, hand outstretched with power pooling in his palm. It was his hand which saved Namor earlier, Doom declares, and he's here to ask for assistance!



Some of Namor's memories awaken at this sight, images of Doom's mask, of the Fantastic Four - and then his thoughts wander off towards more painful topics. He suddenly remembers Dorma's untimely death on the day of their wedding. Rage wells up inside him, and Namor blindly attacks the one who's making him remember these things: Doctor Doom!

As he's accosted and tossed down a flight of stairs, Doom muses to himself that he shouldn't attack in return, since he does really need Namor's help with something - but he must also maintain his dignity, so he can't just let this matter slide. So he holds back his full strength, and waits for Namor's fury play itself out. Indeed, he even lets himself get pushed around a bit, hoping it'll tire the Atlantean out faster. Namor rages on, declaring that his mind tells him Doom is a villain to be destroyed, so that's what he'll do!



They crash through the wall into an elderly couple's apartment, and the inhabitants offer some fun commentary.



Doom finally says he's tired of Namor, and fires off a finger-laser in retaliation. He misses, probably on purpose, and lights a couch on fire, and then douses the furniture citing the damage to his reputation if he were to let innocent bystanders come to harm. Namor is unconvinced by these theatrics. He can see the cruelty in Doom's eyes, he shouts, and a soul as dead as stone! Or 'STONNNNE!' as the comic puts it. What a baffling place to put the emphasis! He tackles Doom again, this time straight out the high-rise's window. (The Lotus blooms twice!)



We arrive at the cover here, although Namor is wearing more clothes in the actual panel. Doom spends his time in free fall telling Namor that he despises melodrama. (Ha! Funny joke, Mr. 'Doom approaches!')



Doom finally uses 'repelling rays' from his fingertips to form a cushioning force beneath them, 'like ripples in a stone-struck pool', as he puts it. Poetic and ironic - even Doom agrees with that.

Cindy Jones appears back in the picture here, begging Doom to stop the fighting. The monarch agrees readily, explaining that he has no real quarrel with Namor, and then he invites them both over to the Latverian Embassy. (They're in Chicago, so presumably he means a consulate, unless he just doesn't follow any of the rules.) Soon Namor has ditched his street clothes and is once more clad in his usual Speedo fashion, while Cindy studies the embassy's paintings. Doom is slightly surprised a random girl off the street would recognize his collection, but he's probably just shocked the girl would address him as 'sweetie.'



Doom takes a moment to fill Namor in on a carefully doctored version of their shared history, describing himself as the last and greatest of the true monarchs, the King of Latveria. Once, he and Namor were allies - they fought the Fantastic Four together (in Fantastic Four #6), and since then they've fought them separately, each time in in vain. Years have passed, and to each of them a personal disaster occurred. To Namor the loss of his wife Dorma, and to Doom… he doesn't say, actually. Huh. Doom asks Namor to return to the world of the active, and be his ally and friend. Namor finally agrees to this offer, deciding that his past is a stranger to him, so he'll have to live for today.

Soon after, Doom's purple plane takes off southwards with Namor and Cindy Jones aboard. (Yes, for some reason Doom agreed to bring a random civilian on this top secret criminal enterprise…) They're headed for New Orleans, where Doom's spies have discovered the last emergency base of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), which is a classic villain organization of technological terrorists and malevolent scientists. He expects to find A.I.M.'s hidden and most fantastic weapon there. Doom's explanation is cut off there, however, when a missile suddenly locks onto the plane.



He soon realizes that while A.I.M. was destroyed, its machines are still functional, and the anti-air installations are programmed to recognize Doom's jet as a threat. After taking out the missile and the installation that launched it, Doom recaps Captain America's defeat of the organization's leader, MODOK, some months earlier. Indeed, if that villain wasn't dead, Doom probably wouldn't have considered his present course of action at all. (Well, that's tempting fate. What's next, Doom, you're going to say 'nothing could possibly go wrong'?)

Namor takes a moment to ask Cindy whether or not she's glad she came on this trip, even knowing the dangers involved. At least they're acknowledging the absurdity, I suppose. Cindy explains that she's glad to get away from her hollow life in Chicago, where everything always went wrong for her. Now, at least, she has something - or someone. Indeed, she declares with gusto, she needs Namor more than any girl ever needed a man! That's… a bit much. (One wonders whether Doom tolerates visitors to the mile high club on his plane...)



Elsewhere, watching their approach on a monitor, we see MODOK. Surprise! He is very much alive, and he has a score to settle with Doom and his submarine friend. And he's got the perfect bait to lure them in, too: he has the Cosmic Cube!

To be continued...

Rating & Comments



This issue is bizarre from the perspective of a Namor reader. The main character of your comic randomly lost his memory in between issues, left on the first train out of Dodge, and ditched most of his supporting cast somewhere - shortly after other parts of that cast got brutally murdered. In fact, several of them get a random scene in this comic which ignores their upcoming disappearance and seems to hint at future plots, but then they're just gone. It's kind of crazy, and by no means a good thing unless you really hated the status quo to begin with. And why were you reading, if that was the case?

For Doctor Doom this issue is a lot more humdrum and even respectable, since he showcases a level of restraint that is fairly new to the character. He even tolerates the presence of a powerless nobody just because she seems to ground his would-be ally (or so I'm charitably interpreting Cindy's presence.) He's slightly delusional in claiming to hate melodrama, but I suppose we must grant every genius his eccentricities. Regardless of his craven manipulations of an amnesiac, Doom does seem to want to make the alliance work. His plans for obtaining the cosmic cube now that MODOK is out of the picture are pretty reasonable, and grabbing superhuman support is just good preparation. One wonders what he would have done if Namor hadn't lost his memory, though...

From a more objective perspective, this issue is decidedly sub-par. The spontaneous forgetfulness is damning enough after the previous issue's dramatic conclusion, basically circumventing exploring the consequences of Namor facing yet more tragedy by erasing a bunch of continuity for a while. Following this up by shoehorning in a random new love interest that is completely devoted to him within literal hours is just utterly stupid, especially since the previous potential love interest is quickly written out in the same breath, and all this comes when Namor just now remembered the recent murder of his wife. Seeing Doom get punted through several windows while Namor has his rage-out is entertaining, but doesn't make up for the rest of this issue.

Let's hope the follow-up issues of this three-parter makes up for the lackluster start.

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



There's not a huge variety of choices, despite Colan's impressive showing in Astonishing Tales #8. Ah well. I think I prefer the shot of Doom getting tackled down the stairs. there's a lot of Doom getting body-slammed in this issue, actually. At least he acknowledges he's permitting this stuff to happen...

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

"The name, my amnesiac friend, is Doom! It was my hand which saved you earlier this evening, the same hand which cups cosmic power before you. I'm here to ask your assistance, to ask you to fight - on the side of Doctor Doom!"

"Do you think me blind, Namor? Doom sees it, and knows what action he must take. Do you think I want my noble name soiled, my reputation tarnished, by the death of two old ones who have no place in our struggles? Even Victor von Doom has more feeling than that."

Doom's Bad Hair Day



For some reason, the ominous black eye of Doom returns in this issue, and I'm still not sure what it's all about!

Doom-Tech of the Week

I don't know if we've ever covered Doom's Private Jet, but it's a common enough sight by now that it deserves a shout-out. I suppose we could also include the Repelling Finger-Beams, which are basically used like a cushioning charm from Harry Potter. Pretty neat!

 

[krinsbez]

Namor takes a moment to ask Cindy whether or not she's glad she came on this trip, even knowing the dangers involved. At least they're acknowledging the absurdity, I suppose. Cindy explains that she's glad to get away from her hollow life in Chicago, where everything always went wrong for her. Now, at least, she has something - or someone. Indeed, she declares with gusto, she needs Namor more than any girl ever needed a man! That's… a bit much.

Click to shrink...

Normally I'd agree with you, but this is Namor we're talking about, the Sexiest Man Alive.

(also if you think what's happening to Namor's book is nuts, try reading classic Ghost Rider some time.)

 

[Roarian]

Normally I'd agree with you, but this is Namor we're talking about, the Sexiest Man Alive.

(also if you think what's happening to Namor's book is nuts, try reading classic Ghost Rider some time.)

Click to shrink...

Could you fill me in on that? I haven't really read many of his books, never mind his old stuff.

 

[krinsbez]

Could you fill me in on that? I haven't really read many of his books, never mind his old stuff.

Click to shrink...

I'm just gonna give one example, though I can think of several more:

So, there's this arc where Johnny goes to LA and becomes a stunt rider for the movies. He ends up having UST with starlet Karen Page (yes, Daredevil's girlfriend; obvs. they were broken up at the time) and becoming friends with a female stunt rider who's name I don't remember.

There's one issue where Johnny keeps musing to himself about how he can't be with Karen cuz he's still in love with his old flame Roxy Simpson (who at the beginning of the run was named Rocky, and everything to do with her is also prone to constant retcons). The next issue, something happens with his female stunt rider friend, and everyone is acting like she's his love interest. Then she turns out to have been Roxy transformed by a demon. Next issue, he's musing about how it's great to know Roxy's OK, but she doesn't hold a candle to Karen.

Now, keep in mind, this is just one example of this. I can think of three or four other examples off the top of my head.

 

[Roarian]

038: Sub-Mariner v1 #48 (April 1972)



Cover

We're back for more Doctor Doom and Namor tag-team action! This cover features them facing off dramatically in the middle of some creepy swamp that's apparently infested by rogue tentacles - okay - and it's pretty damn well-drawn, with some really nice detail on the background, as well as the armor and cloak. I'm curious whether or not this image actually reflects the comic's contents, though - last issue didn't seem to set up a rematch so quickly, given that Doom and Namor have a common enemy to fight. Mind control, maybe? Or just good old-fashioned 1970's clickbait.

I am puzzled about who the girl on the ground is supposed to be - it can't be Cindy from last issue unless he bleached her hair between appearances. Are they going to introduce another random female guest character that will never show up again? Guess so!

Story Overview

Twilight of the Hunted!

We open this issue in a swamp - a Mississippian bayou, if the labels are to be believed. It seems Doom did read my post on the previous issue, since his first act in this comic is to clarify his position on Cindy Jones' presence: he doesn't agree with it. He promised Namor to bring her along as far as New Orleans, but he has no intentions of dragging her into a super-villain brawl. (He puts this indelicately - he tells Namor that bringing women would only cause them difficulty. Ouch.)

Namor is less than happy with Doom's dismissal and stubbornly refuses to let Cindy leave, even when she starts arguing for her own departure, stating that she's lived in New Orleans before and she'll be alright there. Namor puts forth an ultimatum to Doom: either Cindy gets to stay, or he goes. He barely even waits for an answer before grabbing the girl and sweeping off into the skies, leaving Doom to complain about the capricious fish-man. That team-up sure lasted long, didn't it?

Doom then calls for one of his lackeys, a fellow called Franklin, and tells him to follow Namor with his awesomely designed jet-pack - just in case. He reasons that Namor might injure himself again, and he won't allow that to happen. As he departs, Franklin reflects that he's never quite seen Doom act like this, expressing an apparent real concern for someone else's well-being. Perhaps, he thinks, Doom is not the callous monarch he would have people believe he is…



Elsewhere, Namor descends from the skies with Cindy in his arms, electing to move quickly because he senses the eyes of Doom on him in one form or another. Cindy comments on Namor's weird, grandiose way of speech, and the fish-man responds by telling her that he 'can as much control it as I can the beat of my heart!' I guess he's stuck in drama-mode all the time - something for him and Doom to bond over!



Cindy spends some time looking back on her broken dreams, telling Namor that she never thought she'd go back to New Orleans - she used to hate the place a lot, but now it's nothing but a place to her, a piece of history. She elects to visit an old friend who still lives there. When that friend opens her front door, however, it's with obvious fear of whoever might be waiting outside - quite an ominous sign.

'Arlene!' Cindy exclaims, and the two girls hug and catch up. Cindy explains that she's been in Chicago, trying to forget her previous life. Arlene understands this, but she also notes that you can't run away from yourself. Clearly nervous, Cindy wonders whether 'John' is still there… and she gets an answer from off-panel. (Franklin, meanwhile, contacts Doom to keep him apprised of the worsening situation.)

The new arrival is a ghastly, greasy-haired drug pusher with gaudy gold jewelry - this is Johnny, and his art is disturbingly detailed. He stands at the door with a huge revolver in his hand, telling Cindy that she's been a bad girl and he doesn't like it when she brings little friends along. Yikes. It seems part of the past Cindy was running from has caught up with her.



Namor jumps in between the two, naturally, and is immediately shot for his trouble. The Atlantean quickly realizes that the bullet only grazed him - his skin is a lot stronger than he thought it was. His response to this murder attempt is to punch the floor so hard that it buckles and tosses Johnny off his feet - remarkably mild. Johnny answers by shooting him again, and actually manages to get Namor in the head this time, which seems to knock him out. He is about to move on to Cindy when there's a sudden explosion of glass, and Franklin enters the scene. He's clearly channeling Doom when he describes Cindy as an 'auburn-tressed amorateur' before knocking her over the head with his gun and flying off with her.

Waking up from unconsciousness by having a flashlight shoved in his face, Namor finds himself cornered by some police officers, who are holding him under suspicion of assaulting Johnny, whose crumpled body can be seen in the panel. How did that happen? Franklin didn't do anything to him, and Namor never did get to retaliate for getting shot. In any case, the Atlantean is none too happy with the cops' swift judgment, but then he gets belligerent trying to explain what happened. The cops are aware that Namor is superhuman, and he's suddenly in the cross-hairs of several guns after they point out even his mere aggressive gestures could easily kill one of them. They're not wrong - but their smug comments just rile up their target.



Before they can fire at Namor, however, their weapons suddenly disintegrate in their hands - Doctor Doom has arrived in person to save the day, declaring that he's come 'for my friend, Prince Namor.' Aww! The cops are quick to hand Namor over to the new arrival, recognizing Doom as a legitimate international leader and reasoning that it'd be a lot cheaper to hand him over than shipping the Atlantean off to Washington themselves. The police don't come off too well in this issue, do they?

Namor joins Doom on his flying sled, which is basically a Doomtech version of the Silver Surfer's board - I guess he was feeling nostalgic. As they fly back towards the plane, Doom explains that he's taken Cindy Jones hostage in the wake of recent events, and he'll free her after Namor's part of their bargain has been completed. The Atlantean reluctantly agrees. The next panel is extremely verbose, with author Conway nattering on and on about definitions of time without really getting to a point - he needs to put a lid on that. Thankfully the dialogue in the panels is a little less over the top, as Doom instructs Namor to act as his underwater scout, using a backpack device to track down A.I.M.'s base. Namor is already planning to get back at Doom after this whole thing is over, but for the moment he's playing along with the scheme.



As Namor leaves on his mission, we get a rare glimpse of Doom's innermost thoughts, and they're unexpected to say the least! Doom calls himself a fool for the way he handled this Namor situation - he's alienated an ally, someone he could have called a friend, and he's pained to admit that he's earned the hatred he's receiving. He even empathizes with the feeling of entrapment Namor must be experiencing at Doom's hands, recognizing that he knows what that feels like. Woah. I'll probably have something to say about this in the comments...



Namor's backpack beeps, and Doom immediately shifts back to his usual grandiose personality, declaring that the Cosmic Cube shall soon be his, and once more men will shudder at the very mention of 'Doctor Doom!' But there's a telling line wedged in there: 'Then what matter your vile self-recriminations? They too will pass away, as they have in the past.' Doom clearly has misgivings about some of his actions, even if he doesn't let them stop him. He's no sociopath villain who acts without thinking - a vital distinction from some of his villainous compatriots.

Doom's plane soon descends to sea level, and then dives under water - naturally, besides being an airplane and a spaceship, it's also a submarine. Several lackeys control the vessel from the 'scope room', and they inform Doom of the Sub-Mariner's progress along the ocean floor. One of the underlings asks another, Orson, if they've seen 'Kenner', evidently another one of Doom's lackeys, as well as the local coffee boy. He was sent off to get refreshments half an hour before, and has yet to return...

Out in the open ocean, Namor muses that it feels like he hasn't been in the seas for years, and some memories threaten to reemerge. He's interrupted, however, when a vicious stingray suddenly attacks him, and he narrowly avoids the thing's spined tail.



His mind gets stuck on the phrase 'stingray', which seems unduly familiar to him. He knew a man with that name, didn't he? He puts that thought aside, following some inner urge to pick up a nearby boulder and squash the ray flat. (That one was for Steve Irwin!)

There's a tremor behind Namor, and he has just enough time to turn around before he's blasted in the face by a laser turret that popped out of the ocean floor. Elsewhere, another laser turret takes aim at Doom's jet, and it gets a single shot off before it is reduced to rubble. Doom muses that MODOK's devices work even after his death, but they can't anticipate, or react - and that is why he will win. He orders the jet to move forward cautiously, wary of more traps. There's a pretty nice panel of Doom here, although it appears he's posing in front of Starry Night for some reason.



Elsewhere, MODOK watches the proceedings with glee, confident that he has Doom exactly where he wants him to be. He decides that Doom must believe him dead, or he would never attempt a venture like this - which makes him a fool, for all his genius. He is a little miffed that people would so readily accept Captain America's account of his death, though.

Here we get a brief explanation for the villain's survival after his apparent demise - and it's a doozy. Basically, it involves MODOK surviving a tenement collapse by digging a tunnel into a subterranean chamber with his mind, boarding a monorail that had been down there, waiting for him for the last two years, switching over to a hidden atomic submarine he stashed in the docks, and then using that to make his way over to New Orleans to commandeer an automated A.I.M. supply base. Naturally! That's not Rube Goldbergian at all.

MODOK has sworn off hiring human help since his last defeat, and now relies on the fully automated soldiers that he used to save his own life - his android army! It's a super-villain staple that Doom is all too familiar with, but at least they're not carbon copies of his own likeness. No, that would be silly!



Elsewhere, Doom worries for Namor's health, since the signal from his backpack has disappeared. He forces himself to ignore these concerns, deploying a drill to access the A.I.M. base beneath them. Still - he has these thoughts. Doom cares.

We turn to watch Doom's lackeys, who get a surprising amount of screen time this issue. It seems they have found the missing Kenner - who promptly declares Doom 'crazy', and tells the other underlings that Doom's going to get them all killed, much to Orson's consternation. Their jet manages to break through to a subterranean chamber, and as it descends a hidden ceiling closes overhead, allowing the water to drain away and reveal the A.I.M. base. Kenner once more pops up to say that Doom is out of his mind, and gets a paddling from the other henchmen. He really doesn't know when to shut up, does he?

In another chamber in Doom's jet, we see yet another one of Doom's lackeys approach Cindy - this one is called Wilson. He's even worse than the disloyal Kenner, though, because there's a real simple way to explain what he's there for: rape. He's there for rape.



He's already touching her and getting off on his sexual assault when Doom arrives from off-panel and kills him in a single shot. Doom says it explicitly, here: rapists do not deserve to live. Put a pin in that declaration for reference in a likely 1-star issue that's on the horizon. Doom then begs her leave, telling Cindythat he's wasted quite enough time with her. (He says this, but he did rush to her aid instantly...) Cindy laments her decision to go along with this expedition - something which Doom opposed, I remind you. Bit late now!

A few hundred feet from the entrance to A.I.M.'s base that Doom used, we see Namor wake up from unconsciousness, again. With the number of times he gets shot in the head, it's really no wonder his brain is riddled with holes! That's twice in this issue alone!



The fish-man has barely even woken up when metal doors open in the ocean floor nearby, and he immediately chooses to jump in - he muses that without memories, without love or hate, he doesn't actually have a lot to lose. Much like with Doom's jet, the doors close behind him and the water drains away.

Namor, unlike Doom, gets a formal welcome - a voice from the ceiling explains that while Doom has preceded him here, the man refuses to leave his jet. Perhaps Namor could do something about that? Namor rejects this, saying that Doom would as easily get rid of Namor as save him. The voice responds that he'd better hope he's misjudged the good Doctor. Doors open in front of the Atlantean and brilliant lights blind him, but soon the figures on the other side become clear.




The voice, of course, was MODOK's! The misshapen giant mutant head introduces himself to Namor and briefly explaining his origin as an A.I.M. experiment that conquered his own creators. He also tells Namor will be one of the last to see his misshapen form, and that his presence is almost providential. I wonder what that ominous stuff means? Regardless, he orders his androids to take Namor below - to the Cosmic Cube! (Is there an echo here?)

To be continued...

Rating & Comments



I am starting to wonder if I've found the turning point I was searching for. That transitory moment when Doctor Doom was altered beyond his original confines to such an extent that he became the character I know and love. In this issue Doom shows traits which seem utterly alien to a character who has more or less been defined by his ego-centrism up to this point. Last issue he showed restraint, in this one he jumps to people's aid without recompense, regrets his missteps, and shows compassion - I can only imagine what developments Doom will get next issue!

Cindy's role in the story is lampshaded enough that she's far less annoying this time around, even when she's the center of attention. She's gone from love interest to hostage who's in over her head - and it works better. The revelation of her drug-pushing history makes it pretty clear she's not a person who makes great decisions to begin with... It's also made clear that Doom doesn't actually care about her beyond her use in manipulating Namor, but he's reasonable enough to give her private lodgings on his jet, and he dealt with his lecherous underling's misdeeds with remarkable speed and efficiency. Hopefully she has a key role to play in the finale of this trilogy, just to ensure that she's more than only a damsel in distress.

The character who gets least to do is, weirdly enough, the titular Sub-Mariner himself - although it's true that Doom has a habit of taking over any story he guest-stars in. Namor spends a distressing amount of this issue unconscious from getting shot in the face with guns, and the rest of the time he's punching fish or YOLOing into mysterious ocean doors. The cover image is a complete lie, too - not only does Namor never face off with Doom, no swamps appear after the opening panels, and there is not a single blonde lady in the whole issue, nor do any of them faint!

The plot of this issue is serviceable, but it really only works as the middle bit of a larger story, even with the recaps. That's a relative rarity at this time in comics history, and makes it clear that we're slowly transitioning away from sequential one-shot stories into an era where the same writer pens an entire multi-part story at once, and relies on the reader to pick the issues up in order. It's an open question whether or not comics are actually better that way - I've seen arguments in both directions - but it's definitely the way things are headed.

As a side note, there is an interesting little bonus plot going on in this issue which involves Doom's lackeys - we see a bunch of them and even get their names. Franklin has a sweet jet-pack, Orson is an excitable motormouth Doom loyalist, Kenner is an unreliable rebellious coffee boy, and Wilson is... no more. Good riddance. I'm not sure why they're all getting introduced, or why we see their office politics, but there's probably a good reason for it. It's not just filler. Right?

In summary, this issue made up for a lot of the flaws of the last one, but the lack of a conclusion doesn't help it stand out at all, and Namor's only moment of competence is when he manages to outfight a fish. Let's hope this story ends on a strong note! (Also, let's hope the title is actually relevant to the story next time. 'Twilight of the Hunted'? What on earth is that about?)

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



I like this shot of Doctor Doom blasting through a window to save his BFF Namor. Doom describing himself as a Baron is a bit peculiar, as he is pretty clear on the 'monarchy' bit of his kingdom, and has called himself a king before. It's related to the man whose kingdom he conquered - Baron Fortunov, later retconned a king. We'll get to it.

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

"And soon, the awesome power of the dread Cosmic Cube will be MINE! That what matter your vile self-recriminations? They too will pass away, as they have in the past - and once more men will shudder in fear at the very mention of - Doctor Doom!"

Doom's Bad Hair Day



Can I just… elect MODOK this time? Like, in general? Conceptually, visually, his name… the entire package. Please. Please? If not, then I elect this image in particular, and then I'll go wash my hands.

Comic Trivia

Gerry Conway is the writer of these last few issues, and would later go on to become pretty legendary for his work on a number of properties across several publishers, at one point writing nearly every Marvel title simultaneously. Still, he's pretty new to the scene at this point. We actually already covered the issue where he first wrote superhero stuff for Marvel - he did the Ka-Zar half of Astonishing Tales #3, which came out only about sixteen months before this issue. He was 19 years old at the time.

I suspect a significant part of the shift in characterization that befalls Doom can be attributed to Conway's arrival, and his penchant for anti-heroes - he was involved in the creation of the Punisher some years after this. Another contributing factor, I believe, might be Stan Lee's departure from writing monthly comics in favor of his publishing work, which also happened around this time. Lee was a great idea man in my book, but I was never a great fan of his writing, much less his tendency to make some villains weirdly one-dimensional despite his interest in complex heroes. Doctor Doom was always at his most stereotypical under his pen, usually in Fantastic Four.

Doom-Tech of the Week

I suppose the thing to mention this time is Doom's Flying Sled, which clearly took some inspiration from that time he stole the Surfer's board. Namor's Backpack counts too, I guess - it tracks supervillain bases, which seems pretty useful to have around.

 

[Roarian]

039: Sub-Mariner v1 #49 (May 1972)



Cover

I shouldn't feel slighted when one of Namor's comics depicts Namor on the cover - but it's distressing to realize that after having two great mano-a-mano brawls, Doctor Doom didn't even get a mention on the cover, this time around! Instead we just get a shot of MODOK's robot guards carrying the Atlantean along to the 'chamber beyond', which apparently contains a bunch of electricity. And evil, evil Tesla coils! Look, it's not a bad cover or anything, it's just not really what I'm here for. I was hoping for a trilogy!

Story Overview

The Dreamstone!

This comic starts exactly where the last one ends, but now the stalemate is broken, as MODOK orders his minions to attack Namor. Anyone who's allies with Doctor Doom is an enemy of MODOK, the head declares - so Doom can definitely cross him off his Christmas card list. The caption declares that all this enmity has everything to do with the Cosmic Cube, or as this issue nicknames it, in full-on Austin Powers font, 'the Dreamstone.'

Namor dismisses MODOK's ravings as mere words - and words mean nothing to Namor! Which sounds kind of ridiculous, until he clarifies that words like memory or past are meaningless to him in his amnesiac state, and only his name is truly his own: Namor the Sub-Mariner!



A few of MODOK's androids try to jump him from behind, but Namor quickly shrugs them off, musing that they have no mind for speech, but they can kill - so perhaps he could become like them, unburdened by conscience, killing those who would hunt him? He walks that back immediately, deciding that even the reason for his amnesia couldn't be worse than the thought of killing without cause. He's no automaton.

MODOK taunts Namor a bit, explaining that he isn't trying to kill the Atlantean - just capture him. One of his robots launches a blinding beam of energy from the center of his chest, but Namor dodges the Unibeam and bowls several of the bots over in an attempt to escape. Unfortunately his tiny little ankle wings can't get him away fast enough, and the robots manage to grab him. It seems Namor is water-starved already - mere minutes out of the sea, and he's already losing his powers. Dehydration is a really crappy weakness, seriously. MODOK finishes the fight by mind-blasting Namor into unconsciousness - that's the third time within a couple hours! The giant head gloats some, then tells his robots to take 'handsome Namor' to the cosmic cube. Okay, that's kind of creepy.

We switch to Cindy Jones on board Doom's jet, who is trying to figure out a way to escape from her imprisonment when the intercom activates. MODOK is broadcasting, declaring that if Doom has any fealty for his amphibious ally, they should have a meeting in the decks below the ship - within the hour, or Namor dies. Doom is furious that Namor threatened the entire operation by getting captured, and he starts barking orders to his men. And then he… goes to the meeting. Yup! Even Doom isn't fully sure about his reasons for doing so, and he admits as much to himself. He believes Namor trusts him, and in return he dares not betray the man, and he theorizes that perhaps it's because Namor was once a monarch like Doom himself. Or is it something else? Some other affinity between them that he hasn't identified? (I'm sure the fanfiction has already been written.)

Doom and MODOK meet deep in the A.I.M. base, and Doom just asks if the game is through. The giant head denies it, explaining that he's heard a great deal about Doom, his strange abilities, and his stranger curse. Wonder what that means? Doom dismisses all of it, declaring that he didn't come to talk - MODOK knows what he wants. 'You want what you cannot HAVE!' the head screams, blasting Doom with his mind as he does so. 'You were a fool to come here! You made a blunder my android children would never have made!'

Here we get another one of those unexpected bits of Doom development. Doom says that if he has made a mistake, it's because he is a man - and men are affected by feelings, and by loyalty.



But if the alternative to those is to become a machine like MODOK's minions, then he'll embrace his humanity and be done with it! MODOK responds that for someone so alienated from the bulk of humanity, Doom seems oddly protective of them. Or perhaps it's not out of love for mankind that he reacts like this - but out of hatred for MODOK, in which he sees a reflection of himself. Doom doesn't answer this point directly, instead declaring that his motives are, and forever will be, his own. Then he opens a can of whoop-ass on the A.I.M. androids, taking several of them down with his super strength and finger lasers while declaring 'Doom will win!'

We change scenes to catch up withDoom's servants from last issue, who are getting ready to support Doom if he needs assistance. Unfortunately one is missing, again - and it's Kenner, again. Franklin tells loyalist Orson to stay and keep an eye out for the errant rebel, musing to himself that by acting the way he does, Kenner is endangering everyone, and Doom would surely solve this issue in a permanent manner if it was brought to his attention. There's time for those things later, though - the Master may need him, and that's more important than everything else. Franklin departs from Doom's plane in a hail of gunfire, mowing down androids as he goes.



Namor hears the gunfire and violence in the distance and realizes that Doom must have accepted MODOK's challenge - which he can't quite comprehend, since it's not like the cold and callous Doctor Doom to come to his aid, unless this too is part of some greater plan. Namor doesn't really care about Doom's motives, though - he's more worried about MODOK's. It seems the giant head intends to switch bodies with Namor using the power of the Cube, and while Namor morbidly suggests he has no great attachment to living, he also doesn't want to die in that hideous body.

Eveluating the silent androids milling around the metal chair he's bound to, Namor wonders if they could be the key to his escape, and commands one of them to bring him something to drink. Living beings need liquids to drink, you know? The androids don't answer him, but one does fetch some refreshments, which Namor promptly smashes with his face. Doused with a fresh dose of power-granting water, Namor rips himself out of confinement and destroys all the androids in the room, laughing in relief as he focuses on the here and now, rather than his forgotten past.


With the immediate threat dealt with, Namor turns towards a nearby alcove that's covered in signs that warn of radioactivity. He takes a look behind the shielded door and spots a button that's conveniently labeled 'Cosmic Cube'; how very Adam West of A.I.M. A blast shield slides open after he pushes the button, and a golden glow is revealed from beyond - and we see Namor rear back, his expression horrified!



Back on board Doom's jet, Cindy is still intent on helping Namor after she learned about his predicament from the intercom. After her encounter with a randy rapist last issue, she figures using her feminine wiles to trick the guards might work to get her out of confinement. A risky venture, to say the least.

We return now to Doom, who is blasting apart a new contingent of androids, reducing an army to cinders. He compliments MODOK on his mechanical prowess, but concludes that these creations, too, will be swiftly dispatched - for none can stand against Victor von Doom! The son of a landless gypsy, he proclaims, did not become the monarch of his land by fleeing threats such as these! If he has to destroy twice this many foes to get at the Cosmic Cube, then destroy them he will! Nice boast, and I'm fairly certain it is the first time Doom has willfully brought up his origin story - and he does it to cast himself as the underdog, the working class revolutionary who became a King. This, I believe, is another theme we should keep an eye on in the future.

With a few more laser-blasts and metal judo chops Doom finishes off all of MODOK's android defenders, and now they stand across from each other, (masked) face to (giant mutant) face. Doom raises his hands and blasts MODOK to smithereens - only for the figure to vanish into thin air. A television screen immediately pops up with the creature's face on it - he pulled a Doom, replacing himself with a holographic image. 'For all your supposed sophistication,' he declares, 'at heart, you are still a peasant.'



Doom does not take mocking lightly, and he dismisses MODOK's desire for a talk, declaring that it can wait until after he's found the Cube, before smashing the screen to pieces. He turns to find his lackey Franklin behind him, who quickly explains that he heard shouting, and came to help. Doom just tells him that he can handle things personally, and Franklin should head back to the ship. The servant once more recognizes a strange tone in his monarch's voice.

As Franklin returns to the ship, he doesn't notice a furtive figure hiding under the wing - it's Kenner! Except it's not. 'Kenner's' actions were just a play he was putting on, theatre - he's actually a spy that was placed on Doom's ship by parties unknown, taking the place of the actual Kenner. His purpose? To kill the Sub-Mariner! He climbs down into the A.I.M. base, worrying that Doom's survival might complicate the completion of his mission…

We return to Doom, who the captions describe as a bitter man on the brink of hope. He's using some sort of high-tech blowtorch to cut a hole into the base, digging his way towards the radiation of the Cube that he can detect below. 'I dare not allow myself the luxury of wonder,' he thinks to himself. 'I must maintain my outer and inner calm.' And yet, he tells himself, how can he stay calm at a time like this? Every second he gets closer to his goal, and perhaps then the frustrations within him can be quelled - perhaps he could again dream of things other than power or possessions. Perhaps the man he once could have been, will be at last!

Wait. I have to think on that for a moment. Is this happening? Is Doom seriously trying to fulfill Valeria's wishes here? Because these thoughts fits awfully well with her desire that Doom revert to the Victor that once was, rather than the twisted villain he's become. Is the reason that Doom seems so affected by his emotions of late that he's honestly trying to better himself? Does he desire the all-powerful Cosmic Cube for benevolent reasons? Well, damn!

Inches away from getting at the Cube, however, Doom is suddenly attacked from behind by the impostor Kenner. The infiltrator takes a heavy pipe to Doom's head, and the first blow is mitigated by his armor - but then more rain down, wearing down even his defenses. On the fourth blow, Doom goes down, and Kenner complains that he could've killed an elephant with those blows, and still Doom is not dead. He turns, deciding he's wasted enough time on Doom. Then, though, he feels a heat...



It's already too late for him. Kenner didn't notice the strange heat wash over him while he was attacking Doom, but now he does - and he's already enveloped by an eerie glow. His mind goes blank as he turns, his only feeling an overwhelming urge to scream - which ends when he does. The Cosmic Cube has consumed him utterly. Inches from Doom's collapsed form, and only a mound of ashes remains.

Back on board the jet, Cindy has manipulated one of the guards into opening her cell - this guard is also a sleazy one who wouldn't mind getting laid, but at least he doesn't seem to be a rapist. Cindy knocks him unconscious with her shoe before hurrying off to help Namor, descending down into the base, towards an eerie glow.



When she gets down there, however, she notices a figure stretched out on the floor next to the nuclear fire of the Cube, his boots already smoking. She doesn't hesitate, hurrying over and dragging Doom away from the danger, even as he tries to convince her that he want to go towards it, that he has to touch it. Cindy recognizes the thing as radioactive, however, and tells him they have to get out of there, now. Doom doesn't want to leave - not after coming so far, searching for so long. He cannot leave until he has what he desperately needs!



'Just in case you thought we'd forgotten the name of this magazine,' a caption says, as we finally return to Namor's perspective. He's beating up robots as he makes his way into MODOK's control room, facing off with the supervillain in person.

MODOK compliments Namor on being a persistent foe, especially since he doesn't actually have any stake in this game he and Doom are playing. Namor says he has stake enough - there's a girl… MODOK goes full Incel on him, declaring that none should sacrifice their life for a useless female - no android would make such a pointless move.

Namor takes advantage of the moment to press the attack, picking up the rotund villain and smashing him against the wall while declaring that 'Aye, your androids would not move this way - for Namor is a man!' Linkara, this one's for you!



Two floors away, Doom stands and stares at the Cosmic Cube, still engulfed in a pillar of nuclear fury, practically in a trance. Cindy doesn't understand why it's so important - why does the Doctor want it so much, enough that he might get killed by it? Doom's hands stretch out to grasp the thing, but he can't seem to make himself move any closer, and he snarls in frustration. The energy of the Cube drains his own, slowly killing him.



Namor rushes into the room, warning Doom that if his life has any value to him, he should not move any closer. Namor explains that he released the power of the Cube earlier, causing the current uproar - he ensured that the Cube's energy would build to its own destruction. Now neither MODOK or Doom could hold that cursed power - for Namor gazed into it, and saw hell itself in its glow, a sight no man should ever need see alive. He turns away, telling Doom he's taking Cindy topside - and if Doom has any sanity, he'll forget his pride and join them.

Doom stares at the glowing pillar, repeating the word 'pride' to himself. With the aid of the Cube, he decides, he could have transformed himself, saved himself from this endless nightmare of hatred and iniquity that his life has become. He could've restored his hideously scarred face, made himself human again, and perhaps left his armor behind forever. But… it's only a perhaps, now. It shall never be. Doom remains Doom, evermore. He leaves the Cube behind.



Doom's jet bursts out from the ocean only moments before it is blasted by the titanic explosion of the overloading Cosmic Cube, and the monarch comments that they're witnessing the passing of an era. For all his madness, he says, MODOK was a genius - and perhaps they'll never see his like again. This time Doom's pretty certain the being's demise is final. (It isn't.)



Now for the epilogue. We turn to the French Quarter of New Orleans, where Cindy, Namor, and Doom prepare to part ways. Doom tells Namor to take good care of the girl, for she saved his life. As for Namor himself - well, he did destroy the prize Doom wanted, but for reasons Doom can't quite articulate he feels indebted. Indebted, maybe, because there might indeed be such a thing as fate - and maybe Doom is the way he is for some higher purpose. Could that be the case? All hope lies in Doom!



Doom turns, leaving Namor with a final warning: the man who struck him down was intent on killing Namor, and he tampered with Doom's records to get a chance to do it. He tells Namor to think on it, because he might rediscover enemies he's forgotten. As a parting shot he says this remarkable line: 'at any rate, at least you've gained… a friend.' Doom's shoulders straighten and he vanishes into the mist.

Rating & Comments



Well, damn. I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen over the course of a single three-parter: I enjoyed each entry more than the last, and several pointless frills were brought back in at the end to become relevant to the overall story. That's excellent! This is probably the most in-depth look at Doom and his motivations that we've yet had, and they're a lot more personal and tragic than any of his Fantastic Four shenanigans or his world-conquering plots - indeed, they seem to mesh a lot better with the Origin, the first issue with Valeria, and the recent quest for his mother's soul. This is a very different Doom than the one Stan Lee envisioned.

Cindy returns in this issue to do exactly what I hoped she would - she drops the damsel in distress and becomes a hero. First she uses her femininity as a weapon, a single issue after it was used against her - then she rushes to the aid of the very person who imprisoned her in the first place, and saves Doom's life. For a character that won't reappear in any comics after this one, she managed to get a fair amount of development in! Did not expect this from the shoe-horned love interest, I'll tell you that.

Namor is playing the third wheel once more, to the point that even the comic acknowledges it. Even though he destroys the Cube with his off-panel actions, and he beats MODOK black and blue, neither of those things feel like they're really the core of the story. It's somewhat unfortunate that Namor gets ill-treated by his own book, but at least he's gained a new friend. And what a thought that is, right? It'll be interesting to see the next meeting between Doom and Namor, because somehow they've papered over that whole 'I kidnapped your girlfriend' thing pretty quickly.

I have to circle back to Doom here, and add my suspicion that there's a few things he's leaving out, or forgetting, in regards to obtaining that Cube. For one, I'm quite confident Doom would turn the power on Mephisto in a heartbeat, since his mother's soul is still in the demon's possession. He might also have a 'mad with power' moment, much like he did when he stole the Silver Surfer's board and went on a global spree of random acts of villainy. Perhaps he'd lose the cube long before he healed his face, or his conviction that a fair visage might alter his personality for the better may be unwarranted. It's telling, I think, that the Cube is nicknamed the Dreamstone - the bane of men, and the maker of dreams, as the comic puts it. What Doom tries to grasp here are his own dreams.

We'll find out how all this would affect Doom, someday, because this won't be the last time he flirts with ultimate power, nor face the possibility of regaining the face he once had. Maybe there's a better him hiding inside, beneath the scars. Or maybe he's right when he reflects on his fate. Doom remains Doom, evermore.

Best Panel(s) of the Issue



I quite like Doom at work with his sonic screwdriver, warding the heat from his face with his gauntlet. Bonus points for having Kenner standing there with his pipe out, ready to strike.

Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes

"None can stand against Victor von Doom! The son of a landless gypsy did not become the sole monarch of his land by fleeing such as these."

Doom's Bad Hair Day



This panel is very nearly great, with a very nice rendition of Doom's armor and cloak, though his hand looks a little too much like a glove, rather than a gauntlet. So what's up with those eyes, and the way one is half-closed while the other is wide open? Why don't they line up with his mask, which he's doubtlessly designed to fit his face? Why?

Comic Trivia

As I've already mentioned, Cindy Jones vanishes from comic books after this issue - except for a single panel in Sub-Mariner #50. There, we see Cindy leave Namor on that rain-streaked street corner in the French Quarter, telling him that she's not of his world - and that he should go find his peace in the sea, where he belongs. I guess, after all that build-up, she's been put on the first bus out of relevance. Namor is once more alone, and Doom's request that he take care of the girl is forgotten instantly. Indeed, the Atlantean muses to himself that he gained two friends - and lost them just as quickly. Taking Cindy's words to heart he jumps into the sea, fully ready to accept whatever results from that - whether he finds peace there, or a more permanent, fatal kind of peace. Damn, Namor, you're a wreck.



As for MODOK - he disappears for over a year, before returning in Incredible Hulk v1 #167, in which he briefly comments on his fight with Namor. He recounts how he had to escape in a hurry, getting out only moments before his submarine was atomized by the exploding Cosmic Cube. His next plan involves building himself a giant robot to fight the Hulk, in case you're intrigued by what he gets up to next. It's silly, as befitting his character.

Finally, the mystery of Kenner would remain a mystery. It's clear that the writers were setting up a future confrontation for Namor, but they never did flash back to Kenner's acts in this issue, so it's unclear which of his rogues gallery was ultimately responsible. It doesn't matter to this story, but it is a bit sloppy.

Doom-Tech of the Week

Doom's Sub-Molecular Disintegrator comes in handy to get at the Cosmic Cube, but he doesn't really pull any new tricks otherwise. I wonder what martial art he practices, though. Doom-Fu, maybe?

 

[krinsbez]

Grr, I don't have time to read this now!

 

[Roarian]

Grr, I don't have time to read this now!

Click to shrink...

Get back to it later, I think it's a pretty significant entry on the whole, and I've reconsidered my suspicion that this wasn't the 'Deathmasque' story that would've gone in Astonishing Tales. Doom gets too much direct development for this story to be anything else, and Namor is a second-stringer in his own book!

 

[krinsbez]

I wonder if I could set myself a reminder to do so on Sun. night after yontiff....