Prisoners of Doctor Doom!/Back to the Past!/On the Trail of Blackbeard/Battle!/The Vengeance of Doctor Doom!
Release: April 10, 1962
Cover: July 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnot (uncredited)
23 pages
I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby signed the issue. The omnibus credits Joe Sinnot as the inker in the table of contents.
I am of two minds about this comic. Let me tell you of both of them.
One the one hand, the premise of the series is that this team gets into fantastic adventures. Travelling back in time to battle pirates qualifies as such an adventure. And as stories about the FF travelling back in time to battle pirates go, this one is pretty solid.
On the other hand, this issue introduces Dr. Doom. Dr. Doom is perhaps my favorite super-villain ever, and this issue just doesn’t quite capture the Dr. Doom that I first met. Whatever I envisioned about the first encounter between our heroes and their arch-nemesis, it wasn’t this.
Dr. Doom has built a time machine; he wants Blackbeard’s treasure; he convinces the FF to go back in time and steal it for him. That’s just not the Dr. Doom story I had in my head.
I first recall becoming fascinated with Dr. Doom when I read Fantastic Four #312, from 1988. He’s a monarch, engaged in delicate diplomatic relations with Wakanda. And his position and maneuvering have allowed him to defeat the combined might of the Fantastic Four, X-Factor, and Black Panther. I soon after met him in Avengers #332 from 1991. Now he’s up against the Fantastic Four, Avengers, New Warriors, Nick Fury, Wolverine, Daredevil, Dr. Strange. And again he outmaneuvers them all, while maintaining a certain regal dignity throughout the confrontation. I liked him and was eager to read his introduction.
And this story just isn’t what I wanted from the introduction of Dr. Doom. (Cue Rolling Stones)
All that said, this issue established plenty of elements of the Dr. Doom I know. We learn he is a genius scientist, and also a sorceror, and that he seems to blend both science and sorcery, as though they aren’t really different. Doom went to college with Reed. He was expelled after an experiment went wrong, perhaps a forbidden experiment to contact the netherworld. This experiment scarred his face. He then went to Tibet in search of magical secrets. He has a castle. Reed believes him to be a man of his word, trusts that he won’t lie. He has a robotic version of himself (not yet called a Doombot). That he sends a robot to battle for him is the first hint of his preference for a more dignified hands-off approach to confrontation. And, of course, we don’t see his face in this issue.
In terms of the look of Dr. Doom, the basics are there from the beginning: metal mask and armor; green cloak. We see at least the metal mask, gloves, leggings and boots. The upper half of his legs are covered by green shorts he will eventually discard. The cover looks closer to my image of Dr. Doom than the interior, in large part because his armored arm is completely exposed on the cover. Later versions of Doom will only be slight alterations of this look, basically a little less cloth and some added trimmings.
What’s missing? We don’t have an origin for the armor yet, though we know his face was scarred. And there’s no hint Dr. Doom is a monarch. He has a castle, but it seems to be in America and gets destroyed; he flees to another castle. There’s no mention of why Von Doom was obsessed with contacting the netherworld. There’s also no hint that Ben knew Doom from college; only Reed mentions knowing him.
There’s a lot left to the imagination even in the parts of Doom’s origin that we learn. On the experiment that got him expelled, we are told only that he “brought forth powers even he could not control”. We get only those words and an explosion. The previous panel tells us of his experiments to contact the netherworld.
On the pirate story, it’s a generally cool yarn with pirate battles aboard ship. Probably the best depictions of action thus far in the series. The twist (spoiler!) is that Thing disguises himself as a pirate with a black beard and himself gives birth to the legend of Blackbeard!
As has been the case consistently so far, my favorite character moments come from the Thing. Here, he decides he likes being the famous pirate Blackbeard and wants to stay in the past. He has his crew attack his former teammates and send them off in a row boat. A twister makes his career as legendary pirate short-lived. He repents his mistakes.
48 hours?!? Dr. Doom gave them 48 hours to find the treasure of Blackbeard… and then sends them back in time to some seemingly random spot on land. That timetable seems to misunderstand how big the ocean is. He expected the Fantastic Four to orient themselves to a new time, find a ship, sail it to meet Blackbeard’s ship, and battle Blackbeard and take the treasure in 48 hours? I don’t know what’s more unbelievable: the plan or that it worked. The only explanation I can think of is that Doom knew more about how events would play out than he let on. Perhaps he knew the truth about Blackbeard to begin with and that’s why he sent the Fantastic Four.
It’s nice that Invisible Girl gets to save the day, especially after spending most of the issue as a hostage. Her power to turn invisible is only of so much use against armored villains or monsters.
There’s a letter in the fan page from Roy Thomas of Sullivan, Mo. You know, about ten years from this issue, a guy named Roy Thomas from Missouri will start writing the Fantastic Four. I wonder…
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 56/100
Significance: ★★★★★
The issue introduces Dr. Doom. And has pirates. Some good, well-depicted, action.
Characters:
- Doctor Doom
- Mr. Fantastic
- Human Torch
- Thing
- Invisible Girl
Minor characters:
- Mr. Spliny (a pirate in the past)
Story notes:
- Books on Dr. Doom’s desk in opening panel: “Demons”; “Science and Sorcery”
- Dr. Doom’s fortress described as “miles away” from FF headquarters
- Johnny is reading a Hulk comic. Does that imply this story takes place long enough after the events of Incredible Hulk #1 for a comic based on them to have already been published?
- Thing loses temper; Ben and Johnny fight; Reed ties up ben
- Dr. Doom’s helicopter looks like a shark
- Origin of Dr. Doom: Victor Von Doom “brilliant science student” at Reed’s college “fascinated by sorcery and black magic”; forbidden experiments included trying to contact the netherworld; his dorm room exploded when he brought forth powers which even he could not control”; his face was “badly disfigured” and he was expelled. He went to Tibet, “seeking forbidden secrets of black magic and sorcery”.
- Mr. Fantastic had believed Dr. Doom to be dead. Not sure how to reconcile that assertion with him also saying the last he heard was that Doom was wandering Tibet.
- The fantastiflare gets used; every issue so far.
- Dr. Doom has a tiger
- Dr. Doom has a time machine.
- Blackbeard’s treasure includes gems that belonged to Merlin and would make their owner invincible.
- Johnny expresses worry that the gems are at the bottom of the sea where Namor might find them. It’s a big ocean, kid.
- Asterisk references FF #4
- If Von Doom got expelled from college, how is he a doctor?
#13 story in reading order
Next: Amazing Fantasy #15
Previous: Incredible Hulk #2
