Random Happenstance

You can know, full well, that comic books--in particular, Marvel Comics--are all about the illusion of change; but that still won't always silence that little part of you that sometimes wishes continuity was better referenced. Like, sometimes when something cures the Hulk, and then something else un-cures him: I'm really sure the Silver Surfer has cured the Hulk, for good, barring another massive dose of gamma rays. Why not ask the Surfer for help again? He's a good guy, he'd help you out! Today I kind of wish the Fantastic Four taunted Doom more: "Remember that time you saw your face too many times and lost your mind? Ah, good times." And then Sue would tell the boys not to be mean, while trying not to smirk herself...From 1978, Fantastic Four #200, "When Titans Clash!" Written and edited by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Joe Sinnott.

This was, of course, the double-sized 17th anniversary issue; and it would be the wrap-up of some long-running plotlines. Well, long-running for the time, I guess. The Fantastic Four had been broken up (damn you, Yoko!...wait, that's not right, on multiple levels...) since #191, and Reed had just recent got his powers back--not sure when he lost 'em, but he didn't have them in #184 anyway. I don't know if Reed's stretching, which was already seen as kind of the weakest power set of the Four, was also seen as passé or silly; or if they maybe didn't intend for him to go without so long! But this was also a big one for Doctor Doom. In the previous issue, Doom's heretofore unseen son was introduced, and just as quickly dispatched, since it was a clone and appeared to be partially Thingifying, probably due to cosmic rays. (Valeria was still alive at this point, but I think she had been phased out already, possibly because she served to humanize Doom, and that might not have been what the writers thought the readers wanted then. Doom is in full scenery-chewing glory here, throwing the epithets like "lackey" and "poltroon" around.)

Doom had made a passing, probably not in-good-faith attempt to use Latveria's laws to make himself a more legitimate ruler; but the peasants were still revolting. They were led by former prince Zorba, who was another of the increasing number of prisoners Doom had experimented on, who later escaped with new powers and a fairly sizable grudge: he had a "nega-beam" blaster installed where his right eye had been. (Doom had previously lost control of Darkoth, perhaps the prior year.) Narratively, it feels like Zorba is there so the FF doesn't seem like the CIA, there to depose a foreign leader they don't like and install a puppet they can control! He's not really important and his brief reign later was a bit crap. But, there is a brief moment, after Doom turns a cyclone on the peasants; where one of his lackeys briefly wonders if it's his own wife and child he hears screaming out there...but he couldn't do anything, against Doom. Doom then heads for the United Nations, since they were about to pass a resolution "to condemn fair Latveria...and outlaw her from their organization." Which...does Doom really care, or is he just offended? I suspect he thinks glorious Latveria should be above reproach or criticism...as should Doom. (Reading that above page today, it almost reads like Johnny's suggesting to Zorba, since they're right there...no? Your loss.)

While the rest of the Four race to New York, Reed parachutes himself in to face Doom at his hidden lab. Doom (and for that matter, Ben) disparage Reed's powers, but all the traps seem almost designed for him specifically to get out of? For the time, it's a pretty brutal fight after Reed gets through said usual barrage of traps; with Doom eventually trying to strangle the truth out of Reed: did he sabotage him, all those years ago, and wreck his face? (Wait, can you strangle Reed? For some reason I feel like he could stretch out of that, even with Doom giving him the full Homer/Bart choke...) Reed says no, he had tried to help him, and Doom is furious, less at Reed's 'lies' than him suggesting Doom could ever be wrong. Ben, Sue, and Johnny are swarmed by mind-controlled U.N. delegates, until Reed manages to get Doom's mask off, while they were inside his "solartron complex." Without his mask and protective lenses, Doom is driven mad, by the sight of his face reflected at him millions of times.

I could be reading too much into this one, but was this possibly intended, to be the last of Doctor Doom? Probably not, sure. But I've lost track: continuity wise, what was Doom's next appearance? I don't think he would appear in Fantastic Four again until the next big anniversary issue, #236's "Terror in a Tiny Town!" But earlier that same year, Doom would appear in Dazzler #3! Anyway, the cover for this one was in the Bullpen Bulletins feature that month, and I remember seeing it in some comic, but it would be almost twenty years until I'd get a copy for myself. I think it was one of the first things I ever got on eBay?

Bonus: the subscription ad from that issue. I've mentioned, I liked it when Conan was treated as basically a Marvel hero and included in those. But, check it out: besides hyping up Star Wars (with the cover to #15!) to leverage sales, note that you could've subscribed to Godzilla there--but not Uncanny X-Men!