Issue - 236

Title - Terror in a Tiny Town

Writer - John Byrne

Art - John Byrne

 

Summary:

In the town of Liddleville, Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben live perfect lives...at least on the surface. Ben is married to Alicia Masters (who can now see) and runs the local pub. Reed works at the local university, but is tormented by the school director, Professor Vaughn. ALl four suffer from nightmares of another life where they are victims of cosmic rays and become super-heroes. One night, Reed's mind dreams of a package arriving at the Baxter Building. The team is taken over by some force which sends them to a castle in the Adirondack Mountains. There they meet the Puppet Master. Reed awakens, now aware that they have been captured by the Puppet Master. But he still wonders how he managed to strip them of their powers. After convincing the others, together they confront Puppet Master. Reed questions him on where he found the technology to enact his scheme, the answer comes from above. Doom's voice booms over them as they realize that not only are they in puppet bodies made from Pupper Master's radioactive clay, but they are in miniature bodies. Doom has all of them hooked up to a machine surrounding the faux town. Even though the charade is over, Doom leaves them to live out their lives in Liddleville and he returns to his efforts to reclaim Latveria. Reed deduces that the miniature bodies must have been cloned from their real bodies. So the potential for their powers exists even in the clones. Using equipment in the university lab, Reed restores their powers and together they escape Liddleville. Luring Doom into the control room for Liddleville, Reed and the team use his armor to trigger the mind-transfer system returning them to their bodies. The shock however triggers Doom's own armor to send his mind into Liddleville and into the miniature body of Vincent Vaughn. The team leave the castle and take Doom's comatose body with them. Doom observes their departure. He prepares to engage the transfer system again to return to his body but is stopped by Puppet Master. He has reprogrammed all the robot occupants of Liddleville to obey him. Masters orders the robots to chase Doom and kill him. Trapped in Liddleville, Doom flees.

 

 

Notes:

  • 20th Anniversary issue

  • Sue Storm sees Doom's scarred face for the first time.

  • Doom's life in Liddleville continues in Micronauts # 41.

  • For an alternate take on this story, see What If #109 [Volume 2]

  • For more uses of Liddleville Technology see X-Force # 63 and Hulk #20.

  • Reprinted in Marvel Super Heroes Megazine #5

  • Collected in Fantastic Four Visionaries - John Byrne, Volume 1 and Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus - Volume 1

 

 

Title - The Challenge of Dr. Doom

Writer - Stan Lee

Art - Jack Kirby

 

Notes:

  • A retelling of Fantastic Four #5 with H.E.R.B.I.E in place of the Human Torch.

  • The story is actually Jack Kirby's breakdowns for the 1978 episode of the Fantastic Four cartoon, "The Fantastic Four Meet Doctor Doom."

 
 

Comments:

Byrne's tale manages to celebrate not only the Fantastic Four, but Doom himself in great style. The issue marks the introduction of Liddleville into Doom's cache of technological marvels, one that has been revisited a couple of times. Story-wise I'm quite fond of the idea of Doom setting himself up as the head of a university. His taunting of Reed makes for some cruel psychological torture. The reveal that everyone is just a miniaturized, with Doom staring down at them from the heavens is just...classic. Bottom Line: * * * * * out of 5

 


 

Return to Classic Period