Title- The Master Plan of Doctor Doom
Issue- 23
Writer- Stan Lee
Art- Jack Kirby
Summary:
While the FF deal with an escaped dinosaur from Doom's time platform, a trio of criminals escape justice via bail posted by an unknown benefactor. The mysterious bondsman turns out to be Doctor Doom. He quickly reveals that his master plan to destroy the FF involves enhancing each of their innate skills, strength, resistance to fire, and sense of hearing, in order to defeat the quartet. Back at the FF HQ, Ben, Sue and Johnny are dissatisfied with Reed's leadership and try to vote for a new one. They all however vote for themselves. Seeing that their election goes nowhere, each goes their separate ways. Ultimately each of them is lured into a trap and captured by Doom's enhanced henchmen. Johnny is tricked into a fake meeting with a Majuharah who wants to award him a one of a kind car. The Thing is fooled into visiting Yancy street to answer a letter that was sent to him. Sue is gassed by a handsome stranger who offers her flowers. Doom captures Reed himself by using a robot double of Ben to trick him.
Awakening in Doom's lair, the team
quickly breaks free of their bonds and battle Doom. When the tides turns against
him, Doom flees to a nearby chamber and reveals the reason he chose the location
as the place to hold them. The warehouse is in the path of a solar wave which
when combined with ionic dust particles, transports anything in its path into
outer space. Using her invisible force field, Sue manages to keep Doom in the
path of the wave and thus convince him to save them and himself. Thing however
just tosses Doom into space and the four of them escape into the adjacent and
unaffected chamber.
Notes:
- Mr. Fantastic Four moved Doom’s time machine, from Fantastic Four #5, to the Baxter Building for study.
- Doom’s device is able to enhance a person’s natural abilities such as what he does to Bull Brogin, “Handsome Harry” Phillips, and Yogi Dakor.
- Doom’s Cosmic Beam gun can return Ben Grimm to human form for a short time.
- Doom is able to place or remove people from other dimensions
- The gauntlet of Doom’s armor has refrigeration unit with which he can channel cold temperatures.
- By this point Doom has replaced his original armor’s external jet pack with a jet-flying belt.
- Reprinted in Marvel Collectors' Item Classic #17, Essential Fantastic Four: Volume 1 (pictured below)
Comments:
A fun adventure which is only hampered somewhat by the fast and loose playing with the laws of comic book science. First, the Thing is transformed into his normal shape, albeit for a short time, but that is a big deal. And Doom just needs a little pop gun to do it. Makes you think that if he put a little more effort he could make a bigger gun to make it permanent. I'm sure he does at some point, I probably just haven't read it. In future he does cure Sharon Ventura. Anyway, that is just one small observation. Second, solar waves? I know comic book science takes some liberties, but the idea put forth here kind of took me out of the story. Probably it wouldn't have if had grown up in a time when mankind still dreamt about reaching the moon. So that's really just as nitpick. Otherwise it is still a fun romp. The trio of enhanced crooks later show up again in Strange Tales #122 minus Doom. Lee otherwise deals with the tensions between the group thus adding some drama to the team. This however is touched on only lightly and probably done better elsewhere. I found Kirby's art a little off in some places but on the whole it is his usual great stuff. The winner is the cover, that is a Kirby/Doom classic. Like most issues in this period, you won't find this at the bottom of the quarter bin, look for a good reprint or get the Essential Fantastic Four volume 2. Bottom Line: *** out of 5