Issue- 20
Title- This Man....This Demon
Writer- Larry Lieber & Roy Thomas
Art- Frank Giacoia
Summary:
Using a 3-D imager, Doom replays tapes of his previous battles against the Fantastic Four with the hopes of discovering some way to defeat them. Suddenly the 3-D images come to life and turn against him. After defeating the images, the villainous alchemist known as Diablo appears. He offers Doom an alliance so that they may take over the planet together. Doom refuses the offer. Diablo then reveals that he has captive a young woman from Doom's past, Valeria. The sight of Valeria stirs in Doom memories of their childhood together and the love they once shared. Diablo leaves Doom to ponder the life of his captive. Ultimately Doom agrees to the alliance. The two villains meet at Doom's castle in America to discuss his plan. Diablo reveals that the key to his plan is to use Doom's time platform to travel back in time and take over America at the climax of the Civil War. Doom shuns his plan and the two begin to battle. In the process Doom frees Valeria and uses the time platform to banish Diablo to a future where life no longer exists on Earth. Seeing Doom gloat at his enemy's defeat repulses Valeria and she leaves him wanting never to see him again.
Comments:
This story follows a formula which would eventually become the staple of the Super-Villain Team-Up title. Villains meet, try to team up, can't and finally just fight it out. Yet the story manages to be so much more than that. The Doom we see here is torn. We can see here through the cracks in the armor the last vestiges of Victor von Doom as known by Valeria. Its these little peeks at the man that once was, and could have been, that really makes the character stand out against other villains. I think its very easy to write a villain that just wants powers, lusts to destroy. And Doom does have aspects of that, aspect which I think are too often fleshed out by writers. But what many forget, and is so well displayed here is that other Doom...the tragic Doom...the traumatized Doom. I think its safe to say that just as Bruce Wayne was left a little crazy by the death of his parents, the same can be said of Doom.
This story is notable because it introduced the character of Valeria and retro-inserts her into Doom's origin. We get here a reprise of Doom's origin from Fantastic Four Annual #2, albeit with some minor alterations and one big one. Instead of Doom being recruited into State University, its stated here that he just leaves Latveria.
Bottom Line: * * * * * out of 5
Notes:
-
Doom's 3D tape player shows scenes from Fantastic Four #39-40 and Fantastic Four #57-60.
-
First appearance of Valeria
-
Doom's origin in Latveria is retold here to include Valeria. In this version Doom is not recruited into university but rather leaves Latveria of his own accord. See also Fantastic Four Annual #2, Fantastic Four #278, and Books of Doom for other versions of his origin.
-
Doom's castle in the Adirondack Mountains is seen to be under US military guard
-
At some point after Fantastic Four #23, Reed Richards apparently reinstalled the time platform back into Doom's castle in the Adirondack Mountains
-
Reprinted in Giant-Sized Super-Villain Team-Up #1 and Essential Super-Villain Team-Up
-
This was the last issue before the Marvel Super-Heroes series returned to being solely a reprint title.
