Issue - 47
Title - Doomsmasque 
Writer - Gerry Conway
Art - Gene Colan

Summary:
After the traumatic death of his long lost father, Namor is stricken with amnesia. Wandering around the surface and wounded from a fight with Tiger-Shark, he eventually comes under the care of a young woman, Cindy Jones. Doom appears at the woman's doorstep and it is Namor who answers. Immediately upon seeing him, he recognizes Doom as an enemy even though he does not remember him. The two fight until Cindy begs them to cease. Doom invites them to his embassy where he tries to fill in the gaps of Namor's memory. Eventually Namor agrees to accompany Doom. Together they travel to New Orleans where AIM has a secret base. Doom desires something that AIM possessed and he believes he can get now that their former leader, MODOK, is dead. However unknown to him, MODOK lives and observes their approach.

Issue - 48
Title - Twilight of the Hunted

Writer - Gerry Conway
Art - Gene Colan

Summary:
As Doom, Namor, and Cindy approach their destination, Doom insists that Cindy be left behind. Namor refuses on the grounds that she saved his life. When Doom refuses to change his mind, Namor leaves with Cindy. However Doom has one of his men trail them into the city. There Cindy takes Namor to he previous home. It turns out she worked for a drug dealer who becomes incensed that she would return and with a companion. The dealer pulls a gun, but the man who was following Namor shoots the dealer first. Quickly Doom takes Cindy as a hostage and forces Namor to continue to help him. Namor reluctantly agrees. Doom uses Namor to scout ahead as he attempts to breach AIM's underwater base. After successfully navigating through the base defenses, Namor reaches a chamber where he meets MODOK face to face. Surrounded by his army of androids, Namor is taken by MODOK and sent below where MODOK keeps the cosmic cube.

Notes:

• Evidently Doom is popular in the media. The police recognize Doom as "the guy they're always doin TV shows on."

• Doom identifies himself as Baron Victor von Doom.

• Due to the failures of human troops, MODOK decides to use an android army. Doom has also experimented with using an android army. See

• Doom saves Cindy from being raped by one her own men.

Issue - 49
Title - The Dream Stone

Writer - Gerry Conway
Art - Gene Colan

Summary:
Surrounded by MODOK's android army, Namor attempts to escape but is brought down by one of MODOK's mindblasts. MODOK then calls upon Doom to come out of his ship and talk, else Namor dies. With Doom outside of his ship, MODOK sends his androids against him and the two become embroiled in a massive battle. Ultimately Doom defeats the androids and MODOK vanishes as he was only a projection. Meanwhile, Namor escapes from his Android captors and finds the chamber holding the cube. With the press of a button, he unleashes its limitless power. Rushing back to the main chamber he warns Doom to go no further because the with the power of the cube unleashed, it will explode. They board his ship and leave the base behind as it is engulfed in a massive explosion. Doom returns Namor and Cindy to the surface and parts with them never revealing his plans for the cube.

Comments:
I think Gerry Conway is the best writer to ever get his hands on Doom. Personally, I think he is also my favorite writer for this character. I don't think anyone else gets him so well. Its unfortunate that he didn't write the character that many times. But at least on each occasion that he did, he brought depth to Doom. It was Conway who introduced the concept of Doom's yearly battle for his mother's soul. In Astonishing Tales, he had Doom question his own methods, his honor, and as a monarch compared himself to Black Panther. Here, I was blown away by the parallels MODOK draws between Doom and himself. The idea of Doom wearing armor to isolate himself from the rest of humanity and thus becoming a cold machine is fascinating. In a weird way, you could say that Doom's conversation with MODOK foreshadows the conversation Doom and his future self in Iron Man #250. There he finally sees what MODOK himself predicts. Conway also injects Doom with a lot of emotion. You actually get from this story that Doom actually cares about Namor. Both men are monarchs, but I suspect the "other affinity" that lies between Doom and Namor is that both are men that have been branded as villains by the world's standards. Really both are just misunderstood. Something else that occurs in this story, for which I am eternally grateful, is that we see Doom prevent one of his own men from raping poor Cindy Jones. I'll say only that, again, it is unfortunate that Doom is a character so inconsistently written. Doom's stance that rape is something that he does not allow is unfortunately tarnished when just a few years later, he himself is written as a predator who preys on the daughter of village folk. This story ought to be required reading for anyone who writes Doom.
Bottom Line: * * * * * out of 5 

Notes:

• At this point in time, Doom still has hopes of repairing the damage to his face as it is his motive for getting the cosmic cube. Ironically, years later, when Doom would steal the cosmic powers of the Beyonder (a being later revealed to be part of a cosmic cube), he did in fact return his face to the way it was before the accident. See Secret Wars.