Issue-311-312
Writer-Steve Englehart
Art- Keith Pollard
Summary:
The Thing and She-Thing crash land in a jungle. Still coping with her recent
transformation, She-Thing seeks out a way to kill herself. She and the Thing
struggle with one another until they stumble upon a powerful robot guarding the
jungle. The robot attacks them and a battle ensues. Eventually the Black Panther
arrives and disarm the guard. Thing and She-Thing realize that they are in
Wakanda and the Panther explains that the robot, THROB, was being tested. The
Panther offers to allow them to stay at his castle however he soon reveal that
he has another guest. Doctor
Doom is visiting Wakanda exchanging his knowledge of robotics for aid in reclaiming Latveria
from Kristoff.
After the Black Panther denies his request, Doom then hitches a ride with the Panther as he
journeys to return Thing and She-Thing to the rest of the Fantastic Four. Once arrived, the group
witnesses a large parade being given in honor of the mutant team X-Factor.
The parade is suddenly attacked by Latverian storm troopers under orders
to kill Doom. The X-Factor, Fantastic Four and Doom manage to fend off the
attackers. After the battle Doom pleas with X-Factor to help him retake Latveria.
The mutant team refuses on the grounds of his previous history. Doom then
takes Beast and She-Thing hostage in order to force them to attack the Latverian
embassy. Doom retreats to the lab of Reed Richards to wait their compliance.
The mutants however follow Doom instead accompanied by the FF and The Black
Panther. Together they surprise Doom and defeat him. However Doom regains
the upper hand and forces Black Panther to give him safe passage out by threatening
Crystal’s life.
Comments:
I have never seen Doom portrayed so desperate. He is both cowardly and
dishonorable. This characterization does not lend itself well to Doom. The Black
Panther also comes off a little dull witted in my opinion. He gives into Doom’s
every whim. The developments are largely unrealistic even for a comic book.
Surely two super-hero teams could have managed to detain Doom at the end of the
issue. His blackmailing the Panther with Crystal’s life is contrived and
repetitive when you consider he used the same stratagem a few pages earlier. The
only thing of note is that these issues are Doom's first contact with Ms. Marvel
aka She-Thing. Later developments in their relationship can be traced back to
here. Nevertheless, the appearances has no real importance or bearing on Doom's
plight to retake Latveria so Bottom Line: Burn It!