issue- 67-500, collected in Fantastic Four Vol.2 :Unthinkable
writer-Mark Waid
art-Mike Wieringo
issue- 67-500, collected in Fantastic Four Vol.2 :Unthinkable
writer-Mark Waid
art-Mike Wieringo
Summary:
Sacrificing his one true love, Valeria, Doctor Doom is given magical powers
beyond imagination by a cabal of demons. He then uses these powers to mount
his latest strike against the Fantastic Four. Using the baby Valeria Richards
as his familiar, Doom strikes. While Franklin Richards is sucked into the
Netherworld, the FF team struggle to defeat Doom's magic with Reed's technology.
Quickly all their attempts become futile and they surrender. With the team
held captive, Doom offers Reed a single chance to defeat him. He has locked
Reed in his library of magical texts and challenges him to master magic and
defeat him on those terms. Alone in the library, Reed admits defeat, how
can he master something that he holds no belief in? Then answer comes to
him in the form of Dr. Strange who begins to instruct Reed in miniscule spells.
The both of them are discovered quickly and Strange is only able to provide
Reed with a single magical relic, however to use it he must discover the
right magical word. When he does, Reed uses it to free the team and engage
in a lengthy battle with Doom. Finally Reed uses Doom's pride in order to
have him admit that he is indebted to no one. This statement angers the demons
who gave Doom his power and thus they take Doom into hell with them. The
FF team follows them and rescues Franklin and Dr. Strange. As Reed is exiting
hell, Doom calls to him and begs Reed to save him. For a brief moment Doom
admits that it was his error that caused the accident that turned him to
his evil path and he apologizes to Reed. However Reed sees this as merely
another ploy and concedes to let him rot in hell, but Doom reaches out for
one last act of vengeance. Reed returns to the regular world but his face
is horribly disfigured.
Comments:
Where to begin? The biggest Doom event since his comeback in the early days
of Heroes Return, and I don't like it. Still, let's start first with the
good things about this story. First and foremost, Doom uses magic. This is
something that is highly underused in Doom's character however seems to been
given a slight resurgence in this era. In previous FF appearances in
this period he has used magic in some fashion or other. Second...wait, I
can't think of a second. The concept is high caliber and nothing short of
what I would expect from the very skilled Mark Waid. This is a guy who gave
us the Man Without a Country arc in Captain America, who wrote Kingdom Come,
and yet here his execution is less than [pardon the pun] fantastic. My major
gripe with Unthinkable is that I don't fancy his characterization of the
FF or Doom. The humor is good so far that it makes the comic fun. However
in this grim tale I find the FF not acting like the FF. Reed's descent into
desperation happens far too quickly. The way the family reacts is also unusual.
It seems to me that everyone is looking to Reed to for answers, which is
some backwards thinking. If I remember correctly both Ben and Sue have led
the team in Reed's absence. If Reed freaks out then one or the other takes
charge, they don't just stand there and say "Reed, do something!"
Well, enough of the FF, and onto Doom. Problems here....Doom's armor looks like crap. I mean really. His head looks like the Thing minus the rocky texture. His shoulder blades are enormous compared to the rest of his body. The number one complaint I have read about the armor, and I feel strongly about myself, the armor is supposed to be the skin of his love Valeria. That armor looks nothing like human skin. Doom's character.....yeah he's evil, but boy is he evil here. Throwing Franklin into hell is a little strong, even for Doom. I don't think Doom has ever been violent towards children, and I think it is a little inappropriate. However I can understand that this was needed in order to set up Waid's future arc 5th Wheel and its addressing Franklin's trauma.* My disagreement is that Doom was the vehicle that had to provide the trauma. Another example of Doom's extreme ruthlessness is his murder of his love Valeria. I find this atrocious. The recently released FF encyclopedia also brings up a good point. Valeria was Boris's granddaughter. Killing her in order to get unlimited power was cold, even for Doom. This brings me to my next point. A fatal flaw in the plot is that Doom is dealing with Demons to get power. This reeks of the same thing that happened to Doom's mother. Doom knows what happened to her for dealing with demons. He spent a lifetime trying to get her back. Why would Doom make the same mistake? We could possibly call this poetic justice or irony however it seems just plain dumb to me. It could have worked better if Doom were doing this perhaps as a part of suicide mission to kill the FF. But that's just Monday night quarter backing. Doom's scarring Reed is cruel, however considering that his ultimate goal is to kill him, I won't complain. However, after this story I assume Doom will no longer hold Reed to blame for what happened back in the college days.
The story is good, however flawed, but considering this story's significance as being the big Doom event of its year and the lead into Doom's death, I regretfully say Bottom Line: Buy It
* 9/12/05
Since writing this I have read many more Doom appearances. While I have found that there is a precedent for Doom attacking and/or mistreating children, I make a case that this is just too much. I consider it out of character and will state as much every time I see it. To the further detriment of Unthinkable's worth as a story, in Fantastic Four Annual #20 Doom also succeeds in having Franklin Richards tossed into hell. In that case, Franklin not only overcame his fear but defeated Mephisto for what he stated was a second time. Need I mention that presumably Franklin is a tad younger in this issue than he is in Unthinkable and yet he is able to cope with a visit to hell.