Issue #5

 Issue #5

Today we are covering issue #5 of the Fantastic Four (I know we’ve been on them for awhile, but I’m just doing chronological order here). What’s really exciting about this one is that we are finally getting introduced to the F4’s most famous enemy: Dr. Doom. I’m expecting big things from this issue, which was published on July 1st, 1962. Let’s get into it. 

We start off with Dr. Doom playing with F4 dolls and talking about how he’s going to defeat them, standard villain stuff. When we cut to the F4, we get a cheeky nod to the Incredible Hulk in the form of a comic Torch is reading, he even compares the Thing to the Hulk, a prelude to the many epic fights they will have. This was a little confusing to me because I didn’t think the Hulk even existed at this point, they don’t have any comics of him yet from when I checked. Maybe he was just an idea at this point? I really don’t know. Anyway, Thing gets mad at Torch for comparing him to a comic book monster, and takes it from him. Torch burns Thing’s hands, and Thing flips the table they are standing near as Torch flames on and flies away from Thing. Reed breaks it up. Reed ties up Thing, and Torch gets put out by Sue. Just as they break the fight up, their power goes out, which is said to be impossible because they have their own generator. Doom is above them in a helicopter, and he puts a giant net over their building. The F4 can’t break or burn it, they are trapped. Doom announces himself, and Reed recognizes the voice. He quickly explains that he had gone to school with Doom, he had been fascinated by the dark arts and magic, and while being brilliant, was only interested in forbidden experiments. Doom got expelled when he blew up his dorm, and they had never seen him again. Doom tells them to send Sue out to ensure they will do as he says, and after the Four recognize they can’t break the net, Sue decides she will go with him. Doom then says he wants the rest of them to board his helicopter, to which the rest of them agree. Doom sends down a cage, and they all get in. 

Once they reach Doom’s home, we find he lives in a literal fortress, and he tells the F4 that he has a mission for the three men: he has invented a time travel device, he wants them to go in the past and get an item for him. We find from Doom that he is fairly honorable, like Reed. Reed trusts that Doom may be evil, but he’s not a liar. Doom even swears to free Sue if the rest of them fail to come back from their mission, to which Doom agrees. Doom presses a button, and the men are in the past. They first decide they need costumes, to which they steal some from nearby thieves that stole them. After hitting up a pub, some pirates see the three and decide to recruit them. They tell a waitress to spike their drinks, and put them to sleep. When the three wake up, they are locked in the hold of the ship. However, given that they have superpowers and the pirates don’t, the men quickly turn the tables and defeat them. 

Just as the men have taken the ship, they are attacked by another one, presumably Blackbeards, given that it’s loaded with treasure. Torch puts his body on water, to create a steam smokescreen. While Torch distracts, Reed stretches himself to the other ship, and gets the members of theirs to walk across him. Reed finds the treasure, only to find that Blackbeard is actually the Thing (I don’t really understand it either). Reed empties the chest and puts in a bunch of chains, saying that they didn’t promise to bring the treasure, only the chest. Just as Torch and Reed are ready to go home, Thing says he doesn’t want to leave. He’s considered a monster at home, but here? He’s a hero. He has the pirates tie up Torch and Reed, knowing that Torch is too wet to flame and if you tie Reed with a sail, he can’t stretch. He tosses them in a lifeboat, planning on hiding behind the fog so they can’t find him. Just then, a twister hits the boat and splits it apart. Torch is drowning, but Reed saves him as the wind freed him from the sail. They wash up on a beach, to find the Thing there. Thing apologizes, saying he got carried away and lost his head. To be honest, I think they’re letting Thing off too easily, but whatever. They find the chest, and get ready to go home. Doom brings them home at this point.

Doom explains that the gems in the chest will make him invincible, as the original owner of them was. Torch lays an easter egg, saying that the gems were scattered in the water, what if Sub Mariner ever finds them (he was the villain in the last comic). Doom opens the chest, only to find that there are nothing but chains. Thing immediately attacks. To his surprise, he breaks Doom with one hit, only to find it’s a robot. The F4 has been tricked. Doom is really in a secret room, and he tells the F4 he’s draining their room of all oxygen. Next to Doom, Sue turns invisible and manages to open the escape door to rush toward the others. Torch can’t flame on without air, and the others can’t barely move. Just as they are about to suffocate, Sue finds a secret button to open the door. The F4 decide they won’t fight Doom in his fortress, as he probably trapped it. Reed and Thing push the door open to allow an escape, and Torch uses his heat to boil a moat into glass, so they can walk across. Torch then surrounds the fortress with fire, expecting to smoke Doom out. Doom is ready for this, and says he’s fine with it burning down. He grabs a jetpack and jet out of there. Torch sees him and flies after him, but he can’t keep up and eventually flames out. The F4 go home, and Doom escapes. 

Overall, this was a great issue. Doom is a very compelling villain who thinks of ways out of every situation, it loses points for the pirate stuff, that was mediocre.

8/10