9:16 PM
Brad
Cover Date: January 1963
Plot Overview: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby make their Marvel Universe debut here. They're working on a story for the Fantastic Four when Dr. Doom makes his return. He forces them to call Reed Richards so that he can ambush him. Reed arrives and Doom successfully captures him.
Doom explains to Reed that after their last encounter he encountered a superior race of aliens. Doom shows off his newest trick and switches bodies with Reed. The rest of the FF arrive and Doom as Reed has the FF capture Reed as Doom. The Torch and Thing offer some ideas but Doom has the best idea. They put Reed in this tube prison. After the FF leave, Doom reveals that Reed will run out of oxygen in about an hour.
Back at the Baxter Building the other members of the FF discover zoo animals that have been shrunk to a tiny size. They confront Doom Reed about if he's the one that stole them from the zoo. Doom Reed explains that he wants to shrink the FF to increase their powers. The FF are excited by this idea and Doom Reed reveals that he's going to shrink them into nothingness.
Reed Doom manages to escape and arrives at the apartment of Alicia Masters. Sue also happens to be there and KOs Reed Doom. Alicia senses an inner good in Doom. The Torch and Thing arrive. Reed Doom pleads with them and Thing hesitates. They decide to take him back to Doom Reed. During the encounter the Torch and Thing sense something off about Doom Reed.
The Torch creates a mirage and Doom Reed reveals himself. He loses his mental control and they switch back to their real bodies. Doom tries to fight them off but wanders into the reducing ray. Doom shrinks into nothing. Reed finds it to be a fitting end as the issue comes to a close.
My Take: Boy, this issue was a real mess. Dr. Doom spent a whole page explaining this ridiculous idea to the other members of the Fantastic Four. And honestly, who would believe that? This is a case where the characters were dumbed down in order for the villain to get one over on them. Dr. Doom's idea wouldn't even make sense to a lay person as he said at the time. And you would think he could've just said they had to shrink down to go do something for the U.S. government or something like that.
I just didn't like this issue at all. It was too complicated, the logic gaps were hard to overlook and it just came off poorly. It was also a fairly boring issue as it felt like people sat around talking for the entire issue.
I can't really think of anything about this issue that I enjoyed. It took me forever to read because I kept getting bored with it. This was easily the least enjoyable issue I've read thus far during this project. On the bright side of things, the Impossible Man makes his first appearance in Fantastic Four #11. He's one of my favorite villains.
A quick side note to all of this, they really need to get some new villains in there. I think Dr. Doom and Namor combined have appeared in 5 out of the 10 issues so far. I know that they're the main bad guys but I get tired of seeing the same antagonists over and over again. Hopefully starting with issue #11 that starts to improve.
I'd give this 3/4* out of *****
Notes: This is the first appearance of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in a Marvel comic.
Next Issue: Tales To Astonish #39
Posted in: Alicia Masters,Dr. Doom,Fantastic Four,Human Torch,Reed Richards,Sue Richards,Thing
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