9:09 PM
Brad
Cover Date: July 1963
Plot Overview: The Human Torch returns to the Baxter Building during a blackout and finds that his teammates have been shrunk and are being sucked into a vent. The Torch acts quickly and welds the vent shut. The others return to their normal size. Each member admits that they've randomly shrunk in size previously and were ashamed to admit it to their teammates. They each relate their story and decide to call upon Ant-Man.
Ant-Man hear about their problems and travels to the Baxter Building. He gives Reed a sample of his formula in the hopes it might slow the process down next time they shrink.
Time passes and one day the various members hear a woman warning them of Dr. Doom. They gather together and suddenly shrink into the Microverse. They're immediately confronted by Dr. Doom who has become the ruler of this world. The Thing tries to attack Doom but he shrinks them to an even smaller size. The FF try to put up a fight but Doom and his minions manage to capture them.
The FF are sent to a prison in a pool of acid. They meet the king and Princess Pearla. She mentions that Dr. Doom is planning to sell all of them to an alien race called the Tok. Reed tries to think of ways to escape. Meanwhile, the Ant-Man comes searching for the FF and realizes they've been shrunk and follows them to the Microverse. Ant-Man fights the guards of Doom but gets taken out and captured.
Meanwhile, in the prison. Reed figures out that the Walls can block the acid. They manage to pull parts of the walls off and make a capsule to escape. They float to the surface and enlarge themselves upon leaving the capsule. Sue helps Ant-Man escape and then steals the gun of Dr. Doom as the heroes win the day. Doom flees and heads back to the normal sized world. The FF and Ant-Man follow him back. The FF plan to hunt down Doom as the issue comes to an end.
My Take: This was a really fun issue from start to finish. The characters have really been fleshed out now and you're getting good interaction every issue. You can really see how Marvel had become a different entity with characterization and heroes that were easier to relate to by this point.
The art was really good for this issue. Probably one of the strongest issues of Fantastic Four from an art perspective so far. Doom has been tweaked and looks more like the Doom you see in the books today.
I was getting kind of tired of Namor and Doom trading off as the bad guys but they gave him a break for several issues so he seemed fresh here. I liked how Dr. Doom was in the same situation he was left at the last time we saw him. That was a nice bit of continuity. Ant-Man also was a fun guest in this issue. He made sense and added to the story.
Dr. Doom trying to sell them to aliens was kind of ridiculous sub-plot though. It seemed to be tacked on and mostly filler to flesh out the 22 pages of comic here. It wasn't bad, it just felt like an unneeded layer of story. I don't feel like Dr. Doom needed that for motivation. Just capturing the Fantastic Four and having them as prisoners would seem to be enough for him. The story was a fun read but I think this part was kind of a big flaw to it.
I'd give this **1/2 out of *****.
Notes: This is the first appearance of the Microverse. It's a fairly minor part of the Marvel Universe but versions of it will pop up over the years. The last several months have also seen the characters starting to appear in each other's books more. The Marvel Universe is feeling more like a working single universe instead of just titles loosely existing in the same space.
Next Issue: Tales to Astonish #45
Posted in: Alicia Masters,Dr. Doom,Fantastic Four,Henry Pym,Human Torch,Reed Richards,Sue Richards,Thing,Wasp
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