Fantastic Four: The Overthrow Of Doom

Reprints Fantastic Four #192-200
Written by Len Wein, Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, Roger Slifer, Keith Pollard.
Penciled by Keith Pollard, George Perez.
Inked by Joe Sinnott, Dave Hunt, Pablo Marcos.

Alternate cover.

The Fantastic Four have broken up!

Reed Richards (AKA Mr. Fantastic) has lost his stretching powers. This causes him to quit the team and the other three follow suit, believing that Reed is irreplaceable. They move out of their Baxter Building headquarters.

The members of the FF end up scattered all over the country:

Reed goes to Upstate New York and takes a job working on a project for a company called Cynthian Associates. The company seems a bit shady, but Reed is told he's doing work for "the government". He doesn't ask which government.

Johnny Storm, The Human Torch, travels to Oklahoma to compete in an auto race. But before the race is over, he's attacked by the Texas Twister. 

Texas Twister attacks the Torch.

Sue Richards, the Invisible Girl, has been offered a role in a movie that is shooting at Colossal Pictures studio in Hollywood. The studio is owned by old foe-turned-friend, Namor the Sub-Mariner. Namor has recently left Atlantis, but he and Sue are attacked by robots who want to forcibly return him to his undersea kingdom.

Namor & Sue are attacked by the Retrievers of Atlantis.

Last but not least, Ben Grimm, the Thing has taken a job as a test pilot for NASA in Houston. He is flying a new spacecraft called the Solar Shuttle when he is attacked by Darkoth, the Death Demon. It turns out Darkoth is being manipulated by the FF's old ememy Diablo, master of alchemy! 

The Thing battles Diablo.

Reed learns that the company that hired him is actually owned by his greatest foe, Doctor Doom! He used Reed to create a mind-control device that will give Doom the power to rule the world. Doom later captures Ben, Sue, and Johnny and forces Reed to finish the device. Doom also helps Reed get his powers back (through a re-creation of the accident that gave the FF their powers), but Doom has an ulterior motive. 

The Latverian resistance arrives at the gates of Castle Doom.

At the same time, Doom is facing troubles in his home country of Latveria. Doom has been ruling as its monarch for years and the citizens are beginning to revolt. He has a plan to keep power.  Doom will appoint his son, Victor Von Doom II, to the Latverian throne. This is a shock to everyone, since Doom has never mentioned that he had a son. 

Doom prepares to crown his "son" in a coronation ceremony.

A small Latverian resistance movement, led by Prince Zorba, rightful heir to the Latverian throne, is gaining strength. Reed meets up with them and they storm Doom's castle. This leads ultimately to a final one-on-one battle between Reed and Doom. If Doom wins, nothing will stop him from ruling the world!

It's Reed vs. Doom in a brutal brawl!

All that plus the return of the Red Ghost!


Review:

An enjoyable story featuring some nice art, hampered by a few things that bugged me (I'll get to them shortly). The title is a bit of a spoiler, since Doom is overthrown by the people of Latveria with help from the Fantastic Four. After this story, Doom would be absent from comics for about 2 years.

Darkoth tries to warn Ben Grimm that "death rides the space shuttle".

Story:
The last 5 issues (196-200) reprinted here are great. Marv Wolfman writes a great Doctor Doom. Doom is desperate to hold on to his throne and he's portrayed as a megalomaniac with a touch of nobility. His hatred for Reed (he blames Richards for the accident that scarred his face) has driven Doom to the verge of insanity.
 
Wolfman understands the Fantastic Four very well. Reed, Ben, Sue, and Johnny all act and talk like the characters Stan Lee wrote in the 60s. He also does a good job reuniting the FF (I always thought their break-up was a bit silly, but that's another story for another review!). Check out their reunion in the image below:

Wolfman also brings back the Torch's old friend Wyatt Wingfoot for a guest appearance, a nice nod to the Lee-Kirby years.  

But the first part of the story (reprinting FF#192-195) isn't so great. When Johnny is attacked by Texas Twister, we never learn who sent him after the Torch. Was it Doom? We're never told, and an internet search tells me that it's never revealed. 

The Red Ghost attacks Reed with a "meteor smasher"!

And Sue's visit with the Sub-Mariner feels like filler. We get a story from Namor about how he was forced to leave Atlantis because his people treated him like a god, followed by a battle with Atlantean robots who want him to return to his throne. But then he returns to Atlantis anyway? 

Len Wein, Bill Mantlo and Roger Slifer also plot and/or script a few of the issues reprinted at the beginning of the book.

Art:
Mostly excellent, with a few exceptions. Most of the book is penciled by Keith Pollard and inked by Joe Sinnott. They work great together and are one of my favorite FF art teams. Two issues reprinted here feature Pollard inked by Pablo Marcos. They don't mesh well together, their art isn't bad but it's a very noticeable drop-off in quality from Sinnott's inks. And we also get a story that features George Perez inked by Sinnott that looks great. 

Reed meets Prince Zorba, leader of the Latverian resistance.

How does it look?
Great, as good as the original issues, only glossier. This page below (and all the pages scanned here) shows how good the book looks.

Only Reed Richards can prevent Doom from ruling the world!

Fantastic Four: The Overthrow Of Doom is a strong story that features Doctor Doom at his best and fans of Pollard, Sinnott and Perez should pick up the book. But the weaker first half of the book makes it hard to give it a higher rating.

My rating:

3 Sals.

Avengers: The Private War Of Doctor Doom

Reprints Avengers #150-156, Avengers Annual #6 and Super-Villain Team-Up #9

Written by Steve Englehart,Gerry Conway,Bill Mantlo & Scott Edelman.
Penciled by George Perez, John Buscema, Jim Shooter, Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe & Jack Kirby.
Inked by John Tartaglione, Joe Sinnott, Pablo Marcos, Sal Trapani, Duffy Vohland, Mike Esposito, Herb Trimpe & Dick Ayers.

The time has come, once again, for the Avengers to select a new roster. Iron Man will be the new chair, with Captain America, Beast, Scarlet Witch,Vision, Wasp and Yellowjacket filling out the ranks.

The Avengers meet the press to announce their new line-up, when Wonder Man suddenly shows up. But he's dead?! Wonder Man is walking and talking like a brain-dead zuvembie (see below for an explanation about zuvembies). He accuses the Vision of stealing his mind before passing out. Vision is upset since this is somewhat true: his android brain is patterned after Wonder Man's dead brain.

They figure out that Wonder Man was in Louisiana before he showed up, so the Avengers fly their Quinjet to New Orleans. They learn that Wonder Man was sent to their mansion by the Black Talon, an evil fake voodoo priest who directs Wonder Man and a gang of zuvembies to attack the Avengers.

But it turns out that the real culprit behind Wonder Man's reappearance is the Living Laser. He's found the Serpent Crown and is more powerful than ever! Living Laser has a company of U.S. Army soldiers under his control and he's revived the nuclear-powered mutant man-child called Nuklo! Luckily for the Avengers, Wonder Man recovers his memory and he's able to help the Avengers in battle. Nuklo's father, the Golden Age Whizzer also plays a vital role in this conflict.

Alternate Cover

The Avengers are able to defeat Living Laser and confiscate the Serpent Crown (dumping the crown in the Pacific Ocean), but as soon as that battle is over, Vision is captured by Attuma, the barbarian warlord from Atlantis. He sends his super-powered henchman Tyrak to capture the rest of the Avengers.  But the Beast and Wonder Man get away. It turns out Tyrak's strength has been medically enhanced by Atlantean science.

The Whizzer lashes out at the Vision

Attuma places control collars on the Avengers and forces them to go after the Sub-Mariner. However, when they look for Namor at his Hydrobase, they are instead met by Doctor Doom! The collars make them a bit sluggish, so Doom easily defeats the Avengers.

Captain America stands up to Tyrak!

Beast, Wonder Man and Whizzer head off to rescue the Avengers. Unfortunately, Namor and Attuma arrive at the same time.  

Iron Man falls against Doctor Doom!

The Avengers learn that Attuma plans to make an army of super-powered Atlanteans in the mold of Tyrak. They ask Doom to join them (and Namor) in an alliance against Attuma. Will he join them? Can their combined might stop Attuma and Tyrak?

And if that isn't enough, we also get a solo story starring the Vision. The Whirlwind, an old foe of the Avengers has returned, and it's up to Vizh to stop him!

Review:

Some notes and background info on the issues reprinted in Avengers: The Private War Of Doctor Doom:
-Doctor Doom doesn't actually show up until page 141. That doesn't bother me, but the title might give you the impression that it features all Doom all the time.
-When these stories were published, Namor had recently sworn an oath of loyalty to Doom. In exchange, Doom promised to revive the population of Atlantis from a toxin-induced coma. That's why Doom was on the Hydrobase when the Avengers arrived.

-The reason why Wonder Man is a "zuvembie" rather than a zombie is because zombies were considered taboo in comics at this time and Marvel didn't want to risk offending the Comics Code Authority.  

Also, I should mention that the first issue that's reprinted here (Avengers #150) was running behind schedule when it was originally published, so 12 pages of  the story are reprinted from Avengers #16, which was published during the Silver Age (so it doesn't get reviewed here!).

Story:
There's a lot going on in this hardcover, but the multiple stories all lead into one another very smoothly. The formation of the new team leads right into the story about Wonder Man, which leads to the Serpent Crown, which leads to Attuma and Doom.  

Gerry Conway writes the bulk of Private War, with the last two parts being written by Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter. 

I like the portrayal of Doom here (by Conway and Mantlo).  Just the right amount of arrogance, dignity, and evil, but not without a twisted moral code.  

 Attuma is also well-written here. He's not an A-list villain, but here, Attuma is enough of a threat that Doom considers teaming up with the Avengers. If there's anything wrong with this story it's Tyrak. He defeats all the Avengers (except Beast, who flees) in a few pages. I guess Conway was trying to build up Tyrak as a monster-level threat, but it seemed to easy.  

And this is an interesting team of Avengers. With Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wasp & Yellowjacket, we have two married couples on the roster.    

Art:
The art here is outstanding. George Perez is still developing his style, but his pencils look great here. John Buscema and his brother Sal are just as good. Jim Shooter penciled 17 pages too. He's not in the same league as the other artists, but his work here is okay. There's also a short Vision solo story penciled by Herb Trimpe that also looks fine. Most of the inking is done by Pablo Marcos and Joe Sinnott. Their work nicely compliments the pencils here.

How does it look?:
As good as the original issues, only better. Check out this great fight scene, scanned from the book:

Extras:
We get a reprint of the letters column from Avengers #151. This column explains why half of issue # 150 was a reprint.

My rating:
The story isn't the best ever, but the pencils of Perez & the Buscema Brothers (three of the definitive Bronze Age artists in one book!) make it worth purchasing. Here's another great page from the book, in case you need any more convincing:

.5

3 and half Sals.