Absurdity Itself

This is some sort of joke, right?

When Titans Clash!

We've come at last to the epic showdown between Doctor Doom and Reed Richards, taking place in the sensational 200th issue of Fantastic Four. In Part One, we saw the FF successfully dismantle key parts of Doom's master plan, including the transfer of his rule of Latveria to another (mandated by law)--where his successor turned out to be his own clone. Afterward, the team struggled to piece together the rest of Doom's intentions, even while Doom boarded a flight to New York with a statue representing his likeness and meant for delivery to the United Nations.

Now, the Fantastic Four have split their forces to attack Doom on two fronts: the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the Thing intercepting Doom's men with the statue at the U.N., and Mister Fantastic confronting Doom at his upstate New York lab. With Doom's stated intent being to "rule the world," the stakes are high--and for Reed, who finally meets Doom face-to-face in battle, his very life is on the line.

So what are we waiting for??

Special Delivery from Doctor Doom

Fantastic Four #200, as its ITEM! in the "Bullpen Bulletins" states, was indeed a "Major Milestone" for Marvel, though in reading the issue it comes across as so much more. It of course caps a five-part story featuring a plan by Dr. Doom to rule the world--and at twice the size of a normal-sized issue, clocking in at 46 pages (with ads), you'll come away feeling that it's done the entire story justice. Yet rather than the amount of material that's included, it's really the quality of the material that's the most impressive. There is a great deal to read in this issue, with its pace briefly pausing at times but never really letting up. But even with all the action going on, the issue remains one thing above all else: in essence, it's the definitive representation of the conflict between Victor Von Doom and Reed Richards, a subject which has never been explored in such depth before.

Nor have we seen it explored to such a degree since, and with good reason--everything needing to be said about it is presented right here within these pages, with writer Marv Wolfman demonstrating a genuine understanding of what makes these men irreconcilable. Reed and Doom have always been at odds over the root of Doom's desire for power--and while that point is directly (and viciously) dealt with in the story, we see why Dr. Doom will likely remain an enemy of the Fantastic Four and of the world. In later years, Marvel will shift Doom from megalomania to his adopting a more Machiavellian approach to the acquisition and manipulation of power; and so, in a way, this story is something of a curtain call for the display of Doom's overtly cruel persona--whereas in contemporary stories, his menace is often conveyed with a threatening demeanor and tinged with sadism.

You'll most likely also notice that this issue has the feel of an annual that has an "All New!" story, though I'm not just referring to its page count. If this makes sense, this issue actually reads better than an annual--i.e., not simply a story that was crafted for an annual. It's quite a treat to be reading a continuing story from month to month and then find the story's conclusion seamlessly transition to a double-sized issue. I wonder why Marvel didn't experiment with more of that approach to story arcs? It would have been quite profitable for them, and arguably more manageable than making large-format books the norm.

In addition, with so much material packed into this issue, it's clear from page to page that artists Keith Pollard and Joe Sinnott worked their pencils and brushes off, presenting a fluid and exciting story and making practically each panel count. The issue's cover and all the hype promise a memorable fight between Doom and Reed, and Pollard, Sinnott, and Wolfman deliver one in every sense. Both the combatants and the creative team make "When Titans Clash!" a real page-turner.

Continuing from where things left off in the prior issue, Doom is already reeling from his mad plan collapsing at every turn. Zorba, leader of the Latverian underground and the heir to the country's late king, Rudolfo, has organized pressure on Doom to step down as ruler of Latveria and pass his rule to another, as required by law. Doom, in response, presented his own son to the population, announcing his intention to name him as his successor. But the "son" was exposed as Doom's own clone; in addition, the clone was a victim of a failed experiment to transfer the powers of the captured Fantastic Four to him, an experiment which ended up altering his features and turning him against Doom.

We'll let Doom himself take things from here, while giving you an idea of his present state of mind. You'll probably agree that the word we're looking for is "unhinged":

So with tensions at the boiling point, it would be a good idea to strap yourselves in for one heck of an anniversary issue. (Though in all honesty, the person really needing to be strapped down tightly right now is probably Doom.)

The Return Of--The Swordsman!

After about twenty-five issues had passed since the Swordsman's first appearance in the pages of The Avengers--when he became a member of the team under false pretenses, only to see his membership implode due to his alliance with the Mandarin--this once-Avenger finally makes his dramatic reappearance (if you're not counting his shoehorned appearance in the first Avengers annual). But is he still gunning for the Avengers for no good reason?

Indeed, it seems there's little changed in the Swordsman. The man is still slithering his way, if haughtily, through the criminal underworld, though now he's apparently gone into business as an informal sword-for-hire. It's in such a business meeting that we catch up with him--and his prospective employer turns out to be someone we've seen just recently:

Yes, Egghead, who obviously escaped from the space station where Hawkeye's brother, Barney Barton, lost his life. As it happens, that earlier incident and this story have the Swordsman in common, if indirectly.  In his original appearance, we'd already seen  how the Swordsman's origin coincided with that of Hawkeye--a story which Egghead now recounts, with the Swordsman learning this time that Barton was present, as well:

And so Egghead rears his egg-head again to menace the Avengers within just a day or two since his last defeat, this time by proxy. But while the Swordsman may be willing to take his employer's money without needing to know more, there are still a few questions left to untangle. It's obvious that Egghead is still pursuing his obsession with Henry Pym--but why would the Swordsman still carry a grudge against Hawkeye, a grudge that really had no foundation? And why didn't Barton hold the Swordsman accountable for the attempted murder of his brother? Whatever the answers turn out to be, you have to admit the prospect of the Swordsman taking on the Avengers with nothing but a sword, confidence, and a truckload of daring could well be something to see.

Laugh With Me, Not At Me

Can YOU

Name This Marvel Villain??

The Son of Doom!

In this third installment of our look at the issues leading up to the two-hundredth issue of Fantastic Four, things are looking pretty bad for the FF. On the other hand, things look great for Doctor Doom, as he initiates the transfer of their powers to the individual he's referring to as his son. And we should give him his moment, since, let's face it, there are few villain moments to match that of Dr. Doom relishing the culmination of an evil plan:

Though we should really clarify that there are several parts to Doom's master plan this time around, and his triumph over the FF represents only the second stage--the first being the restoration of Reed Richards' stretching powers. Still, I doubt any of us are brave enough to stop Doom from relishing when he feels like it--and a victory over the FF is nothing to sneeze at. But Doom's hold on victory may prove to be tenuous, with this issue's cover indicating that even his son will move against him.

And with Father's Day just around the corner, too.

Will this father and son end their line in mutual destruction?

Death Of A Hero!

As uncelebrated a character as he is, you wouldn't think Egghead would have gotten the mileage he has as a villain; but he's been around awhile and gone up against some heavy hitters in Marvel's stable, most notably the Avengers. He's an odd egg, that Egghead. It's anyone's guess how the guy has gotten his hands on the resources to cook up the schemes that he has. For some reason, while I find the character repugnant, I also find him oddly fascinating. I find it equally fascinating that, periodically, it will occur to a Marvel editor or writer that we haven't seen Egghead for awhile, and thus feel he's long overdue to make an appearance again. How does Egghead occur to anyone, I wonder. At some point I feel certain that we'll see him scheming against Asgard, and confounding Thor in the process.

Yet that seems unlikely, since, the last time we saw Egghead, he'd finally met his end, thanks to a timely shot from Hawkeye. But one of Egghead's past schemes is relevant to that story, because Hawkeye had mentioned that he'd had a score to settle with Egghead--and that vendetta was born in an Avengers tale published almost 14 years earlier, and the destruction of a small city in the midwest:

But while this might appear to be a simple story where Egghead has his finger on the trigger of a WMD and must be stopped, the story will also serve to spotlight Hawkeye on a personal level, in his days on the team shortly after he gave up his bow and arrows to become Goliath. And when the story has reached its end--well, if I were Egghead, I'd want to find the nearest hole and scurry into it.

The Eyes of Sauron

OR: "Lord Of The Wings!"


It might be interesting to come across a book which compiled the thoughts of Marvel writers and artists on just how they came up with brand-new villains for our heroes to contend with. Because I can't easily imagine what was involved in pulling together a villain like Sauron--a man-like pteranodon that was such an odd mixture of powers, you'd think his creative team drew them randomly from a hat. "A pteranodon?" you ask. "Why a pteranodon of all things? I can't even spell 'pteranodon.'" Now you're beginning to see a little of the confusion involved with Sauron. It's obvious from Sauron's origin in X-Men #60 that writer Roy Thomas and artist Neal Adams took pains to create a believable backstory for this new X-Men villain--but I think that part of that pain was transferred to the reading experience.

Let's take a look at some of the odd pieces which make up our taloned evil-doer. We might as well start with his origin, which is strange enough--a young boy named Karl Lykos rushes into a cave to save a girl, Tanya, from the attack of a group of mutant, mythical pteranodons:

This kid manages to beat them all to a pulp, so you know that whatever you've heard about how dangerous and fierce a pteranodon must have been is just a lot of bunk if they can be whipped by a boy armed with a makeshift club. But Lykos has sustained lacerations on his skin, and so later he begins to manifest the power to drain the life energy from someone just by touching them. Now why do you scoff at that? Naturally that ability would be connected with an attack by a pteranodon. You may be picking up on some of my own skepticism here.

Time passes, and Lykos factors this ability of his into his life--not so much as a need, but more like an addiction. Professionally, he specializes in hypnotic therapy, which of course provides him with a steady number of docile subjects who feel unusually weak when their sessions end.

So. A hypnotist with a childhood history with mutant pteranodons, who now targets patients for their life energy and who, by the way, is bitter at Tanya's father for snubbing him as possible husband material for his daughter. You can almost hear the pressure cooker rattling, can't you. But why stop there? Let's make this man an old colleague of Charles Xavier. And then let's have Scott Summers' insanely powerful brother, Alex, fall into his hands for treatment:

Lykos must be looking forward to quite the meal here. What better time to make this convoluted origin even more so, and make mutant life energy the catalyst for a startling transformation.  A transformation into--oh, please, do I have to tell you?

Yes, you guessed it--a pteranodon, of course. And not just any pteranodon--an evil pteranodon.  With a fondness for Tolkien.

I don't know about you--but in every installment of the Lord Of The Rings films, almost every mention of Sauron brought to mind a pteranodon with pants. Undoubtedly Marvel's Sauron turned out to be equally memorable for... for... well, loads of you, I'm sure.

Now, I'm looking out at all of you, and you seem a little dazed at trying to assemble all of these elements into a credible super-villain. I'm sorry, but I have one more item about Sauron to throw your way. I've already mentioned that Lykos was a skilled hypnotist, remember? Well, then, doesn't it make sense that, in his Sauron form, he becomes a super-hypnotist?

This ability of Sauron's gives him some control of a person's thoughts--but the main *ahem* focus of Sauron's hypnotic power is his ability to make his subject see even those closest to him as malevolent, nightmarish foes. Which, if you're being attacked by the X-Men, is a pretty good power to have:

Finally, I should also mention that Sauron's continued existence is dependent on finding fresh mutant victims to drain--which is why Sauron is more concerned with his self-preservation, than, say, flying off to Washington to demand the seat of power. So the X-Men can eventually wear him down to the point where he reverts back to Lykos, as long as they keep out of his grip.

Now--without glancing at anything just mentioned here, stop shaking your poor head long enough to describe everything you can recall about a villain named Sauron.

And you can start by spelling "pteranodon."

Invasion!

In these issues leading up to the landmark Fantastic Four #200, we started the ball rolling by first seeing Mr. Fantastic spring into action against the Red Ghost after finally regaining his stretching powers. And Reed Richards isn't finished dazzling us with the *ahem* flexibility of his fantastic abilities--because he's learned the identity of the villain who not only bankrolled the procedure which returned him to full fighting trim, but who also abducted his teammates in the FF, for reasons unknown. That's right, Reed's going after his deadliest enemy:

Yes, who else but Dr. Doom--whose metal mouthpiece that's able to gape on command continues to astonish.

Before we begin "Invasion!", though, we should at least reveal the catalyst for Doom's current master plan--the relinquishing of the throne of Latveria, which he's held until now with an iron fist. Yet Doom plans to only follow the letter of the law, rather than its spirit--passing power to a worthy successor whom he can easily influence and control. When Doom finally introduces him, it comes as shocking news to the Fantastic Four, as we finally learn the identity of Doom's "lieutenant":

This seems to be shaping up to be a day for masks falling away, doesn't it? But you haven't seen anything yet--and believe me, that's going to go double for Sue, Ben, and Johnny.

The Riotous Return of Mr. Fantastic!

The cover of Fantastic Four #197 proclaims, "At long last! The return of Reed Richards' super-powers!" At long last, indeed.  With over thirty-five issues of "Mr. Fantastic" being a shadow of his former stretching self, the wait has been a long one for readers, who first saw Reed's right arm lose its resilience, followed by that condition--you'll excuse the word--extending to his entire body. And now, with the FF disbanded, Reed encounters a mysterious benefactor who makes him an offer he finds difficult to refuse:

Yes, Reed is also agreeing to the offer because his other three (ex-)teammates are being held hostage to ensure his compliance. But, what's this? The Red Ghost has also returned? We haven't seen him since his encounter with Iron Man. And he's feeling riotous, so that can't be good.

But one thing at a time. First, let's get Reed back to full power!