FANTASTIC FOUR #278

"TRUE LIES"
Script & Pencils: John Byrne | Inks: Jerry Ordway
Colors: Glynis Oliver | Letters: John Workman
Edits: Michael Carlin | Editor-in-Chiefs: Jim Shooter

The Plot: In Latveria, Doctor Doom’s robots bring young Kristoff to a special wing of Castle Doom, where they reveal that Doom is dead and Kristoff will now rule in his place. The robots hook Kristoff into a machine and begin implanting Doom’s life’s memories into his brain. But Kristoff orders the procedure stopped when it reaches a point just after Doom’s second encounter with the Fantastic Four.

Soon after, as the FF go about their normal business one evening, the Baxter Building tears away from its foundation and takes off for outer space. Doctor Doom, wearing modified armor, contacts the FF via a video screen and taunts them, then blows up the upper portion of the building once it's left Earth’s atmosphere.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Doctor Doom’s past is recapped via the memory implantation, including some bits newly created by Byrne: His mother long dead, Victor Von Doom’s father was targeted for execution as well, having failed to save the life of a local baron’s wife. Victor and his father were taken in by a gypsy clan, and the elder Doom soon died. Victor began to study the black arts using his mother’s paraphernalia, alienating Valeria, the woman who loved him.