FANTASTIC FOUR #268

"THE MASQUE OF DOOM!"
Chronicler: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Bob Budiansky | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: While the members of the FF sit with Sue in her hospital room, Doctor Octopus lashes out in the waiting area. Bruce Banner changes to the Hulk in preparation to fight him, but Reed, steeled by grief, breaks things up and orders Octopus to voluntarily return to prison. Octopus agrees.

The Human Torch and She-Hulk return to the Baxter Building, where the Torch spends a few hours showing his new teammate around. Later, in the FF’s “trophy room”, the mask of Doctor Doom comes to life and begins flying around, blasting at the Torch and She-Hulk. Mister Fantastic arrives and deduces the mask is being controlled from outside the Baxter Building. He seals the building against exterior signals and examines the mask. It should not have been capable of the feats the FF observed, leading Reed to consider that Doctor Doom may yet live.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: This story takes place during a period when Bruce Banner has control over the Hulk, however Reed notes that control is not as strong as it had previously been.

Johnny notes that with Reed, Sue, and him having all moved out, She-Hulk will be the only member of the Fantastic Four residing in the Baxter Building. A few moments later, She-Hulk reveals her origin to the Torch:

Doctor Doom’s apparent death in FF #260 is referenced.

In Belleporte, Connecticut, a nosey neighbor named Alma snoops around “Reed and Sue Benjamin”’s house, but is caught in the act by their neighbor, Alice Winchell.

Not continuity, but perhaps worth noting: Whoever assembled artwork for TSR's MARVEL SUPER HEROES ROLEPLAYING GAME ADVANCED SET in 1986 used two images of She-Hulk pulled from this issue.

My Thoughts: She-Hulk came into this series in an odd way, as part of Jim Shooter’s mandate that every title be changed somehow following SECRET WARS. So with no explanation other than that she’s filling in for the Thing, she arrives in issue 265, just before an inventory issue followed by a Mister Fantastic solo story tied into the “Sue’s miscarriage” sub-plot. So now, finally, three issues after her debut, we actually get to see her in a bit of action (and we’re treated to an origin recap, to boot).

“Shulkie” puts up a fair showing against Doom’s powered mask, demonstrating her strength and nigh-invulnerability as she attempts to clobber it with a giant metal pillar, forces herself through its “concussion field”, and then falls thirty-plus stories out of the Baxter Building, only to return completely unscathed by the final page.

And it’s clear already that Byrne enjoys drawing the character, too. Her action poses seem to allow for more dynamism than the Thing’s bulky frame could normally pull off, and even “at rest”, there’s something inherently cheesecakey about her, so she’s never dull to look at.

Beyond fleshing out She-Hulk, Byrne uses this issue to alert the Fantastic Four that Doom may still be at large in a particularly eerie fashion. Pitting them against his seemingly autonomous mask is a brilliant idea and is a great way to give readers a Doom “appearance” even while the man himself is off the table.

(Unfortunately the eeriness of this concept is undermined a bit by SECRET WARS, which is ongoing at this time and features a living, breathing Doom in every issue.)