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.

With magic mastered, Doom next turned his education toward science, traveling to the United States to attend college at State U. There, he met Reed Richards and, in a failed attempt to travel to the netherworld with technology, blew up his dorm room, injuring a fellow student and mildly disfiguring his own face.

Doom next traveled to the Himalayas and studied with monks, eventually mastering their techniques and becoming their master. He had them craft a suit of armor for him and donned the mask while it was still red hot, completely destroying his face. He then set out to rule the world, coming into immediate conflict with the Fantastic Four.

Whew!

In other news, the Thing formally quit the FF in THING #23. While out on the town mulling this over, Johnny and Alicia bump into a chipper young man defacing a series of racial equality rally flyers with hateful banners. The young man seems to be enthralled by a mysterious figure (Psycho-Man) watching the altercation from a shadowy alleyway.

Sue and Reed recall Franklin’s showing against Mephisto last issue.

Johnny notes that the Baxter Building was shot into space once before by Doom in FANTASTIC FOUR #6. On that occasion, the plot was thwarted by Doom’s then-ally, Namor. This time, Doom believes the absence of Namor will allow his plot to succeed.

The small device which freed Spider-Man’s alien costume from captivity in issue 274 is revealed to have been sent by Doom to surreptitiously recalibrate some of the FF’s equipment in anticipation of this new attack.

The Quotable Doom: “There can be no peace for me now, no days of sweet contentment, until the world is driven to its knees! Not until all humanity has paid the price for its crimes against the name of Doom!”

My Thoughts: This issue is mostly just set-up for next time, though it’s a good set-up with an engaging cliffhanger. Byrne has recapped the Fantastic Four’s origin a few times since taking over the series with issue 232, though he’s barely so much as touched on the history of their greatest enemy and most-recurring antagonist. It’s nice to see him do so here.

There are those who believe Doom has but a tiny scar beneath his mask, underscoring a tremendous vanity on his part. He believes himself hideous when his “disfigurement” is something all but unnoticeable to anyone else. Unless I’m mistaken, former FF writer Mark Waid subsribes to this theory. Jack Kirby seemed to as well, at least later in his life.

I appreciate this school of thought and I think it would work fine for another character. Heck, it’d work for Doom as well, if not for all the numerous times in multiple issues (including early Kirby issues!) where people are shown recoiling in horror at the sight of him without his mask. Even dialogue over the years has made reference to Doom’s disfigurement. It’s nice to believe otherwise if you want to, but there can be no doubt that Doctor Doom’s face is a horrific mess behind his mask.

So Byrne puts an exclamation point on that idea here, starting with Doom suffering relatively minor (but still very noticeable) scars in the accident at college, as a way to possibly appease those who subscribe to the “small scar” version of the character — but then he follows this up with the vain Doom believing the scars to be utterly hideous and cementing his disfigurement by placing the red-hot mask on his face, burning his skin irreparably.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the definitive origin of Doctor Doom. I recall watching a Fantastic Four anniversary panel at Comic-Con some years ago where Waid and a few other writers scoffed at Byrne’s addition to the backstory, but for me there’s no better way to present it. The tragic idea that Doom’s own vanity ruined his face is perfect.