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| 1963-07-01 00:04:10 |
| Previous: Tales Of Suspense #43 | Up: Main 1963/Box 1/Silver Age | Next: Fantastic Four #17 |
Fantastic Four #16
Issue(s): Fantastic Four #16
Published Date: Jul 63
Title: "The Micro-world of Doctor Doom!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Dick Ayers - Inker
Review/plot: Doctor Doom...
...last seen shrinking away in issue #10, is now the ruler of a microscopic kingdom. He's been shrinking the FF just to mess with them.
The FF call in Ant-Man (he leaves his new partner, the Wasp, behind).
Luckily Reed just happens to have a crystal magnifying amplifier laying around, because Pym refuses to grow to an ordinary size to speak with the team.
Ant-Man gives them his magic mushrooms (one pill will make you grow smaller. The other will make you grow larger.), and the FF hit the shrinking shrooms hard to get down to Doom's level. Ant-Man follows them a little while later.
Before that though, Reed runs into Alicia's apartment while the Thing is lifting up a piano so she can vacuum under it and shoves another "cure - just kidding" potion down his throat. While he is holding the piano. Hilarity ensues. Alicia scars poor Ben further by saying "You feel so different?? I-- I love you so that I don't want you to change! I don't ever want anything to change you!".
Meanwhile, a strange yellow monster has landed on Sue Storm's head, but everyone is polite enough to pretend not to notice. She is also working on becoming invisible to dogs by playing with perfume. She needs to get out more.
Doom's micro-kingdom is a medieval Europe analogue, but he is also in league with another micro-planet full of green space aliens. After an odd sequence where the FF are trapped in a dungeon in an acid sea (i can not describe the physics of how they escape), the FF defeat Doom's army with Ant-Man's help but Doom escapes back into the real world.
P.S. It's not a "surprise" guest star if you announce him on the cover.
Cool Doom pictures:
Quality Rating: D+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place around the same time as Tales To Astonish #44, which introduces the Wasp.
References:
- The complete story of the Fantastic Four's last encounter with Dr. Doom was told in Fantastic Four #10
- Meet the Wasp, Ant-Man's new partner-in-peril, starting with issue #44 of Tales To Astonish!
Cross-over: N/A
Continuity Implant? N
Reprinted In: N/A
Inbound References:
Characters Appearing: Alicia Masters, Dr. Doom, Henry Pym, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Wasp
| Previous: Tales Of Suspense #43 | Up: Main 1963/Box 1/Silver Age | Next: Fantastic Four #17 |
Comments
That is actual bad mid-60s female hair. Sue's lucky she didn't get a beehive.
the pose Sue's in after they're enlarged the first time - is that the 60s version of today's T&A pose or does she have an itch on her leg?
in the scene where Alicia's freaking out over Ben, he calls her Sue. we could call it a typo or we could call it a Freudian slip. we know he has a thing for Sue, and as we saw in FF#8, Alicia resembles Sue alot.
so, another example of sexism - the Micro-World's princess explains to the FF what they'll be doing as slaves to the aliens. Reed will be used as a human bridge, the Thing's strength will be used to mine diamonds, the Human Torch's powers will be used as a weapon in wars.....and Sue will cook for the men.
