Issue(s): Fantastic Four #193, Fantastic Four #194
Cover Date: Apr-May 78
Title: "Day of the Death-Demon!" / "Vengeance is mine!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Script
Len Wein & Keith Pollard - Plot
Keith Pollard - Penciler
Joe Sinnott / David Hunt - Inker

Review/plot:
This is the Thing's solo story during the FF's break-up period. He's offered his services to NASA, and is going to be testing their solar shuttle.

But the test event is interrupted by Darkoth. The last we saw of Darkoth, he learned that he wasn't really a demon, and he rebelled against Doom, seemingly dying in an explosion. We learn here that he was rescued by Diablo.

Furthermore, we learn that he used to be Desmond Pitt, a pilot friend of Ben Grimm's who discovered that years ago Dr. Doom was tampering with NASA's plans for the solar shuttle and was branded a traitor and thought killed while trying to stop Doom.

Diablo has now enslaved Darkoth...

...but Darkoth tries to warn the Thing that the shuttle is sabotaged.

There's a lot i don't like about this: the insertion of a long lost friend of Ben Grimm that just happens to be Darkoth, the idea that Dr. Doom would find value in messing around with NASA, the idea that Doom's sabotage happened "years ago", seemingly before Ben turned into the Thing, the idea that NASA has only now finalized the shuttle, Diablo's weak motivation (Doom intended to tap the shuttle's power, and now Diablo is going to do the same for himself... but Doom uses powerful modern technology; what is the master of alchemy going to do with an influx of solar power?).

Darkoth's warnings go unheeded, and so the Thing's shuttle crashes and he's thought killed.

But he survives and makes it to Diablo's lair, where he's forced to fight Darkoth. But Darkoth has stopped taking the potion that was keeping him both alive and Diablo's slave, and he eventually turns on Diablo and both seemingly die (again).

Meanwhile, Susan Richards has been offered a role in a movie, and she runs into the Impossible Man in Hollywood.

And Reed Richard's new job enters into "obviously suspicious" territory.

A pretty big drop in quality that coincides with George Perez being off the title and Len Wein also on his way out. I was going to say that at least the Texas Twister wasn't in these issues but instead we have the Impossible Man and that's worse.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Reed wishes that he could have conferred with Tony Stark before taking his job, but Stark is unavailable due to being on the moon, placing this circa Iron Man #110.

References:

• The FF broke up in Fantastic Four #191.
  
• Darkoth last appeared in Fantastic Four #144, where he freed himself from Dr. Doom's bondage.
  
• The Impossible Man was last seen in Fantastic Four #188.
  
• Iron Man was on the moon circa Iron Man #110.
  
• Diablo's has a grudge against Doom thanks to Marvel Super-Heroes #20. He previously tried to compete with Doom by trying to take over his own country in Fantastic Four #117-118. He survived his seeming death in the FF issues by swallowing a pill that turned him into gas.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Heck I go easy on these old issues, faintly remembered Darkoth from another FF essential I read about two years ago and even when I read it last term went 'old friend with Ben..yeah right!'

Oh well, really cool each member got an issue to shine. I liked that about the break up.

Awe, I kinda liked this . It wraps up the old Darkoth plotline, and since Wein was involved here it probably reflects the original intention. It picks up Diablo's motivations: he's become less an FF foe than someone seeking vengeance on Doom, which makes him a bit more interesting than the generic would-be conqueror he was before. And it's slowly setting up plot points for issue #200, introducing the solar mind-control whatsis that will play a role in that story.