Issue(s): Fantastic Four #312
Cover Date: Mar 88
Title: "The turning point!"
Credits:
Steve Englehart - Writer
Keith Pollard - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Finishes
Marc Siry - Assistant Editor
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
This is nominally a Fall of the Mutants tie-in, although it actually takes place after all the action is over. But we actually start back in Wakanda, where the Human Torch and Crystal have arrived to meet the newly mutated Thing and Ms. Marvel.

Something i would have liked to see addressed is the reason why Sharon can't change back into human form. Mr. Fantastic's failure to cure the Thing over the years is brought up, but we learned in Fantastic Four #245 that the Thing was subconsciously resisting those cures because of his insecurities about Alicia (until, more recently, he killed off his human side in Thing #22). No one suggests that if Sharon can't transform back to human form, the reason might also be psychological.

At least Sharon gets a new costume out of the change!

Dr. Doom is also still in Wakanda, pursuing an alliance with the Black Panther against Kristoff. Johnny Storm has some strong language about that.

I do like the political angle to the Doom/Panther interaction...

...and that's why i'm kind of disappointed about the way this story turns out.

The whole motley crew fly back to New York, which happens to be in the middle of its big parade for X-Factor. The Thing is a little surprised to hear that the FF missed out on a big battle in New York and no one even told him about it. Crystal says it's because it was just a fight between those icky mutants, which she wants nothing to do with after her problems with Quicksilver.

The new Fantastic Four, ladies and gentlemen! Imagine Johnny Storm being the voice of reason for mutant rights.

You gotta love the idea of Dr. Doom standing behind a police barrier, watching a parade and bickering with the Panther.

However, Kirstoff has learned that Doom is now in the US...

Obviously, there are a number of heroes on hand to fight back.

Sharon and the Beast sit it out, thought (the Beast because the more he uses his strength, the dumber he gets).

Leave it to Steve Englehart to find random connections between characters, like the fact that Sharon and Jean Grey both have the word "Marvel" in their super-hero names.

With the fight over, Doom tries to recruit X-Factor to help him against Kristoff, and he doesn't take it well when they reject the idea.

And that's about when this story gets stupid and i start writing off this Dr. Doom as a Doombot. He takes Sharon and the Beast as hostages...

...and flees into the sewer.

You know, Dr. Doom is a scientific genius on par with Mr. Fantastic. Maybe he could offer to cure Sharon and the Beast in order to gain their loyalty or obligation, as he recently did with the X-Men in the Fantastic Four vs. X-Men miniseries?

Doom takes his two hostages into the lab in the FF's building that we saw the team wrapping up at the beginning of the Fasuad arc. He claims no one will look for them there, but he must have forgotten the Black Panther's tracking skills. In the meantime, Beast convinces Ms. Marvel to stop feeling sorry for herself, and she manages to free them. So Doom fights his two captives...

...and by the time everyone else shows up, the Beast is on a mindless rampage.

The heroes have to team up to stop the Beast, and by then Dr. Doom has taken another hostage, this time Crystal, and negotiates safe passage from the Black Panther.

I can't believe everyone just allows that to happen.

The good news is that her encounter with the Beast has made Sharon realize that her own predicament could be worse, and so she declares "No more moaning!". Now that's something i can get behind.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The portion in Wakanda must take place concurrently with X-Factor #26 and then the rest takes place directly afterwards.

References:

• Dr. Doom was deposed in Fantastic Four annual #20.
  
• With America having once cut a deal with Dr. Doom in Super-Villain Team-Up #6, the Thing wonders how the US government will react to Dr. Doom being deposed now. The Black Panther, in his own thought bubble, wonders how America will react to Dr. Doom considering the way it has treated Captain America, as per Captain America #332.
  
• X-Factor saved the city from Apocalypse in X-Factor #25.
  
• The Human Torch is actually the only current member of the FF who was there when Jean Grey was brought out of stasis in Fantastic Four #286, and thanks to that, he's known since X-Factor #1 that X-Factor were the original X-Men.
  
• The Thing locked up Reed's lab in Fantastic Four #308.
  
• Dr. Doom had monitoring devices built into Four Freedoms Plaza and he had been spying on the FF up until Fantastic Four #305. The footnote says that the $64,000 question is if we realized that that's what was happening.

Crossover: Fall of the Mutants

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

"HORSEFEATHERS!"

That Johnny Storm is such a hothead.

Crystal really crosses the Moral Event Horizon in this issue. She refuses to help just because she doesn't like mutants because of her husband, endangering maybe dozens of people and forcing four CHILDREN to risk killing or being killed in her stead. Yes, Crystal is literally less responsible than a five year old.

That's over-stating it a bit. Crystal didn't "refuse" to help. No one asked her for any help. Her comment is that "those X-People were doing alright"--in other words, she didn't think her help was needed. Its not like the X-Men come running every time they see the Avengers are in a fight on the news, or like the Avengers rush over every time someone attacks FF headquarters. There is some room for judgement calls here...especially since the FF were dealing with problems of their own at the time, with half their roster on the other side of the planet and reeling from major transformations. Its not like Crystal decided to sit it out and take a spa day instead.

We'll see the question of Sharon transforming back to human addressed in Inferno.
So the monitoring devices are how Doom knew about Johnny's wedding and Hank's suicide attempt.

Clearly a Doombot.

This was the only Fall of the Mutants tie-in I was suckered into buying and it was a huge disappointment. And it didn't seem to be connected to X-Factor on an editorial level as Hank's freak-out at the end was never addressed in X-Factor. In fact, the next issue of X-Factor acts like this didn't happen, which is probably for the best.

"...and that's why i'm kind of disappointed about the way this story turns out."

I thought you were talking about #350 and Simonson's Silly Reset, as I've complained of, previously, but the rest of the review indicates a problem with this issue, and I have to take issue with that.

I don't see any problem with Doom taking hostages, if it suits him. Remember, in his very first appearance he held Sue hostage to guarantee the male FF trio's return with the treasure. The idea that he could have offered Sharon or the Beast a cure in exchange for their alliance is silly; Sharon has already rebuffed his intimations last issue, although she eventually goes to Doom of her own accord. And the Beast would barely understand what the word "cure" meant at this point.

As for the Panther caving when Crystal was endangered, it didn't seem as if the heroes had any way to get through Doom's force field, so negotiation seemed prudent. Clearly *not* a Doombot; they don't act so quickly and decisively. :)