Fantastic Four 86 | Percival Henry: The Fantastic Four and more

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1969, Dr. Doom, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 86

Fantastic Four 86
“The Victims”
Published Feb. 1969
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Rendered powerless by Dr. Doom’s hypnosis last issue, the Fantastic Four are trapped in a Latverian village targeted for destruction by Doom’s new robot army (Doom wants to test their prowess). The FF (minus the Invisible Woman, but with Crystal) rally the villagers, and prepare to defend the town as best they can when their powers begin to return as the robots attack.

Meanwhile, Doom secretly concedes the robots are out of control, and might turn on him, but that he has a failsafe device to shut them down. He also has planted explosives under the village, to destroy it if necessary.

Back in the village, the fighting continues when Mr. Fantastic finds Doom’s failsafe device, which he uses to slow the robots. When a last attack by the robots fails, an enraged Doom detonates the explosives beneath the village. The FF and townspeople are saved, however, by a force field created by Sue, who followed the team to Latveria. The issue concludes with the team preparing to take on Doom.

What’s going on here?

This is a really good issue, one of the best of the Lee/ Kirby run so far. It’s taut, tightly plotted and has genuine high-stakes and suspense. It doesn’t have the pyrotechnics of issue 60 or the pathos of issue 51, but in its way it might be better. The FF aren’t just fighting for themselves, but for the villagers, and the outcome is genuinely in doubt. Sue’s appearance feels a bit deus ex machina but it makes sense in the context of the story (and haven’t I been complaining Sue is rarely seen or mentioned lately?) and I was genuinely surprised. Even her appearance on the cover didn’t give it away.

Structurally, the story has a timeless quality — heroes banding together to save a village from marauders. We’ve see it in the Seven Samurai, Lord of the Rings (the Battle of Helm’s Deep) and even Return of the Jedi. It works particularly well here because Kirby contrasts the old-timey Latverian village with the gleaming sci-fi polish of the robots. For what it’s worth, this story arc—called “Within This Torture Land”—ranked 14th among all Fantastic Four stories by a poll of readers at CBR, and sixth among Lee/ Kirby arcs.

Latveria, Sweet Latveria

Jack really seems to dig drawing these quaint European towns. Maybe he took a vacation to Bavaria before he drew these issues. We even get a Latveria splash page.

Jack particularly likes to draw the town from above, the view Doom has from his castle, or looking down the cobble-stoned streets. The uncredited colorist does a great job here, too.

Non-Robotic Robots

As I have discussed elsewhere, Lee and Kirby have a habit of making some of their robots very un-robotic. Here, one of Doom’s standard-issue robot servo-guards seems pretty human, down to the musculature of its (his?) legs.

Weird Science

Instead of just building an off-switch for his robots, Doom instead made this … thing.

The sexist sixties

It feels a bit unfair bringing this up in a issue where Sue is the clear hero, but does Crystal really have to be shunted aside like this? (and womenfolk? really?)