Marvel Age Doom: The Challenge Of Dr. Doom!

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The Challenge Of Dr. Doom!

After all the excitement of Terror In A Tiny Town last time, it feels like a bit of a shame to have to cover this story, which is an adaptation of the cartoon The Fantastic Four Meet Doctor Doom from 1978. This, as a text piece just before it says, was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's first collaboration since Kirby left Marvel in 1970, so "When we were looking for a special feature, someone suggested we modify Jack's storyboard into a comics format, and voila!".

I think it's telling that the "someone" who suggested it is not named, because this was a really really bad idea. As discussed, at length, in my original blog about the cartoon, the whole thing is a terrible mess which is an awful way to remember Lee and Kirby's legacy, so why anybody thought it was a good idea to drag it out again, let alone in a twentieth anniversary celebration, is beyond me. To make matters worse, each page of this hacked together story is inked by a different person, nominally paying tribute to "The King", but actually making it even more of a mess, often highlighting the quickly sketched nature of these storyboards.

This is more of a review than an analysis, but it really is pretty horrible, and I still resent the fact that this was one of my earliest introductions to the work of Jack Kirby - it's no wonder it took me so long to appreciated him after seeing this! Another oddity here is that the cover features a blurb promising "an all-new FF blockbuster by Stan (the man) Lee and Jack (King) Kirby". Apart from the fact that it isn't all-new and isn't much of a blockbuster, it's weird that they use both names as a selling point on the cover, but only include a picture of Stan Lee, in the top right corner.

There's an obvious gap next to him where Jack Kirby clearly should have been - the rumour for years was that John Byrne drew Kirby in but Marvel ordered him removed, and that turns out to be partially true. He was removed, but not to disguise Kirby's part in the creation of the FF. It was, apparently, at Kirby's request, as he was taking legal action against Marvel at the time and did not want to be seen to be promoting their work.

As I say, it's all a bit grubby and disappointing, but it is at least short, and it leaves us free now to get on to something even more exciting and important than the creation of the Fantastic Four - the first John Byrne issue I ever bought, coming next time!

posted 13/5/2020 by Mark Hibbett

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DOOMBOT FILTER: an animal that says 'buzz' (3)
	(e.g. for an animal that says 'cluck' type 'hen')