WSR’s Fantastics
Fantastic Four 5

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Fantastic Four #5 Universal
Grade: 9.4
Page Quality: OFF-WHITE TO WHITE
Certification #: 1198379004
Owner: Mississippi Mudcats

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: WSR’s Fantastics
Date Added: 11/14/2013
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

One of the four biggies in early FFs and the debut issue of Doctor Doom, the FF’s Lex Luther.

Victor von Doom was born in a Romani camp outside Haasenstadt, Latveria. His mother, Cynthia, was killed in a bargain with Mephisto that went wrong. Despite his father's attempts to care for her, the noblewoman died and Werner von Doom fled with a young Victor on a cold winter's night. Victor survived the cold, but unfortunately his father did not. Doom sought to increase his knowledge of both science and magic in order to rescue his mother, whose death he blamed on Mephisto.

The State University in Hegeman, New York offered Victor a scholarship where Doom first meets Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. They developed a dislike for each other. Doom became obsessed with developing a machine that could project the astral form of a being into other dimensions, seeing it as a way to free his mother's soul from Mephisto's clutches. Reed pointed out a flaw in Doom's calculations, but Doom arrogantly ignored his warnings, feeling Reed was trying to upstage him, likely due to their dislike for each other. The machine exploded, scarring Doom's face. He was soon expelled for conducting unethical experiments. From then on, he blamed Reed Richards for the destruction of his face as well as his expulsion.

Disgraced and bitter, Doom traveled the world. Eventually he came upon a small Tibetan village of monks who assisted him in creating a suit of armor. He returned to his homeland of Latveria to overthrow the leader and declare himself king. He then began to use his country's resources in order to further his plans of world domination. These schemes led Doom into conflict with the Fantastic Four on many occasions, as well as many other superheroes.

In Issue #5, Doom first confronts the Fantastic Four by holding Sue Storm hostage. Doom then forces the other members of the team to travel back in time using his time platform to retrieve the mystical Stones of Merlin. The gang travels back in time and finds a chest, but replaces Merlin’s treasures with chains.

The time platform appears above them and returns them to the present. Doom says that the treasure includes gems enchanted by Merlin and that they will make him "invincible." He opens the chest and discovers that he's been cheated, which gives Ben the opportunity to attack. A single punch shatters the armor—and the machinery inside. It's a robot! The real Doom, in another part of the castle, activates a screen and tells them he will draw the air from their chamber. Sue, still his hostage, sees her chance. She turns invisible and short-circuits his control panel, which explodes. Doom is caught in the blast. She runs to the chamber and opens the door. Rather than confront Doom, who Reed assumes has traps everywhere, they decide to escape. Reed stretches through a window across the moat, Ben pushes that section of wall open while Reed pulls, and Johnny uses "atomic heat" to make a path across the crocodile-infested moat. Johnny then sets fire to the castle, and Doom escapes with his Rocket-Powered Flying Harness to once again fight the FF again in Issue #6, this time with Namor.

This copy is second highest graded trailing three 9.6s. Those 9.6s are valued higher than any FFs, except for high-grade #1s. I have had a couple of opportunities to buy one, but in each case was outbid at auction. We acquired our book in the 12/3/2013 Pedigree Comics Auction.
  
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