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To Defy Dr. Doom!
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I know that this oddity was published in 1981, but I'm not sure exactly when, so when I logged it in my CORPUS I used the same dating method as I used when I worked in clinical trials: if we didn't know when in a year something had happened - a diagnosis, for instance - we'd say it was on July 1st, as roughly halfway through the year. I always thought it was a bit unscientific for something as very scientific as a clinical trial, but if it was all right there I think it's fine here, so July 1st it is!
There's no date on the comic itself because it's not a regular comic. It's the fourth in a series of miniature comics released by Amurol Products to accompany their bubble gum - there were six issues in total, with the first four featuring Marvel characters and the last two Archie. They consisted of a cover, bubble funnies backing, and ten story pages, so were really tiny little things. The contents appear to have been written and drawn by the team responsible for Spidey Super Stories, as Doom looks very much the same and all the dialogue is split up into easy to read chunks.
The story sees Spider-Woman spotting a Professor of plastic surgery getting kidnapped. She follows the criminals responsible and sees them getting on a flight to Latveria - she knows it's going to Latveria because it says "Latveria" in big letters on the side.
In her secret identity as Jessica Drew she catches a plane to the "spooky" looking kingdom of Latveria and tries to walk into Doom's castle. A guard tells her to go away, so she changes into her costume to go in fighting instead.
Although this looks like a Super Spidey Stories comic, it doesn't really read like one. There's none of the playful silliness of those comics, and much more likeness to the mainstream Marvel universe, notably in the colouring of the guards, who look quite similar to Doom's usual lackeys.
Once inside the castle Spider-Woman overhears Doom explaining to the kidnapped Professor that he's been brought here to cure his facial disfigurement. This is basically the storyline from Thor #182, when Doom kidnapped Thor's alter ego Don Blake, believing him to be a plastic surgeron, except without the moral dilemmas and twists of that (actually pretty fantastic) comic.
Doom threatens the Professor with death if he doesn't restore his disfigured face, so Spider-Woman leaps in to help... and instantly gets taken hostage herself.
The Professor leaps in to help her, grabbing Doom by the hands. Sadly for all concerned, Doom's gauntlets are electrified, and the surgeons hands are horribly injured.
Spider-Woman is being a bit dramatic here - as the surgeon himself says, his hands will heal.
Doom lets them both go... and that's the end! It's not a particularly exciting storyline (Spider-Woman goes to rescue somebody and becomes a hostage, almost ruins the victim's livelihood, and is then let go) but it has to be said that in the very few panels available Doom has acted very much in character. He's worn his costume, he's tried to cure his face, he's taken what he wants irrespective of other people's feelings and, in the end, he's acted sort of honorably. All this and a free piece of gum too - what more could you want?
link to information about this issue
posted 24/1/2020 by Mark Hibbett
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