Day of the Death-Demon!

FANTASTIC FOUR — Issue no. 193, January 1978

Book: Fantastic Four

Issue No.: 193

Published: January 24, 1978

Title: “Day of the Death-Demon!”

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

I kicked off Marvel Time Warp writing about my first comic book, Amazing Spider-Man no. 180. I can still vividly remember reading that book — it’s probably the seminal pop culture event of my childhood. The only thing I can think of that comes close is seeing Star Wars for the first time (which would have happened around the same time — Star Wars came out in the summer of 1977, but I didn’t see it till months later). In that first Time Warp post, I mentioned that I actually got one or two other comic books at the same time as Amazing no. 180, but they didn’t make as big as an impression because either I didn’t read them, or maybe they just didn’t thrill me like the Spidey book.

It’s possible one of those other “first” books was this issue of Fantastic Four, no. 193. I know I had this book in my collection at some point (I’ll reiterate that I’m still annoyed with myself for not keeping a few of my oldest comics when I sold my collection years ago), and it was on newsstands around the same time as Amazing Spider-Man no. 180. But it’s also possible I got this comic from a grade school friend months or years after it was originally published. I don’t know if I ever actually read the story, but the cover made a big impression — there’s this purple monster dude attacking the Thing, and the caption says, “Cry doom! Cry Darkoth!” Which is a catchier title than the story’s actual title, “Day of the Death-Demon!”

Regardless of whether I ever actually read this whole comic book as a kid, I certainly enjoyed reading it as an adult. Partly because I found a nice original paper copy (and you better believe I’m on the lookout for an affordable copy of Amazing Spider-Man no. 180), and these old books are just more fun to read “analog.” But mainly, this is just a great example of Bronze Age superhero comic book storytelling.

An editor’s note explains to new readers (like me!) that the titular Fantastic Four broke up recently. So most of this story is about former Fantastic Four member the Thing (AKA Ben Grimm). Aside from being made of rocks and being super strong, Grimm is an expert pilot. So, since leaving the Four, he’s volunteering as a shuttle test pilot with NASA. Darkoth, the purple monster from the book’s cover, tries to bust in to the NASA facility to destroy the shuttle. But that’s actually a ruse — Darkoth is being controlled by the bad guy Diablo, and Diablo has stolen some plans from Doctor Doom that will allow him to sabotage the space shuttle so he can steal solar energy from it. Oh, also Darkoth is secretly Grimm’s old pal Desmond Pitt.

Trying to explain all of that in one paragraph makes it seem like a lot, but in the actual story it is just the right amount of Bronze-Age-comic-book overstuffed, I promise.

And, as if all that’s not enough, we get a page or two with each of the other former Fantastics — Sue Storm Richards (AKA the Invisible Woman) is a film actor in Hollywood, Reed Richards (FKA Mr. Fantastic, currently without his stretchy super powers for some reason) is doing science stuff for a mysterious (and devious) benefactor, and Johnny Storm (AKA the Human Torch) is repairing on car engines.

This issue of Fantastic Four is eighteen pages instead of the usual seventeen. I assume the creative team got away with that by skipping the fan-mail page. That extra page is used to great effect — the book ends with a splash page showing the Thing’s NASA colleagues and his girlfriend Alicia watching in horror as the shuttle the Thing is flying crashes in the desert. The shuttle explodes — “SKVABWHOOM!” Alicia screams, “BEN!!” One of the NASA guys tries to comfort her, saying, “Easy, child! There’s still hope! Still a chance he…” Then he trails off, muttering, “Oh, my God… !”

The Thing is basically indestructible, so I’m pretty sure he’ll be back next issue. But still, this is a first-class cliffhanger.

(Mighty Marvel pop culture reference/cross-promotion alert! When a guy on the film set ask the Invisible Woman’s young son Franklin if he likes movies, Franklin says, “I like Man From Atlantis.” As you might know, Marvel was publishing a comic book adaptation of the Man From Atlantis TV show in those days.)

Next time — I’ll be back Tuesday with Spider-Man and the incredible Hulk!