Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnott
“Prisoners of Doctor Doom” 
April 10, 1962

Our story opens with our villain, Victor Von Doom, plotting to defeat the Fantastic Four. At this point in their story, they must have made a name for themselves for the leader of a small country to be so concerned with them getting in the way of his own plans.

Meanwhile, at the Baxter Building, Johnny is reading a Hulk comic. So, at this point in the universe, one can assume the Hulk and Fantastic Four are not in the same realm as the Hulk is just a comic book character. It’s a great little promotion though for the comic book.

The scene quickly changes as Doom surrounds the building with an electrified asbestos net, trapping the four within. Doom declares he wants Sue as a hostage, which she agrees to. Reed remembers Doom, a fellow college student, who was fascinated with contacting the nether world. His experiments resulted in an explosion that deformed his face and caused him to be expelled from school. Doom disappeared, but he’s back and Reed knows his genius poses a threat.

And then it kind of turns weird as Doom captures the other three and demands they travel back in time with his time travel device to gather Blackbeard’s treasure. What follows is a pretty simplistic tale as the three are shanghaied and then take over Blackbeard’s ship. We get a moment with Ben enjoying the pirate life and wanting to stay behind, but the decision is moot as a storm wrecks the ship and casts the three ashore where they are recalled by Doom.

They hand him the chest, which is what they promised to return, but with no treasure in it – treasure that included gems of power belonging to Merlin. With the double cross, Doom attacks the three, but he’s a robot version that is easily smashed by Ben. The room the three are in is quickly depleted of oxygen.

Meanwhile, Sue manages to escape and help to free the three. Doom, seeing his plans dashed, makes his escape on a jet backpack that even the Torch can’t keep up with. Overall, this is the first issue of the comic I really didn’t vibe with, but there is a big reason for that, that may not make fans of this comic and the Marvel Universe happy in hearing.

I do not like Doctor Doom.

Out of all the villains in the Marvel Universe, in every story I have ever read, every appearance he’s made in cartoons and movies, he’s a one-note villain. He is boring. I don’t know what plans there are for him in the MCU, but frankly, there are better villains to give a challenge to our heroes both FF and beyond.

One thing I’d like to do is feature any letters to the editor that appeared in the comic from folks who would become famous names later in the comics business. We’ll open up things with a letter from a name many may be familiar with.