"Lead me to that little ol' ray, daddy-o!"
So the plot is fairly straightforward- after being thrown into space in #6, by a million to one chance Doctor Doom was rescued by the extra-galactic and extremely powerful Ovoids, an alien race we'll be encountering a handful more times in the future. He learns body swapping powers from them and swaps bodies with Reed, and hi-jinks ensue, hi-jinks which seem to come to an abrupt end as Doom's body swap is ended by the shock of his being found out, and it seems to have been a one time deal...? Anyway, he's shrunk out of existence, so we definitely won't be seeing him again, right?
This is more than a little bit bonkers, but it's also fun. And there are quite a few fascinating little details here. The opening scene, with Reed studying Sue's invisibility, is a nice moment. Alicia is described as Ben's "girl friend" and by this point is considered a friend to the whole team. And, er, Sue at one moment has to deal with a sexual pest who, even though it's 1962, the comic makes clear is intended to disgust us... and then causes a motor accident through sheer carelessness. Yeah.
Reed and Sue have a fascinating discussion concerning the love triangle with the Sub-Mariner, in which Reed states that "I thought we had an understanding" for "when the time was right". Yet, in these early issues... Reed seems to be, say, in his forties? And Sue, the Invisible "Girl" has a teenage brother, so are we looking at a twenty year age gap? Nothing wrong with that, of course, provided that the younger party is old enough to give fully informed consent, but it's very striking.
We also have our first instance of the fourth wall being broken, as Stan and Jack appear, albeit with faces obscured. These are still early days, but the feeling of potential with this book is getting stronger and stronger.
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