The villainous Doctor Doom is in a precarious situation. It appears the Fantastic Four villain is hurtling through space like cosmic debris. Acclaimed Marvel Comics writer Jonathan Hickman is tackling a brand new one-shot featuring the villain. What’s more interesting is acclaimed “Bitter Root” co-creator Sanford Greene is joining Hickman along for the ride. Recently Doctor Doom unveiled a new team of X-Men. Will Hickman and Greene explore those threads or target a different story idea? Also, how many of his previous stories will author Jonathan Hickman reference in this one comic book alone? Find out in our review of “Doom” #1 coming from Marvel Comics.
Cover by Sanford Greene and Matthew WilsonWritten by Sanford Greene and Jonathan Hickman
Illustrated by Sanford Greene
Colored by Rachelle Rosenberg with Sanford Greene
Lettered by VC’s Joe CaramagnaIN THE NEAR FUTURE…DOOM ALONE MUST SAVE THE MARVEL UNIVERSE! Legendary creators Jonathan Hickman (ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, G.O.D.S.) and Sanford Greene (Bitter Root) send Doctor Doom on a journey unlike any he has undertaken before! With Valeria Richards at his side, Doom goes on a quest to harness more power than any human has ever wielded before in order to try to stop Galactus from bringing about the death of the universe!
The beginning of “Doom” opens with our anti-hero listlessly floating in space with the imaginative visuals of Greene powering the comic book. Early on in in the narrative, Hickman opens up a fascinating plot thread dating back to his “Fantastic Four” comic book as the relationship between Valeria and Doom is fleshed out in more context here. The playful interactions between these two create an unexpected element of the narrative. Hickman uses Valeria’s speech to slowly explain how Doom found himself in this precarious scenario.
Unfortunately, the interesting scene with Valeria putting the scenario into context takes up the bulk of the issue. While it is interesting to learn about the battle that brought Doom to his current situation, seeing a flashback sequence like this overtake the plot is disappointing. While Hickman and Greene’s writing and visuals add a lot to the issue, the sequence doesn’t justify the amount of pages in terms of keeping readers interested. Thankfully, Valeria’s upgrades to Doom’s armor make this sequence visually engaging at the very least. Even though the plotting in “Doom” #1 leaves a lot to be desired, Hickman’s dialogue for Valeria Richards and Doctor Doom has to be commended. It doesn’t appear that Doom is simplifying down his language to keep Valeria’s interest.
Artist Sanford Greene is able to explore so much of the personality hinted in the script. Valeria has great expressions that evoke a sense of awe from the reader. Greene’s unconventional layouts that squeeze in so many modern Marvel heroes is a joy to witness. Greene is able to successfully raise the stakes in the issue by making the antagonist so large and fearful. The second half of the comic book showcasing a massive battle between Doom and his enemy highlights the absurd ability of Greene. Also, the sketches towards the back of the issue beautifully display the complicated tone of Greene’s characters without color. Greene’s final pages showcasing a huge brawl have layouts that test readers cognitive ability. One page toward the end of the issue showcases Doom’s big battle with tons of panel bleeds and a dizzying amount of panels on the page. Greene also uses Doom’s visual upgrade to vary the tone of the comic book considerably.
In the final page of “Doom” #1 Greene is able to take a tour across the cosmic side of The Marvel Universe to ensure the issue has the gravitas needed to show the end of Doom! One aspect that could have helped this issue tremendously is opening up more plot threads in the present day aside from Valeria. It would have been incredibly cathartic to see Doctor Doom face characters like Namor or Susan Richards in his final days. Also, the lack of inclusion from Reed Richards holds this title back from greatness as well. Reed’s relationship with Victor is one of the most important story elements for Doctor Doom. While Reed is featured in this issue, I would have really enjoyed seeing his role expand so he could have a decisive final exchange with Doom. While it may not have easily been implemented into the story, having a reference or call out to Doom’s X-Men would have made this issue feel a lot more cohesive as well. Marvel’s editorial did a great job sneaking all of the characters in the issue into their modern clothes such as the Krakoan clothes for the X-Men.
Marvel’s artwork for “Doom” #1 carries the level of personality the villain needs. However, the abrupt script spends too much time in flashbacks without showing readers what makes this character so special in the first place. The final couple pages feature an epic brawl that doesn’t have enough buildup for readers to truly become invested in it. Despite a high level of craft and beautiful artwork, “Doom” #1’s script fails to live up to the greatness of its creators’ other stories. Thankfully small aspects like new lore and an upgraded Doom suit stop the new title from feeling perfunctory. If this is the beginning of a larger story, I wish Marvel would do a better job communicating the plan to readers. If this is a one and done “Doom” one-shot I don’t think it lives up to the best work from Hickman’s Fantastic Four run with Doom.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – Marvel’s “Doom” #1 features beautiful artwork with a narrative keeping readers at arm’s length from it’s title character.
