Avengers: Children's Crusade #8 review
Dec. 30th, 2011 12:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nomadicwriter posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
doomfansAt long last, this series returns! I've been waiting for this one for months.
In issue #7's awesomely unexpected cliffhanger, we saw that Doom had absorbed the life force from Wanda, healing his scars and appearing in a jazzy new white costume. He now tells them that Doctor Doom is dead, and Victor Von Doom has been reborn. (Which is kind of a fascinating statement, since it's the mirror of the climactic moment in his origin story where he declares that Victor and his human frailties are no more and from now on there is only Doctor Doom. I don't think it can be a deliberate deception - if he still felt like Doom inside, he wouldn't be able or willing to lay claim to his more human side. He might be fooling himself, but obviously there's some genuine sense of things having changed in there.)
Wanda tries to tell him that the power is unstable, but Victor just swears he won't abuse it, saying he will dedicate himself to redressing the wrongs that he's done, and "earning a place for myself among the heroes of this world". (Another fascinating choice of words, since Doom would never normally admit to feeling he needs to earn a place.) I think this is Doom with his ego intact, but less of the secret underlying insecurity; for once he's actually truly confident that he's powerful enough instead of blustering to try and prove how much better he is and demanding outside acknowledgement. He's no longer quite so scared of exposing any hint of human vulnerability.
Patriot asks him to restore the mutants' powers, but Doom says he can't undo a spell that was cast by another. (Which sounds dubious to me, but I'm not sure if it's Doom being deceptive or just an awkward plot device.) He says he'll make the former mutants' lives happy, but the YA aren't so keen on the prospect of benign dictatorship. Wanda reminds him that the power corrupted her, but he says her soul is too gentle while he's definitely isn't, and the nations of the world will accept him as their ruler once he's proved himself.
Wanda says that the Avengers and X-Men won't accept him; Doom says they're more likely to destroy each other than be a threat, but praises the Young Avengers for their loyalty and tells Billy and Tommy that he wants to marry their mother and be a family. Aww. He asks Wanda if she'll marry him, and she says yes - if he rids himself of the power and puts it back where it belongs. She says he's dealing with forces he can't control; he retorts that no, he's dealing with forces she couldn't control, and says now that she's made her choice she's got to live with it.
Doom sends Wanda and the YA back into the Avengers/X-Men conflict to provoke a fight. Emma Frost zaps her unconscious before realising that she doesn't have her reality-altering powers any more, and while they argue over reviving her, the YA get a few rather nice jabs in about the unfairness of their scapegoating Wanda when half of their ranks are former villains and they all get mind-controlled or possessed every other week.
Then Doom shows up, and offers them miracles and everything they've ever wished for; he says they can resist if their pride demands it, but they won't win - the life force he has now is even greater than the power of the Beyonder. (...Which completely messed with his head until with a little help from his enemies he screwed himself over and defeated himself, but I guess we're indulging in a bit of selective memory here, are we, Victor?) In another callback to his classic Secret Wars power grab, Doom then uses his power to grow to an enormous size and tower over them all. Methinks your psychological issues are showing, Victor.
Cassie plans to grow to match him in size so she can act as a distraction, but her dad goes in her place, using his Ant Man powers for a stealth attack. The stealth part doesn't work, and Victor apparently squashes him dead, causing Cassie to go on the attack and knock him down. He warns her to reign her tantrum in before he loses his temper, but zaps her even as he says it. (Shades of how it all went wrong in Secret Wars, when he started to lose the dividing line between thinking of doing something and actually doing it?)
Wanda opens a portal so they can make their escape, but that just gives Doom a power boost, causing him to start rambling about becoming one with the creator and burning sins away in a way that suggests the "life force" may well be connected to the Phoenix force. Wanda tries to tell him it's killing him and he's got to let it go, but he refuses, insisting he's not weak and won't be corrupted.
As the power leaves him, she runs to him, but he lashes out, insisting that she never meant anything, he was just using her, and everything that she did in Disassembled and House of M was all part of his master plan.
...I don't believe a word of it. :P He's saving face, and running from the evidence of any human weakness; he can't deal with failure, and so he can't accept comfort even when it's offered to him, and he furiously denies that he ever needed or wanted anything from another person at all. It's a really intriguing place to leave the status of the Doom/Wanda relationship, with her still reaching out to him with compassion and him unable to take the offered hand because he can't admit he needs it. I don't know if Doom will be back in issue #9, but even if he's not, I'd be pretty happy with this ending as a resolution.
Meanwhile, it's discovered that Scott Lang is alive and well - suggesting Doom was still trying not to use lethal force before he lost control? - but his daughter is possibly not so lucky. Cliffhanger.
...Well, that was an interesting and educational trip through Victor Von Doom's psychological problems. :D Awesome issue, with a really great take on Doom's character and the way his flaws inevitably drag him down towards destruction no matter how he tries to rise above it. I absolutely love the way that things have shaken out with him and Wanda, the fact that right to the end she's still willing to reach out and give him a chance, and the only thing keeping them apart is Doom's inability to stop being Doom. Great stuff.
(Obligatory statement about Cheung's art being as awesome as Cheung's art is always awesome gpes here.)
I'm hoping Doom's going to be back for the final issue, but even if he's not, I think this makes for a pretty fitting end to his part in the series, and I just hope other writers are going to follow up on it in future.
In issue #7's awesomely unexpected cliffhanger, we saw that Doom had absorbed the life force from Wanda, healing his scars and appearing in a jazzy new white costume. He now tells them that Doctor Doom is dead, and Victor Von Doom has been reborn. (Which is kind of a fascinating statement, since it's the mirror of the climactic moment in his origin story where he declares that Victor and his human frailties are no more and from now on there is only Doctor Doom. I don't think it can be a deliberate deception - if he still felt like Doom inside, he wouldn't be able or willing to lay claim to his more human side. He might be fooling himself, but obviously there's some genuine sense of things having changed in there.)
Wanda tries to tell him that the power is unstable, but Victor just swears he won't abuse it, saying he will dedicate himself to redressing the wrongs that he's done, and "earning a place for myself among the heroes of this world". (Another fascinating choice of words, since Doom would never normally admit to feeling he needs to earn a place.) I think this is Doom with his ego intact, but less of the secret underlying insecurity; for once he's actually truly confident that he's powerful enough instead of blustering to try and prove how much better he is and demanding outside acknowledgement. He's no longer quite so scared of exposing any hint of human vulnerability.
Patriot asks him to restore the mutants' powers, but Doom says he can't undo a spell that was cast by another. (Which sounds dubious to me, but I'm not sure if it's Doom being deceptive or just an awkward plot device.) He says he'll make the former mutants' lives happy, but the YA aren't so keen on the prospect of benign dictatorship. Wanda reminds him that the power corrupted her, but he says her soul is too gentle while he's definitely isn't, and the nations of the world will accept him as their ruler once he's proved himself.
Wanda says that the Avengers and X-Men won't accept him; Doom says they're more likely to destroy each other than be a threat, but praises the Young Avengers for their loyalty and tells Billy and Tommy that he wants to marry their mother and be a family. Aww. He asks Wanda if she'll marry him, and she says yes - if he rids himself of the power and puts it back where it belongs. She says he's dealing with forces he can't control; he retorts that no, he's dealing with forces she couldn't control, and says now that she's made her choice she's got to live with it.
Doom sends Wanda and the YA back into the Avengers/X-Men conflict to provoke a fight. Emma Frost zaps her unconscious before realising that she doesn't have her reality-altering powers any more, and while they argue over reviving her, the YA get a few rather nice jabs in about the unfairness of their scapegoating Wanda when half of their ranks are former villains and they all get mind-controlled or possessed every other week.
Then Doom shows up, and offers them miracles and everything they've ever wished for; he says they can resist if their pride demands it, but they won't win - the life force he has now is even greater than the power of the Beyonder. (...Which completely messed with his head until with a little help from his enemies he screwed himself over and defeated himself, but I guess we're indulging in a bit of selective memory here, are we, Victor?) In another callback to his classic Secret Wars power grab, Doom then uses his power to grow to an enormous size and tower over them all. Methinks your psychological issues are showing, Victor.
Cassie plans to grow to match him in size so she can act as a distraction, but her dad goes in her place, using his Ant Man powers for a stealth attack. The stealth part doesn't work, and Victor apparently squashes him dead, causing Cassie to go on the attack and knock him down. He warns her to reign her tantrum in before he loses his temper, but zaps her even as he says it. (Shades of how it all went wrong in Secret Wars, when he started to lose the dividing line between thinking of doing something and actually doing it?)
Wanda opens a portal so they can make their escape, but that just gives Doom a power boost, causing him to start rambling about becoming one with the creator and burning sins away in a way that suggests the "life force" may well be connected to the Phoenix force. Wanda tries to tell him it's killing him and he's got to let it go, but he refuses, insisting he's not weak and won't be corrupted.
As the power leaves him, she runs to him, but he lashes out, insisting that she never meant anything, he was just using her, and everything that she did in Disassembled and House of M was all part of his master plan.
...I don't believe a word of it. :P He's saving face, and running from the evidence of any human weakness; he can't deal with failure, and so he can't accept comfort even when it's offered to him, and he furiously denies that he ever needed or wanted anything from another person at all. It's a really intriguing place to leave the status of the Doom/Wanda relationship, with her still reaching out to him with compassion and him unable to take the offered hand because he can't admit he needs it. I don't know if Doom will be back in issue #9, but even if he's not, I'd be pretty happy with this ending as a resolution.
Meanwhile, it's discovered that Scott Lang is alive and well - suggesting Doom was still trying not to use lethal force before he lost control? - but his daughter is possibly not so lucky. Cliffhanger.
...Well, that was an interesting and educational trip through Victor Von Doom's psychological problems. :D Awesome issue, with a really great take on Doom's character and the way his flaws inevitably drag him down towards destruction no matter how he tries to rise above it. I absolutely love the way that things have shaken out with him and Wanda, the fact that right to the end she's still willing to reach out and give him a chance, and the only thing keeping them apart is Doom's inability to stop being Doom. Great stuff.
(Obligatory statement about Cheung's art being as awesome as Cheung's art is always awesome gpes here.)
I'm hoping Doom's going to be back for the final issue, but even if he's not, I think this makes for a pretty fitting end to his part in the series, and I just hope other writers are going to follow up on it in future.
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 11:52 am (UTC)I wouldn't mind if the Doom/Wanda storyline was explored even outside of ACC - it's too far too interesting to let go imo.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 03:04 pm (UTC)This whole issue was a really fascinating take on Doom; he's spent so long denying any trace of human vulnerabilities, but with the power boost he obviously felt safe to open up and relax the Doom persona a bit, and now that it's all gone wrong he's desperately scrambling to get back inside his shell and pretend it never happened. But I don't see Wanda being fooled by that, and I really hope this new connection between them is going to be followed up in other comics. I don't mind if it ends up being a long-term plot thread that gets revisited now and again, just as long as it's not completely forgotten. I think there's a ton of potential to do really interesting things with the relationship between the two of them.