Doctor Doom #2
Nov. 8th, 2019 01:24 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}
doomfansAs seen in the preview, Doom is being escorted to trial by a rather curious lineup, including former ally Silver Sable, occasional mystical team-up buddy Doctor Strange, and a Herbie android supposedly representing the F4. Doom's insulted Reed would send it and I'm immediately suspicious of it. Alone in the back of the plane Doom indulges in a little quoting of Richard III and mad laughter, but is pretty quick to jump on a chance at escape when Kang's time-travel problem brings him aboard to join him. It turns out Kang has seen the impossible future of Doom's visions too. (I appreciate that he's in favour of it coming about because, "It would be the most preferable Earth for me to conquer.")
Doom washes up in New York City, and is magically contacted by Morgan le Fay, who for some reason is hanging around in a safehouse in Queens. Meanwhile, the Herbie robot shows up to a classroom where Dr Brashear, AKA the Blue Marvel, is teaching, claiming Reed wants him to go after Doom as the best option currently available, and has calculated him to be capable of beating Doom three out of five times, albeit at chess. (I'm amused by the idea of Reed creating sims of various Marvel geniuses playing chess against each other, especially since we know that he's played Doom for real. Can only assume he's created his own virtual chess tournament game due to scarcity of worthy opponents.)
Since Morgan claims her powers are currently diminished and all she can see when Doom asks about his supposed future is a hazy sense of peace, she loans him a spare Doom mask she happens to have hanging about the place (as you do) and takes him to visit the Witness, who can look into people's eyes and see the nature of their death. Doom convinces him with a friendly, "Tell me my death, or I'll show you yours," and the Witness is bewildered to see a vision of Doom's death being the saddest day on Earth. Doom is unconvinced, but before he can press further, he gets shot by Taskmaster and the Witness legs it.
TBC, and the cover preview for next issue promises us Mephisto.
So, a few intriguing pieces of the puzzle, though it's naturally mostly setup. I was hoping for more Strange than we got, but I like that he does take the time to listen to Doom in private, even if we don't get any overt acknowledgement of Doom's efforts to convince him by swearing on his mother's soul. (Not sure whether to read anything into the fact that the shadows and position of the streaks in Strange's hair combine to make him look quite devilish in the art for the next panel. I'm suspecting everybody of being Mephisto at this point.)
That Herbie is definitely Up To Something. Even if there are Doylist reasons why Cantwell might want to keep the F4 off the board to have fun with more unusual character picks, it's already suspicious that none of them would come in person, and then to have a supposedly Reed-programmed droid that's either ignorant of Doom's preferred title or deliberately trying to be rude to him? Plus bringing in Blue Marvel, who clearly doesn't think Reed regards him as someone worth calling on, has the suspicious feel of picking someone who stands a decent chance going after Doom but also doesn't know him well enough to be aware of the strangeness of the situation or listen to him claim innocence the way the likes of Strange might. Given the droid angle and the Herbie's words about becoming one of the F4 by taking down Doom, I'm wondering if it might be working for the Mad Thinker. As far as I know he was last seen in Marvel 2-in-1 trying to make himself the new Reed Richards, so this would fit.
Really not sure what to think of this depiction of Morgan le Fay yet. Hanging round Queens acting very much assimilated to the modern age and listening to the Beatles? (Though I do like the background touch of her having Saturn Devouring His Son as wall art.) She's weirdly huggy and supportive and seemingly helplessly distressed over Doom getting shot for a relationship I remember characterised by quotes like, "You deny me?" and, "You're evil, Doom. Truly evil. I like that." I'm leaning towards the theory that she might well be a puppet of Mephisto's, if not Mephisto himself; the whole business is kind of reminding me of the false Cynthia in Infamous Iron Man.
Whether that's true or not, I'm also thinking that Mephisto is somehow behind all the mystical types seeing the same false future of benevolent ruler Doom, and presumably that's what's swept Kang up in the effect and caught him in this bubble of alternate reality that keeps bringing him back to Doom. Mephisto is definitely the most plausible one with the power for something that far-reaching. (And honestly I give him props for the choice of torment. Implausible visions of the sort of benevolent future Doom always used to believe he would create yet can't see himself in at all is the perfect thing to taunt him with at this point in his life.)
Not much to say about the art. It's Larroca, but not at his worst: mostly it's serviceable if stiff, and Doom continues to come off best by the virtue of having his face partly covered most of the time. The strong colouring work from Guru-eFX goes a long way too. That said, there are moments where I feel like having Larroca on art is muddying my interpretation of the story; e.g., knowing how much he leans on photo-referencing makes me uncertain how much Morgan's uncharacteristic behaviour is scripted that way and possibly meant to say something vs just an artefact of getting body language from more generic "woman reacts to man being shot" references. And he's so sloppily inconsistent about rendering detail on the Herbie that I'm going back on forth on whether it actually is the same one who shows up to see Blue Marvel or I'm meant to be noticing the differences and concluding there are multiple droids.
But quibbles aside, I'm still very intrigued by where all this is going, and it's definitely got me speculating in all directions, as evidenced by the above lengthy rambling. Eager to see issue three!
Doom washes up in New York City, and is magically contacted by Morgan le Fay, who for some reason is hanging around in a safehouse in Queens. Meanwhile, the Herbie robot shows up to a classroom where Dr Brashear, AKA the Blue Marvel, is teaching, claiming Reed wants him to go after Doom as the best option currently available, and has calculated him to be capable of beating Doom three out of five times, albeit at chess. (I'm amused by the idea of Reed creating sims of various Marvel geniuses playing chess against each other, especially since we know that he's played Doom for real. Can only assume he's created his own virtual chess tournament game due to scarcity of worthy opponents.)
Since Morgan claims her powers are currently diminished and all she can see when Doom asks about his supposed future is a hazy sense of peace, she loans him a spare Doom mask she happens to have hanging about the place (as you do) and takes him to visit the Witness, who can look into people's eyes and see the nature of their death. Doom convinces him with a friendly, "Tell me my death, or I'll show you yours," and the Witness is bewildered to see a vision of Doom's death being the saddest day on Earth. Doom is unconvinced, but before he can press further, he gets shot by Taskmaster and the Witness legs it.
TBC, and the cover preview for next issue promises us Mephisto.
So, a few intriguing pieces of the puzzle, though it's naturally mostly setup. I was hoping for more Strange than we got, but I like that he does take the time to listen to Doom in private, even if we don't get any overt acknowledgement of Doom's efforts to convince him by swearing on his mother's soul. (Not sure whether to read anything into the fact that the shadows and position of the streaks in Strange's hair combine to make him look quite devilish in the art for the next panel. I'm suspecting everybody of being Mephisto at this point.)
That Herbie is definitely Up To Something. Even if there are Doylist reasons why Cantwell might want to keep the F4 off the board to have fun with more unusual character picks, it's already suspicious that none of them would come in person, and then to have a supposedly Reed-programmed droid that's either ignorant of Doom's preferred title or deliberately trying to be rude to him? Plus bringing in Blue Marvel, who clearly doesn't think Reed regards him as someone worth calling on, has the suspicious feel of picking someone who stands a decent chance going after Doom but also doesn't know him well enough to be aware of the strangeness of the situation or listen to him claim innocence the way the likes of Strange might. Given the droid angle and the Herbie's words about becoming one of the F4 by taking down Doom, I'm wondering if it might be working for the Mad Thinker. As far as I know he was last seen in Marvel 2-in-1 trying to make himself the new Reed Richards, so this would fit.
Really not sure what to think of this depiction of Morgan le Fay yet. Hanging round Queens acting very much assimilated to the modern age and listening to the Beatles? (Though I do like the background touch of her having Saturn Devouring His Son as wall art.) She's weirdly huggy and supportive and seemingly helplessly distressed over Doom getting shot for a relationship I remember characterised by quotes like, "You deny me?" and, "You're evil, Doom. Truly evil. I like that." I'm leaning towards the theory that she might well be a puppet of Mephisto's, if not Mephisto himself; the whole business is kind of reminding me of the false Cynthia in Infamous Iron Man.
Whether that's true or not, I'm also thinking that Mephisto is somehow behind all the mystical types seeing the same false future of benevolent ruler Doom, and presumably that's what's swept Kang up in the effect and caught him in this bubble of alternate reality that keeps bringing him back to Doom. Mephisto is definitely the most plausible one with the power for something that far-reaching. (And honestly I give him props for the choice of torment. Implausible visions of the sort of benevolent future Doom always used to believe he would create yet can't see himself in at all is the perfect thing to taunt him with at this point in his life.)
Not much to say about the art. It's Larroca, but not at his worst: mostly it's serviceable if stiff, and Doom continues to come off best by the virtue of having his face partly covered most of the time. The strong colouring work from Guru-eFX goes a long way too. That said, there are moments where I feel like having Larroca on art is muddying my interpretation of the story; e.g., knowing how much he leans on photo-referencing makes me uncertain how much Morgan's uncharacteristic behaviour is scripted that way and possibly meant to say something vs just an artefact of getting body language from more generic "woman reacts to man being shot" references. And he's so sloppily inconsistent about rendering detail on the Herbie that I'm going back on forth on whether it actually is the same one who shows up to see Blue Marvel or I'm meant to be noticing the differences and concluding there are multiple droids.
But quibbles aside, I'm still very intrigued by where all this is going, and it's definitely got me speculating in all directions, as evidenced by the above lengthy rambling. Eager to see issue three!
no subject
Date: 2019-11-08 07:23 pm (UTC)I'll have more to say later since I have an appt. today but I really like this depiction of Morgan Le Fay. I think it works because she is also a time traveler and this must be a more mellowed phase in her life. And discussing the Beatles with Victor has to be one of the many highlights of the issue. This is where having someone like Chris Cantwell, whose milieu is many films really allows a character like Doom to shine. He's concentrating on the man inside the armor and not the larger the life, public Doom that tends to make speeches at people and not hold conversations. Even though he found it annoying to have these "absurd" interludes one senses that he was opening up a bit more with her.
I'm fine with Larocca's art. Marvel doesn't seem to have a very deep roster of good artists. I'm sure a lot of artists do photo referencing and in this issue I didn't find it to be a distraction.
Now we see where Cantwell adds his other adversary when Reed deigns to allow Blue Marvel in on the case. You have to laugh at that because it looks like more people than Doom find Reed to be a bit smug and condescending
no subject
Date: 2019-11-08 11:42 pm (UTC)And yes, I definitely like the idea of Blue Marvel having some friction with Reed. I feel like Reed has the kind of well-meaning helpfulness where he happily jumps in and ends up completely taking over projects himself, and is hopelessly oblivious to the fact that what he sees as just being constructive and making himself useful - hey, no worries, it's no trouble - might be rubbing people the wrong way even when they're less prickly than Doom.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-09 04:29 am (UTC)Now what would be interesting to me is if this were Victor and Morgan's daughter, Caroline. Not that I'm advocating for some kind of incestuous situation but I would like to see him be aware of or at least meet this time lost child of his. I've given up on ever seeing Amara and her child. But I hope I get surprised on that one day.
Another nugget is that Cantwell posted on Twitter the other day about there being a cameo on a Marvel character from the 40's. That was of course The Witness. I never heard of him but he's an early Stan Lee creation from back in the days of Timely comics. If Cantwell is going that obscure than I hope we see more of that.