Doctor Doom #6

[nomadicwriter]

Doom and Kang take a road trip across the US, heading back to Latveria the slow way. Along the way they stop off in Texas for Doom to pick up what he calls his ace in the hole, the ultimate nullifier. Kang predictably backstabs him at this point, but Doom comes out on top, stabs him in the throat and heads on alone. When he gets to Mexico, he takes a moment to call Reed from a payphone and tell him to send Blue Marvel past the event horizon of the black hole to dissipate it with negative energy, which Blue Marvel might even survive.

Huh. You know, last issue I was saying I was getting slightly weary of the breakneck pace, and now this is the first episode where I feel like we're treading water a bit. I could possibly be accused of being too picky! But yeah, while things slow down this issue, it's not expanding on any of the stuff I was hoping to see more developed, and so I ended up feeling like it was rather killing time until the sudden yet inevitable betrayal. The scenes with Doom and Kang are fun, but they just kick around some of the contradictory bits of canon about their relationship without concluding anything and we don't really learn anything we didn't know already. I would have preferred to have seen some of those pages used on how we got from the confrontation at the end of last issue to the beginning of this one, and a longer version of the last-page scene with Reed.

There are some nice moments, though. It's interesting to see Doom caught up in all the details of the lives of his imaginary kids. Fascinating to see which details he highlights: that one son has warmth in his heart and the other is tranquil in his soul. Traits Doom lacks but apparently values? I'm also just kind of charmed by the idea of Doom being concerned about his nine-year-old's anxiety issues. And by the fact that he opens his phone call to Reed at the end of the issue with, "Richards, it's me."

Kind of a weird take on the Doom armour from Larroca here. I assume it's a deliberate new look for the armour that Kang provided him, but it's not clear yet if there's supposed to be anything significant about this particular suit, and the flat-nosed mask and awkward chestplate that seems to be strapped on the front of his tunic are not really working for me.

Overall, some interesting details, but I am getting a bit frustrated with Doom always being on the move and random new elements like the ultimate nullifier being introduced all the time instead of scenarios that are already in motion getting more of a chance to play out and develop. It's nice to get some extended scenes of Doom and Kang together, but there are a whole bunch of other characters in play I'd also like him to get some more in-depth follow-up with instead of just a line or two and then we're moving on again.

Comments

[ladyvictorious]

I guess I am a little more generous in my assessment of this issue. Cantwell had said in interviews and tweets that his was a sort of Hope/Crosby road picture. I'd throw in Planes, Trains and Automobiles because of all the modes of transportation Doom takes here. I'm throwing in the good ol' boys in their pickup truck. I'm surprised Doom didn't steal it from them. I just find it so entertaining when writers show Doom mixing with everyday people.

I was also surprised to see the story switch suddenly to Texas. I guess we should assume when Doom tells Kang they must travel carefully, he doesn't want to activate the jet pack (if this armor had any) for fear of the authorities picking them up on radar, etc. Another theme that comes up is the problem at hand: how do you stop the invincible? I think Cantwell not only uses that to describe the black hole but Doom himself. He's taken on everything that has been thrown at him and now it looks like he will be back in Latveria next issue I'm guessing.

But you are correct that there are some issues dangling out there. Will Mistress Death return and demand obedience? What is the source of these visions and is Doom diving deeper and deeper into them in his dreams or something? The descriptions of the two boys was so specific. Writers seem to be toying with Doom's paternal instincts for some time now, going back to Hickman building that relationship with little Valeria and I like that. I think he still is trying to recapture what was taken from him as a child when he lost both of his parents. Oh BTW, they finally had their reunion in issue #2 of X-Men\Fantastic Four and Victor told her how much he had missed her - after she made a pointed observation about his evasiveness about what exactly is he up too on Doom Island.

[nomadicwriter]

I was probably feeling a bit uncharitable on first read, I'll admit, since there were plenty of individual details I liked - I think I'm just frustrated because we keep getting teasers of promising confrontations that then don't really happen because Doom disappears before anybody's spoken two sentences to each other, and interesting setups with characters who are immediately left behind. So I'd have appreciated the road trip more if I wasn't busy being irritated that we randomly jumped straight into that with no transition to show what happened to resolve the scene where Doom was surrounded by half a dozen people I've been waiting to see him talk to.

But yes, Doom contrasted with ordinary people and everyday things is always fun. That's why the phone call at the end tickled me; like, on the one hand, yes of course Reed would recognise his voice and not need any introduction, and yet on the other, Doom opening a phone call to his nemesis in such a mundane way is just inherently hilarious. And I really liked that we got some development of the children from his visions as more than just fantasy figures, since it gives some insight into how he might potentially relate to children of his own. You're right that they've been kind of circling round the concept of Doom and fatherhood for a while now; I feel like it's an interesting angle to explore, since he's always been tied in with the F4 and their theme of family, and whatever the later traumas he actually had a very good relationship with his parents. The sort of mid-life crisis vibe this series began with links in with that as well - he's achieved pretty much all he could in terms of conquest and heroism, so what's left now but that more neglected side of his life?

[ladyvictorious]

Oh, I agree with you on the missed opportunities, especially with Adam Brashear. I really don't know that much about him but I thought there was a wee bit of irritation(?) when Reed called him up earlier in the series. I could see Doom trying to exploit that if he knew about it. I hope we haven't seen the last of Morgan either. Zora might be getting back into his good graces after she came through with the Ultimate Nullifier. He did dress her down pretty badly for the Symkarian takeover. I don't think she could have done much about that anyway. Ge may just act like it never happened when he sees her again and just go on as if nothing happened. Doom does not make apologies. :-)

As to that Ultimate Nullifier I am still suspicious as to it's validity even with it's label. It coul be that Cantwell is being a bit outlandish or cynical in showing just what you may find on the black market these days. If you can even get your hands on something like that it's no wonder talking about gun control in this country is pretty hopeless.

And yes, that phone call to Reed was funny. For one thing, was Doom on a pay phone??? I'm sure he could hack into one but how did he know what number to call? Do they have a special hot line or something?

I think it's a bit disappointing that the chances of Marvel making much out of any domestic situation with Doom is pretty remote. At least I have the next 2 issues of X-Men/Fantastic Four to see if we get any more Doom/Valeria scenes together. I'm resigned in thinking that Amara and the child she is carrying is consigned to limbo, like Kristoff was for so many years and now once again. He's not been seen since Hickman's New Avengers. I was going over a scenario in my head the other day where Amara has had the child but is now married to someone else (not Stark). I don't think that would sit well with Victor knowing that a child of his will look at some other guy as his father.

BTW, there was an announcement this week that Marvel is working with another company on publishing some prose novels. Not much detail yet on who the writers will be but the one about Doom is titled Doctor Doom: The Harrowing of Doom. https://www.newsarama.com/49303-domino-doctor-doom-more-lead-new-marvel-prose-line-debuting-in-2020.html

[nomadicwriter]

Yes, the hints of Reed's attitude rubbing Brashear the wrong way earlier were intriguing - that's another detail that could do with some follow-up, but maybe we'll see more of it in the next issue or two if they go ahead with Doom's plan. Agreed on being suspicious of the so-called ultimate nullifier, too; Doom was talking it up as his ace in the hole so much that I initially assumed it was a fake and his plan was to let Kang succeed in betraying him so he'd end up with it. But I guess it could still be an elaborate bluff where he knows Kang will be more convinced if he didn't win too easily.

Not really sure how to feel about a Doom prose novel without a lot more information first. I don't know what the previous Marvel prose books have been like, but movie and TV tie-ins are always such a crapshoot quality-wise, and far more often terrible than good. Hopefully if it's Doom as the protagonist it should at least be a more three-dimensional take on him than something like Slott's F4, but I don't know if they'd let a writer do anything very interesting with him in a prose tie-in. I'd be very interested to find out what it's going to be about, since there are a limit to the scenarios you can put Doom in where he's the character you're meant to be rooting for - maybe a lost adventure from the Infamous Iron Man era, or something revolving around Mephisto and Cynthia or Doom's past if you go by that "Harrowing" title?

[ladyvictorious]

I have bought a small number of prose novels, from the 1980s and 90s. Some of them I've lost from when I moved. But there was one that I liked called (surprise) Doomsday that was in 3 interlocking books, each with Spider-Man as the lead with the Hulk featured in Book one: Rampage, the second book I lost and the third with the Fantastic Four. The Doom scenes were brief until the last book as I recall. As usual he had some master plan that culminated in the last book, Wreckage and as usual Doom's plan failed. But it did have a couple of nicely done scenes like one where Doom is in his private chambers opening a crate that was sent to him by his art dealer and he was assessing its contents. Doomgate by a writer named Jeffrey Lang was probably one of the better ones. Reed and Victor do team up do to some lab work together to work on the problem at hand as I recall. I glanced at that and the backcover states that "Deep beneath Empire State University library a frustrated student finds the lost legacy of ESU's most infamous alumnus. Victor Von Doom's lab notebooks - instructions for how to build a machine that can pierce the veil between Earth and the Netherworld -- have fallen into the wrong hands. "

The She Hulk novel featured Doom but in disguise. He was of course smitten with Jennifer. Mostly silly fluff. Chaos Engine was another 3 book set with a different villain in each. It all centered around the possession of the Cosmic Cube. Doom gets it first, creates an Earthly utopia with Storm as his wife but the Cube ages him I think. That's about all I remember. I lost that book and the 2 others, one with Magneto and one with Red Skull I think

[harveysdent]

I'm enjoying this one quite a bit tbh, though I definitely agree the art leaves much to be desired LOL. Altogether i'm feeling maybe more satisfied with this solo vs how infamous was going, ykwim? I just feel like Cantwell might have a better grasp on him and his voice, but that's just me. Looking forward to the next one, I'm really not sure what he's going to do with the nullifier.

Also have you read Doom 2099? That came out a while back but it was another good Zdarsky Doom story.

[nomadicwriter]

Oh, the voice and characterisation is definitely much stronger in this series. I think that's probably actually why I'm starting to get a little bit frustrated with all the jumping around - Cantwell's clearly capable of doing some great character stuff, so at this point I'd like to see Doom allowed to stick around and have some proper longer conversations with characters like Brashear instead of a two-line exchange and then he's gone again. I think I'm partly just nervous because you never know when a book might get suddenly cancelled or have the writer swapped out, so while the setup is all very well done, at this point I'd like to start seeing a bit more payoff on individual things as we go along instead of everything being spun out to wait for a big finale that we might never get to see.

And no, I haven't got around to picking up Zdarsky's Doom 2099, though I heard good things about it. I'm a bit short on time and money for comics these days, so there are a lot of things I've been vaguely planning to pick up on Comixology when the price goes down a bit. (Although they've just upped their prices so much it's now more expensive to buy digital comics from there than paper copies from my local shop, so I may have shot myself in the foot with that plan...)