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]

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?