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Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Jonathan Maberry
Artist: Scot Eaton
Cover: Jelena Djurdjevic

“DoomWar pt 1”: Recently my man Billy was able to preview DoomWar # 1 and those five pages were just the tip of the iceberg! This book picks up right after the events in Black Panther #12 and hits the ground running at full speed.  Now it was pretty obvious what Doom was after when attacking Wakanda and it’s what everyone has always been after since Wakanda is home to the largest supply of Vibranium on the planet.  A valuable metal with fantastic amplification abilities which T’Challa has surmised Doom will use to amplify his magical powers making him, as T’Challa puts it, “the most powerful force that has ever walked the planet.”

With the Desturi now in control of Wakanda, they have cut off its borders, put Storm on trial, given foreign nationals twelve hours to leave and are basically feeling pretty good about themselves right now. I hope they enjoy it while it lasts because T’Challa and Shuri plan on getting their country back, and with a little help from Queen Ororo’s first family: the X-Men!  But first T’Challa has to convince Cyclops that he’s not guilty of what he’s been accused of by the Desturi and the media. So after a lengthy meeting Scott tells T’Challa and Shuri that he cannot sanction the involvement of the X-Men, however he can’t stop them from helping Ororo.  So Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler join Shuri, T’Challa, and his private guard while Cyclops stays behind with Emma.

Meanwhile in Wakanda Doom is having trouble with the 11th lock of a 12 lock combination that T’Challa has installed to prevent unauthorized entrance to Vibranium reserves.  So he orders that Storm is brought to him, saying that he needs a thief to get past this lock and since he is pressed for time, moves to an incentive program and has one of the Desturi execute an innocent in front of her.  She fails to unlock it in the 10 minute time period and another life is done away with and Doom threatens to kill ten thousand of her subjects every minute.  On the border of Wakanda T’Challa and his crew arrive and are greeted by a hologram of the Desturi leader, and with a little help from the X-Men, Shuri sends a very clear message to all the Desturi.

Maberry and Eaton bring a great start to DoomWar and I’m hoping that the momentum keeps up (unlike stories that have been over hyped *cough*Necrosha*cough*).  Maberry pretty much fleshes out what has been going on in Black Panther and does it without having to recap everything; all the information is actually new which is great because I hate paying for 15 pages of stuff I read in another issue and only 7 pages of new info. I’m liking Maberry’s interpretation of Doom and I’m hoping that he also uses this story to further establish Shuri’s role as Black Panther, especially after her set up in this issue.  Eaton’s artwork is consistently great and if you liked what you saw in the preview then that’s what you get and better in this issue. There isn’t a really huge fight scene or a lot of action, but Eaton was able to bring the visual intensity needed to keep the story looking good and exciting.

I’m pretty sure there will be guest appearances from the FF (Fantastic Four) and Namor but for now I’m looking forward to the rest of the series because Doom had enough balls to pick on the one country and its leader that gives the rest of the world pause.

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