Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Jonathan Maberry
Artist: Scot Eaton
Cover: John Romita Jr.
“Doomwar pt 5”: So, last issue T’Challa had called in Deadpool to be the “X factor” that Doom wouldn’t see coming, but Reed thinks that he’s taking things too far. T’Challa is on the verge of an all out war with Latveria, he’s tampering with a dangerous form of alchemy and science, and well, he’s added Deadpool of all people into the mix. So Reed makes a call to War Machine for a little insurance, and probably to help keep T’Challa from going past the point of no return and losing himself. The good guys are still all over the world attacking Doom’s bases, but with each victory the body count is growing way too fast as the Doombots are adapting to their attacks.
There’s so much happening in this issue that it’s a shame that Maberry and Eaton can’t show it all. And now that T’Challa has reached a point rarely, if ever, seen before, where he would risk global war to see that Doom is brought to justice, it is a nice touch. Maberry has shown that even the most refined and tactical man has his limits, and after the attempt on his life, the financial crippling of his country, and the many deaths of his people, even T’Challa was bound to unhinge a little bit. Now, bringing War Machine in the mix was pretty interesting, as both men had an interesting confrontation with each other during the Super Hero Civil War, and Rhodey looks up to T’Challa as well, so he may want to do anything not to see his hero’s image tarnished. And the addition of Deadpool actually allowed for what I now see was some much welcome levity, as it kind of lightened the story a bit without it seeming like a bunch of forced jokes, because up until now there was little to no humor in Doomwar at all. Even then Maberry didn’t over do it with the humor, and a lot of it played out visually, which might have helped as well.
Doomwar is still holding up visually thanks to Scot Eaton, and though I don’t think that this issue stands up to the earlier ones, the man still does good work. He compliments the script well and consistently, filling up page after page, helping to move Maberry’s story. I even laughed a bit when I saw the Hello Kitty Deadpool (amongst the other versions) in the two-page spread showing ‘Pool going through the Nowhere Room. It’s always good when the humor can come off visually, leaving the dialog to push the story further. Every now and then there were some panels that did have coloring issues, but nothing that would distract the reader from the book.
With one more issue left, there really is no way to call it, and I might be in the minority with this, but that’s a good thing. We’re getting one of the best Black Panther stories, and Dr. Doom hasn’t looked this good being bad in a while. I know he recently showed up in that Hulk storyline, but he was quickly made into a blithering idiot, so that doesn’t count. I guess my only gripe would be that there is so much that is going on at the same time that Maberry and Eaton couldn’t possibly show it all. So we’re left to our own imaginations about the off panel action, and with all of these players in Doom’s game, you don’t want to miss anything.
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
Once more I’m delighted that you’re enjoying DoomWar. I’m sorry that it’ll be over in a month. Doom is my all-time favorite villain, and I’m grateful to Marvel for allowing me a free hand when it came to writing him in the way I’ve always seen him: noble, vicious, calculating and nobody’s punching bag.
Hope you enjoy the last issue. I’m pretty sure no one will predict how it ends. I even got a bit of a WTF reaction from Marvel when I pitched it.
Oh…and Scot Eaton’s art? He KILLS it. I especially love the 2-page splash where Deadpool is one with the universe. When I wrote the description of the panel, I knew Scot would grab it and run. And he turned in something better than I imagined. He’s brought his A-game to this whole series.
Good review. I can’t wait to get this book on Saturday.
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Doom was also pretty pimp in the Siege storyline. I would have liked to see the Doom who won Secret Wars put Osborn in his place.
Man, I SO wish I was in on this! The trade needs to hurry up and come out. Should I pick up the trade of Maberry’s Panther run leading up to this? Is that necessary to the DoomWar?
On a non-comic note…I’ve been eyeballing Maberry’s novels, too. Won a bunch of Bram Stoker awards. Are you familiar with his non-comic work?
Maberry co wrote issue 7 with Hudlin before fully taking over the series, but I’d say get the entire thing to have a bit of background info on Doomwar and the events leading up to it in those 12 Black Panther issues.
I’ve seen a couple of the novels but never put 2 and 2 together, guess I preoccupied with some other thought lol. A buddy of mine I used to spar with actually has a few of them and asked me if Maberry’s comic stuff was any good. Silly question! lol
I just read Doomwar 5. Nothing happened.
I’m loving Doomwar! That whole bit with the panther god is great, and I love how confused T’Challa was. Thats exactly where Doom should be imo, one step ahead of everyone else.
Great job so far Jonathan, looking forward to the finale!
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