Recent Appearances, I've been away, I'm back

[DoomScribe]

I guess I got fed up with Marvel. Still, I'm not going to cut them any slack. Let's call it like we see it when they screw up another Doom appearance. Nothing like a little griping and whining to endear myself to the 'netizens. I'm not trolling here, just clearing the air a little.

Anyway, shortly after Heroes Reborn I walked away from comics and concentrated on other things. Don't get me wrong, the Doom tales were great. What came afterward, big shakeups and renumbering issues so every issue was a No. 1, and forgetting everything that came before, that just pissed me off. There was continuity, and then there was Stan Lee prancing around like the Prince of Thieves, selling off every last bit of nobility from Marveldom in order to make a dent in Hollyweird. Don't get me wrong, I think Stan is great, but I think he's focused far more on marketability than on depth of character and story telling. Face it, face fronters, comic books is for the youngsters. Marvel was doing everything it could to pull in readers snatched away by other media, and if that meant chucking continuity and character out the window in favor of 2 dimensional renderings and caricatures and un-intelligent design ... that's what they did. We all know Jack Kirby was the guy who drew Doom as an elegant, tragic, and noble figure anyway. And by that time Jack was dead, and Stan was free to do and say as he pleased. Including taking credit where none was due, and acting like he had his fingers on the pulse of the pop culture consumer.

ah, but perhaps I'm rambling a bit ...

[DoomScribe]

Anyway, I'm back to looking at comic books, albeit with a more critical and discerning eye.

One cannot completely ignore the cult of Doom, no matter how badly *they* screw it up. I don't speak for all of you, only for me and my perception of what Doom is and should be. But my opinions are educated by the appearances of the past, as I have read them ALL and forgotten most of it. A few gems are burned into the far recesses of my brain and I will not let them be forgotten. This man, this character, this DOOM ... he has a past, a history, and a future no matter what those bean counters and dweebs in line at the comic conventions think. And Hollywood ... I'm not even going to go there. Not if I can prevent it.

The BEST of Doom may yet to come. One can hope.

Currently, I'm picking up some titles that *may* be promising.

... I'll list them in the next post ...

[Zeeks]

I hear ya, bro, and feel ya, too.
I've been following Doom for roughly 6 years now. The very first Doom-related work I picked up was the "Doom" TPB of his conquering and return from Earth 2, and I loved it. From there, I went back, way back, in history to find the roots of the character. Just when I thought I had a grip on him, here comes that dickwad Waid and totally destroys the character. I'm sorry, but Doom killing Valeria? I don't think so. That was just wrong.
Thank God for Strazynski. At least he brought the character back with dignity and grace. The story of Doom's return from Hell due to the calling of Thor's Hammer was magnificent, even if the emphasis was on the whole Civil War thing, but whatever.
In my mind, the most definitive issue of Doom will always be FF#247. Byrne had the best handle on him since Lee and Kirby.

[DoomScribe]

Byrne was a master Doom writer, true that. Even though he sometimes eventually bows to plotting Doom as psychopath in order to write himself out of a difficult corner. One has to wonder ... Doomsie is so damn smart, yet the writers who write him making stupid mistakes and choices ... ah, well, blame it on stupid writers, I guess. I forgive them only because in the current political position on this side of the pond, Doom isn't allowed to actually win, even though he should (could & would).

Yeah, the editorial team in the early 2000's decided that Doom was just a nasty, bad, evil dude, and nothing more ... frag that! Losers ... losing losers losing sight of character. They lost touch with history ... character ... continuity, as I said before. And they lost touch with me.

Just now "AMERICAN IDIOT" came onto my Zen ... rock on!

+1 on the return from Hell. Too bad it was all in that Civil War mess ... multiple book crossovers ... fah! Another pet peeve (invented to sell more books) with unnecessarily convoluted and complicated storylines, designed to get heroes from different books to fight each other (every fanboy fantasy "what would happen if Thor fought Wolverine ... ?" yadda yadda ad nauseum) and to get X fans to buy Spidey and Spidey fans to buy F4 and F4 fans to buy Avengers ... etc. Sales, folks, sales ... One good Doom story was all I needed to buy. Thank god.

I picked up FF: The End -- because the artwork of Alan Davis is amazing and I was hoping for a Doom appearance. I haven't read #6 yet, I just ordered it, so don't spoil it for me. The beginning appearance ... disappointing ... Doom robot? Puh -leeze. But maybe the ending redeems ... I'm hopeful (still).

I also picked up Fantastic Five ... Doom is a little too direct in this one, even though he has the power cosmic. Nice to see some intelligent banter, but the strategy is too directly aggressive. Doom is a strategist after all. I fear this is yet another oh, see how the Thing overcomes adversity and saves the day. :: groan :::

And thanks for the tip on GLI Summer Special. Squirrel Girl ... whatta nightmare. I'd hoped she'd just disappear, I really did.

I've also stumbled upon some other Doom performances from the past decade that I missed ... pending reading I'll post a critique.

Long Live Lord Doom!