Guardians Of The Galaxy vol7 #13 (2021)
by Al Ewig & Juan Frigeri
cover by Brett Booth
We saw Doctor Doom go through an extremely elaborate plot to get married just so that he could keep someone he trusts on the throne of Latveria while he dealt with space stuff.
What exactly DID he need to deal with?
This storyline is a sort of a soft relaunch of the book, and will carry it through the end with issue 18.
As such, much of the plot of issue 13 is dedicated to re-establishing the team.
The roll call of this incarnation of the Guardians is quite extensive, and at least one member needs a bit of a clarification.
Wiccan and Hulking are here, but they’re not technically members yet.
While we have recurring Guardians like *deep breath* Nova, Pyla-Vell, Drax, Moondragon, Star Lord, Groot, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon… we also have Marvel Boy and TWO Quasars.
Because in addition to my boy Wendell Vaughn, he can now swap places with former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Avril Kinkaid.
Marvel just LOVES to bring back the hero-switch gimmick, because around this time Captain Marvel (Carol) was ALSO switching places with a civilian in the same exact way.
This storyline is, to date, the last time Avril has been used… Wendell HAS appeared in more recent comics, without mentioning her. Time will tell if she shows up again.
The main plot of this issue is besides the scope of the retrospective.
But then, someone decides to make THE MOST BADASS ENTRANCE EVER.
Come on, I’m also not a big fan of these specific titles but they’re not THAT bad.
After defeating EVERYONE and talking about himself…
…this is obviously revealed to be Doctor Doom.
Please notice the Doom-level hypocrisy of dismissing the titles of the Guardians because they were never earned… while boasting the title of doctor that Doom GAVE HIMSELF.
Guardians Of The Galaxy vol7 #14 (2021)
by Al Ewig & Juan Frigeri
cover by Brett Booth
DOOM DEMANDS TOP BILLING!!!
A meta-commentary by Al Ewig on how hard it is to deal with other writers wanting to use Doom, perhaps?
At this point in cosmic Marvel, the Kree and the Skrull empires had been fused into a single super-empire ruled by Hulkling. So of course Doom declares HIMSELF ruler…
…for a minute.
Doom is brutally efficient here. Fist order of business is taking control of Hulkling’s shape-shifting body…
…and take care of the massively overpowered Wiccan. Until Doom takes away his reality-warping powers.
Doom also has a trusted ally: himself. Because of course.
Doom proves to be quite effective at using Hulkling’s body. Then again, I’m sure he has given a lot of thoughts to stretchy powers.
At least until the Guardians exploit Doom’s vanity.
How dare you suggest Doom is jealous of having stretch powers?
So when Doom switches bodies again Moondragon… who has been faking having been knocked out… interferes with the switch.
Which is how we end up with Doom Raccoon.
Doom plays it off with his usual “this doesn’t mean I lost” shtick… but we will soon see that he wasn’t actually planning to kill the Guardians, so FOR ONCE he’s telling the truth.
I love just how angry and feral Doom Raccoon looks after the swap.
There is exactly one character that could possibly sell a sentence like “Even a raccoon I am a man of my word” and play it COMPLETELY SERIOUS.
In parallel to this, the rest of the Guardians discover an alien cult of Ego The Living Planet.
Surprisingly Doom doesn’t claim to have known this all along, but he knew that SOMETHING big was about to happen.
Great bit of visual storytelling with Doom Raccoon taking off his gloves to examine his new paws.
The Guardians even blame Doom for the other trouble they’ve had recently.
Doom Raccoon would love nothing more than dealing with this crisis by himself, but Star Lord… in his AWFUL latest look… has a different opinion.
And that is how you end up with Doctor Doom as a member of the Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Superhero teams Doom has joined: 3
Guardians Of The Galaxy vol7 #15 (2021)
by Al Ewig & Juan Frigeri
cover by Brett Booth
Doom, you might want to reconsider the membership… they’re not even giving you the cover anymore!
But the team now includes Hercules, and I remind you that adding Hercules to any comic book instantly makes it 70% better.
However, I am sad to report that Doom Rocket is no longer a thing 🙁
Someone is still cranky from the body swap.
UNDERSTANDABLY, the decision to have Doom on the team is slightly controversial.
In fact, most of the book is about Nova struggling with the concept of having to work with Magneto.
Wait, what?
Yeah for SOME reason this is the best time to bring up a 1977 Jack Kirby story that had very little to do with anything.
Nova, I entirely agree that Magneto got away with too much crap he did over the years, but this really isn’t the moment.
After a while, Nova admits that his biggest problem is that he’s tired about having to work with morally questionable people or straight-up monsters.
And I agree, it’s getting tired to see so many villains having to deal with the responsibility of saving the day… that used to be Doom’s specialty, dammit!
I should point out that both the Guardians and Doctor Doom have appearances on X-Men books set between these stories, but I will cover those separately after I’ve finished this storyline.
So let’s close this first part by looking at what exactly was so important for Doom to leave Latveria.
Because it’s not just about Ego The Living Planet…
…we’re dealing with Dormammu The Living Planet.
As if Regularly Sized Dormammu wasn’t bad enough on his own!!!
Doom significance: 2/10
Considering it was the reason for the whole “Bride of Doom” arc, you’d think this would have a bigger impact. But ultimately Doom isn’t even that big of a player, and it doesn’t look like it’s had a lasting impact.
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
The way Doom is tricked into doing the final mind swap is A BIT Silver Age.
Will it stand the test of time? 8/10
This is a well-written and well-penciled storyline, and I only have two problems with it.
One is probably due to the series ending with issue 18: these are VERY BUSY issues, with lots of characters and subplots that really struggle to find the spotlight.
The other is most likely screwed over by the big X-Men events happening simultaneously. They’re the reason why Wiccan and Hulkling drop out of the book AND the reason for dedicating a whole issue to dealing with Magneto AND probably why no real repercussions reach the Earth heroes.
As a result, while the story feels big, it’s supposed to feel MUCH bigger and it falls flat when so many characters can’t be bothered to show up because they’re busy elsewehere.
It’s also possibly the reason why Doom Raccoon is dropped so quickly: Doom ALSO has other places to be while this is happening!
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 151
Wiccan, Hulkling, Moondragon, Nova, Star-Lord and Quasar (Wendell) were already in the list.
But I am adding the Guardians that he fights in #13 and #14: Groot, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon.
The others (Drax, Phyla-Vell, Marvel Boy and Avril Kincaid) are not in the fight scene and therefore are not included. Yet.