Comics Archeology

Doctor Doom has multiple storylines across 2021 that I will cover in detail… but as if the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Guardians of the Galaxy weren’t enough, he also has a bunch of miscellaneous appearances in other books.
Since when covering the 2020s I’m no longer seeking to review EVERY Doom appearance I’m not going into the specifics for all, but I’m bundling together the stories where I have something to say.

King In Black: Iron Man/Doom (2021)
by Christopher Cantwell & Salvador Larroca

Let’s begin with the one where Doctor Doom has a major role.

This is part of a big crossover revolving around the new role about the symbiotes, which are no longer just weird aliens but are connected to cosmic horror, and a VERY complex evolution of Venom.
We begin with Iron Man, now wearing a symbiote-empowered armor, mourning the death of Eddie Brock who he couldn’t save.
Doctor Doom is not a fan.

I just love how Doctor Doom is both trying to console Iron Man while simultaneously boasting that he couldn’t possibly kill him.

Doctor Doom is here because the symbiotes have started an invasion of Earth, starting from Manhattan out of tradition.
But the actual villain of the story is the one you’d expect the least: Symbiote Santa.

Only Doom would give Santa a badass epithet like “The Chimney’d One”.

You’d think this was a joke, but no, the comic plays Santa completely straight!

OF COURSE Latveria has the most metal Santa ever.

Doom is most definitely not a fan of Eddie Brock’s redemption arc.

This is probably the kindest thing he has ever said Iron Man.
I don’t know if that’s sweet or sad.

Doctor Doom continues to have the best insults in comics.

This comic is so gloriously unhinged it goes full circle and becomes awesome!

It has a plead from Iron Man to Santa asking him to please be real, only to later kill him!
Come on, this is amazing!

Naah, this was actually what Santa needed to get rid of the symbiote.

The comic manages to get it both ways.
If you think Santa fits the Marvel Universe, Doom is right and Iron Man just discovered Santa’s secret identity.
If you think that’s too silly, this is just some kind of mutant or magic user that believes himself to be Santa.

We have reached the ACTUAL reason why Doom bothered to show up… he’s looking for a Christmas gift for himself, and Iron Man just happens to be wearing it.

Yeah what could POSSIBLY go wrong there, Tony.

SHOCKINLY, Iron Man doesn’t go along with it, and we close with a conversation about Santa.

Doom significance: 0/HO
If I had a nickel for every time Doctor Doom fought Santa Claus… I’d have two nickels, but it’s weird it happened twice.

Silver Age-ness: 10/HO

Will it stand the test of time? 10/HO
This is simultaneously a very stupid and an extremely brilliant story.

Avengers vol8 #40 (2021)
by Jason Aaron & Javier Garrón
cover by Leinil Francis Yu

I really, REALLY didn’t like the Jason Aaron run and dropped the Avengers until they finally got a new writer.

But I think I got the gist of the current storyline.

In fact the Phoenix Force has jumped around so much that it ends up possessing Doom.

This is a terrible read of Doom, Cap. It’s not that Doom doesn’t remember what it feels to be weak, is that he craves power too much.

Mercifully this isn’t the FULL Phoenix Force, just a tiny part of it.
It’s still enough to trigger Doom’s addiction to stealing cosmic power.

But Captain America ALSO gets the Phoenix Force, because I wasn’t kidding with that meme: EVERYBODY gets the Phoenix Force!

After a lengthy battle with Captain Phoenix…

…Doom just quits?

Hey if that means having to read fewer Jason Aaron issues, I’m fine with it.

Doom significance: 0/10
You’d expect the first time Doom tries to steal the Phoenix Force would amount to something.

Silver Age-ness: N/A
Will it stand the test of time? N/A
Not a complete review so not enough to give a complete score. There’s something in the Aaron run that constantly takes me out of the story… it’s a jumbled mess of way too many characters doing way too many things without anything seemingly mattering.

Times Doctor Doom has gained ultimate power: 15
This is very explicitly a FRACTION of the Phoenix Force; adding the fact that Doom doesn’t do anything impressive with it, it’s not increasing the count.

Kang the Conqueror #3 (2021)
written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing
pencils by Carlos Magno
cover by Mike Del Mundo

I’m jumping all over the place with chronological order to bundle these appearances together, and nowhere it’s more appropriate than for a Kang miniseries.

The series follows a younger version of Kang jumping through various points of Kang’s career in order to stop him, and Doom is contractually obligated to show up.

Doom’s tradition to spend his time insulting Kang continues.

It does have an interesting angle though: the young Kang mentioning that Doom’s legend was an inspiration… and he was disappointed to learn he’d grow into Kang instead of a new Doom.

Thanks to the alliance of Kangs, Doom is then returned to his time.
I’m not entirely sure WHAT time… adult Kang is explicitly from his first appearance, but this Doom already knows him, so I’m guessing he’s from a later point in time?

Doom significance: 0/10

Silver Age-ness: N/A
Will it stand the test of time? N/AAgain not a
real review, and I’ve not even read the rest of the miniseries. Seems promising enough, although that really depends on your tolerance on overcomplicated time travel stories.
In a Kang miniseries? You don’t say!

Ghost Rider: Kushala Infinity Comic (2021)
written by Taboo & B. Earl
pencils and cover by Guillermo Sanna Bauza

The Infinity Comics are an irritating conundrum for me.
Most of those are in-continuity and have interesting ideas… but they are a huge problem for me.
They have an “infinite scroll” format, meaning they don’t have traditional panels… they are digital only comics where you just continuously scroll the image.
I’m not a huge fan of the format, but they are an absolute nightmare for my style of reviews.

Because of the infinite scroll format and the lack of panels, I literally cannot review this series… the format makes it VERY difficult to get “panels” for the review.
Which is a pity because the premise is interesting. The protagonist is Kushala, an Apache woman from the 1800s who was both Ghost Rider AND Sorcerer Supreme!

She’s a cool character who has appeared, no shocker, in both Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange stories.

And this looks like a great story overall… it involves time travel, magic and a bit of cosmic horror, talking about the importance of stories… but I just cannot get into it because of the scroll format.

Doom significance: 0/10
The Infinity Comics tend to be completely ignored by the other books.

Silver Age-ness: N/A
Will it stand the test of time? N/A
If you can get past the infinite scroll format, this is probably an amazing series.
I just couldn’t.

Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 148
Adding Kushala is the only reason I’m covering this.

Marvel #2 (2021)
cover by Alex Ross

This must be one of the most confusing series ever. First of all good luck finding it with THE most generic title EVER for a Marvel book, but it’s also a series that basically just exists to make Alex Ross draw whatever he likes.

The cover focuses on Black Widow, the main story is about the X-Men… and one of the backup stories has nothing to do with either of them or with Alex Ross.

“Leave the Demon, Take the Cannoli”
by Eric Powell

This is a very silly story that begins with a serious premise: Doctor Doom has kidnapped Silver Surfer AGAIN and is controlling him with magic.