Not to be confused with a VERY different Doom comic I’ve already reviewed, this is a 3-issue miniseries written by Chuck Dixon.
It’s unlikely I’ll get to review his work again: he’s mostly known for his extensive work on Batman and the Punisher in the 90s, and later Batman again in the 2000s.
So how does he adapt to the much different Doctor Doom?
Doom #1 (2000)
by Chuck Dixon & Leonardo Manco
You certainly would have a hard time figuring out this is a Doctor Doom story by the cover.
Also: Lancer is supposed to be swimming underwater in this scene, considering she’s surrounded by Atlanteans, or she’s diving into water… but that’s a very, uhm, interesting technique.
This is set after Fantastic Four v3 #25, which ended with Doom being banished to the Earth created by Franklin Richards. He arrives naked in Africa, and apparently Doom has gone bald.
Doom is immediately attacked by a lion, which he proceeds to kill WITH ONE PUNCH while naked and bald.
Dixon immediately finds Doom’s voice. It was a bit risky to give the normally verbose Doom the narration through the captions, but I think his personality comes off perfectly.
Doom uses the lion’s skin to make himself a new mask and some clothes.
From this point on, the Earth created by Franklin will be referred to as “Counter-Earth” since it’s been brought to the regular Marvel universe but on the other side of the Sun.
I’m not a fan of the term since it’s a bit confusing: there WAS a previous Counter-Earth in the 70s created by the High Evolutionary. It’s since been destroyed, but still.
Also, while it could be interpreted as a metaphor, Doom has such a high opinion of himself that he WOULD think the Sun is interested in him!!!
This is a very minor showcase of Doom’s scientific knowledge, but it’s still neat that he manages to figure out his location by charting the stars.
And of course he’s still thinking of revenge against Richards, he’s still Doctor Doom.
Meanwhile, Lancer has returned to Counter-Earth (as seen in Fantastic Four v3#28) and she’s having to deal with Doombots.
She’s not fooled by a second, continuing the theme that she’s one of the few of Doom’s allies that can easily spot the fakes (she was also the first one to understand Reed took Doom’s place).
Without Doom around and his Generals defeated, his empire is under constant attacks by opposing forces. Even this Doombot was sent by one of them.
After this miniseries Lancer will have only 1 appearance. Which is a real pity because I really enjoyed her dynamic with Doom, even when he’s not around.
Back to Doom, he runs into a mining facility that doesn’t exist in his Earth…
…which is run by the production of another Mad Max movie?
The don’t last long against Doom, who already gets a costume upgrade out of it.
But he’s then captured by the slaver Al-Khalad, the first adversary in the series.
Despite looking like a wizard from a fantasy series, he’s just a regular guy.
And if you’re wondering just how these idiots managed to capture Doctor Doom… he just wanted to get inside their base to steal their technology.
And so we end the first issue with Doom becoming the leader of a slave rebellion, of all things.
He might want to work on his inspirational speech a little more, but damn is this isn’t one badass moment.
Doom #2 (2000)
by Chuck Dixon & Leonardo Manco
Seriously, these cover look straight out of 80s European paperbacks.
Despite his boast from the previous issue, Doom ends up spending three days working in the mines.
As much as I’m enjoying the story, I think it would’ve been better to set it in a completely fantasy reality… Counter-Earth was supposed to be based on the real world, and yet THIS is how they work the mines!?
Considering this reality was created by a child… Franklin Richards sure has issues.
Still, a planet’s a planet.
It doesn’t take long for Doom to gather his troops and start the real rebellion.
Of course Doom doesn’t REALLY care about the slaves: this was all just to access their communications and call his headquarters.
Do you think your computer has a strong password?
Doom’s password is a 100 character code that changes with the Moon’s phases!!!
This WOULD be the end of Doom’s journey, except the technician answering the call… a guy named Breegan… is working for the enemy.
Doom takes this about as well as you’d expect, ending up destroying the entire mining facility and stealing their high-tech jet.
Honestly this place never made any sense whatsoever, but Doom is so utterly awesome that I’m having a great time regardless.
Doom is just full of one-liners in this one.
Still, Doom had to sacrifice his jet for that stunt, and he’s still on a different continent from his base.
The way he comes up with a way to return is a bit weird: he reasons that, since Franklin recreated most of the original Earth, he might have also recreated one of Doom’s hidden bases.
WHICH HE DID.
Doom certainly spared no expense giving these hidden bases an awesome look, despite admitting he considered it very unlikely that he’d ever need them.
Also, I think Dixon gave much more thought than Claremont on how this Earth was supposed to work. Both introduced characters and factions that came out of absolutely nowhere, but at least Dixon gives us some explanations.
You’d expect Doom to leave at least a spare armor here, but it just houses another jet.
This issue took care of Al-Khalad, who was definitely a forgettable adversary.
The next threat is this Earth’s version of Byrrah, one of the most persistent Namor foes, who has taken over Atlantis now that Namor has vanished and this Earth’s Dorma has been defeated.
I’ve never been fond of the original Byrrah… he was just a rather generic villain.
But hiring a sorceress that can summon THE KRAKEN is certainly an improvement!
Doom #3 (2000)
by Chuck Dixon & Leonardo Manco
That is one ugly Kraken.
Doom is returning to his base in the Baxter Building just in time, because Byrrah is launching a full assault against Doom’s empire.
Lancer is still unflinching in her complete loyalty to Doom.
I’m surprised Doom doesn’t namedrop Namor throughout this entire storyline. You’d expect him to bring up their bromance.
Byrrah was the one to bribe Breegan into betraying Doom. While this version of Byrrah is completely different from the original, that is 100% something the old Byrrah would do.
(and yes, there’s plenty of misspellings of his name)
The fight with the Kraken is not going well.
Lancer ends up falling into the water. Remember that we first saw her diving beneath the waves to save Doom’s life, so this is kind of closing the circle.
Doom sacrificed his jet in the fight, but he still has an armor that lets him survive underwater.
So he didn’t leave a full Doom armor in one of these bases, but went through the trouble of just keeping this thing in the trunk!?
It’s worth remembering that Doom kept this thing in a secret base in an African desert, but he STILL considered the possibility he’d have to use it to fight underwater.
Also Doom is QUITE brutal throughout this miniseries.
With barely any power left and without weapons, Doom is left to face the Kraken alone.
The Kraken never stood a chance.
In one of my favorite Doom moments of all time, he takes control of the Kraken’s body to completely decimate the Atlantean army!!!
It’s possible he’s using magic to override the sorceress’ control over the creature, but I much prefer the idea he’s used the Ovoid Mind Transfer to switch bodies with the monster.
Either way: AWESOME.
Even with this frankly ridiculous look, Doom still knows how to make an entrance.
And in typical Doom fashion, he goes straight to business: everything he’s done throughout this entire miniseries was barely an inconvenience to him.
There’s still the matter of Breegan, though.
The classic Doom armor always included a regular pistol. The official explanation was that Doom used it to dispose of threats that were unworthy of his armor.
That’s never been shown in an actual comic, but this is the closest thing we ever got.
90% of the dynamic between Doom and Lancer in a single panel.
And so we end with Doom leaving Lancer to rule Counter-Earth in his name…
…because he’s got better things to do.
Doom significance: 5/10
All things considered, it’s pretty inconsequential. Doom having conquered Counter-Earth will only be a factor in a couple of stories, and it’s not like you really need a detailed explanation on how DOCTOR DOOM survives anything.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Almost as far removed as possible.
Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Definitely not for everybody and a VERY unusual kind of story for Doctor Doom… but I absolutely love it. Doom is perfectly in-character, with plenty of awesome one-liners and great moments.
The initial scene with the lion and how he deals with the Kraken are among my favorite Doom moments of all time!
Doom’s personality is fascinating here: his frightening force of will and his complete lack of empathy for the trail of bodies he leaves behind are something to behold.
It’s not perfect, though. While the effort to keep Doom as low tech as possible pays off, it’s a bit of a stretch that he never even attempts to use any magic in this.
The Mad Max stuff is quite out of nowhere; as I said, it probably would’ve benefitted to be set in a completely fantasy location. But then it recovers by using this alternate version of the Atlanteans far better than Claremont did.
The artwork is quite rough at times, but overall it does fit the tone of the story: you really do get the feeling this world is basically wasting away.
I started by questioning whether Dixon could adapt his writing style to Doctor Doom, and the answer is definitively a yes.
It was a Doombot all along
Extremely unlikely given the previous appearances and what he does in the story.
Times Doctor Doom has taken over the world: 4
It’s not Earth, but I think it’s still close enough to count.
Crazy tech
Doom is surprisingly low tech throughout the story. But the fact that he supposedly has those gigantic cathedral-like bases scattered throughout the planet, just in case…