BEAUTY AND THE BEAST #1-4 (1984-1985)
by Ann Nocenti & Don Perlin
cover by Bill Sienkiewicz
This four-part miniseries starring Dazzler and Best is weird. Not so much because of its writing… it’s FAR from the weirdest thing Ann Nocenti has written… but for its Doom chronology.
It was published at the same time of Secret Wars, but for obvious reasons it can’t take place simultaneously. Or maybe it does… I’ll clarify later.
Since the Doom chronology immediately following Secret Wars is crazy, we might as well get this one out of the way immediately.
Only issue #1 has Doom on the cover, which is a pity because it’s by Sienkiewicz.
I’m only going to cover the Doom part of the story, since this is his retrospective and this is a VERY densely packed miniseries.
The art is by Don Perlin, who isn’t bad but I never found particularly interesting. The splash page is great, though, and I particularly like the caption of “if the Castle of Doom had a heart, it would be the art gallery”.
Ann Nocenti hasn’t written a lot of Doctor Doom, mostly some appearances during Acts of Vengeance. I think she’s good with his dialogues. Or, this being Doom, his monologues.
The main point of interest of this miniseries, for Doom fans at least, is that there’s a guy going around claiming to be his biological son.
Doom consistently denies this is his actual son throughout the entire miniseries. And I guess most of the story does as well, with the sole exception of a single thought balloon that gives us some doubt.
No clue is given about the identity of the mother; she certainly isn’t Valeria.
Now, I have no problem with a young Doom having a one night stand with a random Latverian… but the timing is weird. When exactly would the kid be born, while he was away in America? Is he already Doctor Doom when she shows him the flashback?
The son is probably in his early twenties in the miniseries, but since the clues about Doom’s age are very scarce throughout his appearances it doesn’t help us much.
All signs point to this being a delusion. Doom is intrigued enough to keep an eye on him, though.
Doom calling California “that infantile American dreamland” is top Doom. Told you Nocenti has a good grasp on his monologues.
Sadly we don’t get to see Doom mingle with the locals, because it would’ve been hilarious.
Towards the end of her series Dazzler revealed to the world that she’s a mutant, and that pretty much derailed her career. One of the major points of the miniseries is her struggling to salvage her reputation.
There’s also a theater where every actor is a mutant. That’s a neat concept, and the excuse to have Dazzler meet up with Beast.
My X-Men knowledge is severely lacking, but I don’t think the fact that Dazzler and Beast were once in a relationship is ever brought up again.
Which is a pity because Nocenti writes them with a nice chemistry, plus the anti-mutant bigotry is shown in a more believable way than the standard “kill them at first sight” sentiment that was everywhere in 80s X-Men.
This is (sadly) a more realistic public reaction, rather than showing them with pitchforks.
I’ll skip the whole plot about Dazzler having trouble controlling her powers, otherwise this review won’t ever get to Doom, but it’s good stuff.
It’s better than Doom’s dialogue in the second issue; I praised Nocenti earlier, but she can get a little on the nose.
Doom is distracted from his sheep-watching duties to be informed that his “son” is showing interest in Dazzler. Who apparently didn’t make a great impression after their encounter.
I’ve mentioned Doom’s alleged son multiple times, so I might as well show him. He’s involved with the mutant theater, and he has some kind of power that allows him to persuade people.
The fact that his mutant theater has devolved into a gladiator arena and has caused the death of more than one person should’ve been a red flag.
It’s heavily implied that his persuasion power is blinding Dazzler, but she does come off as very naïve if she doesn’t get he’s a bad guy.
Once the son overthrows the theater’s owner, Doom finally decides to get involved in the plot at the very last page of issue 3.
That may have something to do with the fact that the theater’s owner was one of Doom’s robots.
I get that the owner was spying on the alleged son, but I’m not clear whether the mutant theater was something that already existed or if Doom set it up. All the mutant actors have very limited powers, so it’s not like Doom was really planning to use them in battle. Then again he’s a patron of the arts, maybe he really enjoyed their plays.
Dazzler and Beast are just as confused as you are, folks. And it’s pretty clear Doom Junior is not entirely sane.
He also committed the worst supervillain faux pas. You never go full Hitler!
I never get tired of Doom thrashing his supposed son. He’s a master of insults.
Doom Junior loses control of his minions and gets his ass kicked by Dazzler and Beast. Then Doom shows up to, what else, insult him some more.
We never see Doom Junior again, but after THAT thrashing, I sincerely doubt he’ll come back.
Doom significance: 0/10
Completely and utterly forgotten.
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
I could see Doom monologuing about sheep in the Silver Age, but that’s about it.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
It’s not a bad Dazzler story! Obviously I skipped A LOT, but she’s a far better character than the ditzy ingenue of her regular series. There is a lot to like in the miniseries, but Doom Junior is by far the weakest point. He’s never really threatening or even creepy, which is quite an accomplishment considering his power. Plus Doctor Doom is well written but completely wasted here.
It was a Doombot all along
I mentioned there was a way to make this fit with the publishing dates: if this was actually a Doombot, it MIGHT be happening at the same time of Secret Wars.
Sure, Doom was presumed dead at the time, but considering the only people who meet him are his minions, the mutant actors, Dazzler and Beast, it’s not unreasonable to assume they never informed the rest of the superhero community. Best is admittedly a bit of a stretch, but he was in the Defenders at the time, so it’s still possible he didn’t inform the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.
Crazy tech
The theater owner showed a very advanced artificial intelligence for a robot that isn’t an actual Doombot.