This is a historic occasion for the site: the Doctor Doom retrospective completes the 2010s.
And it happens just ONE day before the sixth anniversary of the site, which began with the review of Doom’s very first appearance.
The retrospective WILL continue with some changes, discussed at the end of this review… but before that, let’s close this era with one last review from 2019.
Marvel Comics #1000 (2019)
cover by Alex Ross
This monster of a book was created to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Marvel Comics, and it features over 80 one-page stories by different creators.
Just look at the credits provided by the digital version!!!
They even included a tribute to basically all Marvel creators who had died before the publishing date. And not just the most well-known ones.
I’ve already mentioned this book a couple of times because it does feature the most recent appearance of a couple of Golden Age heroes.
There IS a bit of a storyline through it all, but I can’t possibly cover it all… let’s just have a look at the stories that feature Doom.
“Till you die”
by Saladin Ahmed & Steve Rude
This is an interview where they ask the Thing why he does what he does.
He mentions having fought kinds and wizards… which is funny because while the comic shows Wizard, he’s not actually a wizard.
While Doctor Doom is both a king AND a wizard.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Does exactly what it wants to do. Next!
“End Of The Fay”by Donald Mustard
While the caption mentions Iron Man #150, the mystical cylinder is more of a link to Iron Man #250.
The rest of the “story” doesn’t have dialogue. While it does show Doom’s isolation, I don’t entirely get what we’re supposed to feel from this. If it’s that Doom sacrificed everything to get what he wants, it sounds hollow when we don’t even know WHAT he just got his hands on.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
No idea what THIS one wanted to say. Next!
“Parental Guidance Suggested”
by David Walker & J.J.Kirby
Yeah why wouldn’t Luke Cage talk about that time he beat up Doctor Doom for owing him money any chance he gets?
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Cute scene but that is some awful artwork. Next!
“Doom Alone”
by Jason Latour
And finally, we have our last Doom story of the book.
Which is among the shortest recaps of Doom’s origin, but also one of the most effective.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
One of the best recaps ever.
“We’re Calling Him Ben”
by Brad Meltzer & Julian Tedesco
While it doesn’t feature Doctor Doom at all, I simply cannot skip my favorite story.
It’s among my all-time favorite Spider-Man stories. At ONE PAGE, that’s impressive.
Does it stand the test of time? 20/10
This should be a test for anyone willing to write Spider-Man. If they don’t love it, they should be disqualified.
Doom significance: 0/10
There are stories in this book that HAVE been picked up elsewhere (most notably by Al Ewing, because of course he has). It’s not any of the stories involving Doom.
Sadly it’s not the Spider-Man story either.
And that’s a wrap on 2019!
Keep in mind it’s entirely possible I forgot some very minor appearances, in which case I will consider reviewing them.
The What If subsection will eventually receive more reviews as well.
While the main Doctor Doom retrospective will continue… at this point we have reached stories that began publishing AFTER I started it.
This will warrant some adjustments:
WHAT WILL BE COVERED
I will no longer be including ALL of Doctor Doom’s appearances by default.
Instead, stories will be included in the retrospective:
1) if I find it interesting enough to talk about
2) if updates a specific counter
Please note that point 1 takes precedence. If a story updates a counter by I don’t have anything to say about it, it will might be included in a recap without a full review.
As a general rule, I will not be covering any story under the “Marvel Infinity” line for a technical reason… these are not stories published in a comic book grid but with an “infinite scroll” version only. Not only I personally dislike this format, but it would make my style of review an absolute nightmare. Some issues MIGHT be included as a special occasion if there something I just can’t bring myself to skip.
NEW SCORING SYSTEM
Doom significance
This category will show up only if, at the time of the review, its significance has already shown to be important enough to mention. I don’t expect to use this category much.
Silver Age-ness
This will remain unchanged.
Does it stand the test of time?
While I believe that 6 years is BARELY enough to warrant an examination of whether a story has stood the test of time, the gap will inevitable shrink enough to make it meaningless.
So this score will be retired from this retrospective, replaced by…
Will it stand the test of time?
Just because I can’t speculate on whether the story has stood the test of time doesn’t mean I can blather about whether I think it WILL stand it.
ONGOING COUNTERS
These counters WILL continue to be updated, and in fact will be a major deciding factor on whether I will review a story or not.
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 140
Supervillains created by Dr. Doom: 24
Superhero teams Doom has joined: 2
Times Latveria has been conquered: 18
Universes created by Dr. Doom: 2
Times Doctor Doom has gained ultimate power: 15
Times Doctor Doom has taken over the world: 5
Times Doctor Doom has been arrested: 3
Times Doom has died: 2
RETIRED COUNTERS
Given that I will no longer review everything, these counters will no longer receive regular updates.
Take over the world: 31
Times Doom has saved the world: 24
Destroy the FF! : 63
WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOCTOR DOOM?
All 10 issues of the Doctor Doom miniseries will be reviewed (duh).
Later stories will be included or not based on the above criteria.
The “One World Under Doom” crossover even will take considerable amount of time to get through. Just to give you an idea, I counted FIFTY-TWO books that might considerably be included (this will 100% be reduced A LOT by the new criteria).
Since completing that event will take us to include all of 2025 in the retrospective… at that point I will take the occasion to give it some breathing room, being replaced by a Doom 2099 retrospective for a bit.
We’re still far from that, though… there’s a lot of Doom to cover.