| Comic Review | Paul Milligan |
Books
of Doom #1 (of 6)
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Penciler: Pablo Raimondi
Inker: Mark Farmer
Colorist: Brian Reber
The Fantastic Four’s greatest nemesis, Doctor Victor Von
Doom, recounts the story of his life. In this first issue
Doom talks about his childhood in Latveria as he discovers
his mother’s dark secret, experiences persecution because of
his gypsy heritage and his eventual role as leader of his
gypsy clan.
If you’re a regular reader of the Fantastic Four, you’ll
probably end up picking up this book. Also, if you’re a
regular reader of the Fantastic Four you probably already
know a lot of the information presented in this mini-series.
But if you are looking for a little more background on how
Doom became the twisted enemy of Mr. Fantastic and the mad
dictator of Latveria then this is probably something you’ll
want to check out. This is the definitive story of Doom’s
life, literally starting the tale in his mother’s womb. See
how an innocent child, already wise beyond his years,
becomes a smug and dangerous, yet brilliant, young man. It’s
not a pretty story, and Brubaker does a good job instilling
sympathy within the reader, even when we know the sort of
man this boy will become.
While the story was interesting to me I already know most of
the facts presented within this issue. What truly drew me to
this book was the superb art by one of my favorite artists,
the underrated Pablo Raimondi. He conveys emotion
beautifully, makes even the most mundane scenes exciting and
draws one of the most kick ass versions of Doctor Doom you
ever will see. For the beautiful art alone I would recommend
giving this book a shot.
Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.
