The Books of Doom...

The Books of Doom was a six-issue miniseries, now collected as a graphic novel, detailing the history of Victor Von Doom, the long-time villain in Fantastic Four. Written by Ed Brubaker, drawn by Pablo Rivera.

Yawn.

Now, I often like Ed Brubaker's writing, especially in Gotham Central, but as time goes on I am becoming less enchanted with it: he's best, I think, on crime noir but kind of heavy-handed on the fantasy.

In this case, I thought: What's he point? It's all pretty much a rewrite of what Stan Lee gave us (more briefly) back in the sixties, with the most interesting parts - such as Doom's romance with Valeria, or his acquaintance with Reed Richards - downplayed. Much of the story is told in first -person narrative, the problem being that Doom's heavy-handed self-importance slows down and burdens any sense of life the action may have had. There is no sense of humour in Victor Von Doom. No witty repartee. Even his sense of ambition is gloomy and dark.

Pablo Rivera is good - even great - on some of the covers and full-page art, where he can put menace and suspense right onto the page. Otherwise it was competent but not exciting art.

I found myself wondering what might have made the book less heavy-handed. Another point of view, perhaps? Or more structure - play up the personal nature of one of his vendettas - with the Baron? With Reed Richards? Perhaps use Valeria's point of view, her attempts to save her lover from his own self-destruction.

One scene I did like: young Doom and his father trying to escape the Baron's men, in the snowy mountains of Latveria. The father holds Doom in his arms to keep him warm through the night. In the morning, Doom wakes up, to find his father frozen immobile, and he is unable to move, trapped in his father's arms, freezing to death himself. It was delightfully chilling.

But even that was a but anticlimactic, as it turned out the father was still alive, and able to wake and move and live another day.

I wanted a new angle on Doom's story, and here, though we got his own perspective, it was nothing we haven't seen before, some of it cribbed from other comics - a section in the Himalayas was rather too much like Doctor Strange (or Iron Fist or any number of mystic-Himalayan-monks stories). Stan Lee gave it more sparkle.