Doctor Doom #7 Review
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colourist: Guru-eFX
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The lion's share of this issue is devoted to Doom gathering up his six most loyal followers and having them individually swear fealty before he launches his push to take back Latveria. So that's pretty quiet.
But bringing the noise, Adam Brashear is diving into the Antlion black hole, trying to close it with his negative energy powers. And he has a most unexpected encounter in there.
Plus, Doctor Doom makes his entrance in the grandest style, riding up on a damn bear in a panel that screams, "Make a poster out of me this instant!"
This issue is a wonderful blend of nuanced characterization and striking moments that are the comics equivalent of heavy metal guitar solos. I give the whole creative team equal credit for the latter: The memorable moments are drawn and coloured with great skill, but also clearly sprang from good ideas in the script.
Guru-eFX outdoes himself with a range of different palettes. Most impressive, to me, are the chilly winter colours he uses for the outdoor scenes. They're nicely contrasted by Brashear's space scenes, which also lean toward blues, but of a sharp neon variety. The difference points out how flexible and versatile Guru-eFX can be.
Salvador Larroca's art more than lives up to the script and the colours. As implied above, I fell pretty hard in love with the spectacular panel of Doom on a bear. That is by no means the only good piece of art. He brings his usual exactitude to the anatomy and the settings. The one-on-one scenes with Doom's followers show off an impressive range of facial work: They're male and female, young and old, skinny and fat. Each one emerges as a distinct and believable person.
In the same way that the art clearly distinguishes between the followers, Christopher Cantwell takes a different approach to each of their conversations with Doom. (And no, not all of them survive their meetings.) By voicing different concerns, not only does each follower stand out, but each one also draws different feelings out of Doom. It's an effective technique for exploring his character.
Mr. Cantwell also continues to make use of Doom's alternate future visions. Here, Doom starts to see disturbing changes in that future as an effect of the choices he's making. This breathes fresh life into the whole alternate future conceit and builds up anticipation for further developments.
Doom's march to retake Latveria begins with some interesting spotlight thrown on his supporting cast. We learn about each of them, and the attention reflected on Doom explores our favourite mad science dictator, too. Safeguarded by continued artistic excellence (particularly a few extra-memorable splash panels), Doctor Doom's solo story continues to fascinate.
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colourist: Guru-eFX
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The lion's share of this issue is devoted to Doom gathering up his six most loyal followers and having them individually swear fealty before he launches his push to take back Latveria. So that's pretty quiet.
But bringing the noise, Adam Brashear is diving into the Antlion black hole, trying to close it with his negative energy powers. And he has a most unexpected encounter in there.
Plus, Doctor Doom makes his entrance in the grandest style, riding up on a damn bear in a panel that screams, "Make a poster out of me this instant!"
This issue is a wonderful blend of nuanced characterization and striking moments that are the comics equivalent of heavy metal guitar solos. I give the whole creative team equal credit for the latter: The memorable moments are drawn and coloured with great skill, but also clearly sprang from good ideas in the script.
Guru-eFX outdoes himself with a range of different palettes. Most impressive, to me, are the chilly winter colours he uses for the outdoor scenes. They're nicely contrasted by Brashear's space scenes, which also lean toward blues, but of a sharp neon variety. The difference points out how flexible and versatile Guru-eFX can be.
Salvador Larroca's art more than lives up to the script and the colours. As implied above, I fell pretty hard in love with the spectacular panel of Doom on a bear. That is by no means the only good piece of art. He brings his usual exactitude to the anatomy and the settings. The one-on-one scenes with Doom's followers show off an impressive range of facial work: They're male and female, young and old, skinny and fat. Each one emerges as a distinct and believable person.
In the same way that the art clearly distinguishes between the followers, Christopher Cantwell takes a different approach to each of their conversations with Doom. (And no, not all of them survive their meetings.) By voicing different concerns, not only does each follower stand out, but each one also draws different feelings out of Doom. It's an effective technique for exploring his character.
Mr. Cantwell also continues to make use of Doom's alternate future visions. Here, Doom starts to see disturbing changes in that future as an effect of the choices he's making. This breathes fresh life into the whole alternate future conceit and builds up anticipation for further developments.
Doom's march to retake Latveria begins with some interesting spotlight thrown on his supporting cast. We learn about each of them, and the attention reflected on Doom explores our favourite mad science dictator, too. Safeguarded by continued artistic excellence (particularly a few extra-memorable splash panels), Doctor Doom's solo story continues to fascinate.
A Look Inside
Comments