Customer Reviews

Fantastic Four: Books of Doom

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I grew up being a HUGE DC fan. Marvel stuff was, largely, the way of mutants, and I just never really caught that bug. However, I can remember as a little reading some cheap black-n-white adaptations of the Fantastic Four and being thrilled by the major evildoer, Doctor Doom aka Victor Von Doom, and, having seen the recent FANTASTIC FOUR film on DVD, I thought I'd pick this up to explore Ed Brubaker's take on Von Doom's origins ... and I'm certainly glad I did. FANTASTIC FOUR: BOOKS OF DOOM isn't your run-of-the-mill graphic novel; it isn't chockful of fisticuffs and derringdo. Rather, it's largely a meditation done from the point of view of a documentary film -- think of it as a History Channel flick, an investigative journalist piece about the legend behind the man who is Victor Von Doom.

Brubaker takes Doom way back to his origins -- to the fateful day when his mother, a witch, slipped away from her hold on life and the young boy -- already tainted by evil -- was raised by his guilt-ridden father. Not long after losing his father, Victor ventures to America -- with the help of an unnamed shadowy American government organization -- where he's to use his genius for the benefit of "world peace" ... or what services as American interests at the time. Of course, he meets Reed Richards, but that's the only substantive link back to the Fantastic Four. Otherwise, BOOKS OF DOOM (a collection of a six-part Marvel mini) is largely a meditation -- through the eyes of those who knew him best -- on how this boy grew into man who would be shaped by evil perhaps, largely, not of his own accord. It's a fascination exploration of the psyche behind one of all of comicbook's greatest villains. It's tragic, it's relevant, and it's terrific.

Also, there's a great twist ending that isn't fully revealed until the last page ... usually the sign of a great yarn.

I've been working my way through the contents of Essential Super-Villain Team-Up Volume 1, which features Doctor Doom as the central character, and I decided to take a little detour over to this graphic novel called Fantastic Four: Books Of Doom, because Doom made me. He's very pushy that way, and hard to refuse when he asserts the full force of his personality to make me buy stuff.

Books Of Doom was originally six comic books providing the origin story of the Fantastic Four's greatest enemy; now it's this graphic novel. The story is surprisingly low-key, and in fact does not generate very much tension--Doom is sort of on a slow plod to ultimate greatness, starting from when he is four years old (one of the best scenes is when this child promises revenge against several Latverian gypsy kinsmen--full-grown men!--who have badmouthed his murdered mother and spoken harshly to their leader, Doom's pappy; I'm reminded of Rodney Dangerfield's old joke: "How tough was he?...When he was two years old, he came here from Italy......by himself!" Doom the toddler is issuing death threats). As the story jumps ahead in years, to focus on all the key events in young Doom's life that misshape him, there are no battles with super-heroes, no super-villain team-ups, no Fantastic Four or Avengers (though Doom-as-teenager meets up with fellow science whiz Reed Richards in some quick scenes, once Doom has fled to the USA). The US Government exploits his genius, getting him to build cool stuff for them, while Doom starts to think outside the box, but inside the pentagram, melding science and sorcery in an attempt to visit the spirit of his mother in the nether-realm, where she is tortured endlessly by a demon.

The result of this: Doom scarred for life, face in bandages, so it's only a matter of time before linen will be exchanged for impenetrable armor. The armor represents Doom's removal of his person from regular people who disgust him in their foolishness (Doom has a slight arrogance problem, did you know that?), as does his sojourn through the mountains of Tibet to find a monks' temple that will afford him peace for a time.

Once the armor is forged, and Doom starts building all his favourite killer robots, he sets his sights on Latveria--the claiming of it from its present king, an old enemy. Though the takeover of Latveria is a fairly straightforward affair--a coup that's over in the first round--it's probably one of the best sequences of the Books Of Doom, because the art shows Doom in all his striding, unstoppable majesty. He is ruler before he is ruler; ripping the green cape off the former ruler and throwing it about his shoulders is, for Doctor Doom, a mere formality (though he does look cool in it). Terrific stuff. If you liked the first part of Batman Begins, right up til when the main character puts on his costume for the first time, and then want the story to segue into something more like Revenge Of The Sith right when the lead character kills Mace Windu, then you will like Books Of Doom--or something like that.

Reading this tale in tandem with Essential Super-Villain Team-Up has been rather fun. For all the toned-down atmosphere of Books Of Doom, this is definitely the same guy from Team-Up. I love the fact that Doom, in both, has the same over-the-top high-and-mighty speech patterns, the same florid melodramatic way with words (and threats)--it's just that he uses a lot more exclamation points in Super-Villain Team-Up ( a LOT more!!!!!!!..!!) And anyway, Doom doesn't need to shout--he's got a death-ray, and a time machine. It's also clear that Books Of Doom draws on material from previous comics like Super-Villain Team-Up to flesh out the origin; servile Boris, Prince Rudolpho, annual duels with a demon, a penchant for robots that eventually get above themselves--all are either shown or mentioned in both works, which makes Doom's life feel big, epic, spread out over a huge canvas which Books Of Doom collects together.

I was tempted to award Books Of Doom a mere three-star rating for its lack of pyrotechnics, but hey, it wouldn't be the first origin story that's somewhat less dynamic and exciting than what comes later. You get used to it. And belated origin stories that stay faithful to pre-existing snippets are always a bit predictable (I'm sure Doom and Vader have lamented this over pints of Latverian Ale with a Force chaser). And while I didn't find the art all that impressive--except for depictions of Doom himself with his green cape that seems to slowly fade to black--it's certainly crisp and direct. So, enjoy the origin of Doctor Doom, and if you want louder mayhem, you know where to go to see him beat up on the Sub-Mariner.

I love Dr. Doom and this book only made it better. Great series, great art, ending was a little dissapointing.

This is one of the best pieces of literature that I've ever had the pleasure to read. If you are a comic fan in any sort you must read this book. If you have seen the movie Interview with the Vampire and enjoy the interview point that the director gives while telling the story, then you will truely enjoy this book. A ton of content and book you will lose sleep over if you don't start reading it early in the day.

This collection of issues is the origin tale of Doom, and gives a look at his thinking process and driving force. There is not a lot of action in this book; It's just Doom retelling his life, and it would actually be pretty dull if I was not a huge fan of the good doctor. If you enjoy the character, I would say this book is 4 stars, but if you are not a fan of him, I could see this being two stars. So, the score is averaged out to 3.

Ed Brubaker brings his considerable writing talents to colour in the past of one of Marvel's more mysterious characters - Dr Doom. We get to see Victor as a young man, innocent and in love, travelling with his roaming family in an Eastern European-esque country before things go sour. "The Baron" is an evil noble who forces Victor and his family to go on the run, ultimately ending in tragedy, while Victor's mother dabbles in the black arts leading to more tragedy. It leads to Victor's escape to America where he first encounters Reed Richards before he returns to Latveria to wreak his revenge on the Baron and secure his country's future.

All highly dramatic stuff, "The Books of Doom" is a good read with a lot going for it. Victor even comes across as a sometimes sympathetic character though oftentimes the coldness of his character that comes from suffering so much so young makes his actions more difficult to forgive. And for long-time fans of the Fantastic Four, we get to see how their greatest nemesis gets into the Darth Vader-type suit and finally goes from Victor von Doom to Dr Doom.

Brubaker's writing is top notch as always and I enjoyed the artwork of Pablo Raimondi which suited the colourful landscapes that Victor's journey took him on. It's a fascinating read as all Origin stories should be, it's just a shame that it's fallen out of print in the UK. For fans of superheroes, as well as those of Ed Brubaker, it's a must-read.

As a hard core fan of Doctor Doom, my hopes were set very high for this and, much to my pleasant surprise it exceeded them. For some people, it might be too long "six issues dedicated to Dr. Doom's origin?" was a question I heard more than once. But, yes, and it's wonderful. Be sure to follow this up with another GREAT graphic novel: "Triumph and Torment" a Dr. Strange/Dr. Doom team-up that is nothing short of amazing.

Origin Story.


Yes, another one, but I think this is in more detail than most, going right from his birth, through the death of his mother, gypsy life, to the oft-chronicled college days - however, the secret US government weapons lab where he created his bots is a new wrinkle, plus the demon challenges to rescue his mother, the Dr Strangesque odyssey, and the leading the army to take back Latveria. All done via video interview style, with a nasty twist.

While I have tremendously enjoyed Ed Brubaker's work on Captain America, his work on other Marvel titles just hasn't hit me in the same way. FANTASTIC FOUR: BOOKS OF DOOM is an in-depth retelling of the origin of the FF's main nemesis, Victor von Doom. Following the leads provided in over 40 years of stories, Brubaker actually does a good job of integrating all the little bits and pieces other writers have laid out on Doctor Doom's history over the years, and it certainly provides the closest look we've ever had at the dictator of Latveria. This same feature of the book gives it an odd, out-of-sorts quality, as the story is told by Doom through an interview with an investigative journalist, something which seems far too personal for such a guarded megalomaniac. But by the end of the story, you realize exactly why Doom would be so open with this person.

I feel that the biggest fault in Brubaker's story is that there is no initial set-up to let the reader know that the interview is even taking place. The first issue begins with what appears to be Doom telling his story directly to the reader, which I thought was a nice angle; however, we aren't shown until the second issue that Doom is actually being interviewed, intercut with video commentary by friends and associates from his past. The journalist doesn't even ask a question until the second issue, and you don't actually see her until the very end of the story. She plays an important part in the story's twist ending, which provides an interesting perspective to the interview. But as she's introduced so late, the impact of the ending is lessened. It certainly didn't "WOW" me like Brubaker's other work.

Pablo Raimondi's art looks great - very detailed and realistic, though I'm not keen on how he draws Doctor Doom's mask. Like so many other artists these days, he makes Doom look like Klytus from Flash Gordon, and I think it detracts from the look of the character. Paolo Rivera's covers, while somewhat rough, provide an interesting look to the character. So overall, FF: BOOKS OF DOOM is okay, but I wish Brubaker would have been more careful with the set-up.

Stupid, stupid stupid stupid...the one word that describes this book. Do not buy it. I'm serious, the book is amazingly pathetic. I usually don't give books bad reviews, but this one...this one is worthy of an exception. Probably the worst Graphic Novel I ever read. At this time I can understand why people wish that there was a Zero Stars option when reviewing a book.