This May will see the launch of the most ambitious Doctor Doom comic of all time, with all the ingredients to become a modern classic right out of the gate. Here’s what you need to know, and why any Marvel fan should be very excited about this project.
Doomquest Has All the Ingredients for the Best Doctor Doom Story of All Time
Marvel just announced the ten-issue maxiseries Doomquest, which will see Doctor Doom traveling through time on a quest to perfect human history.
Coming from Ryan North and Francesco Mobili, Doomquest is intended as an ‘evergreen’ series – one that can be read as a self-contained story at any time, rather than being wrapped up in the immediate events of the ongoing Marvel Universe. The first issue’s summary reads:
THE DAYS OF DOOM!
Doctor Victor Von Doom is a great scientist, an unparalleled sorcerer and the ruler of his own nation. He is, by any measure, a great man. And yet Doom wants more. And when Reed Richards – Mister Fantastic, his greatest enemy and eternal rival – is showcased at a prestigious international event to which Doom wasn’t even invited, Doom is outraged.
Reed shares his plan for his eventual retirement project: the total optimization of history. He intends to go back in time, to all the eras humanity wasted on war and conflict, and fix them, saving trillions of lives and ensuring humanity can achieve its greatest and final glory. The idea of Reed rewriting history in his own image is, of course, antithetical to Doom, and so he decides to do it before Reed does. But when the Fantastic Four intervene, Doom finds himself in a battle he never intended – across all of time and space!
The story promises to be a time travel epic that will challenge Doctor Doom’s willpower and ego, one which Marvel promises will journey “into the heart of Victor Von Doom, across the edges of reality, into action-packed battles you can’t see anywhere else, and beyond!” Fans can get a first look at this new series in May 2’s Armageddon/X-Men #1 on Comics Giveaway Day!
Why We’re So Excited for Doomquest
First, Doctor Doom solo comics tend to be fantastic. 2005’s Books of Doom (Ed Brubaker and Pablo Raimondi) and Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Trials and Torment (Mike Mignola and Rogern Stern) are considered modern classics, while Jonathan Hickman, Sanford Greene and Rachelle Rosenberg’s oneshot DOOM is considered one of Marvel’s best single-issue comics. Likewise, 2019’s Doctor Doom series (Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larroca) blew the doors off with its jaw-dropping conclusion.
The ten-issue length suggests Marvel has major faith in this series, North is a writer whose current Fantastic Four run is considered one of Marvel’s best ongoing comics, Francesco Mobili’s art is among the best currently in comics, and the first issue’s cover comes from industry legend Alex Ross – something which will hopefully continue across the series.
Finally, the comic being a standalone epic disentangled from ongoing lore is huge news. DC Comics has had a series of major successes allowing writers like Tom King to tackle maxiseries that you don’t need any background to read, appealing to a wider audience than monthly comics. It’s past time Marvel did the same.
Our Take on Marvel’s New Doomquest Series
Doctor Doom is one of Marvel’s best characters and, as Ryan North has noted in the past, Doom’s personal complexity and arch dialogue tend to force writers to bring their A-game. As North told Popverse, “Doctor Doom is a person who’s never said ‘um’ in his life.”
If any comics character has the depth for a ten-issue exploration of their soul, it’s Doctor Doom, and North just proved he’s up to the job with the One World Under Doom event comic, which had even Marvel fans asking if Doctor Doom might be the best choice to rule the Earth, before pulling the rug out from under their feet.
Nothing is ever guaranteed, but Doomquest has every possible element to be one of the best Doctor Doom comics Marvel has ever published, and a modern classic in the making
Doomquest #1 is coming 27 May from Marvel Comics.