Brutally Honest: What's Wrong With DOOMWAR?

Strange enough Babs, I've been quite enjoying Doomwar :)

The first two issues were interesting. But at the end of the second issue it started getting dumb. I hate how Colossus became a throw away character and I hated the idea of T'challa's sister being the Black Panther.

Well, seeing as it's gone so far under the radar that I'm learning only now that it's about to reach a fourth issue, I'd say that seems like a good sign that this isn't something that Marvel is putting too much attention on. By a you're write up of the series thus far, I have to wonder what it has to do with Doom as far as the name. 
 
I hate the fact that Storm is getting such a horrible treatment here, that's not right. Storm has always been one of the strongest women in comics, her character is being butchered.

One thing I noticed is that Doomwar didn't really get the same sort of treatment that Siege and Second Coming has gotten as far as crossovers are concerned. The title sounds cool... I mean... "DOOMWAR", sounds like a metal band. Especially how much Doom played into Dark Reign, i'd really like to see this character take a greater role in the general Marvel U.

What in the bloody hell is with that cover? The poses looks so flat.
 
The idea that Storm would play the fair maiden in need of rescue is pretty damn silly. I haven't read this, but Doom doesn't have some sort of power inhibitor on her, does he? Something to explain why she doesn't zap his chrome plated tuchas.
 
I may just be a literature geek, but I love the fact you even just used the term "whilst" in this article. It's touches like this is why I enjoy reading your writings.

@doordoor123:

@MadripoorEconomy:

@Babs:

Meh...Doomwar isnt so bad...it could be better

Surprisingly, I've really enjoyed this series.   The latest volume of BLACK PANTHER and the use of Shuri as a female Panther didn't always sit right with me.  The espionage/high-tech angle was fun but often felt forced or over the top.  But this series has made that all worthwhile in my opinion.  The artwork alone is worth the price of admission (even with some unnecessarily murky inks and colors in places)  and is leaps and bounds over the stuff being offered up in several flagship titles (*coffLandcoff*).
 
As the cover with Doom playing chess implies, this is not just a straight-forward attack on his part.  He has been playing a deadly game of political cat and mouse with Wakanda and its Royal Family for some time and this is the end game.  Storm came across as a "damsel in distress" because Doom has maneuvered her into a position where her hands are tied by the circumstances he has very carefully orchestrated.  This is true of all of the key cast members, not just Ororo.   It's not that she's a wimp... but she has been rendered "helpless" in this situation.  He has discredited her publicly in front of the Wakandans and placed her in circumstances where she cannot readily cut loose and exercise her powers or martial prowess to their fullest.  She is confined by her duties as Queen, her love for T'Challa and the Wakandan people  and the fact that if she acts against Doom or the Desturi, she will irrevocably harm T'Challa's rule or trigger the death of his family.  Storm is seething and defiant and you can tell from the art that she is tortured by the situation she is in.  In fact, her barely restrained responses to Doom and her threats to trounce his tin-canned butt once she is able to do so is much more regal and bad-ass than she has been in years, IMHO.  T'Challa's characterization is a similar set-up by Doom.  Doom has taken him apart physically, stripped him of the diplomatic shield T'Challa always used in their past encounters and turned his own nation against him using deceit, fear-mongering and Wakanda's own xenophobic history against him.  T'Challa has had to reinvent himself as a hero and leader as a result and is still a broken and compromised hero in many regards as he takes on this challenge.  To me, this is great storytelling.  It captures why Doom is the biggest threat in the Marvel Universe.  It also sets up great tension in Ororo's married life.  So much so, that even if Doom doesn't manage to retain control of Wakanda or the Vibranium he's after, he's still dealt a significant blow to T'Challa and Ororo on a personal level.  One that they may never recover from.   Classic Doom and thoughtful character-building stuff for all involved.
 
It's complicated story-telling and an action-packed, tense pay-off to the sometimes painfully slow build-up in BLACK PANTHER for the last year.  Is it perfect?  No.  There are times it feels a bit drawn out and others where I'd like Maberry to linger a bit more.  The spiritual device of Bast is a bit... surreal.  But again, this illustrates Doom's cajones and character perfectly using the tools of Wakanda's mythology and T'Challa's own belief system to unseat him politically.   It's a brilliant stratagem on Doom's part and shows that he is a cunning and ruthless foe.  Unlike many depictions where he is relying on technology or direct attacks that are easily outsmarted because they are fueled by ego or rage, here he has used guile, political cunning, patience, technology and the personal emotional vulnerabilities of his foes to the fullest to set up a MAJOR coup of unprecedented proportions (thanks to the consistent build-up of Wakanda as unconquerable and T'Challa as a formidable, indomitable foe).  This series proves Doom's mettle and implacable nature and sets the other characters for major advancement in their own standing when they inevitably take him down.

That said, I'd much rather be reading this ambitious but somewhat flawed story-telling over most of Marvel's recent event stories where there's tons of build-up, a bit of shock and awe (oh no Ares is torn in half - gasp!) and then no real conclusion or resolution that makes any sense outside of a convenient set-up for the new, kewler status quo and marketing launch.

For most part i agree with babs, it's kinda silly. That said, i love (so far) the depiction of Dr. Doom as for mé he is the ultimate villian, but like most real life bad guys, he thinks he's doing/going to do the right thing. I'll keep reading it in hopes that it doesn't end poorly or in a dumb way.

Doomwar is invalidated by the fact that it ignores the Marquis of Death story.  Dr. Doom's most important story in years, and it's ignored.  Something like that shouldn't have been allowed to happen, Marvel editors.

I like this, although I do like things being broken down logically. 

Doomwar is one of the best $3.99 titles Marvel has put out ever since they started pricing up their books. It has talent, it has good charcterization, it has quality that lacks in almost all of their books. This is good comics, and a good read as well.

I read issues 2 and 3 of DoomWar and I have to say that I'm torn it my assessment of the series.  On the one hand, this series has given me a very open and transparent Dr. Doom -- so much so that I have to say bravo to Maberry and crew because of this.  Learning new wrinkles into what makes a villian of Doom's magnitude click is straight icing on the cake.  Again, I say bravo. 
 
Notwithstanding, as Babs and some others have stated: Storm's depiction in this storyline seems weak to say the least.  I don't know -- maybe this series will slowly unfold and show Storm and Sue Richards for that matter as capable heroes who don't make light of serious situations, ( "it's not nice to fool with mother nature") but are just as shrewd and calculating in battle as their husbands.  
  
Maberry's grasp of Doom's overall goals and ambitions are refreshing.  Pondering the possibility that from the story arc centered around Doom and the Black Panther, there should possily arize a shift in the Marvel kingdom that will affect both heroes and villians worldwide -- simply incredible. However, I would like to see him add gravity to the marrow and body that is already Wakanda... If the Wakandans and the Black Panther are able to move their internal story arc forward based on the DoomWar series -- I'd say all the inconsistencies concerning them was worth it.  Perhaps, the Panthers/Wakandans finally learn to harness pure Vibranium for sorcerous/cosmic like purposes -- something that would be unprecendented and open up the door to new tales from the dark continent no.   
 
I will say that I unfortunately stopped consistently reading the Black Panther after Hudlins run.  Just was'nt feeling it.  I will grab a copy of DoomWar issue #4 today.  I'll give it a chance... we'll see. 
 
Not sure why the cover issues don't have the same art style as the insides though.  It is highly likely that Doomwar would sell alot more copies if this were so... Just a thought.

I have NOT been reading this series. And now I probably never will.

Remember when T'Challa was king of the warriors - both in strength and in intelligence - Wakanda was an untouched nation, and he had the hottest chick in the game wearing his chain? Right, neither do I. Maberry has turned one of Marvel's most powerful characters in the Marvel universe into a sniveling chump, and rendered his wife invisible in order to push up his pin-up girl. Jonathan Maberry has added nothing to the legacy of Black Panther, and I don't see how T'Challa will ever recover...or why anybody should care if and when he does. Even worse, Marvel seems determined to keep Shuri as BP, even though the book folded a mere six issues after she became BP! If I didn't know any better, I'd swear Marvel was intentionally trying to sink the title once and for all. 
 
I recently read an interview where Maberry basically blamed the failure of his BP run on Marvel, saying it was their idea to make Shuri the Black Panther. (Talk about your stupid plans.) But It was Maberry who turned T'Challa into little more than a whining little punk. It was Maberry who turned a book with two powerful characters and one irrelevant one into THE SHURI SHOW, starring SHURI, featuring SHURI and SHURI'S BROTHER...oh, and some white-haired chick. It was Maberry who sidelined Storm for a staggering nine months because he didn't know what to do with Storm. (Never mind that all T'Challa had to do was contact Emma and tell her to contact Storm telepathically.) it was Maberry that had T'Challa and Shuri snuggling in the woods together while T'Challa's wife was being poisoned.  (Actually, wasn't it the entire country?)  It was Maberry (I think) who had T'Challa build the depowering cell that Storm was eventually chained in. It was Maberry who introduced an entire clan of fighting warriors that T'Challa was magically able to keep out of Doom's line of sight. It was Maberry who turned Wakandans into a bunch of ignorant, slack-jowled yokels. Are we starting to get the picture here?  How the hell is any of that MARVEL'S fault?
 
As for being a good writer, well...characters come and go w/o an explanation, new characters are STILL being introduced, plot holes (like the kind Babs brought up) are staggering, and Shuri (last seen burying the Black Panther book) is even more inept than she is dull.  Only the most devoted of Maberry's nuthuggers are defending his actions and his work - and that's because all four of them are reading w/one hand in their pants, fapping away b/c Shuri kills people at will, which makes her so OMGBADASS. Get a date, geez.

 @Binaryan said:
I agree man, it's great reading, especially if your looking at it as pay off for following panther for a few years. I'm loving it!
 
@greeneagle:  Thanks man, I've pretty much reviewed the whole thing a well so be sure to check those out.
 
To everyone distressed over storm being a Damsel...... you clearly don't get the magnitude of the situation which placed storm here. 
I get the "freak out factor" HELL i did the same when I saw the previews BUT upon reading Hudlin's Black Panthet + shuri's run everything now makes PERFECT sense. If your a new reader you will be put off, if your a storm fanboy same thing. Long time readers will enjoy the engaging multilayer-ed approach that mayberry has done with the storytelling here.  
 
@Babs said:

" I think the best thing about the responses in this thread is the fact that so many people that have disagreed with me and my opinion, have articulated their disagreement in a civilized manner. This doesn't always happen in forums! Thanks for all your responses, guys. It's always fun to read well thought out analysis! :) "