"Oath of Fealty" - Doctor Doom #7 *** REVIEW AND SPOILERS***

[Ying Ko]

Maybe the best issue so far.

Too bad this turned out to be a mini series... Although, to be fair, this was never gonna make it past 12 issues to begin with. Not in this day and age. I'm still glad Marvel gives these kinda books a try every once in a while.

[Iron Maiden]

Yes, I guess we should be glad that Doom does seem to get some prestige projects from Marvel, like teaming up Bendis and Alex Maleev on Infamous Iron Man or Books of Doom by Brubaker from a while back. Still, I had hopes this would be an ongoing and IRRC that is the impression some of the early promo articles seemed to give. Maybe Cantwell will do a volume 2 one day but looks like Iron Man is going to keep him occupied for the next few years at least. Unless Marvel does one of the things were they just make this another volume in the run and then relaunch with another creative team.

I'm curious about what the sales figures will be for both Doctor Doom and Iron Man. Will the Doom series lose that bit of momentum they had with issue #6? First issues of relaunches with their variant covers always hit big...then you have to wait and see how it goes later on into the series

[FRC Coazze]

I finally got to read issue # 7. It was tremendous. Probably the best issue so far, the long wait has helped make it even better. Lot of emotion, especially in the last pages.

So, of the 6 loyalists that are called to be judged by Doom, the only two who could turn out to be traitors were General Makekev and Petra, who are the only characters we know little about. It would have been interesting if Petra turned out to be the traitor, but I guess it would have complicated a story that has to end soon (damn it) even more. And the mysterious woman turned out to be Katarina Karkov.

Kristoff. Victor treated him like the disappointing child, who is never good enough. He was certainly harsh with him, he either wanted to drive him to be worth of being his heir, or he just got just bored by him. But when Victor tells Kristoff not to call him father, is like he’s saying “not until you prove to be worthy of calling me that”. I actually find a parallel between Victor's interaction with Kristoff and his face off with Dimitri at the end.
By the way, where did Kristoff pop up from? Where was he? What was he doing?

I like that the first thing Zora said is "I'm not a slave". She’s become Doom’s new ward, and the one he has more trust in, probably because he can see she thinks with her own head. I'm finding myself liking her more and more as this story progresses.

Victor's interaction with Boris was great. Boris is the person with whom Victor tends to open up more about personal matters and he does not question Boris’ loyalty at all. The oath is shifted in the background, what Victor asks Boris is if he is loved, and Boris obviously replies that he is loved by many, but that's not what Victor means: Victor wonders if he can be loved as a person. You can see how intensely he longs for a real family, and how hard the loss of his parents has affected him. Boris replies by asking him if he loves himself, it is at this point that Victor orders him to bow, because Boris has hit the mark: Victor does not find love for himself because he is well aware of what Doom is.

I still can't believe Amara's child was mentioned. Sad to learn that he did not survive to term, but at least that story got a conclusion. And it is another closed door for Victor. And I guess Boris learned about the child from Victor, further proof that he considers Boris to be a very close counselor.

The final part with the confrontation between Victor and Dimitri is perfect. It reminds us that Doom’s not a hero, in fact he’s a very twisted and ruthless person, someone who is very wise not to mess with. And it also puts Victor himself in front of who Doom is, with the vision of his two disfigured children: to be Doom you have to have the disfigurement inside.
It's in your soul that the true distortion lies (sorry: lot of Phantom of the Opera vibes ).

And can I mention Doc Ock appearance at the end?! I really didn’t expect that. Doc Ock is my second favourite character.

So, the Antlion opened a passage between two realties? Victor’s having visions of himself from another reality, catalyzed by the black hole. Did I get it right?

[Huntsman Spider]

I finally got to read issue # 7. It was tremendous. Probably the best issue so far, the long wait has helped make it even better. Lot of emotion, especially in the last pages.

So, of the 6 loyalists that are called to be judged by Doom, the only two who could turn out to be traitors were General Makekev and Petra, who are the only characters we know little about. It would have been interesting if Petra turned out to be the traitor, but I guess it would have complicated a story that has to end soon (damn it) even more. And the mysterious woman turned out to be Katarina Karkov.

Kristoff. Victor treated him like the disappointing child, who is never good enough. He was certainly harsh with him, he either wanted to drive him to be worth of being his heir, or he just got just bored by him. But when Victor tells Kristoff not to call him father, is like he’s saying “not until you prove to be worthy of calling me that”. I actually find a parallel between Victor's interaction with Kristoff and his face off with Dimitri at the end.
By the way, where did Kristoff pop up from? Where was he? What was he doing?

I like that the first thing Zora said is "I'm not a slave". She’s become Doom’s new ward, and the one he has more trust in, probably because he can see she thinks with her own head. I'm finding myself liking her more and more as this story progresses.

Victor's interaction with Boris was great. Boris is the person with whom Victor tends to open up more about personal matters and he does not question Boris’ loyalty at all. The oath is shifted in the background, what Victor asks Boris is if he is loved, and Boris obviously replies that he is loved by many, but that's not what Victor means: Victor wonders if he can be loved as a person. You can see how intensely he longs for a real family, and how hard the loss of his parents has affected him. Boris replies by asking him if he loves himself, it is at this point that Victor orders him to bow, because Boris has hit the mark: Victor does not find love for himself because he is well aware of what Doom is.

I still can't believe Amara's child was mentioned. Sad to learn that he did not survive to term, but at least that story got a conclusion. And it is another closed door for Victor. And I guess Boris learned about the child from Victor, further proof that he considers Boris to be a very close counselor.

The final part with the confrontation between Victor and Dimitri is perfect. It reminds us that Doom’s not a hero, in fact he’s a very twisted and ruthless person, someone who is very wise not to mess with. And it also puts Victor himself in front of who Doom is, with the vision of his two disfigured children: to be Doom you have to have the disfigurement inside.
It's in your soul that the true distortion lies (sorry: lot of Phantom of the Opera vibes ).

And can I mention Doc Ock appearance at the end?! I really didn’t expect that. Doc Ock is my second favourite character.

So, the Antlion opened a passage between two realties? Victor’s having visions of himself from another reality, catalyzed by the black hole. Did I get it right?

Given his handling of Doctor Doom and Iron Man thus far, I've got high hopes for Christopher Cantwell being able to capture and refine the more morally complex aspects of Otto Octavius as a character that were developed in his time as the Superior Spider-Man. Perhaps even before that, in the 1990s when his backstory was revealed and up to his death by Kaine, as prior to that, he actually saved Peter Parker's life out of a deep, abiding sense of admiration and respect for Spider-Man that had grown despite their years of enmity.

[jackolover]

I finally got to read issue # 7. It was tremendous. Probably the best issue so far, the long wait has helped make it even better. Lot of emotion, especially in the last pages.

So, of the 6 loyalists that are called to be judged by Doom, the only two who could turn out to be traitors were General Makekev and Petra, who are the only characters we know little about. It would have been interesting if Petra turned out to be the traitor, but I guess it would have complicated a story that has to end soon (damn it) even more. And the mysterious woman turned out to be Katarina Karkov.

Kristoff. Victor treated him like the disappointing child, who is never good enough. He was certainly harsh with him, he either wanted to drive him to be worth of being his heir, or he just got just bored by him. But when Victor tells Kristoff not to call him father, is like he’s saying “not until you prove to be worthy of calling me that”. I actually find a parallel between Victor's interaction with Kristoff and his face off with Dimitri at the end.
By the way, where did Kristoff pop up from? Where was he? What was he doing?

I like that the first thing Zora said is "I'm not a slave". She’s become Doom’s new ward, and the one he has more trust in, probably because he can see she thinks with her own head. I'm finding myself liking her more and more as this story progresses.

Victor's interaction with Boris was great. Boris is the person with whom Victor tends to open up more about personal matters and he does not question Boris’ loyalty at all. The oath is shifted in the background, what Victor asks Boris is if he is loved, and Boris obviously replies that he is loved by many, but that's not what Victor means: Victor wonders if he can be loved as a person. You can see how intensely he longs for a real family, and how hard the loss of his parents has affected him. Boris replies by asking him if he loves himself, it is at this point that Victor orders him to bow, because Boris has hit the mark: Victor does not find love for himself because he is well aware of what Doom is.

I still can't believe Amara's child was mentioned. Sad to learn that he did not survive to term, but at least that story got a conclusion. And it is another closed door for Victor. And I guess Boris learned about the child from Victor, further proof that he considers Boris to be a very close counselor.

The final part with the confrontation between Victor and Dimitri is perfect. It reminds us that Doom’s not a hero, in fact he’s a very twisted and ruthless person, someone who is very wise not to mess with. And it also puts Victor himself in front of who Doom is, with the vision of his two disfigured children: to be Doom you have to have the disfigurement inside.
It's in your soul that the true distortion lies (sorry: lot of Phantom of the Opera vibes ).

And can I mention Doc Ock appearance at the end?! I really didn’t expect that. Doc Ock is my second favourite character.

So, the Antlion opened a passage between two realties? Victor’s having visions of himself from another reality, catalyzed by the black hole. Did I get it right?

The disfigurement of the children issue I think deserves further treatment. On seeing Dooms reaction of his great distress at seeing his beautiful boys cut to pieces, makes me wonder, what does it take to be a von Doom? Valeria never cut her face, or Franklyn in Secret Wars. Baroness Susan Von Doom in Secret Wars never cut her face, but she accepted Victors disfigurement and carried on. The importance of the disfigurement (and here your Phantom quote comes into play), starts to look like it plays into the psyche of Victor as this failed person who cannot be forgiven for failing to retrieve his mother with science and magic. But I wonder if we have to analyse Victor as thinking himself undeserving of his aristocracy as Monarch of Latveria considering his is a lowly gypsy? Not being of a true bloodline to the throne, is Victor aware he has usurped something he shouldn’t have?

The other aspect of the children’s disfigurement is the alternative Doom those kids knew in the other reality. Was that Alternative Doom so tyrannical that they had to disfigure themselves because he told them too, or, they were expected to? Certainly our Doom was horrified these kids would even contemplate such a thing. That tells me something of where our Doom has come to. Sure, he can humiliate and destroy the traitor Markekev in a rage, because his lineage in Latveria is solemn and holy to Doom. In that respect Doom goes overboard, much like Namor, (and that’s where I think they both find friendship being of similar bent), and it is in this method of disposal of a traitor, that I think we see the soul of Doom. Doom could have put the traitor in the dungeon, but Doom had to play out his venom in this regard, to let other Latverians see the crumpled, cut faced body under the battlements as a warning against anybody who betrays the Lord of the Manor. We are not going to see how far Doom has come as a human being in ANAD in this exchange in the Oath of Fealty. But, Doom is still doing good deeds in helping Reed and Tony with fixing the problem on the Moon.

What I am wondering is, once the anomaly appeared in issue#1, Doom was intricately connected to it with the vision of his wife and children that came out of the anomaly. Why Doom? Did everyone else get visions as well?

[jackolover]

Yes, I guess we should be glad that Doom does seem to get some prestige projects from Marvel, like teaming up Bendis and Alex Maleev on Infamous Iron Man or Books of Doom by Brubaker from a while back. Still, I had hopes this would be an ongoing and IRRC that is the impression some of the early promo articles seemed to give. Maybe Cantwell will do a volume 2 one day but looks like Iron Man is going to keep him occupied for the next few years at least. Unless Marvel does one of the things were they just make this another volume in the run and then relaunch with another creative team.

I'm curious about what the sales figures will be for both Doctor Doom and Iron Man. Will the Doom series lose that bit of momentum they had with issue #6? First issues of relaunches with their variant covers always hit big...then you have to wait and see how it goes later on into the series

I thinks it’s two things.

1/ Cantwell got the big assignment on Iron Man, and had to drop Doctor Doom

2/ I don’t think we would get anymore of this story after the ending. I think what Cantwell Has in mind he will show in the last issue. It will be tragic and final and we’ll get it with no notice. After that, the story won’t continue. It’ll be like the last issue of an Event, like Empyre. The last clash happens, and everything moves on. But I would have liked this run to have elaborated on Dooms emotional dimension concerning his alternative wife and children. As it is, it looks a lot like Wanda’s kids from Avengers Disassembled.

[Iron Maiden]

I thinks it’s two things.

1/ Cantwell got the big assignment on Iron Man, and had to drop Doctor Doom

2/ I don’t think we would get anymore of this story after the ending. I think what Cantwell Has in mind he will show in the last issue. It will be tragic and final and we’ll get it with no notice. After that, the story won’t continue. It’ll be like the last issue of an Event, like Empyre. The last clash happens, and everything moves on. But I would have liked this run to have elaborated on Dooms emotional dimension concerning his alternative wife and children. As it is, it looks a lot like Wanda’s kids from Avengers Disassembled.

I just hope that another development goes by with no further reference. Taskmaster shot Doom in the head when he was without his armor after he was arrested and escaped. Then he went to Hell, tangled with Mephisto but saved by Mistress Death,





We see here he owes his life to her and she hasn't named the price yet...how many deaths will he have to give to her? Will he destroy this other reality with the wife and children we saw?

[jackolover]

I just hope that another development goes by with no further reference. Taskmaster shot Doom in the head when he was without his armor after he was arrested and escaped. Then he went to Hell, tangled with Mephisto but saved by Mistress Death,





We see here he owes his life to her and she hasn't named the price yet...how many deaths will he have to give to her? Will he destroy this other reality with the wife and children we saw?

There is that issue that Doom is obedient, and is Deaths agent. But I’ve also known Doom to defy the forces of death, and go his own way. But it’s the way Victor implored Death in that scene, that makes me think Victor will have to be obedient. Maybe Death will lock some sort of demon inside Doom that makes him do stuff?

And I see MEPHISTO is in hell after being killed in Avengers. Mephisto must have been shifted out of his own kingdom in a corner of Hell.

[Iron Maiden]

There is that issue that Doom is obedient, and is Deaths agent. But I’ve also known Doom to defy the forces of death, and go his own way. But it’s the way Victor implored Death in that scene, that makes me think Victor will have to be obedient. Maybe Death will lock some sort of demon inside Doom that makes him do stuff?

And I see MEPHISTO is in hell after being killed in Avengers. Mephisto must have been shifted out of his own kingdom in a corner of Hell.

That sounds weird....for the longest time he was the only known ruler of the Netherworld before others came along. Well, I guess you could say Pluto also, who goes back to the Lee/Kirby era Thor.

[jackolover]

That sounds weird....for the longest time he was the only known ruler of the Netherworld before others came along. Well, I guess you could say Pluto also, who goes back to the Lee/Kirby era Thor.

I know. I understand why Mephisto is subject to death, because he resurrected almost immediately next time someone did something evil