Finally after a hiatus of 6 months due to the pandemic and its' effects on the comic book industry, this series returns to complete what we now know to be it's concluding arc. Christopher Cantwell tweeted this afternoon that the series will conclude with issue #10. I am very disappointed to read that since IMO this has been the best Doom solo since Books of Doom (another limited series) and the John Francis Moore/Warren Ellis Doom 2099.
The story opens with a small band of 6 Doom loyalists (actually 5) in Northern Latveria . Boris and his daughter Petra, Larin (last seen in Books of Doom), a General Makeyev, Zora and Kristoff are exiles and I assume in hiding from the usurper Dimitri Fortunov when the Master returns riding a bear of all things.
But things take a darker turn when Doom sets up a tribunal to find out who the traitor is among them. Each of them swears their loyalty but one of them has betrayed him. Truthfully I had guessed right when I saw the preview that the General Makeyev was someone we never really got to know. It turns that he collaborated with the Countess Katrina Karkov, who was undoubtedly the one seen in the shadows in an earlier issue. He ends up being dinner for Doom's new pet bear Novak after Doom gives him a running start and shoots him down.
Only a couple of people in this group gets off a bit light in this tribunal and that is Larin the servant he brought back with those many years ago from Tibet and . I was surprised to see how he treats Boris and Kristoff, especially when he forces Boris to kneel in the snow. Kristoff he just brushes off because I suspect he feels he hasn't become his own man and is still inexperienced. He has a higher trust for Zora who pledges her fealty but holds on to self reliance. He was very disappointed in her for failing to stop the takeover but it seems like he finds her independence makes her a better choice to help in the final battle.
We also get a few panels of Blue Marvel's quest to reverse the expansion of the black hole that is threatening to destroy the Earth but they are not out of the woods yet. He has stalled it but he doesn't have enough power to stop it. That Ultimate Nullifier that Doom has given to Zora will come into play soon. We also find out the fate of Amara and it is a sad one. But I suspected that Bendis leaving such a game changer development towards the end of his Invincible Iron Man was either something that no writer wanted to touch or perhaps editorial just felt was not something they felt they didn't want to pursue.
The final scene where Doom gets his revenge on Dimitri Fortunov are dark and terrifying. He shows Fortunov his face under the mask and the forces him into self mutilation before tossing him off the tower of the castle, mirroring the fate of his half brother Prince Zorba in Byrne's Fantastic Four years ago. But Doom gets a dose of his own medicine when he is confronted with the appearance of the two young boys that are his sons in the visions he has been having.
Cantwell's writing is very tight here and IMO there's not a panel wasted. This is also one of Larocca's better issues and his images of Doom's Doom's children and his vengeance on the pretender to the throne really are chilling. It's a shame that it will not be an ongoing but I do hope Cantwell has time for another mini series some day.