Doctor Doom #9 "The Windmills of My Mind" REVIEW and SPOILERS

[Iron Maiden]

When last we left "our hero", Doom had regained the throne and violently annexed neighboring Symkaria. Now we finally get back to the impending disaster of the black hole that resulted from the destructive sabotage of the Antlion project on the Moon. Sometimes one almost forget that this is still out there hanging around in the void like the mythical Sword of Damocles. This black hole seems to have been simmering for over a year but then that's because of this story was in limbo due to the pandemic. But it did kill the suspense to a great degree and one loses the sense of their being this huge crisis. I guess we'll never know why this title was one of the last to be revived when things started loosening up.

Doom normally presents himself as being supremely confident and he is secure in knowing his solution will work perfectly. He expects that this act along with a vow to cast aside this life of villainy that he will be universally acclaimed and then rule the world. Same goal, different attitude. "I will atone and then I will be loved". But surprisingly he doesn't plan to take over right off. He plans to follow the example of the other Victor on the parallel Earth seen in these visions that have been haunting him throughout the story. He will agree to a sentence of solitary confinement to atone for his nefarious past misdeeds




But the most entertaining section of the book by far is the misguided attempt by Reed to tell Victor that he has faith in Victor's solution to the expanding black hole. The dialog pages between them is hilarious and tragic at the same time. It shows just how deeply embedded Doom's insecurities are since Reed criticized that gateway to the Netherworld he constructed back in college. In spite of Reed's assurances to the contrary, Victor is still thinking back to that day when Reed stood in his dorm and said he needed to check his calculations again. Doom finally just violently cuts off the transmission from Reed and starts to get busy changing things .His doubts start to take over and things start to go off the rails. It looks like the black hole blows up but we'll have to wait and see how that turns out. I'm sure since all the titles haven't come to an abrupt halt that the Earth survives but I wonder if Reed will step in to save the day, or maybe by sheer luck Doom's plan works anyway.

For the curious: I like how Cantwell does give us some interesting chapter titles to each issue and I'm sure many will be puzzled by "The Windows of My Mind". It comes from an Oscar winning song "The Windows of Your Mind" from the Thomas Crown Affair....the Steve McQueen original. Here's one of the verses. Kind of reminds one of the labyrinth mind of Doom

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind