Opinions may vary in quality.
My big article on Mariko Tamaki's Hulk & She-Hulk runs, discussing the good, bad, and its creation.
My second big article on She-Hulk, discussing Jason Aaron's focus on her in Avengers #20.
I enjoyed this issue. Love the Strange scenes (although I hope Hickman won't just leave Strange's ascendance as "The Eye" and his mastery of "The Words" unexplained), but then I tend to love any panel time for Strange
The Doom reveal did feel underwhelming since there was little build up and then this reveal just spawns far more major questions. Based on Doom's comment about him creating a religion, I think that Rabum Alal seems to be more myth than fact. Someone made a silly comment about Doom pulling a Wizard of Oz, which I think is actually accurate here (hah). While the Swans have probably adhered to this religion of Rabum Alal for a very long time, it does not appear that they have ever seen Rabum Alal in the flesh (no one can withstand his "illuminating light" and only the blind can face him). That said, it would seem that whatever rabbit hole from which Doom and MM came resulted in Doom personifying the Rabum Alal god figure. MM indicated that they needed to go back to the beginning so I think that Doom/MM witnessed the start of the early death of everything, possibly early machinations by the Beyonders.
We've got a few issues left till Secret Wars so I'm not sure how Hickman will be able to tie up the many loose ends that still linger.
Yeah, complaining about the Doom reveal seems ridiculous to me. Clearly this is what Hickman has been building to, clearly this is a culmination of year's worth of storytelling. It shouldn't be about how shocking the reveal is, but how thought-out it is. It can't live or die on how many people "didn't see it coming." It had to fit within the logic of Hickman's story. This does, and why knock anything that acknowledges that no villain in the Marvel U usurps the capabilities of Doom? I love that Hickman has given Doom the proper respect as arguably Marvel #1 bad guy. And putting Doom (and Molecule Man) in position to go head to head with the Beyonders again is perfect planning for Secret Wars.
Agreed. Hickman also had Doom play a key role in Nathaniel and Future Franklin and Future Valeria's plan. I wonder if it will be revealed that Future Franklin and Nathaniel knows about all about the Great Destroyer. Which reminds me....just where has Nathaniel Richards been? There is only one of him now.
I forgot the part about only the blind can face Rabum Alal. Even with all that power, Doom probably still thinks his face is scarred.
Last edited by Iron Maiden; 03-11-2015 at 08:57 AM.
Pull List:
Marvel Comics: Venom, X-Men, Black Panther, Captain America, Eternals, Warhammer 40000.
DC Comics: The Last God
Image: Decorum
To add, could also be related to when Franklin altered all futures. Franklin and Val said they didn't like where the future ended so they went through great pains to effectively alter all futures across the multiverse. Now that we know about the Beyonders I'm thinking the old future was one favored by the Beyonders and so now they want to revert Franklin's changes by systematically destroying the multiverse and rebuild it.
What I really like about this is not just a resurgence for Doom, like Trident says. He was after all shoved out of the way so Osborn could shine in the Cabal. Villains in general were non starters during Civil War too. But what Hickman has done is restored the prominence of the Fantastic Four title he obviously has come to love despite having never been much of a fan prior to preparing for his FF run by reading from the 500 issue compilation of the Fantastic Four on DVD that Gitcorp used to make from Marvel titles. As we've all noted, much of this story was seeded over there. He always said that the Parliament of Doom story was meant to be a multi-parter but got cut short when it was decided to end his run and switch over to the Avengers. So in a way, maybe this is what might have happened had his FF run been longer.