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  1. #1
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    Default REVIEW: New Avengers, #31

    The identity of Rabum Alal is revealed in Jonathan Hickman and Kev Walker's "New Avengers" #31 as Doctor Strange leads the Black Priests against the Black Swans.


    Full review here.

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member jackolover's Avatar
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    Why do I get the feeling from the concluding reveal confrontation between Doom and Doctor Strange, that Victor will pull away a curtain and have Stephen step through to a full view of Battleworld on the other side? Is it because Doom knows Strange will attack him one last time, and Victor wants to disarm Stephen with the explanation of what is going on? And why the warm welcome from Victor to Stranges arrival? Aren't they rivals for the role of the Sorcerer Supreme?

    HICKMAN does have to drive this story hard to its conclusion with even greater revelations than the Great Destroyer with only a few issue remaining on Time Runs Out. Has it been worth it, and has the story developed into as an exciting Event as we have anticipated, or better? I say better, because when this was first announced as Secret War and the Battleworld map first shown, I was not enthused. But with each reveal, especially the Beyonders killing Cosmics, the excitement has mounted more and more. The Doom reveal sat me back on my haunches, because I was thinking it would be someone unknown, and that cover of a Sack cloth draped figure in amongst his Black Swan sisters, intensified the mystery. It even looked like the last image of Nick Fury on the moon after Original Sin, which had me perplexed, because it just couldn't be him.

    Now we are on the downward slope of the roller coaster, rushing towards the heart pounding acceleration that makes you lose your inhibitions. I can almost feel the two planets dragging each other closer.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by jackolover View Post
    Why do I get the feeling from the concluding reveal confrontation between Doom and Doctor Strange, that Victor will pull away a curtain and have Stephen step through to a full view of Battleworld on the other side? Is it because Doom knows Strange will attack him one last time, and Victor wants to disarm Stephen with the explanation of what is going on? And why the warm welcome from Victor to Stranges arrival? Aren't they rivals for the role of the Sorcerer Supreme?
    Doom has never really made a formal challenge for the role. In any case, I assume one still has to go through another Trial of the Vishanti. We saw Doom summoned to that along with Strange and a host of sorcerers and mystics in the Triump and Torment GN. Doom was the only other one left standing but Dr Strange was the one that solved the dilemma so he got to keep the mantle of SS. Now when Doctor Strange stepped down and Jericho Drumm took over I don't recall any contest taking place.

    The relationship with Strange and Doom has been one of mutual respect after the GN. But Doom did make sure to neutralize Doctor Strange when attacking the FF in "Unthinkable" since his was a magic based attack. He wanted to prevent Reed from calling on Stephen to help out. Stephen was able to use his astral form to help Reed though.


    Quote Originally Posted by jackolover View Post
    HICKMAN does have to drive this story hard to its conclusion with even greater revelations than the Great Destroyer with only a few issue remaining on Time Runs Out. Has it been worth it, and has the story developed into as an exciting Event as we have anticipated, or better? I say better, because when this was first announced as Secret War and the Battleworld map first shown, I was not enthused. But with each reveal, especially the Beyonders killing Cosmics, the excitement has mounted more and more. The Doom reveal sat me back on my haunches, because I was thinking it would be someone unknown, and that cover of a Sack cloth draped figure in amongst his Black Swan sisters, intensified the mystery. It even looked like the last image of Nick Fury on the moon after Original Sin, which had me perplexed, because it just couldn't be him.

    Now we are on the downward slope of the roller coaster, rushing towards the heart pounding acceleration that makes you lose your inhibitions. I can almost feel the two planets dragging each other closer.
    I am hoping for a real unexpected swerve towards the end because the Doom reveal I think is not the real big "ah HAH" moment that we will get, maybe in NA #32.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by jackolover View Post
    Why do I get the feeling from the concluding reveal confrontation between Doom and Doctor Strange, that Victor will pull away a curtain and have Stephen step through to a full view of Battleworld on the other side? Is it because Doom knows Strange will attack him one last time, and Victor wants to disarm Stephen with the explanation of what is going on? And why the warm welcome from Victor to Stranges arrival? Aren't they rivals for the role of the Sorcerer Supreme?
    I think the basic idea is the Rabum Alal version of Doom has been doing this for a very long time, regardless of whatever time has passed in regular 616. (The same may very well be true of Eye above all others Strange). Rabum Alal is no longer Doom with the exact same preoccupations and rivalries (or power set), he's now consumed with this greater mission and rivalry with the Beyonders. (Brevoort has made the the Doom:Rabum Alal::Kang:Immortus analogy explicitly.)

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member jackolover's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by swerve View Post
    I think the basic idea is the Rabum Alal version of Doom has been doing this for a very long time, regardless of whatever time has passed in regular 616. (The same may very well be true of Eye above all others Strange). Rabum Alal is no longer Doom with the exact same preoccupations and rivalries (or power set), he's now consumed with this greater mission and rivalry with the Beyonders. (Brevoort has made the the Doom:Rabum Alal::Kang:Immortus analogy explicitly.)
    It's this long period of existence of the Great Destroyer that has me wondering, why has this version of Doom remained hidden for so long in the MU and he never altered reality with that time jump with Molecule Man? I suppose nothing could change if Doom didn't do anything besides being Rabum Alal and just stayed in the Multiverse as this mythical creature, and nobody has heard of him. Besides, none of the Cosmics ever mentioned the Incursions going on until HICKMAN started laying clues around the time of the start of Marvel NOW. I'd only just identified a seemingly important time jump just as Marvel NOW started, in A+X#001, when Maestro and Old Man Logan went looking for the Red Hulk but were teleported away in a Doom Time platform, a very strong clue that they came from Battleworld. But that is the only incident I can identify unless it's the Doombot that landed in a street in NA for Cage and Carol to nullify. That seemed to be wholly unexplained.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by swerve View Post
    I think the basic idea is the Rabum Alal version of Doom has been doing this for a very long time, regardless of whatever time has passed in regular 616. (The same may very well be true of Eye above all others Strange). Rabum Alal is no longer Doom with the exact same preoccupations and rivalries (or power set), he's now consumed with this greater mission and rivalry with the Beyonders. (Brevoort has made the the Doom:Rabum Alal::Kang:Immortus analogy explicitly.)
    Somehow, I doubt that. Doom created a whole religion around himself. Rabum Alal is still Doom.
    Quote Originally Posted by jackolover View Post
    It's this long period of existence of the Great Destroyer that has me wondering, why has this version of Doom remained hidden for so long in the MU and he never altered reality with that time jump with Molecule Man? I suppose nothing could change if Doom didn't do anything besides being Rabum Alal and just stayed in the Multiverse as this mythical creature, and nobody has heard of him. Besides, none of the Cosmics ever mentioned the Incursions going on until HICKMAN started laying clues around the time of the start of Marvel NOW. I'd only just identified a seemingly important time jump just as Marvel NOW started, in A+X#001, when Maestro and Old Man Logan went looking for the Red Hulk but were teleported away in a Doom Time platform, a very strong clue that they came from Battleworld. But that is the only incident I can identify unless it's the Doombot that landed in a street in NA for Cage and Carol to nullify. That seemed to be wholly unexplained.
    Well, maybe the Cosmics didn't know or care since there was nothing for them to do? Or just poor planning.

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