Secret Wars #3
The story opens with Doom and Strange talking together. (Doom calls him 'old friend', which delights me.) It's revealed that Doom and Strange are the only ones who remember the world from before and the creation of this one; they created it together, and it could have been Strange who was God if he'd wanted to be.
Doom tells him, "You have my faith in you... the trust of an all-powerful god. The full favor of Doom." Strange is silenced for a moment, then says, "Thank you, Victor."
Later, Strange goes out with the Thor-cops to investigate the Cabal's abandoned ship. He sends the Thors after them, then speaks to the person he knows is still hiding inside, who is revealed to be... Miles Morales! (I must admit I let out a little "Yay!") He stowed away without the Cabal's knowledge, and Strange is stunned to hear that he remembers the universe from before.
Meanwhile, Doom speaks with Sue Storm. She talks about hearing people singing a song about 'the man in the sun', which Doom hasn't had stopped because he hoped it would please her; it's revealed that Doom made Johnny Storm into the sun as a punishment for being a dissident. (...As you do.) Before that, the world had no sun, and Sue says there used to be a story that it was because Doom was offended at the idea of something shining brighter than him in the sky. Doom says, "The idea is offensive. ... But true. And truth is always the sharpest blade. It always cuts the deepest."
Doom is clearly growing restless and disaffected with being God, and says Sue is the only one he can admit weakness to. He says he's changed, and she agrees that he has, and for the better; it turns out Doom has admitted to her that he didn't always used to be a god, and says, "I believed in the... rightness of me" and that given the gift to shape reality he thought he'd make something better. He considers his world perfect, but the fact that he can't inspire his people means that perhaps in his perfect world, "I am the one flawed thing." He says with all his power, he still can't heal his face. Sue thinks he needs to show his real self to the people and walk among them unmasked. Then she takes it off for him... and we see Doom's face unmasked.
(I have mixed feelings about them actually showing Doom's face on-page - in some ways, I feel it works better left to the imagination - but fair play to them, they fully committed, and he really is shown to be quite severely disfigured. So perhaps this will finally put the 'tiny barely visible scar' vs. 'terrible wounds' debate to bed.)
...And then we turn straight over from this powerful moment to the title page for a new story section called, "God Doom loves all men but one", which made me snicker quite a lot. Oh, Reed, sucks to be you. XD
Doctor Strange reveals to Miles that he's actually had another spaceship like the Cabal's one on ice for some time, but learning that Miles remembers the past world has finally convinced him to take it out and open it up. Inside are the handful of survivors from 616, including Reed Richards, who's still grieving the apparent loss of his family after he was too slow to save them from the destruction of the old world.
Strange tells them that they've been in stasis for eight years and explains the situation; he keeps referring to 'God' until Reed demands to know who he's talking about. "Doom. It's Doom, Reed. Victor saved us all." Then Strange admits that he found the ship three years ago but hasn't let them out until now; Reed demands to know why not, and Strange says it's easy to explain: "...He is very, very good at playing god."
So, there you go! Things are hotting up, and there are many fascinating implications. I love the idea that Doom's had eight years of playing god and had time to become bored and disaffected with it, just like he did with ruling the world in Emperor Doom - but with the additional twist this time that he seems to have been doing enough self-reflection to actually start considering that maybe he's the problem here. (Although in a typically wrong-headed way, since he's still deluded enough to think his feudal dictatorship where he turns people into suns is perfect, and so clearly the fact his people don't love him for it is a great mystery.)
The time skip also means that the FF kids are indeed older. (I did think they were drawn that way last issue, but who can tell with comic book kids?) Val must be 12 by now, and Franklin - we see them working on something together in the background of the Doom/Sue scene, so he's here too - should be somewhere in his late teens. Crossing my fingers that we get to keep them that age after Secret Wars ends, since Val doing the things she does as a four-year-old has been getting increasingly silly, and it's really time they were allowed to grow up a bit. (Plus if they remember their years of being raised by Doom when they go back to their real family afterwards, that would be even more awesome.)
The fact Doom can't manage to heal his face is also intriguing; he managed it when he had ultimate power in Children's Crusade, but perhaps the result in this world is a hint that it was only ever a temporary/illusory fix and it would have inevitably reverted thanks to his inability to imagine himself any other way. As I say, I have mixed feelings about actually seeing the damage on-page, but if you're going to do that, Esad Ribic's realistic art style is a great choice, because it does really look like a plausible real-world injury that you can completely believe he would choose to go masked to keep hidden.
I'm increasingly intrigued by Strange's role in this, given the revelation that he remembers everything and appears to have fully committed to Doom's new world order anyway. He's obviously determined to preserve as much as can be saved, and thinks Doom is the one who can do that, but is it really in Strange's nature to accept even a 'benevolent' dictatorship? I suspect we're going to find he's been keeping the fact he had Reed's ship on ice a secret from Doom. But even if Strange switches sides, as he probably will by the end, he and Doom now have this history of a long friendship between them, building on their previous cooperation to save Doom's mother's soul in Triumph and Torment. Here's hoping they'll at least stay frenemies and team up from time to time even after the fallout from Secret Wars is done.
All in all, fantastic stuff! Enjoying this way more your average event comic, and I can't wait for the next issue.
Doom tells him, "You have my faith in you... the trust of an all-powerful god. The full favor of Doom." Strange is silenced for a moment, then says, "Thank you, Victor."
Later, Strange goes out with the Thor-cops to investigate the Cabal's abandoned ship. He sends the Thors after them, then speaks to the person he knows is still hiding inside, who is revealed to be... Miles Morales! (I must admit I let out a little "Yay!") He stowed away without the Cabal's knowledge, and Strange is stunned to hear that he remembers the universe from before.
Meanwhile, Doom speaks with Sue Storm. She talks about hearing people singing a song about 'the man in the sun', which Doom hasn't had stopped because he hoped it would please her; it's revealed that Doom made Johnny Storm into the sun as a punishment for being a dissident. (...As you do.) Before that, the world had no sun, and Sue says there used to be a story that it was because Doom was offended at the idea of something shining brighter than him in the sky. Doom says, "The idea is offensive. ... But true. And truth is always the sharpest blade. It always cuts the deepest."
Doom is clearly growing restless and disaffected with being God, and says Sue is the only one he can admit weakness to. He says he's changed, and she agrees that he has, and for the better; it turns out Doom has admitted to her that he didn't always used to be a god, and says, "I believed in the... rightness of me" and that given the gift to shape reality he thought he'd make something better. He considers his world perfect, but the fact that he can't inspire his people means that perhaps in his perfect world, "I am the one flawed thing." He says with all his power, he still can't heal his face. Sue thinks he needs to show his real self to the people and walk among them unmasked. Then she takes it off for him... and we see Doom's face unmasked.
(I have mixed feelings about them actually showing Doom's face on-page - in some ways, I feel it works better left to the imagination - but fair play to them, they fully committed, and he really is shown to be quite severely disfigured. So perhaps this will finally put the 'tiny barely visible scar' vs. 'terrible wounds' debate to bed.)
...And then we turn straight over from this powerful moment to the title page for a new story section called, "God Doom loves all men but one", which made me snicker quite a lot. Oh, Reed, sucks to be you. XD
Doctor Strange reveals to Miles that he's actually had another spaceship like the Cabal's one on ice for some time, but learning that Miles remembers the past world has finally convinced him to take it out and open it up. Inside are the handful of survivors from 616, including Reed Richards, who's still grieving the apparent loss of his family after he was too slow to save them from the destruction of the old world.
Strange tells them that they've been in stasis for eight years and explains the situation; he keeps referring to 'God' until Reed demands to know who he's talking about. "Doom. It's Doom, Reed. Victor saved us all." Then Strange admits that he found the ship three years ago but hasn't let them out until now; Reed demands to know why not, and Strange says it's easy to explain: "...He is very, very good at playing god."
So, there you go! Things are hotting up, and there are many fascinating implications. I love the idea that Doom's had eight years of playing god and had time to become bored and disaffected with it, just like he did with ruling the world in Emperor Doom - but with the additional twist this time that he seems to have been doing enough self-reflection to actually start considering that maybe he's the problem here. (Although in a typically wrong-headed way, since he's still deluded enough to think his feudal dictatorship where he turns people into suns is perfect, and so clearly the fact his people don't love him for it is a great mystery.)
The time skip also means that the FF kids are indeed older. (I did think they were drawn that way last issue, but who can tell with comic book kids?) Val must be 12 by now, and Franklin - we see them working on something together in the background of the Doom/Sue scene, so he's here too - should be somewhere in his late teens. Crossing my fingers that we get to keep them that age after Secret Wars ends, since Val doing the things she does as a four-year-old has been getting increasingly silly, and it's really time they were allowed to grow up a bit. (Plus if they remember their years of being raised by Doom when they go back to their real family afterwards, that would be even more awesome.)
The fact Doom can't manage to heal his face is also intriguing; he managed it when he had ultimate power in Children's Crusade, but perhaps the result in this world is a hint that it was only ever a temporary/illusory fix and it would have inevitably reverted thanks to his inability to imagine himself any other way. As I say, I have mixed feelings about actually seeing the damage on-page, but if you're going to do that, Esad Ribic's realistic art style is a great choice, because it does really look like a plausible real-world injury that you can completely believe he would choose to go masked to keep hidden.
I'm increasingly intrigued by Strange's role in this, given the revelation that he remembers everything and appears to have fully committed to Doom's new world order anyway. He's obviously determined to preserve as much as can be saved, and thinks Doom is the one who can do that, but is it really in Strange's nature to accept even a 'benevolent' dictatorship? I suspect we're going to find he's been keeping the fact he had Reed's ship on ice a secret from Doom. But even if Strange switches sides, as he probably will by the end, he and Doom now have this history of a long friendship between them, building on their previous cooperation to save Doom's mother's soul in Triumph and Torment. Here's hoping they'll at least stay frenemies and team up from time to time even after the fallout from Secret Wars is done.
All in all, fantastic stuff! Enjoying this way more your average event comic, and I can't wait for the next issue.