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[traincat]

I sent an ask ages ago and I don’t know if it ever went through, so I’m sending it again! Do you have any recs for Dr. Doom content? I feel like everything I see with him features the exact kind of ridiculous drama I’d love to read, but I don’t know where to start.

If you want ridiculous drama, Doom is definitely where it’s at. He’s my favorite Marvel villain and one of my favorite characters because the sheer drama of him is so fun – and also because he can be a really compelling character in his own right. That being said, I’m not sure exactly where I’d recommend someone start reading Doom content. Luckily, I don’t think you need to start in one particular place to start enjoying Doom content; while he has a very compelling origin story, he’s one of those characters who is just easy to get into, especially if you’re looking for the The Drama. He’s a very fun and engaging character to read, and it’s easy to get immersed in his stories. 

First off, I can tell what I would personally recommend against. A lot of people will tell you to read Brubaker’s Books of Doom, which is a six issue miniseries detailing Doom’s life from childhood, his meeting Reed at college, and so on. It’s very … Brubaker. Which I understand is a plus for some people, but not really for me, and his take on Doom is blunter and less elegant than I prefer. It’s definitely more of a book grounded in “supervillain is definitely a supervillain” than elegant but ridiculous Doom-y drama, so if you’re about the theatrics of it all, I’d give it a pass. (There’s also some violence against women in it that for me feels like it wobbles along that line of “we’re showing you this bad guy doing bad things to illustrate what a bad guy he is” and “author really wanted to write this scene so he could write some violence against women” and falls down on the latter.)

But okay! Some Doctor Doom recs, the more dramatic, the better! For starts, I really like some of Doom’s earliest appearances from the Silver Age.

Doctor Doom’s very first appearance is in Fantastic Four #5, when he kidnaps Sue and sends Reed, Ben, and Johnny back in time to capture a pirate treasure for him. Because that’s what you do if you have a time machine: you make your college rival go get pirate treasure. In Fantastic Four #6, Doom attempts to manipulate Namor into doing his bidding. In Fantastic Four #16, Doctor Doom returns, shrinking the Fantastic Four down to miniature size to demonstrate to them how he conquered Sub-Atomica. I’m mostly including this one for this panel, which is one of my Silver Age Doom favorites:

This is also how I feel at parties, Doom. And in Fantastic Four #17, he kidnaps Alicia Masters to use as a hostage against the Fantastic Four. Doom did a lot of kidnapping back in the day.

To skip ahead a few years, in Fantastic Four #142-144, Reed and Medusa attend an alumni meeting at Reed’s college, only to encounter the surprise host:

(In the Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards three issue miniseries, Doom offers a similar sentiment when he catches Reed and socialite/fellow genius adventurer Alyssa Moy spying on him from his… nemesis portrait?

“A college reunion.” Truly no one outdramas Victor von Doom.)

I’m not sure it’s worth reading Fantastic Four #196-200 when I’m about to show you the best panel, but if you want context for this, that’s what you should read:

“Why was I FORCED to slay my own clone?” Find out inside! 

In Fantastic Four vs X-Men, a four issue miniseries, following an incident with the X-Men, journals materialize that imply Reed knowingly staged the accident with the cosmic rays to experiment on himself – and on the other three without their knowledge. Meanwhile, Kitty Pryde’s fate may lie in Doom’s hands.

To fast forward to more modern comics, if you’re interested in Doom and Valeria Richards interaction, I’d first start with Claremont’s Fantastic Four run, which is a great run all on its own, but Doom comes into play in the picture starting with Fantastic Four v3 #20 with the appearance of teenaged time-traveler Valeria von Doom, who claims to be the daughter of Sue and Doom. In subsequent issues of the run, Reed would end up trapped in Doom’s armor, with dangerous consequences for his personality. Claremont wrote both this and the above Fantastic Four vs X-Men and has a very interesting take on Doom and Reed as two sides of a coin. 

In Fantastic Four v3 #54, with Reed trapped by an enemy, Sue goes into labor with baby Val and it quickly turns dangerous to both mother and child. Johnny recruits Doom to save their lives and in return Doom names baby Valeria after his childhood love and appoints himself her royal protector. This is the beginning of Doom and Val’s honestly usually very sweet murder uncle and goddaughter bond. (He does kidnap her and torture her entire family in Waid’s run, but murder uncles be like that sometimes. It’s like when a family member ruins Thanksgiving.)

In Hickman’s Fantastic Four run (Fantastic Four #570-588, renumbering to FF volume 1 #1-12, then continuing on simultaneously with Fantastic Four #600-611 and FF #13-23), there’s quite a bit of Doom, including a flashback to Doom, Reed, and Ben’s college days in Fantastic Four #581 and a meeting between Doom and Val in Fantastic Four #583:

Doom’s involvement in Hickman’s run continues in FF #1-12, when Val strikes a deal with him. Reeling after Johnny’s apparent death in the Negative Zone, the newly renamed Future Foundation has to deal with a threat Doom is uniquely equipped to handle: how do you defeat Reed Richards?

Val and Doom’s interactions continue in Robinson’s Fantastic Four run (Fantastic Four v5 #1-14, renumbers to #642-645) when, angry at her parents after the events of the previous run (which is very light on the Doom content), Valeria runs away to Latveria to live with Uncle Doom.

(Fantastic Four v5 #5) Sometimes you end up co-parenting your nemesis’ daughter, and also sometimes your own adopted son is your nemesis’ half-brother, not that anyone involved knows that. (The comic period where this revelation comes out is really not that worth reading, but the fact that Doom accidentally adopted Reed’s half-brother does crack me up every time.) The Fantastic Four family tree is really something.

After Robinson’s run, we hit Secret Wars (2015), which is technically a Doom comic, but it’s also a pretty major Marvel event. Still, if Doom being the God King of the cobbled together remains of multiple realities in the shattered multiverse is of interest to you, it might be worth checking out. After that, there’s Bendis’ Infamous Iron Man series, which is – well, it’s very Bendis, but I do really like the first 10 issues of it. (It has 12 issues total. The last two issues are a major letdown considering everything that had been set up before that point.) Back on his native freshly restored Earth, Doctor Doom contemplates his history – as both a villain and a God – and decides he might as well try being a superhero. Ben Grimm has some other ideas.

(Infamous Iron Man #3)

My most recent rec is for Zdarsky’s Marvel Two-In-One (2017) series, which, like Infamous Iron Man, does fall down at the end, especially in regards to its Doom plot. (If all you’re reading for is Doom, he vanishes from the book as of issue #7.) But the Doom content before that is good, and it’s an interesting look at Doom’s interactions with both Ben and Johnny -- especially since, up until this point, Doom and Johnny have had very little in the ways of conversations with each other without Reed or Sue around. When Ben takes Johnny on an as far as he knows futile trip through the multiverse to try and keep Johnny from hurting himself in his grief, Doom decides to follow them.

(Marvel Two-In-One (2017) #7)

A more lighthearted rec -- although it’s not entirely Doom-focused as a series -- is for Superior Foes of Spider-Man, a series dedicated to a gang of D-List Spider-Man villains who band together to pull of the ultimate heist.

(Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5)

That being said, these recs are all very Fantastic Four focused -- I’m going to point you @rizahmad‘s way for more variety! 

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[traincat]

@lurkersguide! More Doom recs, including some great additions to stuff I mentioned. Thank you, Aysha, I knew I was tapping in the right person!

I sent an ask ages ago and I don’t know if it ever went through, so I’m sending it again! Do you have any recs for Dr. Doom content? I feel like everything I see with him features the exact kind of ridiculous drama I’d love to read, but I don’t know where to start.

If you want ridiculous drama, Doom is definitely where it’s at. He’s my favorite Marvel villain and one of my favorite characters because the sheer drama of him is so fun – and also because he can be a really compelling character in his own right. That being said, I’m not sure exactly where I’d recommend someone start reading Doom content. Luckily, I don’t think you need to start in one particular place to start enjoying Doom content; while he has a very compelling origin story, he’s one of those characters who is just easy to get into, especially if you’re looking for the The Drama. He’s a very fun and engaging character to read, and it’s easy to get immersed in his stories. 

First off, I can tell what I would personally recommend against. A lot of people will tell you to read Brubaker’s Books of Doom, which is a six issue miniseries detailing Doom’s life from childhood, his meeting Reed at college, and so on. It’s very … Brubaker. Which I understand is a plus for some people, but not really for me, and his take on Doom is blunter and less elegant than I prefer. It’s definitely more of a book grounded in “supervillain is definitely a supervillain” than elegant but ridiculous Doom-y drama, so if you’re about the theatrics of it all, I’d give it a pass. (There’s also some violence against women in it that for me feels like it wobbles along that line of “we’re showing you this bad guy doing bad things to illustrate what a bad guy he is” and “author really wanted to write this scene so he could write some violence against women” and falls down on the latter.)

But okay! Some Doctor Doom recs, the more dramatic, the better! For starts, I really like some of Doom’s earliest appearances from the Silver Age.

Doctor Doom’s very first appearance is in Fantastic Four #5, when he kidnaps Sue and sends Reed, Ben, and Johnny back in time to capture a pirate treasure for him. Because that’s what you do if you have a time machine: you make your college rival go get pirate treasure. In Fantastic Four #6, Doom attempts to manipulate Namor into doing his bidding. In Fantastic Four #16, Doctor Doom returns, shrinking the Fantastic Four down to miniature size to demonstrate to them how he conquered Sub-Atomica. I’m mostly including this one for this panel, which is one of my Silver Age Doom favorites:

This is also how I feel at parties, Doom. And in Fantastic Four #17, he kidnaps Alicia Masters to use as a hostage against the Fantastic Four. Doom did a lot of kidnapping back in the day.

To skip ahead a few years, in Fantastic Four #142-144, Reed and Medusa attend an alumni meeting at Reed’s college, only to encounter the surprise host:

(In the Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards three issue miniseries, Doom offers a similar sentiment when he catches Reed and socialite/fellow genius adventurer Alyssa Moy spying on him from his… nemesis portrait?

“A college reunion.” Truly no one outdramas Victor von Doom.)

I’m not sure it’s worth reading Fantastic Four #196-200 when I’m about to show you the best panel, but if you want context for this, that’s what you should read:

“Why was I FORCED to slay my own clone?” Find out inside! 

In Fantastic Four vs X-Men, a four issue miniseries, following an incident with the X-Men, journals materialize that imply Reed knowingly staged the accident with the cosmic rays to experiment on himself – and on the other three without their knowledge. Meanwhile, Kitty Pryde’s fate may lie in Doom’s hands.

To fast forward to more modern comics, if you’re interested in Doom and Valeria Richards interaction, I’d first start with Claremont’s Fantastic Four run, which is a great run all on its own, but Doom comes into play in the picture starting with Fantastic Four v3 #20 with the appearance of teenaged time-traveler Valeria von Doom, who claims to be the daughter of Sue and Doom. In subsequent issues of the run, Reed would end up trapped in Doom’s armor, with dangerous consequences for his personality. Claremont wrote both this and the above Fantastic Four vs X-Men and has a very interesting take on Doom and Reed as two sides of a coin. 

In Fantastic Four v3 #54, with Reed trapped by an enemy, Sue goes into labor with baby Val and it quickly turns dangerous to both mother and child. Johnny recruits Doom to save their lives and in return Doom names baby Valeria after his childhood love and appoints himself her royal protector. This is the beginning of Doom and Val’s honestly usually very sweet murder uncle and goddaughter bond. (He does kidnap her and torture her entire family in Waid’s run, but murder uncles be like that sometimes. It’s like when a family member ruins Thanksgiving.)

In Hickman’s Fantastic Four run (Fantastic Four #570-588, renumbering to FF volume 1 #1-12, then continuing on simultaneously with Fantastic Four #600-611 and FF #13-23), there’s quite a bit of Doom, including a flashback to Doom, Reed, and Ben’s college days in Fantastic Four #581 and a meeting between Doom and Val in Fantastic Four #583:

Doom’s involvement in Hickman’s run continues in FF #1-12, when Val strikes a deal with him. Reeling after Johnny’s apparent death in the Negative Zone, the newly renamed Future Foundation has to deal with a threat Doom is uniquely equipped to handle: how do you defeat Reed Richards?

Val and Doom’s interactions continue in Robinson’s Fantastic Four run (Fantastic Four v5 #1-14, renumbers to #642-645) when, angry at her parents after the events of the previous run (which is very light on the Doom content), Valeria runs away to Latveria to live with Uncle Doom.

(Fantastic Four v5 #5) Sometimes you end up co-parenting your nemesis’ daughter, and also sometimes your own adopted son is your nemesis’ half-brother, not that anyone involved knows that. (The comic period where this revelation comes out is really not that worth reading, but the fact that Doom accidentally adopted Reed’s half-brother does crack me up every time.) The Fantastic Four family tree is really something.

After Robinson’s run, we hit Secret Wars (2015), which is technically a Doom comic, but it’s also a pretty major Marvel event. Still, if Doom being the God King of the cobbled together remains of multiple realities in the shattered multiverse is of interest to you, it might be worth checking out. After that, there’s Bendis’ Infamous Iron Man series, which is – well, it’s very Bendis, but I do really like the first 10 issues of it. (It has 12 issues total. The last two issues are a major letdown considering everything that had been set up before that point.) Back on his native freshly restored Earth, Doctor Doom contemplates his history – as both a villain and a God – and decides he might as well try being a superhero. Ben Grimm has some other ideas.

(Infamous Iron Man #3)

My most recent rec is for Zdarsky’s Marvel Two-In-One (2017) series, which, like Infamous Iron Man, does fall down at the end, especially in regards to its Doom plot. (If all you’re reading for is Doom, he vanishes from the book as of issue #7.) But the Doom content before that is good, and it’s an interesting look at Doom’s interactions with both Ben and Johnny – especially since, up until this point, Doom and Johnny have had very little in the ways of conversations with each other without Reed or Sue around. When Ben takes Johnny on an as far as he knows futile trip through the multiverse to try and keep Johnny from hurting himself in his grief, Doom decides to follow them.

(Marvel Two-In-One (2017) #7)

A more lighthearted rec – although it’s not entirely Doom-focused as a series – is for Superior Foes of Spider-Man, a series dedicated to a gang of D-List Spider-Man villains who band together to pull of the ultimate heist.

(Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5)

That being said, these recs are all very Fantastic Four focused – I’m going to point you @rizahmad‘s way for more variety!