victorf@houca.UUCP (10/10/84)
<huh> If Jim Shooter was going for the 2-year-old and under audience for this lastest Stupid Wars Epic, then he was still shooting too high. This was, in my opinion, the stupidest most unbelievable piece of garbage to ever be put between two covers. The plotline of the last two issues makes me think that Shooter just couldn't think of a good way to bring the series to the end so he bailed out and took an easy route. Doctor Doom is making his play for BIG power. He cuts up that guy who is made of sound, Claw. He assumes that Galactus' power will have an affinity for Claw's body, so when Galactus turns on the juice the power will make a quick U-turn and head right for Claw's sliced up, properly conditioned body and Doom will have all the power he wants. How come Doctor Doom can do this, and there is nothing that Galactus can do about it? Seems to me that the Big G should be able to undo Doom's insignificant works with a passing thought. Anyway all this power streaks toward Doom and he's waiting for it. It hits him. He lives. Why? The total power of Galactus' ship is pumped into Doom and he bounces up and is suddenly 'omnipotent'. Yeah. Makes me think I could be a writer. Doom of course is now second in power only to the Beyonder. No good, gotta get that Beyonder. Has a fight with the Beyonder. Loses. Pushes a button on his chestplate. Wins. Now Doctor Doom is the supreme being in the Cosmos. Seems like Galactus and the Beyonder were never really a match for the great Doom. They certainly weren't nearly as intelligent, which is kinda strange considering they were omnipotent. Why does this bother me so? Because it tells me that Jim Shooter, the editor in chief of Marvel Comics, has no grasp of accurate storytelling. I won't burn this issue because there may be a day when I need a good laugh, or maybe just an example of how comics ought NOT be done. Scott Thompson
ciaraldi@rochester.UUCP (10/11/84)
From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi> After all the complaining everyone has been doing about this series, what do folks think of the new issue? I thought Shooter did a good job of capturing the "real" Dr. Doom, with his combination of nobility and megalomania. Imagine getting blasted so badly that one leg and arm are gone, then having half your body dissected while you are still alive, and still managing to defeat the being whom you are fighting! Doom's last futile effort to enlist the aid of the heroes showed him as his usual sneaky self, and his unmasking at the end shows his willingness to change himself as circumstances change. Some loose ends: 1) Remember that in our time frame Dr. Doom is dead. At least the FF think so, although the comics reader strongly suspects that Doom has actually taken over the body of an innocent bystander. When the Secret Wars started, one of the things that was going to be covered was Doom's reaction to finding out that the FF think he is dead. Unless that is coming up, it seems to have been neglected. It is a major continuity problem, though. 2) Whenever Byrne draws Doom, he always shows scars visible through the eye slits. Most other artists don't. It has been suggested that Doom's only disfigurement is a tiny scar which is major only to his vanity. Remember that the FF saw him unmasked in #199, I think, when he was on the verge of defeating them, but his face was never shown. However, he DID put the red-hot iron mask onto his own face in his origin story, so SOMETHING must have happened. Predictions? 3) Aside from the Secret Wars series, has Galactus' "homeworld" (space ship) ever been shown to be so large, i.e. many times greater than an Earth-type planet? In the past it was large, but still on a more-or-less human scale. 4) So, Doom changes his armor to match the toy figure, eh? Oh well..... Mike Ciaraldi ciaraldi@rochester seismo!rochester!ciaraldi