Challenges of Doom: Spider-Man #1 Is the Perfect Confrontation from Two Marvel Greats (Review)

Marvel is putting all of their eggs into the Doctor Doom basket, thanks to his upcoming MCU debut in Avengers: Doomsday. We’re getting lots of merch, lots of teases of Robert Downey Jr. playing the character, and a lot of comics. Right now, it’s hard to spit in a comic store without hitting at least one Doom-related comic. Doctor Doom is one of Marvel’s greatest villains and for a lot of super-Doom fans (people like, for instance, me), this is the kind of thing that we’ve been dreaming of. MCU synergy is often a lodestone around the necks of Marvel Comics fans, but this time it’s been giving us some of the best Doom comics we could ask for, with Marvel putting their A-list creators on Victor Von Doom’s newest tales.

Challenges of Doom has been an interesting series so far, each issue dealing with Doom telling stories of related confrontations with Marvel’s greatest heroes. It’s a miniseries, but it’s also a series of one-shots; you can read a single issue starring a favorite character or get every issue for a cool little narrative. The latest issue sees the Latverian monarch go up against Spider-Man, Marvel Comics’ most relatable hero, for a book that tells the story of their first meeting. Writer Al Ewing and artist David Messina are able to take a story that could just be a fun slugfest and makes it into a book that digs into both characters expertly.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Pros	Cons
Ewing is able to dig into both characters to give readers a compelling story that keeps getting better as it goes on
Messina’s clean, detailed linework makes everything look fantastic
Spider-Man reading Doom the riot act is one of the coolest scenes you’ll read this week

Ewing Gives Readers a Fight Comic That Is Actually a Character Piece

Al Ewing is usually thought of the guy that does the big, cosmic stories, books that take the framework of the Marvel Universe and reveal all new facets of it. He’s written mind-blowing books like Defenders, The Ultimates, Immortal Hulk, Immortal Thor, Mortal Thor, and the like, so you’d expect his Doom comic to be one that digs into weird magic or cosmic stuff, which is always fun to see Spidey interact with. However, instead, Ewing gives us a relatively grounded story about Doom trying to recruit the Wall-Crawler, then deciding that he needed to understand the hero. That’s the plot of this book in total and I wouldn’t blame you if that didn’t sound like anything you want from Doom and Spidey, but I assure you, it’s fantastic.

I think what I love the most about this comic is that it’s not really about two people fighting each other, it’s about two people meeting and getting to know each other. Ewing is able to take this rather simple plot and make it more compelling than it has any right to be. He shows how well he understands these two characters on every page, so when you get to the part where the two are roasting each other for who they are as people, it has just the right feel – Doom misunderstanding Peter completely, all because of his own arrogance, and Parker nailing who Doom is perfectly. The issue also has its fair share of humor and surprisingly enough, a lot of the best jokes come from Doom himself. This issue doesn’t really uncover anything new about either character, but it understands its characters so well that it’s always entertaining.

Messina’s Clean Pencils Make the Story Sing

David Messina made his biggest splash as back-up artist for the latest volume of Ultimate Spider-Man. He had to step into a book that Marco Checchetto, one of current Marvel’s most skilled artists, was drawing and keep readers satisfied, which is honestly one of the most daunting things you could imagine. However, Messina’s simple, clean style was able to make his issues of that book look amazing, something that he brings to Challenges of Doom: Spider-Man #1. We already knew he was a great Spider-Man artist and this issue just cements that. Looking at his rendition of young, 15-year old Spidey and the older version he was drawing in Ultimate Spider-Man, you can actually tell the difference between them. This version feels and “moves” (for a lack of a better term) like a younger hero. Drawing younger characters and making them look young is hard, but he pulls it off. Spider-Man is one of the main focuses of the book, and you’ll never get bored looking at his Spider-Man.

His Doom is equally as cool. He’s able to capture the power and majesty of Victor Von Doom, showing why he is one of Marvel’s most feared and respected monarchs. One of the most difficult parts of Doom is getting across his emotions; his mask is awesome-looking but it can be a problem for artists at times. However, Messina is able to use body language to get across how the villain is feeling in every panel, helping sell the rather bombastic emotions of Von Doom. His page layouts aren’t anything mindblowing, but they do a great job of giving the book a nice pace and keep everything feeling fluid. While you could make an argument that there needs to be more action in this story, Messina is able to take what is honestly a pretty low key book and make it look as great as any big fight comic.

On the one hand, you could make the argument that Marvel’s current Doom push is getting a bit out of hand; there are so many Doom books everything month and have been for a while now. However, it gives us comics as great as this one, so it’s honestly worth it. The issue’s greatest strength is the way it tells its story; if you know Doom and Spidey, there’s nothing about this book that’s going to surprise you but you’ll still keep reading. Sometimes, you can get a cliche story that is able to feel fresh, new, and exciting and this comic is one of those. If you want to read a comic that shows everything Marvel Comics does well, this is the book for you.

Challenges of Doom: Spider-Man #1 is on sale now.

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