Writer: Jed Mackay
Artist: Farid Karami
Color Artist: Federico Blee
Cover Artists: Valerio Schiti & Federico Blee
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
In the wake of the Blood Hunt crisis, the Avengers have rested and are ready to go whenever there’s trouble. However, one major development came from this catastrophe: Dr. Doom is now Sorcerer Supreme. Since then, Doom withdrew into Latveria which he covered with a magical opaque dome, and no one’s seen or heard from him. Until now. In Avengers #19, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes get a call from Dr. Doom, Earth’s new Sorcerer Supreme.
Review:
I’ll be up front: I don’t care for the Blood Hunt event beyond the art. But the one and only interesting thing to come out of that bloated line wide event was Dr. Doom becoming the new Sorcerer Supreme. And it’s the one thing that has genuine potential for a grand Marvel Comics storyline. So, when this issue was announced I was excited. But after reading it, I am thoroughly disappointed.
So, the comic starts with idle banter between the heroes who are setting up the story for the next issue. Nothing too exciting, yet. And then the Avengers get a call from Dr. Doom himself saying it’s time they talk. From there, the Avengers meet Dr. Doom, in astral form, at a designated meeting area and have their “talk.” There’s some “action” in the comic and neat visuals thanks to Farid Karami’s art, but it’s nothing to brag home about other than a few pages, like the one with a giant holographic Dr. Doom looking down upon some of the Avengers.
Now, the crux of this whole comic is that Doom is, according to Vision, playing out a thought exercise with the Avengers. He essentially asks the heroes “With all your power, why aren’t you running the world?” And they predictably respond with “We’re heroes, we protect people. It’s not our right, or anyone else’s, to rule the world.” And then Doom comes to the conclusion they’re just cowards too afraid to really use their powers and leaves. The problem for me isn’t the spirit of what the Avengers say, it’s just….that’s it. That’s all there is to this comic, their perspective, everything. There’s nothing excitable or intriguing, not even on Doom’s part that gets the spark of interest here. It’s all very predictable, basic ideas getting rehashed with a new coat of paint.
I know I sound harsh, but this comic is just so uninspired. I was really looking forward to this comic hoping that Jed Mackay would wow us with Dr. Doom as Sorcerer Supreme and his confrontation with the Avengers. But he didn’t. The core philosophical clash between them is very classic in spirit, yet it has been poorly overused too much in the last decade by many comic writers in both Marvel and DC comics. Mainly in stories where the writers in essence say the heroes aren’t doing enough or have other characters shout at them for “not doing enough” and how they should be doing more even taking over. And Doom’s basically doing the same here but more like a professional villain trying to win them over to his side. However, his approach here isn’t anything new or interesting, it was more of the same and that’s the problem. Plus, it’s not like MacKay has the heroes refer to their own experiences of past flawed attempts to control the world in some way to fuel their present stance, looking at you Carol, Tony. At the end of the day, this story was just fluff that’s neither terrible or great, just meh except for the art. Farid Karami nails it with the art and really delivers with Dr. Doom in his astral form.
Final Thoughts:
n Avengers #19, Dr. Doom, now the Sorcerer Supreme, calls up Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to have “chat” with them. Unfortunately, not much really happens here. It’s mostly Doom and the Avengers throwing classic philosophical platitudes at each other concerning power and what to do with it, all with some good art from Farid Karami. While the conclusion was pretty predictable, there is a nugget of intrigue concerning what Dr. Doom is planning to do in the foreseeable future.