Doomwar Part One

Written by Jonathan Maberry
Penciled by Scot Eaton
Inks by Andy Lanning & Robert Campanella
Review by Dan Tres OMi

When I first saw the promo for this limited series, I was hesitant to pick it up. Now I think Dr. Doom is one of the best villains out there. I dislike the Fantastic Four movie franchise and felt that Hollywood did a horrible rendition of Dr. Doom. Dr. Doom is vastly powerful and I find that most writers haven't explored Doom's personality or genius. Since Reginald Hudlin began writing and reworking Black Panther/T'Challa, he has introduced Dr. Doom as a rival. I really liked this. Two monarchs of two advanced nations squaring off on a grand chess board. Sometimes, T'Challa and Doom are allies and sometimes they aren't. Well, Doom has finally made his final move and has behind the dethroning of T'Challa and his sister Shurri. To top it off, Ororo, T'Challa's wife and X-Man has been captured by Doom's minions, the Desturi.

T'Challa and Shurri flee Wakanda leaving Ororo/Storm to fend for herself. With no allies and the entire world community believing allegations of human rights violations committed by T'Challa ans his family, the monarchs find refuge with the X-Men. Cyclops however, realizes that his hands are tied since Utopia Nation X is a new nation with few allies and very few nations that recognize it's sovereignty.

The story so far is wonderful. T'Challa knows that a full all out war will kill a great number of his people so he has to pay Doom's game for the time being. Meanwhile his sister, refuses to wear the kid gloves and wants to return Wakanda to it's rightful owners by any means necessary. The X Men are wary of T'Challa since he so readily abandoned his wife. It will be interesting to see who else who take sides and lend a hand.

This is a story I have been waiting and hoping on. I hope that we see the Wakandans take the war to Latveria since Doom rules that country like an Iron Fist. If not, it would be great to see another political realignment with several groups within the Marvel Universe.

Siege: Captain America (one shot)

Written by Christos N. Gage
Pencils and Inks by Federico Dallocchio
Review by Dan Tres Omi

I thoroughly enjoy the Dark Reign crossovers. Having Norman Osborn in charge of the Avengers and H.A.M.M.E.R. (which is just Osborn's evil version of S.H.I.E.L.D.), allows several characters to take a back burner and 2nd and 3rd rate characters to really see the light. Not to mention the fact that several political factions such as Dr. Doom's Latveria, Namor's Atlantis, Wakanda and the Inhumans are realigning themselves with different groups never tried before.

The Siege story arc is really shaking things up. As usual, Marvel tries to really capitalize a story arc by not just doing crossovers but publishing one shots or mini series that coincide with the story such as the Secret Invasion Embedded. I decided to pick up Seige: Captain America since the actual Seige limited series is very good.

I should have left it on the shelf. I expected Captain America/Steve Rogers and Captain America/Winter Soldier to take on Venom (as depicted in the promo poster for the Siege crossovers). I thought that would have been a good battle. Of course, that didn't happen. Instead both Captain Americas end up fighting some 4th rate villain who isn't worth the pencils he is drawn with.

What saves this lackluster story is Federico Dallocchio's artwork. Dallocchio who has done loads of work at DC, brings a wonderful touch to Captain America. The artwork is great and really drips off the page. Other than that, one can afford to miss this issue.