Big Teeth, Little Bite — Reviewing ‘One World Under Doom’ #1

Things are pretty dire right now, both in the United States and pretty much the entire world. Fascism is still on the rise. Truly evil people are taking offices and wielding wealth and power to do harm. Escaping the doom of it all can feel like far too much on any given day.

Comics are one of many things that fall into the realm of “escapist fiction,” providing us a way to forget the ills of the world. If even for a few moments, you can get away to imagine something better, like a world of heroes who rise up to knock down whatever evil might be on the rise.

Unfortunately for the Marvel Universe, they have their own issue to deal with as One World Under Doom #1 does just what the title says. Ryan North, R.B. Silva, David Curiel, and Travis Lanham present a world where Doom finally gets his way and rules with an iron fist (wrapped around pretend benevolence).

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how to feel about this book when it was announced. We were waiting to see how a fraught election was going to end up going. Then, the worst outcome of that election came to be, making this story feel even more kind of icky in a sense.

I appreciate on some level what the team was attempting here. Comics are an art form, and art responds to the struggles and issues of the world. It provides a way to face these issues head on, either to document them, showcasing the emotion and feeling around them, or counter them in some way. Clearly by the end of this event (nine months long, oh golly), the heroes will win and things will return to a semblance of normal.

In the meantime, though, this is going to be rough.

There are some threads of something more that dangle here, that actually look at the issues that plague our world. Most are, for the moment, brushed away, though, as Doom is revealed to just be typical evil and the heroes go barreling right into the mix to smack things down. I don’t blame North. Event books are a different beast than working on most solos. North’s Fantastic Four run is full of hilarity and great family dynamic, but it has not shied away from tougher or pressing issues of the world at times.

Here, they are mostly used as backdrop in the deception that Doom has crafted, so intricately planned. Likely most of the things will be done to better lives, but done so to firm up his rule and feed the ego that has led the man this far.

Visually, it’s as grand as you would expect from a story this size. It has Silva on the art after all, and that man can draw. There is a reason that he’s been tapped for so many of the bigger stories since really breaking through over the years.

His style is so big and vibrant and perfect for the larger superhero or powered player landscape. Panels are rich with detail and depth, really letting the characters and moments take their spotlight and really sink in. Action sequences zip by with off-the-charts kinetic energy, often making things feel like they are truly in motion.

Within it all is just this ornate gorgeousness. It makes the spaces feel so authentic, large, and real in many respects, without losing any of the fantastical outlandish feeling that is baked into these stories from the get go.

Curiel is a solid colorist to pair with Silva. He creates such lush and vibrant color palettes. Even the darker moments are so shiny and bright, providing a good counter to the more ominously chosen colors and darker tones. It dips into a space where the colors feel smooth and shiny but never overly so. Pairing that with a heavier swath of colors that give the panels even more weight than they already had.

When telling a story with a grandiose character like Doom, there are going to be words. Like many villain types, the man loves a good speech or monologue. Lanham captures it all perfectly with the right inflections, personality, and emotional range. He slips in colors, shifted balloons, and intricate boxes to really make the letters sing. This also gives character voices unique qualities through those subtle, or not so subtle, shifts on the page.

At the end of the day, I was desiring more but was not expecting it. Especially not when it comes to Marvel of today, which is just a cog within the overall corporate Disney machine. The House of Mouse is currently bending the knee to fascism because they just love money oh so much. Just a bit more bite would have taken this from standard superhero fare to something more.

Maybe that bite is to come, we shall see. For now it fits into the space that so many comic stories do, it’s fine for what it is.

One World Under Doom #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.