Billions And American Ridiculousness — Reviewing ‘The Will Of Doom’ #1

The reign of Victor Von Doom has ended, but the impact that Doctor Doom has on this world has not. Come and be seated as the last will and testament of Doctor Doom is read and changes the game for the Fantastic Four.

An epilogue that begins the next phase of Marvel arrives with The Will Of Doom #1 from Chip Zdarsky, CAFU, David Curiel, and Travis Lanham.

It would take very little searching to see how up and down my reviews were of One World Under Doom, the event that preceded this issue. In that whole event, where Doom took over the world, no other books outside its web ever paid any attention. The outcome was always clear because there was no way that Doom’s control, that actually fixed a lot of things, could stick.

The status quo needs to be returned to in Marvel Comics as soon as possible.

What we get here is a story that deals with Doom’s holdings and his chosen heir of Valeria Richards as well as stuff with General Ross the Red Hulk.

Going from a story where a despot was trying to take over the world with an iron fist to one full of “America should be feared” sure is something. Marvel’s choice to be “topical” or the “world outside your window” is nothing new. It’s been their bread and butter since the inception of this line in the 60s. What’s wrong now is that the choices feel ill-timed, incorrectly tackled, and just kind of out of place.

Zdarsky does a fine job dealing with the Doom and Fantastic Four stuff. All the stuff with Ross and the Secretary of Defense felt off-putting in many ways. Even the bits with the FF having to hide in Latveria being unable to help people or get rid of the flag Ross planted there was meh. I get the whole “we can’t cause an international incident” stuff but it just feels gross at this point.

Mostly because the superheroes keep being proven to be what they always have been, stewards of the status quo. That status quo is harmful to more people that it’s beneficial toward.

There is a good mix of dense familiarity and more animated whimsy to CAFU’s style. A lot of kinetic energy is felt as the characters and action do move across the page. It’s easy to find a few spots where things feel a bit more static than others, but it never takes away from the overall visuals. Overall, the depictions of the characters, their world, and their emotional states really resonate and work on the page.

This is the same for the colors that Curiel provides. His palette is a very nice mix of shiny popping colors and the more neutral foundational tones that fill the world. He makes sure that what is there is familiar and outlandish at the same time, but in such a way where the outlandish doesn’t actually feel like that.

Much has to be parsed out between the various characters filling these pages. That means a lot of dialogue and other lettering elements to play with. Lanham nails them all and makes sure that they never overwhelm or fall flat on the page. There is plentiful energy found within each word with some of them getting plenty of visual flair to bump them up even more.

The Will Of Doom #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.