Doom All-On-One #1 – Final Victory

It’s that time of year… the time when the veil between Earth and Hell thins. The time when Victor Von Doom comes calling for Mephisto, in a quest to free the soul of Victor’s mother. This year, Mephisto has a surprise waiting for Victor. Can Doctor Doom stand up to all of the heroes of the Marvel universe? What is Captain America doing in hell? All of these questions and more are answered in Doom All-On-One #1.

This review is brought to you by Nerd Initiative’s Megan and Shawn!

Creative Team

Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Alessandro Cappuccio
Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Alessandro Cappuccio
Cover Color Artist: Bryan Valenza

Writing

Megan: No one can hold onto a grudge like Victor Von Doom, and that’s proven every year when the opportunity arises to fight for the soul of Doom’s mother, Cynthia. Every year, through magic, Doctor Doom is able to battle his way into the gate of Hell to challenge Mephisto for his mother’s soul. Doom doesn’t ever know what the challenge will involve, but he does know that he has to win. This year, Doom enters Hell only to find all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes staring back at him. Mephisto, who’s no stranger to having a good laugh at the expense of others, has Doom’s mother trapped in a giant hourglass. According to Mephisto, Doom has five minutes to bust Cynthia out of the hourglass, or he loses his chance at her soul. Seems easy enough, right? Wrong. You can’t forget the countless superheroes waiting for their turn to battle Doom.

Doctor Doom has to go up against Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Storm, and so many more powerhouses in order to free his mother, and has to accomplish this all in 5 minutes. To say the odds are stacked against him would be an understatement. All that happens in Doom All-On-One #1 is written by Al Ewing in a way that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The action was fantastic, and you knew there was a chance things could get even heavier at any given second, especially with Mephisto in the mix. All in all, the comic was a lot of fun! Any Doctor Doom fan will absolutely love this issue!

Shawn: As any Doctor Doom fan knows, it’s a special time of the year. That oh-so-magical time when Doom steps into hell to fight for the soul of his mother, Cynthia. In what has become a standard event in the Marvel Universe after being immortalized in the outstanding Triumph and Torment, Doom begins the process of trying to free Cynthia’s soul. Ewing perfectly captures the story in a way that you don’t need to have any background in Doom’s previous battles against Mephisto to properly appreciate this story. Not only does Ewing provide the knowledge through speech bubbles, but the narrative itself shows how years of this attempt have allowed Doom to create new technologies, essentially allowing him to cakewalk through the first parts of hell.

This year, Mephisto is aware that Victor will treat his initial challenges like a Sunday stroll through the park, with new challenges waiting for him. Doom arrives to find a battle that even he could not expect. Ewing gives us a Doom battle royale, seeing the powerful villain go up against line after line of some of Marvel’s most powerful heroes. You never truly know what you’ll get on the next page, and the story comes to a satisfying conclusion with a nice little plot twist that leaves me hoping for this to become a yearly event at Marvel.

Art

Megan: Alessandro Cappuccio, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Joe Caramagna bring a lot of heat to the pages of Doom All-On-One #1! Cappuccio brings gorgeous linework and heavily detailed panels that make each page nothing short of stunning! The characters are drawn with such precise detail and shading that each character looks like they could be the main character of the story.

With the coloring, I was thrilled to see that Rachelle Rosenberg would be the colorist! Rosenberg never misses, and Doom All-On-One #1 is proof of that. With beautifully bold colors juxtaposing darker tones, every page is an absolute masterpiece.

Joe Caramagna handled the lettering and knocked it out of the park. I loved how Caramagna was able to capture the unhinged chaos in Mephisto’s voice as well as the menacing tone of Doctor Doom through the dialogue. Being the voice of the story, Caramagna provides an excellent flow of dialogue while portraying the heightened emotions of the story wonderfully.

Shawn: Alessandro Cappucio, sir, come on down. Front and center for a celebration of the absolute unit of a comic that you drew. This entire issue, from the first panel on, is perfect. Not a single line is out of place. In the high-stakes battles that take place in this issue, it would be easy to sneak in some lazy moments, but Cappucio doesn’t settle for that. He instead brings his absolute A game, capturing not only the power of Doctor Doom, but the skillful conniving of Mephisto. The heroes are perfectly done, and the panels are flawless.

Part of the beauty on these pages comes from the flawless work of Rachelle Rosenberg on colors. The colors scream off the page, and Rosenberg does an incredible job balancing the subdued tones of the battle taking place in hell with the bright lights of Doom and others in the battles. Whether it’s a cosmic power or Captain America’s shield, every inch of every panel feels like Rosenberg couldn’t miss with her colors. Joe Caramagna really helps to capture how deviant and depraved Mephisto is through his lettering. The dialogue flows well and really lets the art shine.

Final Thoughts

Megan: 10/10. Any Doctor Doom fan will LOVE this comic! Doom All-On-One #1 is a ton of fun from beginning to end, showing Doctor Doom fighting at his best against his biggest challengers.

Shawn: 10/10. What a runaway train of fun. Doctor Doom takes center stage as he takes on some of his biggest challengers. It’s only fitting that his issue includes a battle against the one team he’s never truly able to defeat. The writing, the art, the entire issue is such a vibe. More of this, please, Marvel.

Overall Grade: 10/10

What did you think of the issue? Let us know in the comments