Writer - Roger Stern

Art - Mike Mignola

Summary:

The Aged Ghengis and the Vishanti call together a gathering of masters of the mystics arts. They challenge these sorcerers in order to determine who among them is Sorcerer Supreme. The outcome is that Dr. Strange earns the title, but he is obligated to grant a boon to the runner-up in the challenge, Dr. Doom. Doom asks that Strange help him free his mother's soul from hell. Together the two enter the netherworld and battle Mephisto himself. In Hades, the two become separated. Mephisto bargains with Doom alone. In exchange for handing over Dr. Strange, Mephisto releases Doom's mother, Cynthia. When she learns of Doom's bargain, she rejects him and her new form turns to stone. Strange soon frees himself from Mephisto's bonds with Doom's help. Seemingly trapped in Hades, Strange quickly devises a way out. He tricks Mephisto into destroying the petrified form of Cynthia von Doom. When she rejected Doom and his bargain with Mephisto, she redeemed her soul. Mephisto had turned her body to stone in order to keep her soul in hell. However when he destroys the form he created, her soul goes free. Defeated, an angry Mephisto sends them away from his realm. Back in Latveria, Strange ponders if Doom willingly sacrificed his mother's love knowing that would be the only way to free her soul.

Notes:

• The graphic novel continues the tradition first established in Fantastic Four #278 to show that Doom's university accident left only a small scar down his cheek.

• Revealed for the first time that Valeria is Boris' grand-daughter.

• Doom receives training in the mystic arts from Dr. Strange.

• Reprinted in a softcover second edition, also a more 2013 TPB which collects Astonishing Tales #8 and Doctor Strange #57.Also included in the TPB is an interview with Roger Stern about Triumph and Torment from Marvel Age #78.
  

Comments:

It's rare for a villain to be given the opportunity to grow as a character. Usually villains only exist in comic book stories to stand in opposition to the hero (es) of a comic. On those few and far between occasions when a villain is written as one of the actual protagonist of a story then we can see the character develop beyond what we already know. Doom is no different. Trapped in the Fantastic Four title where his primary purpose is to "destroy the accursed Fantastic Four," there is rarely room for growth. Take him out of that title, and watch how the character is no longer the 2 dimensional mad despot he is so often characterized to be. Astonishing Tales, Marvel Super Heroes #20, Doom (2000), are just a few examples. Triumph and Torment is another.

Story-wise the graphic novel resolves a long standing plot thread, first introduced in Astonishing Tales #8. Roger Stern brings Doom's on-going quest to free his mother's soul to an elegant conclusion which is filled with the right amount tragedy as befits Doom's character. His life, after all, is one of constant tragedy. Along the way he fills in a few blanks from his origin, primarily with regards to his mother, Cynthia. Prior to "Books of Doom", this was probably the best and fullest origin since Fantastic Four Annual #2. Art by a pre-Hellboy Mike Mignola is haunting, thrilling and exciting in all the right parts.

Out of print for years, Marvel finally reprinted the graphic novel in paperback in 2013. As a bonus, it includes Astonishing Tales #8, the classic Gerry Conway tale which Triumph and Torment is a sequel to. This is without a doubt one of the greatest Doctor Doom stories of all time. A must-read for all Doom fans.

Bottom Line: * * * * * out of 5

VC

7/24/13