Title-
Masks
Title-
Masks
Issue- 2
Writer- Christopher Priest
Art- Paolo Rivera
Summary:
At a performance by a visiting Russian orchestra, Doom finds that one of its members has been replaced by a female spy, Karen Sutter. The spy has been surgically altered to be the mirror image of Valeria, his long lost love. Doom confronts Karen who claims ignorance. She attempts to convince him that she is merely a reporter sent to get an inside story on Doom's personality. As the two converse, Doom reveals to her that she is a pawn of NATO who are using her as a psychological assassin. her real purpose whether she is aware or not is to hurt Doom with the image of Valeria. Realizing the harm she has done to Doom, however innocently, Karen decides that the only way she can atone for tarnishing his memory of Valeria is by taking her own life by leaping off a cliff by Doom's encampment.
Comments:
Christopher Priest weaves a story here that echoes some truly classic Doom material. I found the strong ties to Valeria, the melancholic and tragic characterization of Doom both to be very reminiscent of Gerry Conway's take on the character. It was also welcome to see some realistically written dialogue written for Doom. Here his enemies are not the US or SHIELD but NATO. Karen's nationality is German so the whole story is given a more international feel. That's something that isn't done often enough with Doom. Latveria is deep inside Europe, and yet it seems that the only people he has dealings with are American super-heroes. It would be nice to see more international foes for Doom to go up against. The art by Paolo Rivera is stunning. Doom in dress uniform is just plain cool. Rivera manages to imbue the story with a fairytale quality that is really something to see. My only qualm is the ending. Karen jumping off a cliff seems a little like overkill. She comes off as such a real average person right up until that moment. There is I suppose some sort of poetic note to this ending, but I think the story could have been served just as well if she had returned to her masters and they kill her off. Nevertheless, this short story is a gold mine if you ask me. I wouldn't mind seeing what else Priest and Rivera would do with the character. Bottom Line: Buy It!
Notes:
The story features painted art by
Paolo Rivera. Rivera later did the covers to the Books of Doom miniseries.
Doom identifies his gypsy tribe
as Zefiro. This name first appeared in Doom 2099 but has rarely been used
since.