Title- Doom with a View
Issue- 9
Writer- Scott McKeever
Art- Mike Norton
Summary:
While his high school prepares for a public celebration of the Fantastic Four, Peter Parker notices a pair of suspicious looking individuals keeping watch. Eaves dropping on the two as Spider-Man, he realizes that they are plotting to attack the FF during the event. When they discover that Spider-Man has heard their plans, the two flee. Spider-Man chases them through a holographic barrier. Inside a high tech facility, Spider-Man comes face to face with Dr. Doom. Shortly, Spider-Man discovers that he is on board Doom's ship and that it is shaped like a giant magnifying glass which he plans to harness the suns rays to burn the FF to cinder. Doom and Spider-Man battle while the timer for Doom's device ticks away. Eventually Doom abandons the battle as the time Spider-Man's chance to save the FF is nearly up. Spider-Man however does succeed in saving the FF as well as all those attending the event by pressing the "abort" button.
Comments:
When writing the summary for this issue, I was struck with a dilemma. Where do I place this story in the guide? Although they receive no credit, this story owes much to the Stan Lee / Steve Ditko issue of Amazing Spider-Man #5. While this issue is only loosely based on it, thus explaining the lack of credit, the scenario is similar and ASPM #5 was clearly a jumping off point. Aside from re-telling Spidey's first encounter with Doom, having the FF present, and highlighting Flash's hero-worship of Spider-Man, the story is different. Is it a bad story? No. However the story is so simple when compared to ASPM #5. Back in 1965 when ASPM #5 was first printed, it was hardly meant to be read by adults [although they could of course]. The intended audience was probably the same age group that these Marvel Adventures imprints are targeting. And yet here we are in 2005 and the comics lack the depth that the classic stories had. This is my perpetual rant, I know. But it ticks me off that while trying to reach out to the youth they are dumbing them down. I was a kid and I read comics. None of the stories felt dumbed down at all. In fact most the stories went over my head. And it was those issues that I went back, re-read and said "wow, these comics were awesome even back then." If I were a kid and re-read this comic I would look back and say "jeez, this is such kid's stuff." On the writing front, I know that Scott McKeever can do better. His work on Mega-Morphs is way better than this and it is also targeting kids. The art is standard fare for the Marvel Adventures imprint, simple backgrounds and short on the detail. However if you think about the fact that these comics probably never get delayed because of late art, I would trade the "perfect" art that JQ is always praising and citing as the reason for delays on regular Marvel titles, for this simple one. But that's another rant entirely. Bottom Line: Skip It!