issue - 39
title - Impending Doom
writer - Terry Kavanagh
art - Gary Kwapisz
Summary:
Marc Spector, AKA Moon Knight receives a diplomatic invitation to the Latverian embassy where a ball is being held. Doom insits upon his presence for unknown reasons. Curious to know what his intentions are he attends the function. No sooner does he meet Doom face to face, the event is attacked by a team of cybernetic humans called the Sensor Squad. Quickly changing into his alternate persona, Moon Knight swiftly defeats the enemy force. With peace restored, Moon Knight returns to being Marc Spector and meets with Doom. The monarch reveals that Spector's company recently purchased land bordering Latveria, land that once belonged to his country before the war [WWII?]. In that land his company has unearthed artifacts which are sacred to certain Latverian extremist factions. Doom offers to take those items back in order for him to avoid further attacks from extremists such as the Sensor Squad. Spector declines the offer and leaves. Doom stares at his mother's portrait and and promises that he will get those artifacts when he is joined in the room by the remaining Sensor Squad who are actually working for him.
Comments:
A solid issue with a good characterization of Doom. The art is interesting and provides a mean looking Doom. Curious is a mention by Doom about his prolonged absence. There is no editors note so I am assuming that since this story came out in '92 it is referring to Doom's return from a undisclosed journey in FF #350 and resulted in the end of the Kristoff / Doom war. Bottom Line: ***** out of 5
Notes:
issue - 40
title - Endgame
writer - Terry Kavanagh
art - Gary Kwapisz
Summary:
The Sensor Squad raid the Spectorcorp building searching for the Latverian artifacts. Moon Knight arrives on scene and engages in a lengthy battle with ending in their defeat. Consulting with his Shadow Cabinet, Marc determines that Reed Richards is the best man to see for advice concerning Doom. Reed provides Moon Knight with a way through Doom's defenses by reprogramming a cybernetic eye that Moon Knight retrieved from the Sensor Deadeye. Using the eye, Moon Knight is able to sneak into the Latverian embassy. He quickly finds Doom and the two engage in one on one combat. Ultimately Doom discovers that Moon Knight is suffering from some kind of skin condition and offers his medical expertise in exchange for the cameo. Moon Knight prods Doom and he admits that the artifact is a family heirloom. Moon Knight realizes that the man portrayed in the cameo is Doom's father and surrenders the amulet to him but declines the offer for medical help.
Comments:
Although Doom's methods are questionable not only in their legality but in their logic, this is nonetheless a excellent ending to this two-parter. Some nice Doom action at the end as he fights Moon Knight and demolishes his own embassy in the process. It seems to be common practice to center non-FF Doom appearances around Doom's mother, i.e. trying to save his mother, getting someone else to save his mother, getting something that will let him save his mother, etc. This is one of the rare stories which center around his father, although you don't know it until the end. It should be mentioned that the editor of Moon Knight was Joey Cavilieri, the man who was Editor on the 2099 imprint. This story has a pretty strong Doom characterization. I wonder if Joey had a lot of influence on the story, or at least how Doom was portrayed, because Doom 2099 is to this day my favorite interpretation of the character. This story is a rare moment where I can clearly see the evolution from regular Dr. Doom into Doom 2099.
Bottom Line: ***** out of 5
Notes: