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...And If I Be Called Traitor!
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This story carries on from the last, but now with added Gene Colan, who brings a touch of swirling, gothic class to a story which, as far as I can see, has absolutely nothing to do with its title!
Doom is underneath Wakanda, where he's come to steal some Vibranium but has been cornered at gunpoint by The Black Panther. Doom uses a trick that he's been fooled by himself many times, appealing to the Panther's pride and challenging him to lay down his weapon and face him man to man. The Black Panther, rather foolishly, does exactly that, and Doom demonstrates how daft this was by zapping him.
This is all very much in character for Doom, claiming to believe in Honour whilst doing the opposite, and refusing to taint himself with tawdry combat whilst doing exactly that.
Whilst The Black Panther is taken away to be imprisoned Doom muses about his plan, giving a handy catch-up for anybody who didn't read the previous issue but also introducing the idea that he might want to enslave the people of Wakanda at some point. This is new information, added by Gerry Conway who takes over from Larry Leiber with this issue. It's also a new idea for Doom, and another example of his journey away from the righteous, justice-led revolutionary of his earliest days and towards the fascist dictator he's now become.
Doom's despotic plans are illustrated with a monologue about how brilliant he is, which Gene Colan illustrates gorgeously - 'Astonishing Tales' has felt like a bit of a second-rate title up until this point, but with Conway and Colan on it it's become something slightly special. (SPOILERS: it will become even more so in the next issue!)
"And so I must hurry" he says to himself, coming down from his dreams of world domination to basically think "Well, best be getting on with it." He returns to his ship where two worried lackeys have managed to break the engine. They refer to him as "Herr Doctor" - another example of his transformation into a movie-style Nazi. Doom decides the only way to get something done is to do it himself, so sets off to make repairs, stopping off on the way to taunt the imprisoned Black Panther. While doing so he refers to him as an "equal" and "a prince of the blood" which, of course, Doom himself is not. Once more, his roots as a persecuted gypsy seem to have been forgotten, or perhaps this is Doom ignoring his own beginnings and placing himself amongst the royalty that he once sought to overthrow?
Once he's gone the Black Panther breaks out of his chains (remarkably easily) and sets off to halt Doom's plans. We see scenes in Wakanda (which is still being portrayed as "primitive" in this series rather than the Afro-Futurist techno city of the Kirby version) which is being torn apart by Doom's machine. His men try to stop him, but Doom is having none of it.
Is it me, or does the fact that the lackey's name is "Ramon" make it seem as if Doom is arguing with his hairdresser? The Black Panther sees all this going on and decides to act, and it's around here that one begins to realise that Gerry Conway is solving the perennial problems of having Doom as the lead character by simply portraying him as the villain in someone else's story - if this issue had been officially released as a Black Panther story with Doom as the guest villain I don't think it would have been done any differently. Doom has always had a big chunk of the focus whenever he's guested in anybody else's title, and doing it this way means that Conway can get in all the villainy that the fans actually liked about Doom without having to make out that he's a hero.
Thus The Black Pather is able to leap into action, beat up some guards, and point a gun at the Vibranium core, threatening to blow it up if Doom doesn't leave, just as he would have done if he was the official lead character.
Doom decides to believe the Panther, turning around his ship and heading home. The Panther wonders whether he really would have blown up the core, while Doom reassures himself that he could easily have disarmed him, but that the Panther's demonstration of bravery proves that he would have made a rubbish slave. That wasn't the reason Doom had gone to Wakanda - if he could have disarmed the Black Panther then he could have taken the Vibranium he'd come for - but perhaps this is Conway giving Doom a justification for his retreat.
And there the story ends. It's been a bit confused but the team of Conway and Colan has made a great start on the character, which unfortunately will only last for one more issue. Before that though, next time sees another guest appearance, when Doctor Doom finally meets the Hulk!
link to information about this issue
posted 9/11/2018 by Mark Hibbett
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