Book Review: Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment by R. Stern et al.

 Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment written by Roger Stern and Bill Mantlo with Gerry Conway, art by Mike Mignola and Kevin Nowlan with Gene Colan

A graphic novel full of Doom! Doctor Victor von Doom, that is. He's the leader of Latveria, an Eastern European country that hails him as a beloved leader though everyone outside thinks of him as a despot. He is an expert in science and has a working knowledge of magic (his mother was a gypsy accused of sorcery), making him a formidable foe.

In the main story, Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange are both invited to a mystical competition to see who is the greatest sorcerer on Earth. Doom has spent his life studying both science and sorcery, so he is a viable contender but does not win. Strange is the victor though in this contest a boon is given by the victor to the person in second place. So Strange owes Doom a favor. Doom knows exactly what he wants--to free is mother's soul from Mephistopheles, the ruler of Hell. She was unjustly taken by the Lord of Demons and Doom. Being a loving son (who knew he had one good quality?), Doom wants to free her. Doctor Strange recognizes the request as an actually worthy task and agrees to venture into Hell to save the soul of Mrs. von Doom. The story gets bizarre, touching, and smart as the two try to best the ruler of Hell on his own turf. The tale is entertaining and satisfying, weaving in a lot of character moments for the two stars.

In the second story, Doctor Doom goes to one of the deeper dungeons in his castle to summon and fight a demon for his mother's soul. It's an earlier issue of Astonishing Tales that sets out his yearly quest to free his mother's soul from Hell. It's not really clear why they put this after the first story. 

In the third story, also predating the first, Doctor Strange has lost his disciple Clea. Somehow word got out and everyone with any inkling of the occult comes to Bleecker Street to become the Sorcerer Supreme's new disciple. Even Victor von Doom in Latvaria hears the news and considers studying the mystics art with Stephen Strange. But he's too egotistical and too busy with matters of state (restoring order after some usurper messed things up). Doom's appearance is just a few pages and is a precursor of the main story above. 

The final two stories feature Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner. The only connection to the other material is that Mike Mignola did the pencils. These are some short, more mythological stories. In one, Namor saves a white horse that's drowning at sea; in the other, he's in the Saragossa Sea and has a strange experience where he's transported to the past and has a dalliance with a female pirate captain. 

Highly recommended for the initial story. The others are more filler/background information.

Book Review: Black Widow: Sting of the Widow by S. Lee et al.

Black Widow: Sting of the Widow written by Stan Lee, Mimi Gold, Gary Friedrich, and Don Rico with art by Don Heck, John Romita, John Buscema, and Gene Colan

This retrospective of early Black Widow comics covers some highlights of her comic book career:

Tales of Suspense #52--First, Black Widow arrives on the scene as part of a duo of Soviet agents. They are trying to get Ivan Vanko, the Crimson Dynamo, back on the Russian side after he was defeated by Iron Man. Vanko defected thanks to the kind and compassionate treatment he got from the West. The duo pose as foreign dignitaries who want to tour Tony Stark's labs. After a bit of touring, Tony ask Madame Natasha (Black Widow) out to dinner while her comrade continues the tour. The bad guy finds and captures Vanko working in the lab, taking him to their submarine just off New York's shoreline. He goes back to Stark's labs and tears up the place. Iron Man is called in, though he is captured in the fight. He's also taken to the sub, where he rescues Vanko. They go back to the labs in time to stop Black Widow and her nefarious partner, who is killed by Vanko. Natasha escapes to the streets. She can't go back to the Motherland since she knows the price of failure exacted by the KGB.

A synopsis page details Black Widow eventually falling in love with Hawkeye. They date for a while but break up. She works briefly with the Avengers and SHIELD. She tries going back to being just the socialite Madame Natasha, but the shallow life is not for her. This leads her to...

The Amazing Spider-Man #86--Natasha decides to reimagine herself as a hero. She ditches her old costume (fishnet leggings and a purple cape with a mask just like Hawkeye's) and designs the now-familiar black suit with chain belt and wrist shooters. Her powers are similar to Spider-Man's (she uses suction cups to climb walls and shoots ropes to swing from building to building). She fights Spidey in hopes of learning what gives him his powers and how he uses them. Her timing isn't so great--Peter is feeling woozy from fighting Kingpin and he's easily defeated by Black Widow. She decides to go her own way with her own style of fighting. And her own comic book...

Amazing Adventures #1 to 8--Black Widow starts some solo adventures (though the book was split between her and the Inhumans). Her housecleaner's son is in trouble, so she helps out by beating up the shakedown artists who have been harassing him. Then she gets involved with the Young Warriors, a group of young men who want to set up a soup kitchen in Spanish Harlem. Their main problem is they set up shop in a corrupt congressman's building. The congressman works to kick them out with less than legal means. His thugs have a run-in with Black Widow. They manage to waylay her back at her apartment since she's now recognizable without a mask. She beats the bad guys and heads back to Harlem just in time to settle the stand off between the police and the Young Warriors.

Her second solo adventure has her facing off against The Astrologer, who plots his crimes based on what he sees in the stars. He and his gang of teenagers have mostly done petty crimes but now they are going after New York's blood supply! One of the teenagers flees and runs into Black Widow, who is ready to stop the gang. She has a rooftop fight with some gang members who try to get the teen back. The battle ends with the teen knocking a gang member off the roof. Both plummet to their deaths. The Widow feels guilty but keeps working the case. A few more adventures and another death leave the Black Widow in a funk over how people die around her.

Her last adventure in Amazing Adventures finds her and her henchman Ivan being captured by the Watchlord. He was exposed to radiation as a child in Germany--Soviet radiation! He naturally has an aversion to Russians, so he wants to eliminate Black Widow and her henchman. She manages to escape him. In the final conflict, Watchlord dies and she feels guilty again.

Daredevil #81--Black Widow was dropped from Amazing Adventures (which only lasted two more issues with the Inhumans). She moves over to Daredevil (hey, they're both in New York City so it's not surprising). Daredevil is tossed in the river by The Owl, a fairly nondescript villain who thinks he's a genius. Black Widow happens to be nearby and saves Daredevil from drowning. They separate before he knows who saved him. The Owl is the minion of a bigger villain (who is also smarter, but don't tell Owl!) who wanted DD captured, not killed. The Owl goes off on his own, which turns out to be a bad decision when both Daredevil and Black Widow show up to defeat him. Thus a partnership was formed between Daredevil and Black Widow. Their subsequent adventures are not in this book.

I found the stories interesting but they are definitely products of their time. Initially, the Soviets are Red Commie menaces who can do no good unless they defect to the welcoming West. As the stories progress, the writers are a little softer on her Russian background. She is occasionally drawn like a pin-up rather than a superhero, which hasn't changed much over the years. The Young Warriors seem like any hardcore youth group from that era, fighting "the man" in City Hall. Some of the dialog, like the quips during the fights, are occasionally wince-inducing but mostly fine. If you can handle that stuff, you will enjoy this book.

Slightly recommended as some historical filler and background on Black Widow.