Review of Doom's Day, Book #3

Book #54. Doom’s Day Book #3: Wreckage, by Eric Fein and Pierce Askegren. Paperback.

This is the final book of the Doom’s Day trilogy of Marvel Comics novels, the first two having been reviewed here and here. The team-up nature of the series allows for easy reading of the books as stand-alones, though they also tell a single, continuous story.

Spider-Man is again the main hero of the story, and in this novel he is joined by Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four. The story starts when Doctor Doom breaks Doctor Octopus out of prison and puts him to work to bring to fruition the plans he has been working on for the first two novels in the series. His plan to rule the world involves the Infinity Engine’s power, hooked up to the Negative Zone portal in the Fantastic Four’s headquarters.

For any comic book reader, the idea of Doctor Doom tapping into the mysterious Negative Zone for energy is an interesting proposition. Characters from prior novels in the series, especially Sean Morgan and his SAFE organization, join the efforts to stop Doom, along with Spidey and the FF, and all seems lost.

I have enjoyed the portrayal of Mary Jane’s relationship to Peter Parker in this series --- these books take place while they were a married couple. The portrayal of the young and struggling couple adds a nice “human touch” to this sweeping, epic story. There are big stakes for the world, but including the smaller personal stakes adds a more emotional “hook” for the reader into the story. 

The mix of authors changed with each book in the series, with Danny Fingeroth stepping back from this one. His absence may have hurt the overall story, as I thought the integration of the guest stars (the Fantastic Four, in this case) was the weakest of the novels. But the plot elements were strong, and the conclusion was dramatic and effective.

And like any good comic book story, the villain is defeated for the time being, but not ultimately vanquished. Doctor Doom (my favorite comic book character) escapes to thwart the heroes’ efforts in the future. And that is fine by me.

Source: purchased from Amazon.com