"One World Under Doom," #1 Starts Perfectly Fine

"One World Under Doom," features Doctor Doom emerging from the nation he runs--Latveria--after some months of keeping it locked away in a magical dome he was able to create thanks to becoming Sorcerer Supreme (he took it from Doctor Strange during a vampire invasion event, you know how it goes). He appears one morning and announces he is now the ruler of the World. All leaders of nations pledged loyalty to him and now he's in charge of everything on Earth. The twist is he will let every nation run itself normally as long as there is no war and everyone is able to access healthcare and as much education as they want from Pre-K to Doctorates. Basically, Doctor Doom has taken over Earth but is ruling it in a very chill way as long as you don't challenge him--if you do he might sic a T-Rex monster on you.

Obviously, the World leaders were tricked/replaced/had magic done to them for this to happen. The Avengers know this but stumble over themselves to expose Doom and look reckless and useless compared to the World's new leader. It's all perfectly fine as this sounds like something Doom would do, but what's the twist? Is it that Earth is okay with Doom's dictatorship because it actually seems like it works even if he assumed power through malignant means? That could result in a story about free will versus safety and security, I suppose. That said, Doom is up to something, one assumes, we just don't know what it is. Did he just want to declare himself ruler of Earth and demand everyone get along, be healthy, and get an education?

The thing that makes this at least enjoyable even if nothing about the first issue leaps out at me is that Ryan North writes a great Doctor Doom. He's got that mix of intelligence, ego, and attitude nailed to a T, and artist Ben Harvey gives us some delightful scenes of the Avengers fighting or Doom pontificating across the World's airwaves with his imposing visage. Still, the issue was entertaining enough but unless we're going somewhere creative I don't see what makes it especially necessary for this to be a huge event with multiple tie-ins. Doctor Doom has taken over Earth and the Avengers will beat him...the end? If that's the case this will be a bit of a waste, but should something unpredictable or twisty occur, well then I'm quite interested in seeing where we're going. For now, however, the verdict is out. As I said, it is a perfectly fine debut issue, I just hope this turns into something beyond, "Doom fooled Earth and the Avengers have to prove he's evil!" We'll see.

3.5 out of 5 Stars.