Thunderbolts: Doom Strike #1: The late 2023/early 2024 Thunderbolts run was a terrific, albeit too short, action-packed run following Bucky Barnes and his team (Agent 13, Val, Red Guardian, Shang Chi, US Agent, Black White, White Widow) hunting Red Skull across the globe … all the way to Latveria. Bucky tricks Doctor Doom into eliminating Red Skull, and Doom has not forgotten. He admires Bucky for using him and gives him the opportunity to be his long arm of the law. Of course, Bucky declines and Doom begins his hunt for the former Winter Soldier. Bucky thinks he can outsmart Doom … but as you can suspect, things aren’t that easy. Thunderbolts: Doom Strike #1Â is a fantastic companion to One World Under Doom #1. It establishes hero’s motives and Doom’s supremacy over the world.
Doom Academy #1:Â This limited tie-in series finds some of students from the Strange Academy trying assimilate to their new digs — The Doom Academy. The school has moved from New Orleans (under the tutelage of Brother Voodoo and Doctor Strange) to Latveria under the rule of Sorcerer Supreme Doom. The issue finds the students trying to find their way — and frankly it’s a step back for this “Academy” run. It lacks the heart, humor and the Stranger Things-esque “in over their heads” charm that the Strange Academy Blood Hunt run had. While, their was a twist ending that promises some supernatural shennanigans, the plot of this run is very bland due to its overdone nature.
Weapon X-Men #1: This is the least connected to Doom series, and yet it still works. It revolves around Wolverine getting blown up in France, and being rescued/teaming up with Deadpool and Cable. They end up in Latveria where they find Warpath … literally on a warpath taking out mechanized guards. What works about this comic is the eternal “fight forever” friendship of Wolverine and Deadpool. There’s a big mystery here and without spoiling things, the last few pages really leave you wanting more.
X-Factor #7: This is the perfect series for a tie-in. If you’ve been sleeping on X-Factor, you should not be. It’s a wonderfully hilarious satire of the superhero genre, social media, and influencer culture. The X-Factor team are put together for reality television and “Click Clock” views albeit while actually engaging in highly dangerously and deeply important missions. This time around Warren Worthington aka Angel aka Archangel returns to lead the team after the events of Issue #1 and Havok leaving. He leads the team to help local mutant revolutions take out Gigiosha — a city that is governed by AI. The U.S. government does not want it to fall into Doom’s hands so, they send in X-Factor to take everything down. It’s another fantastic installment of this series that still has all the humor and action.
