Picking up the eldritch horror-shaped baton from last month, Dungeons of Doom #2 is more of what made the first issue entertaining, but also more of what held it back. Namely, forgettable characters that might as well be bargain-bin G.I. Joe knockoffs and dated horror movie logic tropes dancing between beautifully disgusting arcane horror.
The four factions that were duking it out in the previous issue have made it even further into Doom’s dungeons: the Americans, led by Red Hulk but not currently with them, the Latverian freedom fighters, the Hydra agents, and a Wakandan operative with a questionable allegiance. Each one has seemingly found a prize that’s actually a curse as they’re confronted with horrors from worlds beyond.
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The art team (made up of Justin Mason, Robert, Gill, Carlos Magno, Georges Jeanty, and Karl Story) really elevate Dungeons of Doom beyond post-event fallout. While this book may have a lot of cooks in its kitchen, it doesn’t feel disjointed because they’re all assigned to their own respective chapters. The monstrosities that each faction comes across is truly horrifying, and what’s perhaps most impressive is that they’re horrifying in a new way. It’s not like these characters are stumbling across well known Marvel artifacts – they’re each finding new ways that prove the 616 is a terrifying place to live.
Whether it’s the Eye of Khonshu that shows the misdeeds and sins of people around you, the Hammer of Sviksemi that grants massive power to people not unlike Mjolnir (but with a murderous twist), the Skull-shaped flower that is said to bring the dead back to life, or a steampunk looking device that seems to be a prison for an infectious mutant soul, these destructive items are rad as hell to see in their brutal, gory action.
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The plot of the story lends itself towards gruesomeness and violence in a way Marvel rarely does these days, but the dialogue is as forgettable as the characters. Dungeons of Doom #2 has more movement to create empathy for a few of the soldiers trapped down in these dungeons, and of course you feel tense and scared as a reader when something terrible happens to another human being, but it also feels like the writers Benjamin Percy and Phillip Kennedy Johnson wrote them this way because they’re simply not as important as what they’re doing.
Which, frankly, is fine. The previously mentioned dated horror movie logic is a good thing here because of what it allows to happen. Early in the issue there’s a mostly dismembered corpse hanging from a meat hook in what looks like a torture room, but the body begins to murmur as the American soldiers approach it. One pulls out a knife and cuts the stitching keeping its mouth closed, and it begins an enchantment that transfers its essence into one of the American soldiers.
That’s an obvious no-no in a post-modern horror world, but it just looks so damn cool when it happens. While the characters are technically moving the plot forward, their lack of depth really makes it feel more like they’re just along for the ride. While they may not be great characters, it’s not like the book is weighed down by needless dialogue. The characters aren’t special, but they aren’t the focus either.
The real-world allegories and parallels are interesting and compelling, carrying the book even when the characters can’t. While it felt like One World Under Doom petered out by the end, Will of Doom and now Dungeons of Doom have done a good job so far of showing the weight of the event in a post-Doom 616. Is this miniseries ground zero for Marvel’s summer event, Armageddon? It doesn’t feel like it two issues in, but it’s nice having a story that cares about itself more than the next big thing.
At the very least, readers get to see a long, spine-chilling shadow cast by the absence of Doom, which as we’re learning in this story, might be the one thing worse than the iron-fist of Latveria himself.
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