While the core event is really dark, we’ve seen a mix of tones in the tie-ins so far. Spider-Woman leaned more on the dark while Black Cat went more towards the adventure. And then the Immortal Hulk one-shot was just delightful. But now, in Week Five in King in Black, we have two tie-ins with two very different tones. One comic seems unsure of itself, wanting to be nostalgic, dark, and adventurous, but never quite landing on them. The other features Doctor Doom punching Santa Claus in the face. Let’s start there.
Week Five of King in Black Delivers a 2nd Christmas Special in Iron Man/Doctor Doom
The sweetest thing Doctor Doom has ever said to someone. (Image: King in Black: Iron Man/Doctor Doom #1, Marvel Comics)
While King in Black: Iron Man/Doctor Doom is not as artistic as King in Black: Immortal Hulk, it saves Week Five by just being unapologetically weird. It starts really depressing. Eddie Brock just died—and it looks like Iron Man might have accidentally killed him with his symbiote extremis suit. While he’s feeling down, sitting on the roof of their hideout, Doctor Doom shows up to, and I’m not kidding, comfort Tony Stark. Seriously, Doom gives Tony a pep talk.
And if that’s not weird enough, they have to team up to fight a Knull-ified Santa Claus and all of his reindeer too. The entire time, Doom is trying to find some logical reason for Santa’s appearance, though Tony reminds him that they are currently on a world covered in black alien goo. Doom’s final idea, which I hope is canon, Sant must have, at some point, been the Sorcerer Supreme. If this represents how Christopher Cantwell writes his Iron Man, I’ll need to catch up on that series. Now, his sense of hope saved by possibly meeting the real Santa, and Doom’s words, Tony’s ready to take on Knull.
How did this comic work? No idea, but it was great.
King in Black: Namor #2 is Almost as Useless As the First Issue
Something almost actually happened this issue! (Image: King in Black: Namor #2, Marvel Comics)
In King in Black #2, we learn that part of Tony Stark’s plan to defeat Knull involves Namor and this secret threat he’s kept hidden for years: The Black Tide. However, in King in Black: Namor #1, we met the Swift Tide, a group of badass sub-aquatic women. In issue two, they become the Black Tide, but not until the very end and after a lot of needless exposition. The first two issues of King in Black: Namor could have been the first ten pages of one issue. As it is, the tie-in series has as many issues as the core series. That just isn’t necessary. What I’m hoping for now, since we finally met the Black Tide in King in Black Week Five, is that the remaining three issues have some urgency to them.
Need More Symbiote Dragons?
Then check out the previous weeks’ write-ups below.
Month One: December
(Featured Image: King in Black: Iron Man and Doctor Doom #1, Marvel Comics)