by Peter Milligan, David Lafuente & Laura Allred
A little over a year ago, Marvel Comics provided fans with a great single issue featuring the adventures of Doop. A character that had popped up several times throughout Jason Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-Men run, this one story detailed all the things Doop handled without anyone realizing. There is a great comedic element to this floating green blob of a character and here, Peter Milligan takes him into his own series. All-New Doop #1 finds the character popping in and out of sequences that have transpired in recent Marvel history. It’s a niche book, for a specific audience, but does it offer enough to warrant its existence?
There is definitely something endearing and humorous about a very strange looking and unassuming character playing out a very important and skilled role. That’s what can be so enjoyable about Doop. His character does not speak any recognizable language, and Milligan is sure it includes an interaction here to communicate to readers that this is no Han and Chewie situation. When his word balloons are filled with symbols, the characters in the story are just as clueless as the reader. The story does have a narrator though, to help parse things out. It is there though, that the book shows a bit of distrust. A stronger presentation would be one that doesn’t apologize for its lead character being so odd. Almost in the way that Hawkeye did not include exposition for Pizza Dog, Doop’s adventures may be better witnessed without guidance. It’s possible that watching without insight might create a more engaging read as the audience is left to wonder what is going on.
In this issue, Doop makes his way through some of the major scenes that have transpired in X-Men comics since the end of Avengers vs. X-Men. The factions of Wolverine’s school and Scott Summer’s rogue crew have found themselves in each other’s company a few times since the split. Milligan crafts the issue around some of these run-ins, having Doop popping in and playing a role that readers were unaware of the first time around. It makes for some fun easter-egg moments for those that follow along with Brian Bendis’ All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. For others, there is likely to be something lost as these scenes have no prior meaning to the new reader. Doop’s interactions are minor and sometimes played for humor, but the events mostly pass by with little effect. Aaron put Doop in extreme circumstances and his story worked well. Here, Milligan’s decision to revisit scenes from recent stories to little enlightenment proves much less effective.
The book still has a good bit of fun to it. Doop is fun to watch, just as it is humorous to see the rest of the Marvel characters attempting to interact with him, each with no real way of communicating or understanding his intent. In addition, Lafuente’s art is pretty great. Teaming with Laura Allred, the visuals pop off the page several times throughout the book and carry the story through at times when not much is going on. Watching Doop fall through events that have transpired between Cyclops’ crew and those of the Jean Grey School makes for a strong sequence, visually.
Ultimately, All-New Doop #1 is decent. There is some fun to be had with Doop and his misadventures, and it often looks great. If the book is going to find the same magic that Doop had with Aaron, Milligan will need to put Doop into a different story so that readers can follow him in a more engaging way. That is not to say the revisionist-history format is a problem. Maybe having Doop pop into major Marvel events that are more widely known to see how he factored in could provide for some entertainment. Or maybe something different needs to be done with him. Either way, the next few issues will determine if there is enough to say with this character to warrant a solo title.
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