Doomed #1 - IDW

Something I had worried about before--that IDW's super-cool Doomed is cancelled--seems to be true. When I saw that they were soliciting a trade collection called Completely Doomed, I asked the good folks at my local shop, All Things Fun, if that meant what I thought it did. Sadly, the answer was yes.

Apparently the whole retro black-and-white magazine format just didn't sell; and as if you needed any more proof, Completely Doomed is even in the regular comic book format. *sigh*

But I don't blame IDW--in fact, they deserve nothing but praise for even trying this. They weren't just ripping off Creepy for an audience that mostly wouldn't know better; no, they were using a classic format for a 21st century pass at a sophisticated, literate approach to horror comics, to create something classic yet new. It was enormously cool of them to give it a shot. I haven't yet reviewed the first two issues of Doomed, so let's just celebrate what they did, and get down to it!

Doomed #1's cover(the version I've got, at least--each issue came with alternate covers) is by Ashley Wood, and is creepy and weird, but a little sexy, too. Once we turn the cover, we meet the magazine's "host", Ms.Doomed, for the first time(who, like the cover, is creepy and weird, but a little sexy too), who promises us we "are all Doomed." And how!

The first story is an adaptation of Richard Matheson's "Bloodson" by Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood, about a very strange little boy with an obsession over blood. Hard to go wrong adapting Matheson, and this sparsely worded and rendered take works very effectively--the world you see in this story looks weird and forboding, and when we see normal parts of life--a school classroom, a library--they feel distorted and off-putting, which is how the rest of the world sees this twelve-year-old. Nicely done.

Next is "Cuts", by F.Paul Wilson and Ted McKeever. It's about a guy who wakes up and finds his body is slowly turning against him, which of course scares all of us in some way or the other. McKeever's art is more cartoony here than his usual work, which fits with the ghoulishly goofy tone and kick-in-the-pants ending.

Third is "Blood Rape of the Lust Ghouls"(which is second only to "But Bork Can Kill You!" for the honor of Best Comic Story Title Ever)by Ryall and Eduardo Barretto, adapted from the story by David J. Schow. A hack screenwriter with a miserable life finds a portal into another dimension based on movies, and uses that to cover up some really bad behavior. It's a classic tale, told in the best EC tradition, with simply beautiful art by Barretto. He draws some of the sexiest women in comics, made moreso by their actual human-like proportions, unlike most of the women you see in comics now.

Robert Bloch's "The Final Performance", by Ryall(Ryall again? He's like the Archie Goodwin of IDW!) and Kristian Donaldson, is next, about a guy who drifts into a small town and takes a little too much notice of the comely wife of the local diner owner, a weird dumpy guy named Rudolph. They of course fall into bed, figuring they can pull one over on Rudolph. They're wrong. Nicely done, with a minimum of fuss and lots of dread.

We end the issue with an interview with author Schow, which is a nice touch, and only reinforces the whole classic-black-and-white-magazine thing. Marvel used to run interviews in their mags way back when, and I love that IDW did them, too. Then the sexy Ms.Doomed says goodbye, but promises us she'll return, and we had better be ready!

A fabulous start to Doomed, with solid, tough stories, each a little different in tone and look from each other. Ms.Doomed is right--I do want more!