Dungeons Of Doom #1 - Marvel Comics

DUNGEONS OF DOOM No. 1, March 2026

Announced at New York Comic Con 2025, this supposed grappling with “the aftermath of One World Under Doom” probably surprised a fair few of the bibliophiles who nonchalantly picked it up off of the spinner rack. For whilst the thirty-page-periodical is arguably a little clunky in its unconvincing premise of several opposing military-based factions somehow surviving a seriously long fall down into the deepest depths of Victor Von Doom’s underground chambers, as well as being a highly touted limited series which shockingly only consists of just three instalments, Issue One of “Dungeons Of Doom” makes for a compulsive read.

Indeed, whether by design or simply happy happenstance, writers Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Benjamin Percy manage to imbue the repeated assaults upon “The Monster’s Den” with plenty of pulse-pounding action and genuine gusto. Of particular note has to be the sudden appearance of Hydra, who having watched the Western Army visibly weaken itself against Latveria’s Freedom Fighters, decide to join the fracas with a massive aerial assault; “All that was Doom’s is now Hydra’s! Take down that gate! Kill anyone we find inside!”

However, it is the subsequent segments focusing upon the different factions’ survivors deep below the surface which really should capture the audience’s imagination; especially when they encounter “a mutant who should never have been born” and a multi-limbed monster straight out of a Dungeons & Dragon’s manual. These isolated episodes are really well-penned and somehow manage to both hold the attention, as well as inform any onlookers as to the personalities behind the considerably-sized cast. Furthermore it also seems intriguingly unlikely that many, if any, of the combatants are going to survive the experience, particularly within the Hydra faction where their leader quickly demonstrates his willingness to cold-bloodedly murder any member of his squad who threatens his chances of survival.

Quite superbly bringing all this mayhem to life are the artists Justin Mason, Robert Gill, Carlos Magno, Georges Jeanty and Karl Story. Sadly, it isn’t made abundantly clear just which illustrator has pencilled which sheet. But that doesn’t debatably matter thanks to color artist Guru-eFx who does a first-class job of bringing everyone’s drawing styles together into an enjoyable gestalt thanks to his own palette choices.

The regular cover art of "DUNGEONS OF DOOM" #1 by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Farardo Jr.