Thursday, 18 June 2026

Dungeons Of Doom #2 - Marvel Comics

DUNGEONS OF DOOM No. 2, April 2026
It’s debatably a little difficult for anyone perusing this thirty-page periodical to shake off the notion that they’re somehow participating in a game of “Dungeons & Dragons” rather than simply reading a comic penned by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Benjamin Percy. Indeed, this mini-series’ second instalment throws so many of Gary Gygax’s well known tropes at its audience, whether that be the all-seeing Eye of Khonshu, a mysterious Skull-Shaped Herb and the well-named Hammer of Treachery, that with each passing challenge any and all bibliophiles will feel that they’ve somehow outwitted another of Doctor Doom’s deeply buried dangers.

Perhaps foremost of these short-lived episodes is the one following Major Simmons and his depleted squad of American soldiers. Desperate to regroup alongside the formidably strong Red Hulk, this party of adventurers arguably appear to have the most humanity of the different “warring global factions” inadvertently hurled into “Doom’s most secret, most forbidden dungeons.” However, if any onlooker thought such a motivation was somehow going to protect them from the horrors trapped behind brick and mortar, they are soon put right – courtesy of their commanding officers’ well-meaning move to allow a limbless cadaver to somehow once again speak its words of magic.

Likewise, despite solely consisting of a lone Wakandan, the story of Umbra bravely diving into so ghastly a pit of unholy terrors appears just as riveting. Admittedly to begin with the white-clad operative does appear to be little more than a “thief” transgressing Latveria’s sovereign territory for their own ends. But such a label soon falls flat when its revealed that the agent’s mission is to penetrate a chamber packed full of T'Challa’s national treasures which Doctor Victor Von Doom has clearly stolen from the Black Panther's kingdom over a period of time.

Finally, the notion that a single publication featuring the work of five different artists would ordinarily be somewhat scoffed at by most comic book critics. And yet the illustrations of Justin Mason, Robert Gill, Carlos Magno, Georges Jeanty and Karl Story all seem to blend together quite magnificently, with only the odd strangely-sketched image of General Thunderbolt Ross’ colourfully-skinned alter-ego making those perusing Issue Two of “Dungeons Of Doom” momentarily doubt Senior Editor Jordan D. White’s decision to utilise so many talents all together.

The regular cover art of "DUNGEONS OF DOOM" #2 by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Farardo Jr.

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