Every Midsummer's Eve, Doctor Doom tries to rescue his mother's soul from hell and every year he fails. This time, he has Doctor Strange in tow. Will the two of them be successful? Let's find out!

Back in the day, I read a Fantastic Four annual in which Doctor Doom tried to use Franklin Richards against Mephisto to free the soul of his mother. When I found out about the existence of this graphic novel, I became intrigued... then forgot about it until a couple weeks ago.

The story starts out promisingly. Doctor Strange is summoned to the Temple of the Three where he battles other sorcerers for the title of Sorcerer Supreme and winds up forced to give Doctor Doom a boon. Strange instructs Doom in the magic arts for a few weeks and they head down to hell.

I'm happy to say that this graphic novel by Roger Stern and Mike Mignola does a great job standing the test of time. Stern's writing is way ahead of the curve for the time period and Mignola was heading down the artistic trail that would lead him to creating Hellboy years later. Mignola's hellish vistas resemble Steve Ditko's without being an outright copy and his depiction of Mephisto in his true form knocks the ball out of the park.

Triumph and Torment also had enough twists to keep it interesting, far from the two guys punching each other it could have easily devolved into.

Also contained in this volume were two stories containing seeds for this tale. One was from an issue of Astonishing Tales that depicted one of Doom's failed attempts to rescue his mother. The other was a Doctor Strange tale where Doctor Doom considered filling the vacancy left by Clea and becoming Strange's disciple. Neither were essential but gave the plot of the main story a little more depth. As opposed to the two Namor tales in the collection that had little to do with the story other than being drawn by Mignola.

Since I suspect a lot of people will be giving Doctor Strange a shot based on the upcoming Cumberbatch-fest, this would be a good tale to read to see Strange in his element. Four out of five stars.

Complete review here!

 

If I had any worries about the quality slipping in this miniseries, especially when compared to the original run of the Young Avengers, they were quickly dispelled in the first few pages of the book. The sassy humor is there right off the bat as the team battles the Sons of the Serpent, and Heinberg knows exactly where to inject it even as things get more and more dangerous for the team during their hunt for the Scarlet Witch.

 

I also loved how this book was so much about family — both about the ones we are born in and the ones that we make for ourselves. It’s something that a lot of gay people go through, and it’s nice to see that no matter how dysfunctional Billy’s two families may be, he still has both of them in the end.

 

If there’s something I had a bit of a struggle with, it was appreciating the bigger story happening beyond the pages of “The Children’s Crusade”, as well as catching up with all the things that have happened to characters that I last saw probably more than a decade ago. I mean, I didn’t even know that Nightcrawler and Banshee had already died! And the only reason I appreciated the tension between the X-Men and the Avengers is because “Avengers Vs. X-Men” was so heavily promoted it’s hard to not know about it.

 

Jim Cheung’s art, as usual, is top notch. I especially liked how he frames action scenes, especially during the big Avengers/X-Men confrontation over what to do with the Scarlet Witch. It’s a style I’ve really grown to love that I admit I was a little apprehensive when the sneak previews for Gillen and Mckelvie’s take on the Young Avengers first came out.

 

Near the end, I found myself tearing up as both of Billy’s families started falling apart. After going through so much to make himself whole, here he is seeing all of it break apart right before his eyes. It’s gut-wrenching, and you understand why Billy goes into a months-long depression.

 

But what really made me cry was how Teddy drew Billy out of that depression. Blame it on my being an old and alone person, but love being the reason Billy goes on? MY HEART HURTS.

 

Also, how happy am I that I finally get to read a comic with a gay kiss in it?

 

In case it’s still isn’t obvious, I really loved “The Children’s Crusade”, perhaps more for what it means to me as a gay man rather than for the role it plays in the greater Marvel universe (Some people online seem to have found it boring?). The same magic that got me hooked on the first run is still there, and has definitely made a lifelong Young Avengers fan out of me.

Unbelievably putrid. Over and over I sat in stunned amazement, asking myself "Did they really publish stuff this bad back in 1981?"There are two kinds of stories in comics. One tries to say something meaningful, or at least to present some sort of concept that the reader can be entertained by. The other is the visual equivalent of two three-year-olds trying to one-up each other. "My hero is a million times stronger than yours!" "Oh yeah? Well MY hero is a JILLION times stronger!" Over and over and over. There's no sense to it, and no point.Which pretty much describes this "book".Oh, and the authors completely abuse the Arthurian legend. In an incredibly lame "future Arthur" sequence, Merlin is "cool", saying things like - and I am NOT making this up - "Okee doke: One 'Return to Sender' spell, comin' right up!"Merlin as Jar-Jar Binks. It made me want to beat the author with a club.So to sum up, the only reason to read this thing is if you want to take a look back to see just how incredibly awful some comic books were, even as recently as 1981 (the art is pretty bad, too). And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do something - anything - to drive the memory of that unbelievably idiotic writing out of my brain.

Unbelievably putrid. Over and over I sat in stunned amazement, asking myself "Did they really publish stuff this bad back in 1981?"There are two kinds of stories in comics. One tries to say something meaningful, or at least to present some sort of concept that the reader can be entertained by. The other is the visual equivalent of two three-year-olds trying to one-up each other. "My hero is a million times stronger than yours!" "Oh yeah? Well MY hero is a JILLION times stronger!" Over and over and over. There's no sense to it, and no point.Which pretty much describes this "book".Oh, and the authors completely abuse the Arthurian legend. In an incredibly lame "future Arthur" sequence, Merlin is "cool", saying things like - and I am NOT making this up - "Okee doke: One 'Return to Sender' spell, comin' right up!"Merlin as Jar-Jar Binks. It made me want to beat the author with a club.So to sum up, the only reason to read this thing is if you want to take a look back to see just how incredibly awful some comic books were, even as recently as 1981 (the art is pretty bad, too). And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do something - anything - to drive the memory of that unbelievably idiotic writing out of my brain.