Darkhold ALPHA

[shakalooloo]

Let me get this straight. In the same month that Doctor Doom uses magic to unite the power of five heroes to combat the elder god Dormammu, he is told that there is a way to fight the elder god Chthon by using magic to combine the power of five heroes but instead decides against it and goes off to the fight solo?

Okay Marvel, sure, whatever.

So, with Doom harnessing the full power of the idiot ball for his diabolic ends, it falls to the Scarlet Witch to unite the power of five heroes to fight the elder god Chthon. In the same month that she's suspected to be dead and the Avengers are fighting Magneto over it.

Eldergodsdamnit, Marvel.

ANYWAY, here's the excuse for Marvel setting up a number of sPoOkY linked one-shots for October:







Art by Cian Tormey.

Comments

[bruinsfan]

I'm pretty sure the true Darkhold was the indestructible scroll Morgan Le Fay bound into book form and used to summon Chthon in the 6th Century. Last I heard it was used in that Secret Empire event, and presumably taken back into Dr. Strange's keeping once the story ended.

[shakalooloo]

Ah, but this is the TRUE true Darkhold, that Latverian robots dug up from Abysmia.

There must be more copies of this tome rolling around than there are of the Bible.

[dan_ingram]

The printing press has doomed us all! It just took a few centuries!

[tinygaylaura]

DAMN YOU GUTENBERG

[thanekos]

Playing on " the Darkhold's been copied " does seem to've been the inspiration for " true Darkhold ": " We're paying homage to the original Darkhold lore, which is to say - the Darkhold that's menaced the Marvel Universe for years has long been said to be a copy of a copy, written on parchment, where the original was written on the flesh of a god.. "

[bruinsfan]

The previous "true Darkhold" was mystically alive, could occasionally react to things and cast spells on its own without a reader, and contained enough power that Dr. Strange had a hard time shutting it down once it was active. I need to see a good explanation for why that "copy" had so many unique attributes that other copies lacked.

[shakalooloo]

It was possessed by a demon?

[numeronone]

...Lovecraft didn't warn us about these costumes. Perhaps some things were too horrible for even his twisted mind.

[shakalooloo]

I really don't get what the theme is meant to be. I mean, Chthon dressed in black and red when he possessed Quicksilver in Slott's Mighty Avengers run, but it didn't have any of this Colossus-style lining along it, and the black was definitely more dominant.

Whatever the case, Marvel clearly likes these designs, as all these characters stand revealed in a two page spread right before this final splash page, making it entirely redundant on top of everything else!

Honestly, the return of the 'Lovecraftian Avengers' designs from Thanos Imperative would have been much, much better.

[lilacsigil]

I guess it's nice to see that it's not only the female characters getting less clothing in their "evil" form. Go Blade!

[deh_tommy]

You can’t just gloss over Iron Man like that, you coward.

[mastermahan]

Nice to see Tony showing some skin. I'm not sure it's his skin, but...

[mindsweeper]

I’m pretty underwhelmed by the re-designs. They seem pretty generic and boring.

[tinygaylaura]

I'm not saying that's the main reason I prefer "Villainous" characters in fiction most of the time but I'm not saying it isn't one of the main reasons

[iamrman]

Now this was a better use of Wanda than killing her off just to motivate Magneto.

[scorntx]

In fairness, Wanda standing in the background doing nothing would be a better use of her than what Trial of Magneto's done.

[iamrman]

Haha, quite.

[mindsweeper]

“ Let me get this straight. In the same month that Doctor Doom uses magic to unite the power of five heroes to combat the elder god Dormammu, he is told that there is a way to fight the elder god Chthon by using magic to combine the power of five heroes but instead decides against it and goes off to the fight solo?”

My non-canon explanation is that, since this story happens first (it was just delayed), maybe he learned a lesson from it?

[shakalooloo]

I'd give you a cheap, knock-off No-Prize, only this has Victorious wearing the mask that she only gets after the failed marriage, which itself takes place after the Last Annihilation.

So while your theory may have been true had the issue not been delayed, artistic touch-ups to make this match its publishing time wrecks everything.

[laughing_tree]

The SWORD Last Annihilation issue references Doom’s failed marriage. Last Annihilation takes place after.

[shakalooloo]

I'd totally forgotten that! Thanks!

[ap0cryphal]

"the DARKHOLD DEFILED" doesn't quite roll off the tongue, and honestly the whole "avengers corrupted by cosmic horrors" was done better in the cancerverse stories.

I was hoping for something weirder and darker, instead of...this. The Guardians one-shotted a space wizard, and Dr Strange is off on a romp in the sixth cosmos, you gotta do something more than a generic evil corrupted avengers plot.

[tinygaylaura]

Darkhold Defiled is absolutely what I'm going to name the next metal band I'm in tho

[ap0cryphal]

definitely a better metal band name than a team name

[didiji]

"Eldergodsdamnit" is appropriate here, I liked that. :D
Am I the only one that got some Silent Hill vibes with those re-designs?

[shakalooloo]

Maybe too much red.