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EXCLUSIVE: Spencer & Cloonan Go to Hell in "Victor Von Doom"

Having murdered gods, stolen their powers and almost taking over the world on several occasions, Doctor Doom is easily one of the Marvel Universe's most intelligent, dangerous and capable supervillains, carrying out schemes usually fueled by his gigantic ego, ruthless demeanor and out of control megalomania. Doom wasn't always driven by a lust for power, however. Before he donned his suit of high-tech armor and set his sights on taking over the world, Victor Von Doom was young man who wanted nothing more than to liberate his dead mother's soul from the infernal prison of Hell. This November, writer Nick Spencer and artist Becky Cloonan take readers back to Doom's earliest attempt to free his mother in "Victor Von Doom." We spoke with the creators about the four-issue project.

Cloonan is perhaps best known as the artist of "Demo," the creator-owned miniseries she worked on with writer Brian Wood . Beyond those two series, Cloonan has worked on self-published projects and provided art for a variety of titles from a number of different companies, including Vertigo, Dark Horse and Tokyopop. She contributed to Marvel Comics' anthology series "Strange Tales" and "Nation X," and it was her desire to do more, very specific Marvel work that lead to the birth of "Victor Von Doom."

"It's funny; around 2004 I had this thought that if I were working for Marvel, I'd want to do a teen Doctor Doom series. I kept thinking about it, and then in 2006 they came out with Ed Brubaker's 'Books of Doom' miniseries. I bought that when it was coming out, and I thought I would never get to do my teen Doom comic because they just did it. So I just gave up on the idea," Cloonan told CBR News. "Then last year, editor Alejandro Arbona was tweeting about how he's doing all these villain books. He was doing 'Osborn' and 'Red Skull,' so it seemed like everything he was doing was a villain book. I tweeted back, 'Please tell me one of those titles is a teen Doom comic!'

"He immediately e-mailed me and said, 'If you're serious about this, I could get a writer on board.' I was like, 'Of course I'm serious. Why would I joke about something like teen Doom on Twitter?'" Cloonan said with a laugh.

Arbona didn't have to look long for the writer for what would become "Victor Von Doom." Nick Spencer eagerly agreed to do the assignment once Arbona told him who he'd be working with.

"This book really exists because of Becky -- I'm a part of it because it was an opportunity to work with Becky. She's easily in my list of top five artists working today She's somebody who I dreamed of working with for years and has defined the kind of artist that I like to work with," Spencer told CBR. "Because of 'T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents', I got to work with some real giants like Howard Chaykin, George Perez and Mike Grell. Those guys were a massive inspiration to me, and now I'm having another really cool experience with another creator who influenced and inspired my work. I can still remember sitting on the floor of Barnes and Noble reading 'Demo' and thinking these were the kinds of comics I want to make. To now be scripting something for Becky Cloonan is pretty surreal.

2011 Scion xD Review

The ’60s had muscle cars; the ’70s had disco cars. The ’80s and ’90s had SUVs and crossovers. So what’s the new in thing?

Punchy, boxy little “attitude cars” like the 2011 Scion xD.

WHAT IT IS

The xD is a subcompact hatchback sedan sold by Toyota’s youth brand spin-off, Scion. Prices start at $15,045 for the manual five-speed equipped version and run to $16,905 for the limited production Release Series 3.0 that comes with a unique paint job, exterior body kit and automatic transmission.

The xD competes with models like the Kia Soul and Nissan Cube/Juke/Versa.

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2011

Other than the limited edition RS 3.0 — of which 1,500 will be made — the 2011 xD is a carryover, same as the 2010 version.

WHAT’S GOOD

Inexpensive.

Cute in an Ugly Betty kind of way.

Fun to play Frogger with.

A full catalog of factory and dealer-available custom features (lighting systems, interior trim bits and pieces, exterior body kit, etc.).

WHAT’S NOT SO GOOD

Mini-me trunk space (barely 10 cubic feet).

Not so good on gas — for such a small-engined small car (33 MPG highway is as good as it gets).

Performance-looking RS 3.0 has same 1.8 liter engine as regular xDs.

Stone Age tech four-speed automatic.

UNDER THE HOOD

All xDs — including the RS 3.0 — come equipped with a 1.8 liter, 128 hp four-cylinder engine driving the front wheels through either a five-speed manual or (optionally) four-speed automatic.

Power-performance wise, the Scion’s engine is top drawer in this segment; slightly stronger than the standard engines in its two chief rivals, the Kia Soul (1.6 liters, 122 hp) and the Nissan Cube (1.8 liters, 122 hp).

Its acceleration is better, too.

The little xD can scuttle to 60 mph in 8.3-8.4 seconds, almost 1 full second quicker than the heavier (by about 100 pounds) and aerodynamically challenged Nissan Cube, which gets there tomorrow — or might as well be (9.6 seconds). It also beats the base-engined version of the Kia Soul, too — though just barely. Equipped with the optional 2.0 liter, 142 hp engine, the Kia is the hot rod of the bunch – and easily smokes both the xD and the Cube.

Still, keep in mind that to beat the xD, the Kia has to be ordered with its extra-cost engine — which bumps the car’s MSRP to $15,495 or about $400 more than the price of the Scion.

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